To start with, a Travel Credit Card is not accessible for everyone in the UAE. The majority of the travel credit cards have a minimum salary eligibility of AED 20,000, and even if some of them have credit cards with lower eligibility of AED 12,000 or so, they all have annual fees of about AED 1,000.
Apart from that, their discounts are limited to certain hotel networks or only from certain portals within their network. For example, a Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card will only give you discounts in Marriott Hotels. The good part about these credit cards is usually the lounge access network, and they don’t usually charge foreign exchange fees, but still, their exchange rates aren’t the best. Usually, cash can give you a much better rate. And yes, there are reward points, which can again only be redeemed in the network they allow you to access.
All in all, a travel credit card is meant to cater to an audience of luxury travelers and not budget or mid-range travelers.
Coming to using your normal debit or credit card, all of them have foreign exchange fees anywhere between 1-3%, and obviously, the exchange rates are much worse off. You do not even get reward points for it or discounts in any network of hotels or flights, so using your debit or credit card would be a no-no.
The next option is to use a multi-currency account such as Al Ansari Exchange or Fardan Exchange. With those, the rates are better than the banks but still not the best but still not at par with Google or Mastercard rates. There is no foreign exchange fee, but again, no benefits of hotel or flight discounts, no reward system, or lounge access. Let's not forget random hidden fees which you probably did not even know about when you got the card!
ENTER TravelersPay: To solve all these problems, TravelersPay aims to launch a multi-currency card with 0% forex charges and Google FX rates. The best part is you also get the best prices on any hotels or flights with us.
We won’t stop there; we want to ensure we can help travelers with any requirement they have. We aim to launch a reward system, itinerary planning, visa support, helping you with your whereabouts in any foreign country such as identifying dodgy areas, figuring out your SIM card, helping you get a hotel at the best price in a touristy and safe area, and all of this without breaking your pocket. In fact, you will save money with us!
TravelersPay aims to be your pocket travel buddy, built by travel enthusiasts who travel at least 3 to 4 times a year and are fed up with paying excessive fees and charges for no reason!
If you believe this product could help you, we are planning to launch our MVP next month with only a small group of users and over time scale.
Join our waitlist today on our website, and for hotel bookings, you can contact via WhatsApp at +971 52 313 5279. We aim to provide you up to 15% cheaper prices on hotels.
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