Pelago Review: Is Singapore Airlines' Travel Experiences Platform Worth Using? The Conditions of the US$16 Invite Discount, Its Real Value in Hong Kong Dollars and KrisFlyer Miles

Pelago is a platform for booking travel experiences, selling attraction tickets, day tours, theme parks, rail passes, airport transfers, eSIMs, airport lounge access and similar products. Its operator, Encounters Pte. Ltd., is registered in Singapore, and Singapore Airlines' financial statements for the 2025/26 financial year list it as a wholly owned subsidiary. Singapore Airlines conceived Pelago in 2019 and formally launched it in Singapore in 2021; it expanded across Asia-Pacific and into Europe in 2022 and 2023, and the mobile app followed in December 2024.

Pelago holds a Singapore travel agent licence (TA03351) but does not run the activities itself. Under its terms of use, bookings are contracts with local activity suppliers, and Pelago acts only as an intermediary responsible for sales, payment collection and customer service. When something goes wrong, the outcome therefore depends mainly on the supplier's rules and the cancellation policy shown on the product page. A single activity ticket is also not a package tour, so a reader's protection comes chiefly from the cancellation policy, Pelago's terms and the credit card chargeback process.

Pelago lists more than 200,000 activities across over 2,000 destinations, and its App Store description says it covers more than 150 countries. The platform began in Singapore and expanded across Asia-Pacific before adding Europe; the app's languages, English, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and Simplified Chinese, reflect where most of its customers are. For Hong Kong residents, popular short-haul destinations such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Bali are all among its main markets.

Pelago does not sell flights. Singapore Airlines and Scoot passengers can enter their flight booking reference at checkout to apply for a separate passenger discount; that discount is also a promotion and cannot be combined with the referral code.

After opening Pelago's referral page through our invite link, create a new account on that page with KrisFlyer, Google, Facebook or email. Once registration is complete, Pelago issues a US$8 referral code that can be used twice. The terms state that the referred person must click the referral link and register on that page, so there is no code to enter; registering through the regular app or website does not bring a referral code.

Then sign in to the Pelago app with the same account. The referral code works only in the app; each booking must be worth at least S$75 or the equivalent (about HK$459), and the code expires 90 days after it is issued. Simply select it at checkout. It cannot be combined with any other promotion or promo code, and some products appear on Pelago's product exclusion list. The code's currency and amount are fixed by the invite link, so even if you browse in Hong Kong dollars, each use is still worth US$8.

Disclosure: our invite link carries our referral code, RF4A3KM9. After your first booking is completed, Pelago also issues a code to us; this does not affect the discount you receive and costs you nothing.

The referral code is a fixed amount rather than a percentage, so the closer a booking is to the S$75 minimum, the larger the discount in percentage terms. At early November 2026 exchange rates, US$8 is about S$10.25 or HK$63: it takes 13.7% off a S$75 booking, 10.2% off S$100, 5.1% off S$200 and only 3.4% off S$300.

Take a couple travelling to Singapore: in the first week they book S$80 of attraction tickets, and in the second week a S$80 river cruise and dinner package. With US$8 off each booking, they pay about S$139.50 in total instead of S$160, a saving of about HK$126. Spending the same code on a single S$600 family theme park ticket allows only one use, a discount of under 2%. The sensible approach is therefore to put the two discounts towards two moderately priced activities you were already planning to book.

Every new account also receives Pelago's standard new-account code: 10% off, capped at S$10, valid for 90 days and only on the first booking. Agreeing to receive marketing messages at registration brings a further single-use code for 10% off, capped at S$5 and valid for 180 days.

The limitation is that each booking can carry only one offer. The invite page describes the referral code as US$8 off each of the first two app bookings, and US$8 (about S$10.25) is no less than the S$10 cap on the new-account code, so it makes sense to use the referral code on the first two eligible bookings. The first booking then cannot also take the new-account code, but the S$5 marketing-consent code remains available for later bookings.

Registering with, or linking, a KrisFlyer account earns 3 KrisFlyer miles for every S$1 paid on Pelago activity bookings. Miles are calculated on the amount actually paid after discounts and are deducted if a booking is cancelled; Pelago says they are credited within 7 days of the activity, while Singapore Airlines says it can take up to 15 working days. Since September 2025, bookings also earn 1 Elite mile per S$1, which counts towards KrisFlyer membership tiers.

