CIMB Travel World Elite vs Maybank World Elite Mastercard

The long-standing rivalry between CIMB and Maybank—once considered the top two banks in Malaysia’s airline miles credit card space—dates back years.

At its peak, the Maybank 2 Cards Premier was the undisputed king of the airline miles game. During this period, competitors like CIMB were still playing catch-up and frankly didn’t pose any serious threat. As a result, Maybank's World Mastercard was left in the shadows of its more popular Visa and American Express siblings, and never quite got the spotlight it might have deserved.

Fast forward to today, Maybank has overhauled its offering and converted all existing Maybank World Mastercard cardholders to the newly launched Maybank World Elite Mastercard, setting the stage for a direct battle with CIMB’s Travel World Elite Mastercard—a product that has arguably become the industry leader in its own category.

Let’s dive into how these two premium credit cards stack up across several crucial aspects.

Annual Fees: A Necessary Evil or Justified Value?

Here’s the thing about annual fees in Malaysia—people generally dislike paying them.

This is in stark contrast to markets like the US or UK, where paying annual fees in exchange for valuable travel benefits is quite common. That said, both the CIMB Travel World Elite and the Maybank World Elite Mastercard are targeting the affluent segment, so it makes sense for them to come with annual fees, provided the benefits justify the cost.

Importantly, both cards offer waivers on these annual fees:

• CIMB’s annual fee is waived with RM240,000 annual spend

• Maybank’s annual fee is waived with just RM100,000 annual spend

While Maybank’s fee is lower and easier to waive, the real value lies in what the card actually offers in return. Let’s explore further.

Airline Miles Conversion: A Clear Winner

This part is fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, the Maybank World Elite Mastercard has some of the weakest airline miles earn rates in Malaysia. In fact, it performs worse than several mass-market cards, including the Alliance Bank Visa Infinite, and even the RM24,000 annual income CIMB Travel Platinum Mastercard!

The Maybank World Elite Mastercard applies a “rounding mechanism,” meaning you earn:

• 10X TreatsPoints for every RM5 spent locally

• 25X TreatsPoints for every RM5 spent overseas

In simple terms, any transaction below RM5 earns you absolutely nothing. That’s a rather frustrating limitation for a card positioned at the elite level.

By contrast, the CIMB Travel World Elite Mastercard offers the same local MPR (miles per ringgit) rate of 0.16, but it goes a step further by offering accelerated earn rates for airline spend, duty-free purchases, and overseas spend.

Overseas spend earns 0.66 MPR for non-Enrich conversions. Admittedly, this still doesn’t top the charts—UOB’s credit cards offer over 0.8 MPR—but the 1% foreign exchange fee waiver on the CIMB card is a smart and subtle edge.

This likely appeals to Private Banking customers from other banks who may not care about earning miles and are more concerned with FX cost savings.

Obviously, I’m not a private banker, and given a choice, I’d take a higher MPR rate over a 1% FX waiver any day.

Miles Conversion Partners

One of the key reasons the Maybank 2 Cards Premier used to dominate the market was its ability to convert TreatsPoints equally to Enrich Miles, KrisFlyer Miles, and Asia Miles. Unfortunately, the older Maybank World Mastercard only allowed conversions to Enrich Miles, making it practically irrelevant to most miles collectors at the time.

The new Maybank World Elite Mastercard does indeed support conversions to Enrich, KrisFlyer, and Asia Miles—but it still falls short of the CIMB Travel World Elite in this regard.

The CIMB Travel World Elite Mastercard supports 12 frequent flyer partners, including world-class airlines such as Qatar Airways, EVA Air and of course, the likes of Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

To date, no other card in Malaysia comes close to this level of flexibility. And please, don’t bring up the HSBC TravelOne Mastercard—its poor conversion rates render it nearly useless for serious miles collectors.

I’ve long said that the ability to convert CIMB Bonus Points to Qatar Airways Avios is one of the most significant developments in Malaysia’s credit card industry. It’s also likely the reason why many cardholders continue to stay within the CIMB ecosystem even when other cards offer higher earn rates.

Lounge Access Benefits

Both the CIMB Travel World Elite and Maybank World Elite offer excellent lounge access benefits, but they’re structured differently.

CIMB Travel World Elite:

• 12X lounge entries via Plaza Premium (globally shareable with supplementary cardholders)

• Free supplementary cards with no annual fee

• Access to Plaza Premium First Lounge at KLIA

• Exclusive limo transfer service between KLIA Main Terminal and Satellite Terminal

• Global access to Plaza Premium First lounges (Hong Kong, Jakarta, etc.)

