You can smell the finishing line. Grab’s loyalty program, Grab Rewards, has been severely destroyed over the past 12 months. Even Grab themselves joined the destruction party in a 33% devaluation earlier this year. That’s what we had to unwillingly accept when Uber left Singapore in 2018, right? Its last savior, Citibank Rewards Visa, drew a hard finishing line for GrabPay just last week.
Some of you may be holding on to hundreds of thousands of Grab points from the glory days not too long ago. I receive repeated questions on what’s the best way to redeem Grab points. In other words, which redemption options give us the best value?
| Grab Points Required | Redemption | Value of Redemption | Advantage | Disadvantage |
| 5,000 | Offset GrabPay Payment | $10 cash | Redeem in-store or online | Not every merchant accepts GrabPay |
| 5,000 | Grab Ride/Food | $10 off ride/food | Can be used for all transactions | Cannot use ongoing promotional voucher (if any) |
| 5,000 | 5,000 STAR$ x2 | $10 CapitaMall voucher | Wide range of CapitaMall shops | Not all CapitaMall shops accept voucher |
| 5,000 | 500 Krisflyer Miles | $8.50 | Quick transfer for urgent miles top up | Bad value |
I currently value Grab points at a low $0.002 each. Or about 23 Indonesian Rupiah, if that’s easier. The table above excludes specific merchant vouchers like Cold Storage, Lazada and TOPMAN. Most of these merchants offer similar voucher value for the same amount of points but limits usage only to one brand. You can find a lot of these stores in CapitaMalls anyway.
Use points to offset GrabPay payments
My strategy now is to use my Grab points to offset GrabPay payments at every chance. Barring any unbelievable promotions in future, this is the most convenient use of my points at fair valuation. Besides, I would still receive more grab points for any portion of the payment that is not paid with points.
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Limited period
As of now, you can redeem 3,000 STAR$ for a $10 Grab voucher. This is great for everyone who had previously transferred Grab points to STAR$ (which is out of stock in Grab’s app now). To explain this conversion simply, you are able to exchange a $3 CapitaMall voucher (3,000 STAR$), for a $10 Grab voucher! Act fast as there is not much Grab voucher remaining in the CapitaStar App. Note that the expiry of these Grab vouchers is 30 April 2020.
Redemption page in CapitaStar App
Do not transfer to Krisflyer blindly
I value Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles at $0.017 each. Unless if I desperately need the miles in my account within a few days, this is not the best option. In fact, Krisflyer miles are very easy to accumulate in Singapore. All local credit cards that accumulate points or miles can be transferred to Krisflyer.
Did you know that you can easily earn 5,000 Krisflyer miles (worth $85) just by signing up for an American Express Krisflyer credit card? All you have to do is make 1 transaction of any amount with that card. Yes, even a 1 cent transaction would qualify. Doesn’t get much easier than that. If you want 5,000 more miles, charge a minimum of $1,000 within the first 3 months.
Conclusion
Rule number 1 of the Miles Game: Never “collect” miles/points and let them rot in your accounts. When you see an opportunity to make a redemption at fair/good valuation, use them.
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