Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳

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Jaydeep Mehta@Jaydeepmmehta·13h

@smartspendcode I strongly suggest you to push for it. They will redeem points too for the same..the Conservancy Charges are not published anywhere whatsoever. Only the main reserve it's published..

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·17h

🦁 My biggest points redemption yet & my biggest single booking as a travel advisor! A ₹4L stay at Fairmont Mara Safari Club for 4 nights, all inclusive with meals and game drives, booked entirely with points! 🤯 And at the same time, I also locked in my biggest single booking ever worth ₹20L for a group trip to Maasai Mara as travel advisor. This is probably the first time my worlds as a ccgeek and travel advisor have come together so perfectly 😄 It all started when a group of friends approached me to plan and book their entire Mara trip. After a lot of back and forth, their whole plan was finally locked in. Then they forced us to join them 😂 And since it was Fairmont Mara, the ccgeek in me was easily tempted. This has to be one of the best Accor redemptions you can possibly make, so I finally pulled the trigger. For the group booking, managed to unlock: 🌙 1 night free 💳 $100 hotel credit per stay ✨ VIP perks and prioritized requests etc And for my own being Accor Platinum has already got us a preconfirmed upgrade to a Deluxe Riverfront Tent with an outdoor shower, a category that would have cost around ₹1L more overall! A ₹20L group booking on one side and a ₹4L Accor redemption on the other. Travel advisor 🤝 ccgeek Honestly, super excited for this one! Have also pulled off some exciting flight redemptions with miles for this trip ✈️ Will cover those separately later 👀 Anybody here already experienced Fairmont Mara Safari Club? Would love to hear your experience and recommendations! 🦁

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·13h

@ChaiAndMiles Hahaha yes that’s part of the job now 😂 But hope not, Fairmont is a pretty safe bet :p

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Abhishek Singh@ChaiAndMiles·17h

@smartspendcode Very well Sagar, now they have someone to haunt if anything goes south :P

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·14h

@Jaydeepmmehta Yes the conservancy charges have to be paid separately and cannot be redeemed using points. 👍

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Jaydeep Mehta@Jaydeepmmehta·14h

@smartspendcode Pls mention about Conservancy Charges per person per day.. there is no laid down rule book that you cannot burn that in points..

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·14h

@mepritijain Wow, 4 rooms on points for a family trip is incredible! Looking forward to your review

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Priti Jain@mepritijain·15h

Done this and its hands down one of my best redemptions ever 🤌🏻 The review is still sitting in my drafts because I havent been able to put my final thoughts into words yet. Cant wait to share this one ! The cherry on top? This was a family trip, and we redeemed points for four rooms. Safe to say this has to be one of the best family redemptions yet!

🦁 My biggest points redemption yet & my biggest single booking as a travel advisor! A ₹4L stay at Fairmont Mara Safari Club for 4 nights, all inclusive with meals and game drives, booked entirely with points! 🤯 And at the same time, I also locked in my biggest single booking ever worth ₹20L for a group trip to Maasai Mara as travel advisor. This is probably the first time my worlds as a ccgeek and travel advisor have come together so perfectly 😄 It all started when a group of friends approached me to plan and book their entire Mara trip. After a lot of back and forth, their whole plan was finally locked in. Then they forced us to join them 😂 And since it was Fairmont Mara, the ccgeek in me was easily tempted. This has to be one of the best Accor redemptions you can possibly make, so I finally pulled the trigger. For the group booking, managed to unlock: 🌙 1 night free 💳 $100 hotel credit per stay ✨ VIP perks and prioritized requests etc And for my own being Accor Platinum has already got us a preconfirmed upgrade to a Deluxe Riverfront Tent with an outdoor shower, a category that would have cost around ₹1L more overall! A ₹20L group booking on one side and a ₹4L Accor redemption on the other. Travel advisor 🤝 ccgeek Honestly, super excited for this one! Have also pulled off some exciting flight redemptions with miles for this trip ✈️ Will cover those separately later 👀 Anybody here already experienced Fairmont Mara Safari Club? Would love to hear your experience and recommendations! 🦁

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·14h

@mepritijain You bet! 😄

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Priti Jain@mepritijain·15h

@smartspendcode Done this and hands down best redemption ever !

