My Wallet Strategy: Why These 5 Cards Are All I Need for Luxury Travel

In the world of travel hacking, it’s easy to get lost. You see forums and social media posts with people juggling 15, 20, or even more credit cards. It can feel complicated, overwhelming, and frankly, unsustainable.

But what if the smartest path wasn’t about having the most cards, but about having the right cards?

Welcome to my personal wallet strategy. I don’t believe in collecting endless pieces of plastic. I believe in a simple, powerful, and curated approach. In this guide, I’m going to open my wallet and show you the only 5 credit cards I use to unlock immense travel value—from business class flights to luxury hotel stays—all without the headache of managing a massive portfolio.

This is my complete, optimized strategy for 2025. The cards we’ll be covering are:

• Axis Burgundy Magnus
• Axis Atlas
• American Express Platinum Charge Card
• American Express Platinum Reserve Card
• HDFC Infinia

Let’s break down the specific job each one does.

1. Axis Burgundy Magnus: The High-Value Transfer Workhorse

For me, the Axis Magnus is not a simple “use everywhere” card. It’s a specialized tool for two very specific and high-value purposes: funding luxury hotel stays and booking aspirational airline tickets.

Why It’s in My Wallet:

• Dual-Threat Transfer Options: This card is a rare powerhouse because it’s equally strong for both hotels and flights. The ability to transfer points at a great 5:4 ratio to Accor Hotels is fantastic for booking stays at Fairmont, Raffles, and Sofitel. At the same time, it’s one of the best ways in India to access high-value airline programs like Air Canada’s Aeroplan and various Avios partners.
• High Earnings on Large Purchases: The card truly shines on big-ticket spending. For spending over ₹1.5 lakh in a statement cycle, it earns 35 EDGE REWARD points for every ₹200 spent, which is a fantastic return.

My Strategy for This Card (The Reality Check):

My strategy is to use the Magnus exclusively for planned, big-ticket expenses—think Household purchases, or major electronics where I know the merchant category is eligible.

However, using this card effectively in 2025 requires some homework. Axis has recently added a long list of spending exclusions (like utility bills, Jewellery, Insurance, and government payments) that no longer earn reward points.

This has made the process a bit tedious. My golden rule now is to always perform a small test transaction on a new or large merchant portal before making the actual big purchase. This helps confirm that the spending category is not excluded and will indeed earn points. It’s an extra step, but it’s essential to avoid disappointment on a large spend.

About 50% of the points I earn on this card are earmarked for Accor hotel stays, and the other 50% are saved for major international flight redemptions.

2. Axis Atlas: The Flexible Travel Currency Generator

While the Magnus is for big, planned purchases, the Atlas is my dedicated card for one thing: travel. It doesn’t earn standard points; it earns a special currency called “Edge Miles,” which are incredibly flexible and valuable.

Why It’s in My Wallet:

• The 1:2 Transfer Ratio: This is the card’s superpower. For most airline partners, 1 Edge Mile converts into 2 Partner Miles. This effectively doubles the value of your earnings when you’re ready to transfer.
• Accelerated Travel Spends: The card earns a whopping 5 Edge Miles per ₹100 on all travel spending, including flights and hotels booked directly with the airlines or hotel chains.
• Rewarding Milestone Bonuses: Atlas has a unique status system (Silver, Gold, Platinum). When you reach certain spending milestones in a year (e.g., ₹7.5 lakhs), you are rewarded with a large bonus of thousands of Edge Miles, which provides a massive boost to your points balance.

My Strategy for This Card:

The Atlas is my go-to card for covering any travel-related expenses that I’m not reimbursing with points. This includes:

• Booking budget airline tickets.
• Paying the mandatory taxes and fees on my award tickets.
• Booking hotels that aren’t part of a major chain.

The goal is always to maximize the 5 Edge Miles per ₹100 category and to hit the annual spending milestones to unlock the huge bonus. These Edge Miles then become a powerful and flexible stash that I can transfer to a wide variety of airlines to fund future redemptions. It’s the card that helps refill my points balance after a big trip.

3. American Express Platinum Charge Card: The Ultimate Perks & Lifestyle Pass

This card is the cornerstone of our travel experience. While I don’t use it for all my daily spending, I hold it for the incredible portfolio of elite-level benefits and its powerful, targeted spending offers. This is my Ultimate Perks and Lifestyle Pass.

