Disclosure: I do not receive a commission for this card.
There is a lot of competition by credit card companies to earn a place in our wallets. We all have different cards that we would grant a place to with many of the usual suspects – Barclaycard Arrival, Chase Ink Bold/Plus, American Express SPG, Chase Sapphire Preferred – having a prominent place in the wallet. Then there are the other cards that we carry while we put the minimum spending on them but they really do not rate a permanent place. We hold them for a while and then cancel them or downgrade them when the fee comes due.
Chase Hyatt Credit Card
Application Link – Chase Hyatt Credit Card – Earn 2 Free Nights After Spending $1,000 in 3 months (I do not receive a commission for this card)
Then we have a card like the Chase Hyatt credit card – a card to have to and hold. It offers a very strong sign-up bonus as well as excellent card features:
- 2 free nights at any Hyatt after spending $1,000 in 3 months
- 1 free night at a category 1-4
- Hyatt Platinum status as long as you hold the card
- An aside benefit because of the Platinum status, access to Hyatt’s My Elite Rate
But, as great as the card is, it is a card that you should not use unless you actually pay to stay at Hyatts (it gives 3 points per dollar and gives nights/stay credits toward Hyatt Diamond status when you hit $20,000 and $40,000 thresholds). There are two reasons why you should not use this card.
Better options for earning Hyatt points
Ultimate Reward points transfer to the Hyatt Gold Passport program at a 1:1 ratio. That means that all points that are earned from the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Bold and Plus cards can be transferred to your Hyatt account. There are enough category bonuses with those three cards that you can earn far more (potential) Hyatt points than if you use your Chase Hyatt card. Refer to the chart below to compare the bonuses earned by each card. The following chart says Hyatt Points even though the points earned by the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Bold/Plus are Ultimate Reward points because we are assuming these would be transferred to Hyatt for our little example. The * refers to the fact that the airline travel must be booked through the airline’s website to earn the bonus points.
[table “” not found /]As you can see, for every category (except Hyatt hotels), you are at even with the points earned by the Hyatt card or doing much better. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, there is really little/no reason to use the Chase Hyatt card at all.
Bonus point offerings
One of the great things about not using the Chase Hyatt card is that Chase will send you incentive offers to get you to use the card more often. My wife has receive these offers every 6 months. They normally read like this:
[blockquote]Spend $3,000 or more with your Hyatt Credit Card from normally a 3 month period, and receive 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points, in addition to the points you would already earn. [/blockquote]So, for spending about $1,000 per month for 3 months, you will earn 5,000 Hyatt points. That means you are earning about 2.67 Hyatt points per dollar (for the $3,000) on everyday spending. That is really good! This offer never is extended to either one of us if we have been using the Hyatt card. It normally only comes out when it has been a couple/few months since our last use of it. Also, we only receive two such offers per year.
This provides yet another incentive to not use this card (even though Chase would prefer you continue using it all the time). Don’t use the card and you may receive a bonus to encourage spending again for a short time.
Summary
The Chase Hyatt credit card is definitely a card to get (though maybe not until you have a use for the 2 free nights) and it makes a strong case towards having you hold on to it. Just maybe in your drawer and not in your wallet. 🙂 This card is one that Rachel and I will be holding for quite a while. Yes, it does have an annual fee of $75, but considering that you receive a free night annually as well as the Platinum status, I consider it worth it.
Not to mention the upgraded status with M Life. I did my first M Life stay in November, felt like a baller when I tried to check in and the clerk redirected me to the VIP room with the special check in counter and open bar. I filled a coffee cup up full of wine before I left to go to my room.
Also, I didn’t need the 2 free nights then but I originally got this card because I was going to Europe last year and it seemed like the best card with a chip in it. Now I’m heading back to Europe to use my 2 free nights in Paris 🙂
Great choice for the free nights! Great reminder on the M Life status as well. Too bad we don’t get VIP rooms for Hyatt check-ins 🙂
Don’t forget the dividends on CSP and Freedom. This is simply a tool to make UR points more powerful when transferred to Hyatt.
You are correct – good points.
Do not forget that the Sapphire Preferred offers a 7% bonus on points earned during the previous calendar year. So essentially 2.14 points per dollar on all travel and restaurant spend. This 7% bonus does not apply to the bonus points from the card signup offer (which I think it is 40k UR points).
You are right – I had left the bonus out of the equation just to show what one gets at the time, but the 7% dividend is a good reminder come February every year! It used to apply to the sign-up bonus (until 2012).
Also, “travel” is broadly defined for the Sapphire Preferred and does not require tickets be purchased directly from the airline. You get double points for gas, tolls, train tickets, etc.
You are right about tolls and train tickets, but it (unfortunately) does not cover fuel.
@Truthiness:
I don’t believe the CSP gives 2x UR points for fuel purchases.
You are correct – 2X UR points for fuel on Ink Bold/Plus, but not the CSP
The bonus offers that your wife receives, do they come by snail mail, or is there another way to see them? I am only home a few days each year.
They actually come by e-mail and through the mail – the same offer. So, just keep an eye on your e-mail folders for Hyatt/Chase mail!
Well, the classic counter-example to use for Hyatt stays is the Amex SPG Business card with Amex Open, which will refund you 5% for your stays at certain Hyatt properties and which you can extend to all Hyatt properties by buying gift cards (often at an additional discount). So if you spend $1000 on Hyatt Hotels with Chase you’d earn 2,140 Hyatt Gold Reward points. While with SPG you’d earn only 1,000 Starpoints, but get $50 back in lieu of the other 1,140 points. If we assume 1,140 points are worth .02 each, that’s only $22.80 so you’re better off with the SPG.
Great point!
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Thanks so much for using the links and for the encouraging comment! Both are always appreciated 🙂
good post. the value added info about no use leading to spend incentives is valuable. thx.