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·14h

@Bhushan_Sheth Yes, got their Indian veg options beforehand and honestly couldn't believe how extensive the menu was 😄 We've already shared tentative preferences for each day with the team. Thanks for the 4x4 heads up too ,have booked that for transfers👍

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B@Bhushan_Sheth·15h

@smartspendcode It's a fantastic hotel, it's going to be heart winning trip. The game drives are awesome. They can prepare indian food but be very specific else it will get repeated. Tents are good. Reaching there from airport is a pain, get 4x4 only even at extra cost, else your back is gone.

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·14h

@Anilkj17 Wow, you've done the top two! JW is definitely on the list for someday in the future 😄 Thanks for the heads up on the Maasai village tour. It was initially in our plans, but will skip now , yes doing 1N nairobi 👍

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Ankj@Anilkj17·16h

@smartspendcode Amazing ! Been to Fairmont Mara Safari Club and JW masai mara both and they were extraordinary in hospitality and game drives by expert safari drivers. One suggestion ,please dont waste money on masai village tour and its a scam 50 per head.Explore Nairobi too 👍

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·1d

@ameyakarve Amazing 👏

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Ameya Karve@ameyakarve·2d

1. MilesVault is live. 🚀 I built the operating system for your points and miles - run by an AI assistant built for the Indian cards game. milesvault.com 🧵

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

@BasChalRaHai You can email them and ask

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Aam Aadmi 2.0@BasChalRaHai·3d

@smartspendcode Any easy option to check how much we have spent in a year without having to do manual calculation or calling customer care?

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

💳 1 year with the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Card and almost 1.5L points earned 😄 Almost all my spends have been through iShop vouchers for gold, Amazon Pay, revenue flights and a few hotel stays, earning mostly 6x and 12x rewards. This card was especially useful for redemption booking my last minute expensive Singapore Airlines ticket from Cambodia to Mumbai when there were no award seats available. This ticket would have otherwise cost around ₹1 lakh for 2, for me best use case since you can use 100% of points for redemption Still haven't used my complimentary Taj 1 night voucher 😄 Renewal fee was levied since I didn't reach ₹10L annual spends, but I'll get 12.5k renewal points, so no worries there. Also redeemed the ₹6k EaseMyTrip flight benefit. Overall, a very rewarding first year with the card. How's your EPM journey going? 👀

Finally got the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Card and this has been the toughest one to crack so far. Every RM has their own subjective approval process and the zone your branch/address falls under plays a crucial role. In my case, being in the SoBo zone did not help much as ITR eligibility alone was not enough. I had to push hard on the PPOP criteria. Generally, approval needs all 4: -Net monthly income ₹3L+ -₹50K+ monthly PPOP to ICICI -Existing ICICI card limit ₹6L+ -Approvals needed from product manager, senior branch/regional head, city/zonal head, product head and finally credit team Any deviation means the RM needs to build a strong case for approval on PPOP basis. If your case is eligible but still stuck, feel free to follow and DM your details. Happy to forward your details ahead to the right person who can take a look. #EPM #icicibank #ccgeek #ccgeeks #smartspendcode

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

@listenralf Yup that's a better value but for me AI is covered with SBI

🚨 Reminder to transfer your eligible points to Air India for the ongoing 50% bonus offer ✈️ 📅 Valid till 31 May 2026 transferred my 105k SBI Air India points and now waiting for the ~52k bonus points to hit 👀 Don’t forget to register before transferring points 👇 tinyurl.com/registerforpoi… All other details and important TnC covered in the QT post.

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Skilleater...!!!@listenralf·3d

@smartspendcode And then transfer all points at 30-50% bonus to AI. Use one way 35k reward ticket for Europe. 😸

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

@navs1831 @abhijeetrout18 this was for vietnam airlines flight via etihad , check availability for your route

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Naveen dalal@navs1831·3d

@smartspendcode @abhijeetrout18 Can we use them for delhi to vietnam flight. There are no direct etihad flights from delhi to vietnam.

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3 Tem

✈️ BOB Etihad Guest Premium Card udpates! 📅 Bonus miles offer has now been extended till 31 August 2026. ⚠️ Important update regarding Etihad Gold status: From 5 August 2026, complimentary Gold Tier upgrade will require: ✅ Transaction of ₹10,000 or more on Etihad .com ✅ Within 6 months from the card issuance date Until then, the current easier eligibility remains applicable, so if you're planning to get this card, it's worth applying this month Applied another card in the family last month and it got approved without any issues. You can apply here 👇 tinyurl.com/BOBEtihadGuest If you're eligible, apply using the link above for quicker approvals, and DM me if your application gets stuck anywhere. Happy to help 👍

BOB Etihad Guest Premium Card limited period offer just got even better ✈️💳 Apply here 👇 tinyurl.com/BOBEtihadGuest 📅 Valid till 31 May 2026 🎁 Premium variant benefits • 10,000 joining miles on ₹25k spends in 60 days • Additional 5,000 miles on cumulative ₹50k spends 👉 Total 15,000 Etihad Guest Miles Base variant also gets up to 7,500 miles. 📌 Income criteria • Premium variant → ₹12LPA • Base variant → ₹6LPA If BOB has been rejecting your applications lately, approval chances seem better here. DM me if you face any issues with the application 👍 More detailed card features covered in the QT post.