KrisFlyer is Singapore Airlines' frequent flyer programme and is free for anyone to join, but it is entirely separate from Cathay's Asia Miles. A S$150 day tour paid in full earns 450 miles, or about 420 miles after the US$8 discount. Pelago also accepts miles as payment at 100 miles per S$1, which values each mile at about 1 Singapore cent, but the entire booking must be paid in miles, with a minimum of 1,000 miles; redeeming miles for flights usually offers more value. Readers who collect only Asia Miles should treat these miles as an extra rather than a reason to book.

Prices can be shown in Hong Kong dollars or 19 other currencies, and the listed price already includes Pelago's price, fees and taxes, with no separate booking fee. Accepted payment methods include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay in the Safari browser and Google Pay; PayPal is not accepted, and Alipay and WeChat Pay have been suspended since July 2026.

Pelago processes bookings in Singapore, and its help centre notes that cards issued outside Singapore may incur overseas transaction fees. Some Hong Kong credit cards charge a fee on payments to overseas merchants even when they are settled in Hong Kong dollars, so check your card issuer's fee schedule before paying. After you book, Pelago places a hold on your card until the booking is confirmed: many activities are confirmed instantly, while those confirmed manually generally take 24 to 72 hours; once confirmed, a PDF e-voucher is sent by email and WhatsApp.

Each product page states one of the following policies: free cancellation, free cancellation up to a specified number of hours or days before the activity (in local time), or no cancellation. Late cancellations and no-shows are never refunded. Rescheduling is a request rather than a right: Pelago accepts rescheduling requests only when they are made at least 3 days before the activity, and the supplier may still decline.

If a supplier cancels an activity, Pelago refunds the full amount to the original payment method. Its help centre gives differing timeframes for credit card refunds, ranging from within 10 working days to 30 working days, plus the bank's processing time, and the terms do not commit to a refund date. The referral terms do not say whether a code used on a cancelled booking will be reissued, so the two discounts are better used on activities that will definitely go ahead.

Pelago's customer service starts with an AI assistant that operates around the clock. Live chat with a person is limited to KrisFlyer elite members and customers with an activity that day or coming up shortly; other enquiries require a support ticket, and Pelago aims to reply within two working days. Pelago has no phone line; its email address is [email protected]. Neither the app nor the website offers Traditional Chinese, so readers who prefer a Chinese interface must use Simplified Chinese or English.

As of 4 November 2026, the app had only 7 ratings on the Hong Kong App Store, averaging 3.7, which carries limited weight; it scores 4.4 on the Singapore App Store (318 ratings), and Google Play in Hong Kong shows 4.2 (571 ratings, more than 100,000 downloads). Positive reviews focus on easy booking, earning miles and the passenger discount. Negative reviews repeatedly mention customer service blocked by the AI assistant, refunds delayed by months after failed bookings or supplier cancellations, miles not credited, suppliers failing to turn up or to pass on cancellations, product pages that do not make peak dates or ticket validity clear, and failed payments that still appeared as duplicate charges.

Registration takes only a few minutes: the invite page offers four methods, namely KrisFlyer, Google, Facebook, or email with a one-time verification code. Each person may hold only one account; if Pelago considers an account false or duplicated, it may withhold codes or suspend the account. The app is available for iPhone and Android, and the referral code must be used within the app.

To delete an account, submit a request through the virtual assistant in the app. Pelago says this takes 3 to 5 days, and the bookings and unused codes in the account are voided with it, so use or cancel any existing bookings first; some data may be retained where the law requires.

It suits Hong Kong residents planning a trip to Singapore or another Asian city within the next three months who already have two paid activities worth about S$75 to S$150 each in mind and are comfortable booking in an English or Simplified Chinese app. KrisFlyer members and frequent Singapore Airlines passengers stand to gain the most.

Those who plan to buy only one ticket under S$75, whose plans are unsettled and who would rather not book non-refundable activities, who need phone or Traditional Chinese customer service, or whose usual credit card charges a fee on payments to overseas merchants can skip it.