| The following is a sponsored post by DBS Bank. The opinions and analysis remain that of The Milelion. |
DBS’ latest Extra Bonus Day promotion takes place on 11 November, and this month’s deals are perfectly-timed for those with year-end VTL travel planned.
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| DBS Extra Bonus Day |
DBS/POSB customers can look forward to 8% cashback on travel and offline shopping, S$12 cashback for travel bookings on the DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace (plus up to 4,000 bonus miles), 60% off TravellerShield Plus insurance (now with COVID-19 coverage) and double value when using DBS Points to offset expenses.
Earn 8% cashback on travel and offline shopping
On 11 November 2021, DBS/POSB Credit and Debit Cardmembers will enjoy an extra 8% cashback on all travel spend and offline shopping spend.
A list of (non-exhaustive) examples has been provided below:
| Category | Sub-Category | Examples |
| Travel (Online & Offline) | Airlines | Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Jetstar, Qatar Airways, Scoot, Singapore Airlines |
| Hotels | Four Seasons Hotel, Grand Hyatt, Hilton Hotels, Holiday Inn, Inter Continental Hotel, Mandarin Oriental, Marriott, Royal Caribbean, Shangri-la Hotel, The Ritz Carlton | |
| Tour Agencies | Agoda, Expedia, Klook, Traveloka, Trip.com | |
| Shopping (Offline only) | Apparel | Adidas, Bata, Charles & Keith, Cotton On, G2000, H&M, Mango, Mothercare, Nike, Uniqlo, Zara |
| Department Stores | BHG, Isetan, Marks & Spencer, OG, Takashimaya, Tangs, Tokyu Hands | |
| Electronic and Computer | Apple, Best Denki, Challenger, Dyson, Gadget Mix, Gain City, Harvey Norman, OSIM, Sony | |
| Home/Office Furnishing & Appliances | Bed Bath N’ Table, Castlery, Courts, Crate & Barrel, IKEA, King Living, Sia Huat, Star Furniture | |
| Speciality Retail | Bath & Body Works, Coach, Furla, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Rolex, Swarovski | |
| Personal Services | Estee Lauder Cosmetic, Jean Yip, ’Occitane, Sephora, The Body Shop, Venus Beauty | |
| Watches & Jewellery | Cartier, Cortina Watch, Goldheart, Patek Philippe, Poh Heng Jewellery, SK Jewellery, Taka Jewellery, The Hour Glass, Tiffany & Co |
No minimum spend is required, and the maximum cashback is capped at S$8 per Cardmember (regardless of how many DBS/POSB Credit or Debit Cards he/she has). In other words, you’ll max out this promotion with S$100 of spending. There is no cap on the maximum number of eligible cardmembers.
This 8% cashback is awarded on top of whatever miles you’d normally earn with your DBS/POSB Credit or Debit Cards, as illustrated below.
| Card | Travel | Offline Shopping | |
| Online | Offline | ||
 DBS Woman’s World Card | 4 mpd* | 0.4 mpd | 0.4 mpd |
 DBS Woman’s Card | 2 mpd^ | 0.4 mpd | 0.4 mpd |
 DBS Altitude Visa | 3 mpd# | 1.2 mpd | 1.2 mpd |
 DBS Altitude AMEX | 3 mpd# | 1.2 mpd | 1.2 mpd |
| *Capped at S$2,000 spend per calendar month ^Capped at S$1,000 spend per calendar month #Capped at S$5,000 spend per calendar month | |||
Do note the transaction date must be on 11 November 2021, but the posting date can be up to 20 November 2021. Most transactions should post within 1-2 working days, in any case.
The 8% cashback will be posted to your card account by 26 November 2021. No registration is required, and the T&Cs for this offer can be found here.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Extra Bonus Day cashback promotion runs alongside DBS’ existing Power Up Your Savings campaign, which offers registered cardholders the opportunity to earn an extra 8% cashback upon meeting their personalised monthly spending goal from now till January 2022.
S$12 cashback for DBS Marketplace transactions
On 11 November 2021, registered DBS/POSB Credit or Debit Cardmembers will receive a flat S$12 cashback when they make a qualifying transaction of any amount at the following participating partners.
| DBS Marketplace | Partners | Payment Mode |
| Education |
| DBS/ POSB card |
| Travel & Leisure |
| DBS/ POSB card |
| Home & Living |
| DBS/ POSB card |
Registration is required, and is already open via this link. A maximum of 10,000 registrations can be made, so be sure to register ASAP.
