Emirates NBD Smiles: Is It Worth the Hype?

How I Got Started with Smiles

I opened my Emirates NBD account in January 2022, mostly because my company's salary transfer was set up with them. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to the Smiles program that came bundled with my account. It was just another app to download, another password to remember.

The turning point came about six months in. I was browsing the app out of curiosity and realized I had accumulated around 8,000 points without actively doing anything. Just regular transactions, salary deposits, and bill payments had quietly been generating rewards.

That's when I decided to actually understand the system. And honestly? It's more complicated than any bank brochure will tell you.

The Point Earning Structure - What They Don't Advertise

Here's the thing about Smiles points that took me months to figure out: not all transactions are equal. The earning rate depends heavily on which card you have, where you spend, and sometimes seemingly random promotional periods.

I upgraded to the World Elite card in mid-2023, and that's when things got interesting. The 525 AED annual fee seemed steep initially, but let me break down my actual numbers.

Real Numbers from My Account

Between July 2023 and June 2024, I tracked every point I earned. Here's the unfiltered data:

Total spending on the card: approximately 147,000 AED (this includes rent, which I paid by card for a 2% fee to earn points - more on whether this was worth it later).

Points earned: 152,400 Smiles points

Value when redeemed: Here's where it gets complicated. Smiles points don't have a fixed cash value. When I redeemed 50,000 points for grocery vouchers at Carrefour, I got 500 AED worth. That's 1 point = 0.01 AED. But when I tried to redeem for electronics, the ratio was closer to 1 point = 0.007 AED.

The Expiry Problem Nobody Mentions

This is my biggest frustration with the program, and I learned it the hard way.

In February 2024, I logged into the app and noticed my point balance had dropped by about 3,200 points overnight. After a confusing call with customer service (three transfers later), I discovered that Smiles points expire on a rolling 12-month basis from when they were earned. Not 12 months from your last activity. Not 12 months from account opening. From each individual transaction.

This means if you earned 500 points on March 15, 2024, those specific 500 points expire on March 14, 2025. There's no notification system that I've found effective - the in-app alerts came literally 2 days before expiry, which isn't enough time to plan a meaningful redemption.

"I now set a monthly calendar reminder to check my points breakdown and redeem anything that's approaching the 11-month mark."

Best Redemption Options I've Found

After two years of experimenting, here's my ranked list of redemption value:

1. Carrefour Grocery Vouchers - Best Value

Consistently gives 0.01 AED per point. Since groceries are a guaranteed expense anyway, this became my go-to. I typically redeem 20,000-30,000 points every few months for shopping credit.

2. Restaurant Deals Through the App

Variable value, but during Ramadan and DSF periods, I've seen offers where 5,000 points got me a 75 AED discount at places I was planning to visit anyway. That's 0.015 AED per point - above average.

3. Cinema Tickets at VOX

Reasonable value around 0.009 AED per point. I used this a few times when there were no good grocery offers available.

Avoid: Electronics and Travel

The point-to-value ratio for electronics is terrible. A 2,000 AED appliance might cost 300,000 points when the equivalent cash purchase would require points worth far less if redeemed elsewhere. Travel bookings through Smiles also seemed overpriced compared to booking directly.

The Rent Payment Experiment

I mentioned earlier that I paid rent by credit card. Here's the breakdown of whether it made sense:

My rent: 6,500 AED/month
Card processing fee: 2% = 130 AED
Points earned: 6,500 points (at 1 point per AED)
Effective point value if redeemed at Carrefour: 65 AED

So I was paying 130 AED to get 65 AED worth of groceries. Mathematically, it didn't work out. I stopped doing this after three months.

However, if you're chasing a signup bonus or trying to hit a spending threshold for a promotional multiplier, it might make sense temporarily. Just don't do it as a regular strategy.

My Current Strategy

After all this experimentation, here's how I use Emirates NBD Smiles now:

• Use the World Elite card for all restaurant spending (2x points)
• Use Careem Pay for groceries instead (better cashback - see my other article)
• Redeem points monthly for Carrefour vouchers to avoid expiry losses
• Watch for 3x or 4x promotional periods and consolidate big purchases then
• Never pay rent or DEWA by card - the fees destroy any reward value

Is the Annual Fee Worth It?

For me, yes, but barely. The 525 AED fee breaks down to about 44 AED per month. If you're spending over 4,000-5,000 AED monthly on the card at places with good multipliers, you'll come out ahead. Below that threshold, stick with the free debit card option and earn points more slowly.

The airport lounge access that comes with the World Elite has also been useful - I've used it four times this year, which would have cost about 180-200 AED per visit otherwise. That alone covers a significant chunk of the annual fee.