Why It’s in My Wallet:

• Unmatched Global Lounge Access: It provides the best lounge access of any card in India, period, including the exclusive Centurion Lounges.
• Elite Hotel Status: The card grants us instant Marriott Bonvoy Gold and Hilton Honors Gold status, which means better rooms and benefits on every stay.
• The Primary Add-On Card: My wife holds a complimentary add-on card, giving her valuable lounge access and benefits when she travels solo.
• Valuable Lifestyle Perks: We get great value from the movie benefit at PVR cinemas: 50% off a second ticket plus ₹200 off food and drinks.
• Strategic Accelerated Rewards: This is a key hidden power. The card offers incredible targeted multipliers, such as 5x points on voucher purchases through the Amex Gyftr portal and a massive 10x points on direct Air India bookings. These often come with special promotional offers a few times a year.
• Niche Points Transfers: I use this card’s points to top up my Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Marriott Bonvoy accounts.

My Strategy for This Card (The Annual Dilemma):

My strategy for the Platinum Charge card is twofold. First, it’s my travel day companion, used for lounge access and to ensure our comprehensive travel insurance is active.

Second, I am highly opportunistic with its targeted multipliers. I keep a close watch for their special promotions. When a good 10x offer on Air India appears, I use it to book any planned cash flights. Similarly, I use the Amex Gyftr portal to buy specific vouchers at 5x when needed. This targeted earning complements the consistent, everyday earning of my other cards.

However, I still evaluate its high annual fee every year. My plan is not to renew it unless I receive a compelling retention offer from American Express that justifies the cost. This annual “keep or cancel” decision is a key part of an optimized wallet.

4. American Express Platinum Reserve Card: The Hotel & Dining Membership Card

This card plays a unique and completely passive role in my wallet. It’s a perfect example of how a card’s value can shift based on its annual fee.

Why It’s in My Wallet:

• The Honest Answer: The Annual Fee Was Waived. This is the primary reason I continue to hold this card. It’s a perfect example of a “retention keep,” where the card’s value proposition changes entirely when you don’t have to pay for it.
• Valuable Complimentary Memberships: Even without active use, the card provides a suite of hotel and dining memberships that offer great value throughout the year:
  • Accor Plus Traveller: This gives us a complimentary night’s stay at an Accor property in the Asia-Pacific region and up to 50% off on dining.
  • Taj Epicure: This provides valuable discounts on dining and stays at luxury Taj hotels across India.
  • EazyDiner Prime: A great membership for securing discounts at a wide range of domestic restaurants.

My Strategy for This Card (The Honest Assessment):

Truthfully, I haven’t used this card for a single transaction in the past year. Its “job” in my wallet is to simply exist and provide the benefits of its complimentary memberships, which I received for free thanks to the fee waiver.

This is a crucial part of my “less is more” philosophy. A card must justify its annual fee. In this case, with the fee waived, the value I get from the Accor, Taj, and EazyDiner memberships is a clear win. If I am asked to pay the full annual fee at my next renewal, I would almost certainly cancel it, as its core benefits are already well-covered by my other cards. It’s a great lesson in annually evaluating the net value of every card you hold.

5. HDFC Infinia: The SmartBuy Multiplier & Everyday King

If the other cards in my wallet are specialized tools, the HDFC Infinia is the powerful and reliable engine at the center of my entire points-earning strategy. It’s my go-to for accelerated rewards and my default card for most everyday spending.

Why It’s in My Wallet:

• The SmartBuy Portal: This is the Infinia’s ultimate superpower. The ability to get accelerated 5x to 10x reward points on major platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and on flight/hotel bookings is a game-changer. This portal is the primary reason for the massive number of points we earn each month.
• High Base Earning Rate: Even without the portal, it earns a strong 5 points per ₹150 on most other spending, making it a fantastic “catch-all” card.
• Flexible & Valuable Points: HDFC points are incredibly versatile. They can be transferred to top-tier partners like Singapore Airlines, Finnair, and ITC, or redeemed directly on the SmartBuy portal for flight and hotel bookings at a simple and high value of 1 point = ₹1.
• Solid Travel Perks: It comes with its own unlimited Priority Pass for lounge access, which is a great perk, especially for my add-on users.

