Get it for the Rewards!
Written: Jul 30 '02
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Pros: Take up to two billing cycles to pay your balance, great rewards program!
Cons: Expensive, Less Widely Accepted
The Bottom Line: A great rewards program, great bonus miles your first year, awesome customer service. Diners Club is accepted at most major hotel chains, rental car agencies, airlines, and many great restaurants.
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| noelanvoyd's Full Review: Diners Club (Citibank) |
There are already so many good reviews for the Diners Club card, and I encourage you to read them all. I just wanted to throw in a few helpful tips if you're still on the edge and haven't decided.
IF YOU LIKE TO COLLECT AIRLINE MILES...
This is a great reason to go for the Diner's Club card. Before you apply, find out what kind of promotion they are offering for new members. The best part of Diner's Club's rewards system is that your points can be applied toward such a wide variety of airline programs. When I applied, the program was offering 24,000 points for the first year of membership (equivalent to 12,000 miles)! Consider this: airline miles are worth about 1 cent to 2 cents each. This means that at worst, you're getting a $120 value for the $80 fee.
So at least for the first year, you have a good incentive to try out the card. 12,000 miles is generally good for a seat upgrade on a standard fare... or almost half of a free ticket within the continental United States. SO ALWAYS ASK IF THERE'S A NEW CARDMEMBER SPECIAL. It's usually at least good for 10,000 bonus miles.
IF YOU TRAVEL ON BUSINESS A LOT...
Diners Club isn't accepted everywhere, but you can use it at almost any hotel chain, airline, car rental counter, and even most major gas station brands. Not to mention the fact that it's taken at many good restaurants. This is especially true if you travel to cities like New York, Paris, or even Lima, Peru.
IF YOU LIKE INTEREST FREE TWO MONTH PAYMENTS...
Unlike other cards that give you 20-25 days to pay your bill, Diners Club gives you up to two billing cycles. If you can manage this responsibly, it gives you plenty of time to send in your expense reports to your company and make sure that you're reimbursed. You also can let more of your money sit in the bank for a while, earning interest, before you send in your check to Diners Club. Again, I would only advocate delaying payment if you're typically a responsible card user.
IF YOU LIKE A "PRESTIGIOUS" CARD...
Okay, I'm not into credit cards for their prestige, but in some countries the Diners Club card is very hard to get. So if you're in Asia or Latin America, I've found that it helps me get better service from hotels when I check in with this card.
In any case, the value proposition of Diners Club was clear to me for the first year. And after I had it, I decided that I would keep it for some of the other reasons I listed above. And believe it or not, this might be one of the last companies that actually answers the phone when you call (instead of just having a recording tell you that "your call is very important to us.")
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
noelanvoyd
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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