Customers with qualifying transactions will receive S$12 cashback credited to their PayNow-linked DBS/POSB deposit account (or failing which, DBS/POSB SGD-denominated savings/current account) by 31 December 2021.
The T&Cs can be found here.
For avoidance of doubt, this S$12 cashback will stack with the 8% cashback above, where transactions are made at eligible travel and shopping merchants.
Up to 4,000 bonus miles for booking flights/ hotels
S$12 cashback is nice in itself, but there’s some further opportunities for stacking.
From now till 21 November 2021, DBS Credit Cardmembers who book flights or hotels (outside of Singapore) via the DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace will receive:
- 1,000 DBS points (worth 2,000 miles) if they spend at least S$600
- 2,000 DBS points (worth 4,000 miles) if they spend at least S$1,500
| ✔️ Participating Partners |
| Flights: Singapore Airlines, Travel Trade Marketplace, Price Breaker Hotels (stays outside of Singapore): Agoda, Expedia |
Hotel stays must be completed by 31 December 2021, while flights must depart Singapore by 31 December 2021 and return by 28 February 2022.
To illustrate a sweet stacking opportunity, suppose you spend S$1,500 on Singapore Airlines tickets on 11.11. You’d be looking at:
- S$12 cashback (from DBS Marketplace offer)
- S$8 cashback (from 8% cashback offer)
- 6,000 miles (if paid with DBS Woman’s World Card)
- 4,000 miles (from DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace offer)
That’s a very tidy return indeed- basically 6.6 mpd on air tickets, plus S$20 off your fare. What’s more, Singapore Airlines tickets booked on the DBS Travel & Leisure portal price exactly the same as the official website, and you’ll still earn KrisFlyer miles, Elite miles and PPS Value as per your fare class.
The T&CS of this offer can be found here.
Up to 2,000 bonus miles for booking staycations
If you’re planning a staycation, making a local hotel booking on Agoda and Expedia via the DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace will earn you:
- 300 DBS points (worth 600 miles) with a min. spend of S$200
- 600 DBS points (worth 1,200 miles) with a min. spend of S$400
- 1,000 DBS points (worth 2,000 miles) with a min. spend of S$600
Once again, this stackable with the 11.11 offers, namely 8% cashback (from Cards), S$12 cashback (from Marketplace).
The T&Cs of this offer can be found here.
Up to 60% off TravellerShield Plus Plans (with COVID-19 coverage)
If you’re planning a VTL trip, you’ll definitely want to purchase travel insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, quarantine allowance, trip cancellation and so forth (it may even be a mandatory requirement to enter some countries such as South Korea).
TravellerShield Plus recently added COVID-19 coverage, and single-trip plans are being discounted by 60% on 11 November 2021 only. Here’s a summary of the COVID-19 specific coverage:
| COVID-19 Coverage | |||
| Classic | Premier | Platinum | |
| Overseas Medical Expenses* | S$50K | S$100K | S$200K |
| Overseas Hospital Confinement Benefit Per Day (Cap) | S$100 (S$700) | S$100 (S$1,400) | S$100 (S$1,400) |
| Overseas Quarantine Benefit Per Day (Cap) | S$100 (S$700) | S$100 (S$1,400) | S$100 (S$1,400) |
| Emergency Medical Evac. | S$50K | S$100K | S$200K |
| Repat. of Mortal Remains | S$50K | S$100K | S$200K |
| Journey Cancel. | S$2.5K | S$5K | S$7.5K |
| Journey Curtail. | S$2.5K | S$5K | S$7.5K |
| *Lower limits apply to those aged 70 years and above | |||
With medical coverage starting from S$50,000 per person (for those aged 69 and below), it more than meets the Korean VTL’s requirement of at least 30 million KRW (~S$35,000).
And in case you were thinking of staying closer to home, TravellerShield Plus provides coverage for cruises to nowhere too- just select “Cruise to Nowhere” in the destination field of your application to receive coverage.
Here’s some sample prices, after the 60% premium discount:
- 4 day cruise to nowhere: from S$21.20
- 7-day trip to Korea: from S$60
- 14-day trip to UK: from S$117.20
Double value for cash rebates
From 8-14 November 2021, DBS is offering double the usual rate for using DBS Points to offset credit card expenses via the DBS PayLah! app.
For example, I can use 2,818 DBS Points to offset a S$28.18 expense on my DBS Woman’s World Card. This works out to 1 cent per DBS point (or 0.5 cents per mile, if you want to think about it in terms of miles).