My Strategy for This Card:

My strategy for the Infinia is twofold:

1. It’s My Voucher Engine: At the start of each month, my first action is to use the Infinia to max out our planned spending on high-value vouchers (Amazon, Swiggy, Myntra, etc.) via the SmartBuy portal. This single action is the core of my “12,000 points per month” strategy and the famous “Gold Hack.”
2. It’s My Direct Redemption King: When I want a simple flight or hotel booking and don’t want to transfer points, I use the SmartBuy portal to redeem points directly at the 1 point = ₹1 valuation. This is exactly what we did for our Kempinski hotel stay in Seychelles.

For any spending that doesn’t fit the specific strategies of my other cards, the Infinia is my default choice. It’s the most reliable and powerful all-rounder in the Indian market.

How It All Works Together: My Daily Spending Strategy

Having the right cards is only half the battle. The real skill is knowing which card to use for which transaction to maximize value every single time. Here’s a quick look at my decision-making process for common purchases:

When I’m booking a flight on Indigo or another airline (not Air India)…

• I use the Axis Atlas or Axis Burgundy Magnus .
• Why: To capture the fantastic 5x Edge Miles on direct travel spending for Atlas Card.I always compare the price with Axis Travel Edge & Google Flights.

When I’m booking a flight directly on Air India…

• I use the American Express Platinum Charge Card.
• Why: This is a specific, opportunistic play. I use my Amex Platinum Charge card for these bookings to capture the massive 10x points multiplier when it’s active.

When I’m buying something from Amazon or Flipkart…

• I use the HDFC Infinia.
• Why: I first buy Amazon/Flipkart vouchers on the SmartBuy portal with the Infinia to lock in the 5x accelerated points, and then use the voucher for the final purchase.

When we’re going out for a family dinner…

• I use the Swiggy Dineout/Eazydiner App + HDFC Infinia or Axis Burgundy Magnus.
• Why: My strategy here is to “stack” discounts. First, I use an app like Swiggy Dineout or Eazydiner to get a flat 25% to 50% discount off the entire restaurant bill. Then, I pay the remaining, discounted amount with either my Infinia or Magnus for Burgundy to earn a high base rate of points on the final payment. This combination is the most efficient way to save on dining out.

When I have a large, planned, non-travel purchase…

• I use the Axis Burgundy Magnus.
• Why: To trigger the higher earning rate of 35 points per ₹200 on spends over ₹1.5 lakh in a month. (After doing a small test transaction first!)

The Missing Piece: Why I’ve Applied for the HDFC Biz Black Card

As you can see, my 5-card wallet is highly optimized, but it’s not perfect. One of the biggest challenges in 2025 is the growing list of spending exclusions on personal credit cards. Crucial payments for utilities, insurance premiums, and government transactions often earn zero points on my current cards.

This is a problem I’m actively working to solve. That’s why I have recently applied for the HDFC Biz Black Card.

This card is specifically designed for business owners and, most importantly, it does offer reward points on many of these normally excluded categories.

If my application is approved, this card wouldn’t replace any of my main five. Instead, it would become a highly specialized tool used only for those specific transactions that my other cards won’t reward. It would plug the final gap in my points-earning strategy, ensuring that truly no spend goes unrewarded.

I’m still waiting for the application result, but I will be sure to post a full review and an update on how it fits into my strategy right here on Dealuni.com if I’m approved. Stay tuned!

Conclusion: Your Wallet, Your Strategy

And there you have it—a complete look inside my 5-card wallet for 2025.

As you can see, the strategy isn’t about having a card for every possible situation. It’s about choosing a small number of powerful, complementary tools and understanding the specific job each one is meant to do. This “less is more” approach reduces complexity and allows you to focus on maximizing value where it truly matters, turning your everyday spending into extraordinary travel.

Building the right wallet for you is a personal journey. You may not need all five of these cards, or your spending habits might call for a different one. The key takeaway is to be intentional: analyze your spending, understand your travel goals, and choose cards that serve a clear purpose.

What’s the most valuable card in your wallet and why? Share your own “Wallet MVP” in the comments below!