Maybank World Elite Mastercard:

• 16X lounge entries per year (includes access for one guest)

• Includes Travel Club Lounges in Malaysia

• Plaza Premium First Lounge KLIA access

At first glance, Maybank’s 16 entries may seem more generous, but let’s not forget that Travel Club Lounges in Malaysia are widely regarded as some of the worst airport lounges in the country. For seasoned travellers, this isn’t much of a perk at all.

CIMB’s lounge policy is far more versatile. While it does not allow guest access per se, you can obtain as many supplementary cards as you want (for free), allowing each family member their own access. Maybank’s guest policy is limited to one guest per visit, making it a frustrating experience for families with three or more travellers.

Also worth highlighting: CIMB is the only credit card in Malaysia that offers global access to Plaza Premium First lounges—an unparalleled benefit in the current market.

Other Benefits

While both cards are World Elite Mastercards (and therefore come with a set of Mastercard-branded benefits), there are also bank-issued perks that differ between the two.

CIMB Travel World Elite:

• 12X access to SkyLounge at SkyPark Terminal (Subang Airport)

• Complimentary 4D3N stay at Anantara Vacation Club

• RM80/month in-flight WiFi cashback

Maybank World Elite Mastercard:

• Buy 1 Free 1 Business Class ticket with Qatar Airways (min RM250K spend)

• One-night complimentary stay at Radisson Blu London or Hotel Napoleon Paris (with min 1-night booking, once per year)

• 40% off dining at Marriott Bonvoy Malaysia restaurants

• Complimentary green fees at 100+ golf courses

The “Buy 1 Free 1” Qatar Airways offer on the Maybank World Elite Mastercard looks enticing at first glance, yet its real-world value shrinks under a mountain of fine print.

Card-holders must first charge RM 250,000 within the promotional window just to qualify. Even then, the waived ticket is strictly a companion fare on Qatar’s Kuala Lumpur–London or Kuala Lumpur–Paris route, booked in the pricey R, I or D fare classes through Maybank’s appointed agent, Holiday Tours.

All government taxes, fuel surcharges and fees—easily RM 2,000-plus per person—remain payable, bookings are non-refundable, changes attract a RM 250 fee (plus any fare difference), and both passengers must travel together on the identical flights.

Add a campaign cap of RM 2.7 million issued on a first-come, first-served basis, and a perk that promised “free Business Class” ends up resembling an expensive companion discount wrapped in red tape.

In short, unless you already spend a quarter-million ringgit annually and plan to buy a full-fare Business ticket on one of two specific routes, the benefit offers little practical value—and, unlike the recurring perks on the CIMB Travel World Elite, it’s strictly a one-off, high-hurdle proposition.

Also, to give Refined Points readers a different angle of perspective, because CIMB’s Travel World Elite earns Avios cheaply and transfers instantly, two Business Class saver awards on Qatar (75k Avios + ≈RM 1,950 taxes each) come to ≈RM 7,900 in cash plus 150,000 Avios—less money and far fewer hoops than Maybank, while still flying the same Qsuite product.

Final Thoughts

When the dust settles, the showdown between these two “World Elite” cards is hardly a close contest.

Yes, CIMB’s Travel World Elite carries the steeper annual fee, but every ringgit buys benefits you can actually use—twelve airline partners, a 1% FX-fee waiver, globally recognised Plaza Premium First access, a complimentary limo ride within KLIA, in-flight Wi-Fi rebates, and a genuine 4-night Anantara stay.

None of those perks require gimmicky spend hurdles, agent-only bookings, or hope-and-pray redemption quotas.

By contrast, the Maybank World Elite leans on a lower fee and a headline “Buy 1 Free 1” Business-Class ticket that, once stripped of marketing gloss, is really a full-fare companion discount wrapped in fine print: RM 250 k qualifying spend, capped quotas, restrictive fare classes, hefty taxes, and zero flexibility.

Add in its mediocre earn rates and narrow points transfer options, and the card feels more aspirational than functional.

If your goal is predictable value, straightforward redemptions, and true travel freedom, the CIMB Travel World Elite remains the obvious, no-nonsense choice—higher fee or not.

Until Maybank re-engineers its earn structure and swaps conditional “show ponies” for benefits you can actually enjoy, it will continue to trail a very clear front-runner.