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

@amit_i_am Statement with fees is generated not paid yet. But are we getting another Taj?

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Amitab(h) with no ab@amit_i_am·3d

@smartspendcode Did you get another Taj night by paying the annual fee for the 2nd year

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·3d

@shivamutd yes 15-16%

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Shivam@shivamutd·3d

@smartspendcode Great reward rate!

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·4d

🎯 Amex has sent a targeted Spend & Earn offer on the Platinum Travel Card. 📅 Offer period: 8 July to 22 August 2026 Two offer tiers 👇 💳 Spend ₹4L to ₹6.99L 🎁 Get a ₹10,000 e voucher OR 💳 Spend ₹7L+ 🎁 Get a ₹15,000 e voucher Choose your voucher from: 🛒 Amazon ✈️ MakeMyTrip 🍔 Swiggy 🚕 Uber ⚠️ Enrollment is required before you start. These vouchers are over and above the regular Platinum Travel milestone rewards you earn at ₹1.9L, ₹4L and ₹7L spends. I had stopped using my Platinum Travel for the last couple of months, so that may have been the trigger. If you've been keeping your Platinum Travel idle recently, definitely check your inbox. You might have received this targeted offer too. 👀

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·6 Tem

@ChaiAndMiles 🤝

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Abhishek Singh@ChaiAndMiles·6 Tem

@smartspendcode Thanks for sharing, have bookmarked this cheat sheet :P

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·24 Ağu

New trend alert, banks are now using brand monitoring and social listening tools to call customers directly without asking for your number. After IDFC, even ICICI reached out for my below post. Their team confirmed iShop has some issues since it is new. Missing points will be credited in the next billing cycle and they also shared the same confirmation on email. Meanwhile I have shared my EPM points tracker with all who followed and DMed, keep tracking manually till it gets fixed.

Checked my 3 statements today for EPM and noticed ~14k iShop points missing across multiple transactions so I immediately made a tracker to monitor all spends going forward. Have also mailed PNO, hoping this is just a temporary mismatch and ICICI does not make missing points a habit. Do check yours also

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·6 Tem

@MilesMogul book via partner portal for another 10%

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Miles Mogul@MilesMogul·5 Tem

Boom Boom! Started off at $4,568. Now reached $3,770!

Miles Mogul@MilesMogul

Boom. Linked my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Account & my newly created Sixt account to save $500. Still see scope for bettering this.

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·6 Tem

@navs1831 Check DM

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Naveen dalal@navs1831·6 Tem

@smartspendcode Unable to buy etihad miles… Bought 1000 miles on 3rd july.. Same Trxn declined today. Tried again today error comes and instant reversal. Any solution!

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·6 Tem

@ChaiAndMiles Yes I had raised it after 60 days , check this thread

New trend alert, banks are now using brand monitoring and social listening tools to call customers directly without asking for your number. After IDFC, even ICICI reached out for my below post. Their team confirmed iShop has some issues since it is new. Missing points will be credited in the next billing cycle and they also shared the same confirmation on email. Meanwhile I have shared my EPM points tracker with all who followed and DMed, keep tracking manually till it gets fixed.

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Abhishek Singh@ChaiAndMiles·6 Tem

@smartspendcode Did you wait for 60 days? in my case they are asking for 60D period to be over first ( another 30 days to go )

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Sagar Paleja 🇮🇳@smartspendcode·4 Tem

⚠️ Always verify your accelerated reward points. Last month I had maxed out the 6x accelerated rewards on HSBC TravelOne for flight bookings. Later, while reconciling my statement, I noticed almost 6k points were missing. Reached out to HSBC support and after verification, the missing points were credited. A small reminder for everyone: Whenever you maximize accelerated reward categories on any credit card, always reconcile the points earned against what you were expecting. Banks can have inconsistencies too, and if you don't check, you may never notice missing rewards.