New offerings unveiled by Citibank and du

Citibank launches its Visa programme for travel-focused credit card users and du launches four packages for both pay-as-you-go and monthly plan BlackBerry customers.

Citibank's Visa Signature credit card will allow members access to more than 30 airport VIP lounges worldwide. Simon Dawson / Bloomberg News

In line with the spending season, Citibank will launch Visa Signature on its travel-focused PremierMiles credit card.

"We have been working closely with Visa on the introduction of the new product and are confident that we will see an excellent response from our growing customer base," says Dinesh Sharma, the consumer banking manager at Citibank UAE.

With the card, members will have access to more than 30 major airport VIP lounges worldwide and extensive travel insurance coverage. They will also have dedicated 24/7 Visa Signature Concierge service besides other Visa premium privileges, including fine dining offers in the UAE.

Users can redeem miles for free flights with more than 300 airlines and free hotel stays worldwide; have a like-for-like or better conversion rate with global partners such as Qatar Airways, Jet Airways, Singapore Airlines, British Airways and the Intercontinental and Hilton hotel groups; shop for travel and leisure rewards such as duty free vouchers and movie tickets through a rewards catalogue; and gift miles.

PremierMiles Visa Signature also includes discounts of up to 22 per cent on air tickets, up to 75 per cent on hotels, 20 per cent on yacht hire and 15 per cent on car rental, complimentary tee time at golf courses in the UAE, hotel and car rental loyalty privileges, buy protection, medical and legal referral, and extended warranty.

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The Dubai-based telecoms provider du has launched four packages for both pay-as-you-go and monthly plan BlackBerry customers, ranging between Dh50 and Dh500.

The four plans fall under the BlackBerry National Service package with data package starting from 100MB and going up to 25GB.

Du's existing unlimited international BlackBerry roaming package, for Dh260 a month, and social BlackBerry package for Dh30 a month remain unchanged.

Monthly plan customers on the du Elite Plan, Elite Super Plan and Emirati Plan can buy, track and manage their data by visiting mydata.du.ae from any BlackBerry smartphone or tablet.

"Our new data service packages ... have been designed to offer the entire suite of BlackBerry services and provide consumers with even more choices for accessing data and services," says Farid Faraidooni, the chief commercial officer at du.