Comparing The Hyatt 50,000 Point Card Offer W/ The Hyatt 2 Free Night Card Offer

Last night, I wrote about a new targeted offer that is making the rounds (one of the accounts in my family received one) and it is a pretty great offer – 50,000 Hyatt points with the Hyatt credit card. The Hyatt credit card is already one of my favorite cards for the bonus and anniversary bonus (free night at category 1 – 4) but this new, targeted offer raises its value to me. Let’s compare the two offers – note: as of this time, the 50K point offer is targeted via e-mail with invitation code but more people are receiving them.

Comparing The Hyatt 50K Point Card Offer W/ The Hyatt 2 Free Night Card Offer

Why Compare?

First of all, why compare a targeted offer to a public offer? A couple of reasons – one is that I have been hearing from more people that have received the targeted offer and wondering which one they should apply for and the other is that Chase targeted offers do grow and reach different customers over time so it is good to know this information so you can decide whether you should apply now or wait and see.

The Sign-Up Bonus

The difference between these two cards is all about the sign-up bonus – everything else between them is the same. The annual fee ($75), the anniversary bonus (free night at category 1-4), the earning rates, elite status (Platinum), and even the bonus for adding an authorized user (5,000 points). So let’s drill down on the bonus and see what offer might make more sense for you.

2 Free Nights

The public offer that has been around for a while is 2 free nights at any Hyatt. That is a fantastic deal! An offer like that is devaluation-proof. Each year hotels change certain properties in their categories for award redemptions. The really good properties get bumped up one and sometimes two categories. With a 2 free night offer at any Hyatt, that makes the card offer immune to the category changes.

To get the most value out of this offer, it is always best to redeem at hotels that are either very expensive on the nights you want to travel (like a Category 6 that is costing $700+ per night) or what most people go for – the top-tier Category 7 properties. Let’s look at those:

• Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa – Colorado
• Park Hyatt New York – New York City
• Park Hyatt Sydney – Australia
• Park Hyatt Tokyo – Japan
• Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme – France
• Park Hyatt Milan – Italy
• Park Hyatt Zurich – Switzerland

As you can see, each of those properties is a Park Hyatt, Hyatt’s top-tier, luxury brand. Each of them can easily run close to and over $1,000 per night so redeeming your two free nights at these properties would give your credit card bonus a $2,000+ value – awesome!

In addition to the free nights, this offer also offers 5,000 points for adding an authorized user (and having them make a purchase) and there is an offer for a $50 statement credit as well (read this post to decide if you should apply for that one because of the stay requirement).

If you plan on redeeming for those properties, the 2 Free Night offer could very well be what you need…but, keep reading to see if that is definitely what you should do!

The 50,000 Point Offer

This is the targeted offer as of this time.

This deal is one that I have wanted for a long time. Why? Because points give great flexibility in how they are used and can get some extreme value. Before we get into that, let’s look first at how this offer stacks up against the 2 Free Night offer when used for Category 7 properties.

Redeeming For Category 7 Properties

Category 7 Hyatt hotels require 30,000 points per night. That means that this offer is going to be just shy of what you would need to redeem for the properties listed above. But, there is a little twist to it. Let’s see what this offer gives:

• 50,000 points after spending $1,000
• 1,000 points from the spending
• 5,000 points from adding an authorized user and having them use the card once (which the above offer has also)
• Total points – 56,000 points

As you can see, the card’s total offer and spending requirements leave you just shy of the 60,000 points required if you wanted to stay two nights at a Category 7 property. Since you can transfer Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, that 4,000 point gap is really easy to close.

That is really the only uncertain area of whether you should apply for the 2 Free Night offer over this one. Let’s look at the other ways this 50,000 point offer is better.

Many Free Nights – Up To 10

The Hyatt point chart for free nights goes from 5,000 points for a Category 1 to 30,000 points for a Category 7. If you were to redeem the 50,000 point offer for Category 1 properties, that would give you a total of 10 free nights with this offer!

Of course, you could also mix it up. A Category 3 (like this one in Abu Dhabi) costs 12,000 points per night. The 50,000 point offer gives you 4 nights at that property and still leaves you with 2,000 in your account. Even redeeming for a Category 6 at 25,000 points per night gives you the two nights that the 2 Free Night offer gives.

A Category 4 requires 15,000 points per night so that would bring you in at 3 free nights. Jumping up to a Category 5 requires 20,000 points per night so this offer would only give you 2 nights at one of those properties but would leave you with 10,000 more points for further redemptions.

Winner: 50,000 Point Offer

Points+Cash Nights – Up To 20

I am a big fan of the Points+Cash redemption method with Hyatt. It gives a great balance to paying some cash while also using your points and lets you earn elite night credit and allows you to use a Diamond Suite Upgrade!

Using Points+Cash for a Category 1 with the points from this offer would give you a total of 20 nights from just the points! That is huge! With the 2 Free Night offer, you do not have any points to use for a Points+Cash mix so you are stuck just getting two nights instead of mixing it up.

Winner: 50,000 Point Offer

No Expiration

The 2 Free Nights will expire a year after they are issued so it is a card offer that is best holding off for until you know how and when you plan on using the nights. Points do not have an expiration so you are free to collect the points from the 50,000 point offer and just use them as you like over time instead of having to use them in a set amount of time.

This works great because it gives you an offer that you could really apply for at any time and then have the points in your account for when that special trip comes up.

Winner: 50,000 Point Offer

Ultimate Reward Saver

Every January when Hyatt hotels shift categories, many people book rooms at the hotels that are going up so they can lock in the lower amount. For some people, that kind of speculative booking means that they have to transfer Ultimate Reward points into their Hyatt account to make the booking. The problem with that is that if they cancel the booking later, they cannot put the Hyatt points back into their Ultimate Reward account. So, a change of plans might mean they have a lot of their Ultimate Reward points in their Hyatt account where they may not have any great need for anymore.

This 50,000 Point Offer gives you a lot of points that you can leave in your account for those times when speculative bookings can make a lot of sense. This way, you do not have to transfer your valuable Ultimate Reward points in for a speculative booking – you already have 50,000+ points in the account!

Transfers & Other Uses

Of course, you can also use Hyatt points for things like dining and spa treatments at Hyatt hotels as well as redeeming points for suite upgrades. While the dining/spa redemptions are not normally the best use of points, you at least have points that you could use for those purposes now if you get the 50,000 point offer.

Another great part about the point offer is that you can transfer your points to friends or family. If you have a family member that you book the awards out of, you could transfer your points to their account for redemptions. This is better than the 2 Free Night offer as the person who has the nights has to be staying in the room. That may not always work for everyone so the points are a better option if you are going to be using the redemptions for different people.

Finally, Diamond members are allowed to book reward nights for friends and family and have them share in their benefits. Getting points as a Diamond member to book rooms for other people can be a nice benefit as well – something that you cannot do with the 2 Free Night offer.

Winner: 50,000 Point Offer

Summary

As you can see, unless you are only redeeming at the Category 7 properties above, the clear winner is the 50,000 point offer. If you have received that offer, you should definitely take advantage of it before November 30. But, what if you haven’t received it? I think there is the chance that this could have a wider rollout at some point. If you are not in a hurry for the Hyatt credit card, I would hold off on applying for now as you cannot have received a sign-up bonus on the card within 24 months to be eligible, according to the terms.

Obviously, I like the offer! I sure hope it reaches more people as I think it could be a very popular offer.