During the 8-14 November 2021 period, I’ll also receive 100% cashback on the amount offset. All in all, I’ve received S$56.36 in value (because the S$28.18 debit became a S$28.18 credit) for spending 2,818 of DBS Points, which gives a value of 2 cents per DBS point (1 cent per mile). From 15 November 2021, the cashback rate drops to 50%, or 1.5 cents per DBS point (0.75 cents per mile).
Cardmembers are entitled to up to S$250 cashback for redemptions of DBS Points from 5-30 November 2021. The T&C of this offer can be found here.
Personally, I wouldn’t spend DBS Points this way- they’re much more valuable when redeemed for miles. That said, if you happen to have a small amount of expiring points, this is a way to get additional value out of them.
DBS Traveller Kit
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| DBS Traveller Kit |
To mark the expansion of the Vaccinated Traveller Lane (VTL) scheme and the return of leisure travel, DBS has launched the DBS Traveller Kit, a curated set of deals and promotions on flights, accommodation, COVID-19 travel insurance, and more.
DBS/POSB customers will enjoy:
- S$20 off a S$200 Klook e-gift card
- S$50 off VTL flights with Trip.com
- Members’ rate of S$128 nett for pre-departure COVID-19 test
- Double value when paying with DBS Points on Travel & Leisure marketplace
58% cashback on hawker meals with DBS PayLah!
Even if you’re not planning to head overseas, you can still enjoy 58% cashback on your first payment with DBS PayLah! on 11 November 2021 at participating hawker stalls, capped at S$3 for the first 100,000 customers- no minimum spend required.
If you don’t fancy queueing, you can skip the queue by ordering hawker meals through WhyQ, enjoying the same 58% cashback offer on your first transaction on 11 November 2021 (also capped at S$3 for the first 100,000 customers). Stack this with the following promo codes to save even more:
- New users: WHYQNEW (up to S$6 off)
- All users: PLWHYQ (S$2 off)
The T&Cs of this offer can be found here.
Conclusion
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| DBS Extra Bonus Day |
If you’re in the midst of making plans for a year-end VTL getaway, be sure to check out the full range of deals available to DBS/POSB customers.
My pick would be 60% off TravellerShield Plus (since it now includes COVID-19 coverage), and stacking up to S$20 cashback with 4,000 bonus miles when buying Singapore Airlines air tickets through the DBS Travel & Leisure Marketplace.
I searched for hotels on DBS marketplace for Frankfurt city 2n in Dec and was returned a grand total of 5 properties. Munich gave me 473 properties though.
I selected the other option for Frankfurt (multi-city) for hotels and saw 475 properties in Frankfurt.
According to the policy wording of the DBS Traveller Plus Travel Insurance, the daily payout for quarantine only applies “If, during the Period of insurance, You are necessarily placed under Compulsory Quarantine at Temporary Medical & Quarantine Facility as a result of COVID-19 and confirmed by a Doctor …”
Would a hotel be considered a temporary quarantine facility since it’s mandatory?
I think it is no. It you look for the definition of “Temporary Medical & Quarantine Facility”, it does not cover hotels.
So in this case, the entire policy is a no-go given that this will probably be the part where most people are concerned about for international travel.
I will check with chubb and get an official response to this qn. You’re right though- given that Europe and usa/canada practice self isolation rather than government quarantine facilities, this would be an issue. I’ll see if that wording was deliberate or inadvertent.
Keen to get an answer on this too before buying this travel insurance policy as my main concern is testing positive for Covid during the PDT in Germany.
How would you say this DBS/Chubb policy compares with the others you covered a few weeks back in your Germany trip report, Aaron?
Thanks!
Aaron, could you write an article or update your old article with more information on which travel insurance actually covers hotel isolation cost because of catching covid overseas? I can do my own research, but I think an article can benefit a lot of your readers. Thank you!
Could the extra expenses incurred from an extended hotel stay and change of flight be covered under Section 23 (travel disruption) instead?
Any news so far? looking forward to get it today if possible
unfortunately, no answer so far.
reply:
The TravellerShield Plus policy will provide cover for quarantine in hotels (under the Overseas Quarantine Benefit due to Covid-19), if all the conditions below are fulfilled:
For the Travel & Leisure deals, do I need to only buy anything on Klook or must be a specific activity that is listed on the DBS market place. Just wondering if F&B on klook is counted towards this…does Klook tag their products by different MCC code?
This is referring to the $12 cash back aspect. Hoping to understand the mechanism.
Will check with dbs
response: customers that originate from Travel Marketplace are able to make any purchase on Klook and they will be accorded the cashback as long as the merchant on record is Klook.