UBS Visa Infinite Review
Updated January 19, 2020.
The Facts
The Math
Even though the annual airline credit is not as flexible as its major competitors, when you are able to utilize this feature, your effective annual fee will be considered $245, similar to Citi Prestige's $245 and Sapphire Reserve's $250, but higher than US Bank Altitude's $75.
As UBS doesn't have a rewards program that allows points to be transfer to frequent traveler miles/points, it came up with a program that still offers good value - the potential maximum value is 1.8 cents per point (cpp), which looks excellent on paper but is hard to achieve or even get close in reality. We have the table below to demonstrate its value across a broad range of ticket cost. From the table, you can see that the better value is achieved when your ticket costs close to $900 - this essentially limits the use to mostly international travel. You'd better redeem points for annual fee (1.4 cpp) than for domestic travel. Considering how difficult it is to come close to the maximum cpp, our valuation of My Choice Rewards points is 1.5 cpp.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $495 for primary cardholder; free additional cards up to 24 users.
- Signup Bonus: 50,000 points or 25,000 points, after you spend $3,000 within the first 3 months of new account opening. At this point, we don't know who is eligible for the higher 50K offer.
- Rewards: 3x airfare, 2x gas and groceries, and 1x everywhere else.
- Application Information Page (to apply, call 888-762-1232 or contact your UBS financial advisor).
- Best Use of My Choice Rewards points: Normally, you may redeem your My Choice Rewards points for travel, statement credit, merchandise, gift cards, etc., at up to 1 cent per point (cpp). However, there are three enhanced redemption options: (1) when you redeem points for cruise or travel packages, your point value will be fixed at 1.25 cpp; (2) you may redeem 35,000 points for your annual fee (1.4 cpp); (3) when you redeem points for airfare through UBS, your point value will depend on your ticket cost: 25,000 points for a ticket up to $350 (maximum value 1.4 cpp), or 50,000 points for a ticket up to $900 (maximum value 1.8 cpp), and the ticket portion that is greater than the cut-points requires 5,000 points per $50.
- Annual $250 airline incidental credit each calendar year: you have to select one U.S. domestic airline, and only incidentals (such as seat upgrades, change/cancelation fees, checked baggage fees, in-flight entertainment, onboard food and beverage charges, airport lounge fees) on the selected airline will be automatically reimbursed as statement credits. This is similar to Amex Platinum's airline credit and is way less flexible than Chase Sapphire Reserve's or Citi Prestige's.
- Airport Lounge Access: (1) Priority Pass Select membership which provides unlimited complimentary access to more than 1,000 airport lounges worldwide. It is not clear at this point how many guests will be allowed for free or if an authorized user will also receive his/her own PPS membership. Please see our featured review to learn more about airport lounge access. (2) Annual $500 credit toward ANY lounge access purchases, after you spend $50,000 each calendar year. You need to call the Customer Service to request reimbursement. While this may look attractive, the spending requirement is obviously very high.
- Hotel Privileges: (1) Visa Infinite Privileges at Relais & Chateaux (a collection of 500+ high-end luxury boutique hotels worldwide): a VIP welcome at all hotels (unique to each property) and daily complimentary breakfasts at 120+ participating hotels. Visit relaischateaux.com/visainfinite-us for details. You will also be accelerated to its Club 5C status after staying 2 nights in a 12-month period. Relais & Chateaux's Club 5C is by-invitation only if you don't have a Visa Infinite and normally requires staying 15 nights per year; perks include room upgrades upon availability, and "Discovery Privileges" unique to each property. (2) Special privileges through UBS Concierge, at Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Waldorf Astoria & Conrad, Canyon Ranch, Ensemble Travel Group (600+ luxury hotels and resorts worldwide), and Villas of Distinction (50 destinations worldwide, up to $700 credits). (3) Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection which offers perks including daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities, at over 900 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. You may book a hotel on VisaSignatureHotels.com and the rates are the same as Best Available Rate (BAR). (4) Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection which covers a subset (200+) of Visa Signature hotels but offers an extra property specific perk like a $75 food and beverage credit or a $100 spa/hotel/rate credit per stay. You may book a hotel a VisaInfiniteHotels.com, and the rates are the same as BAR.
- Other Visa Infinite Benefits: (1) twelve complimentary GoGo inflight Wi-Fi passes each calendar year. Visit visa.gogoair.com/UBS to register your card for this benefit. (2) Visa Infinite Car Rental Privileges at Avis, National, Enterprise, Alamo, and SilverCar. (3) Visa Infinite GroundLink limo service privileges ($30 off for the first time, 15% discount thereafter).
