UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card offering Accor Plus membership with 3 free nights

I’m no fan of the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card, which I believe offers an underwhelming value proposition relative to its hefty S$642 annual fee. But it’s just introduced an interesting new welcome gift that, if nothing else, warrants further inspection.

From now till 30 June 2022, new UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card members can choose to receive a free Accor Plus membership with three complimentary hotel nights, instead of the usual 25,000 welcome miles. 

Accor Plus members enjoy up to 50% off dining (and 15% off drinks) at more than 1,400 restaurants across Asia Pacific, up to 50% off room rates during Red Hot Room sales, ALL Silver status, and more. 

For a full rundown of Accor Plus benefits, refer to this article.

Accor Plus welcome gift

To enjoy the Accor Plus welcome gift, customers must apply and be approved for the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card by 30 June 2022. The first year’s annual fee of S$642 must be paid, and customers must register via SMS (failing which, they’ll receive the default welcome gift of 25,000 miles):

Oh, and because it’s UOB, you’ll also need to be within the first 300 customers to do so. If you’re outside the first 300, you’ll receive an Accor Plus membership with two complimentary nights instead of three. 

UOB will send a registration link to activate the Accor Plus membership. Membership is valid for one year from date of activation.

The T&C for this offer can be found here. 

Is it worth it?

I’ll say right off the bat that if you asked me to choose between an Accor Plus membership with three complimentary hotel nights or 25,000 miles, I’d take the former in a heartbeat. 

25,000 miles, at a 1.8 cents per mile valuation, are worth S$450. An Accor Plus membership with two complimentary nights costs S$528 (although from time to time you can get it from S$458 on sale), so factor in the third night and the gulf is even wider.

❓ Own an SME?

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Reminder: If you own a small of medium-sized business, you can get an Accor Plus membership with one complimentary night via the first-year-free AMEX HighFlyer Card.

However, a better question would be whether the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card is worth its S$642 annual fee in the first place. 

I remain unconvinced, given the only other perks of note are four complimentary DragonPass lounge visits and 50% off weekday lunch at the Grand Hyatt. That’s it. There’s no airport limo, the Gourmet Collection membership and free Singtel data roaming are gone, and your points expire after two years. 

Since the card benefits are so underwhelming, I really view this as a question of whether or not an Accor Plus membership with three complimentary nights is worth S$642. It might be, assuming you dine out often and spend your three nights at Sofitel-tier hotels, but if Accor Plus is all you want then you could be better off waiting for another membership sale. 

Overview: UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card

Here’s a quick overview of the features of the UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card.

Apply Here
Income Req.	S$150,000 p.a	Points Validity	2 years
Annual Fee	S$642	Min. Transfer	5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)
Miles with Annual Fee	25,000	Transfer Partners	Singapore Airlines Cathay Pacific
FCY Fee	3.25%	Transfer Fee	S$25
Local Earn	1.4 mpd	Points Pool?	Yes
FCY Earn	2.0 mpd	Lounge Access?	Yes
Special Earn	None	Airport Limo?	No
Cardholder Terms and Conditions

Cardholders earn 1.4 mpd on local currency spending and 2.0 mpd on foreign currency spending. Remember, however, that UOB cards earn in blocks of S$5, meaning a S$9.99 transaction earns the same as a S$5 one.

In fact, there’s something especially penalising about UOB cards because you can be the victim of double rounding. UOB first rounds your transaction down to the nearest S$5, then multiplies the amount by 3.5 UNI$ (assuming it’s a Singapore Dollar transaction). This UNI$ figure is then rounded down again to the nearest whole number. 

For example, imagine you spent S$9 on your UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card. You might figure that’s 12.6 miles (@ 1.4 mpd), but…

• The S$9 is rounded down to S$5
• S$5 is awarded 3.5 UNI$
• 3.5 UNI$ is rounded down to 3 UNI$

You actually earn 3 UNI$, or 6 miles, yielding a mere 0.67 mpd!

Points pool with other UOB credit cards, and can be transferred to either Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific with a minimum transfer of 5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles) required. 

Conclusion

The UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card is offering new sign-ups a free Accor Plus membership with three complimentary hotel nights, provided you’re among the first 300 to get approved. This is certainly better than the usual 25,000 welcome miles, but I’d argue that the card is still fundamentally unattractive in and of itself. 

If you were in the market for a $120K card, there’s no reason why you should settle for this one.