- Other Benefits: (1) 24/7 UBS Concierge Service. (2) Waived foreign transaction fees, with an embedded EMV chip. (3) Primary rental car collision coverage - note while most credit cards provide rental car insurance, they are secondary, meaning your personal insurance's collision damage coverage kicks in before the credit card's. Please see our featured review on credit cards that come with primary rental car insurance for details. (4) Reimbursement for application fees for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) every four years. (5) Get cash from ATMs worldwide without financial charges or cash advance fees via CashConnect, with unlimited ATM fee rebates (up to $10 each transaction) within U.S. (6) UBS Dining Program offering special benefits at select restaurants worldwide. (7) Privileges at 20+ cruise lines. (8) Special benefits at events, concerts, shows, etc. (9) EmpireCLS Worldwide chauffeured services privileges ($50 discount for the first booking, 10% discount thereafter, upgrades upon availability). (10) Luggage Free baggage delivery services privileges (second bag free at the first service, 20% discount thereafter, etc.). (11) Global Airport Meet and Greet service privileges (15% discount). (12) Le Bas International private jet charter service privileges. (13) NetJets private aviation privileges. (14) Wheels Up private aviation privileges. (15) Access to 900+ private golf clubs worldwide. (16) Discounted rates in Troon Prive private golf clubs.
- Protection: UBS Visa Infinite's travel and consumer coverage includes Travel Accident Insurance, Trip Cancellation/Interruption Coverage, Trip Delay Reimbursement, Lost Baggage Reimbursement, Baggage Delay Reimbursement, Emergency Evacuation and Transportation, Roadside Assistance ($50 per event, up to 4 times per year), Purchase Security, Return Protection, Price Protection, Extended Warranty, Event Ticket Protection, and Identity Theft Coverage, etc.
- Other Facts: UBS introduced this card in May 2017 and joined the already heated high-end credit card market. It is made out of metal and thus heavier than regular plastics.
The Math
Even though the annual airline credit is not as flexible as its major competitors, when you are able to utilize this feature, your effective annual fee will be considered $245, similar to Citi Prestige's $245 and Sapphire Reserve's $250, but higher than US Bank Altitude's $75.
As UBS doesn't have a rewards program that allows points to be transfer to frequent traveler miles/points, it came up with a program that still offers good value - the potential maximum value is 1.8 cents per point (cpp), which looks excellent on paper but is hard to achieve or even get close in reality. We have the table below to demonstrate its value across a broad range of ticket cost. From the table, you can see that the better value is achieved when your ticket costs close to $900 - this essentially limits the use to mostly international travel. You'd better redeem points for annual fee (1.4 cpp) than for domestic travel. Considering how difficult it is to come close to the maximum cpp, our valuation of My Choice Rewards points is 1.5 cpp.
| Ticket Cost | Points | cpp |
| $100 | 25,000 | 0.4 |
| $200 | 25,000 | 0.8 |
| $300 | 25,000 | 1.2 |
| $350 | 25,000 | 1.4 |
| $400 | 30,000 | 1.33 |
| $500 | 40,000 | 1.25 |
| $600 | 50,000 | 1.2 |
| $700 | 50,000 | 1.4 |
| $800 | 50,000 | 1.6 |
| $900 | 50,000 | 1.8 |
| $1,000 | 60,000 | 1.67 |
| $1,100 | 70,000 | 1.57 |
| $1,200 | 80,000 | 1.5 |
| $1,300 | 90,000 | 1.44 |
| $1,400 | 100,000 | 1.4 |
| $1,500 | 110,000 | 1.36 |
| $2,000 | 160,000 | 1.25 |
UBS Visa Infinite vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: You can't deny the fact that UBS Visa Infinite looks similar to the highly successful Sapphire Reserve. (1) Their point values are approximately the same as 1.5 cpp in our book; however, the reality is that Chase offers a lot of more flexibility and is far more devaluation resistant as UBS's rewards chart is solely under UBS's control. (2) Their bonus categories are a little different: Chase offers 3x travel and dining, and UBS offers 3x airfare, and 2x gas and groceries. (3) While both cards offer perks such as Priority Pass Select, hotel privileges, primary rental car insurance, Global Entry fee credit, etc., UBS actually offers several key perks that are not available on Chase: GoGo Wi-Fi, free ATM cash withdraw, and access to private golf clubs. (4) When it comes to protection, even though UBS offers similar comprehensive coverage, it does not cover frequent flyer awards tickets or family members other than spouses / underaged children, as provided by Chase. All in all, UBS Visa Infinite comes in very close to our "King of Credit Cards".
The Conclusion
UBS has joined the already (over) heated high-end card market with its Visa Infinite, which comes in very close to the best of the bunch - Sapphire Reserve. As UBS's targeted clients are the ultra affluent ones, it remains to be seen how easily accessible it is to the more general public.
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