Last night, I wrote about the new World of Hyatt card offer that will be replacing the 2 free nights soon. For many people that are able to get the Hyatt card, there will be those that wonder which offer they should apply for. Here is a post to help you decide which Hyatt card offer may be best for you!
Why The New 40K Hyatt Card Offer May Be Better
The 40K Hyatt Point Card Offer
Here is the new 40K Hyatt card offer as of June 29, 2017:
- Must spend $2,000 in 3 months to get the bonus
- 40,000 Hyatt points after meeting the spending
- Hyatt card not included in the Chase 5/24 group
- You cannot have had the sign-up bonus in the previous 24 months or have the card when you apply
- Annual fee is $75 and not waived
- Most likely: This offer should be like all the other Chase cards that will give you 5,000 points when you add an authorized user and they put a purchase on it
The 2 Free Nights Hyatt Offer
Link: Chase Hyatt Visa Card Offer
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. But, the 2 free nights expire at the end of 1 year from issuance!
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. You can see a list of them below:
As you can see, each of those properties is a Park Hyatt, Hyatt’s top-tier, luxury brand, or Residence Club. 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).
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 40K Hyatt Card Offer
I have long wanted a point bonus offer from the Hyatt credit card. 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 6 & 7 properties.
Redeeming For Category 6 & 7 Properties
Category 7 Hyatt hotels require 30,000 points per night. That means that this offer is going to miss the mark of what you would need to redeem for the properties listed above. Category 6 hotels require 25,000 points per night which puts them much closer to this offer than Category 7 hotels do.
Let’s see what this 40K Hyatt card offer gives:
- 40,000 points after spending $2,000
- 2,000 points from the spending
- Total points – 42,000 points
As you can see, the card’s total offer and spending requirements leaves you 8,000 points short of the 50,000 points required if you wanted to stay two nights at a Category 6 property. But, it is still 18,000 points from the top-tier Category 7 properties. Yes, you can transfer Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, but that takes more that what the 40K offer has to offer.
That is really the clear winner for the 2 Free Nights offer – if you plan on redeeming at a Category 6 or 7. Let’s look at some other ways that the point offer may be better.
The only exception is if the new Hyatt card offer has the 5K points for authorized user – which it should. That would leave you just 3,000 points shy of Category 6 and would make the new offer better.
Winner: 2 Free Nights Offer
Many Free Nights – Up To 8
The 40,000 point offer could give you up to 8 nights!
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 40,000 point offer for Category 1 properties, that would give you a total of 8 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 40,000 point offer gives you 3 nights at that property and still leaves you with 4,000 in your account. Even redeeming for a Category 5 at 20,000 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 a little more than 2 free night – with enough left offer for a Category 2. 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.
Winner: 40,000 Point Offer
Points+Cash Nights – Up To 16
Using the 40,000 point offer for Points+Cash redemptions could give 16 nights!
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 Globalist Suite Upgrade!
Using Points+Cash for a Category 1 with the points from this offer would give you a total of 16 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: 40,000 Point Offer
No Expiration
You could get 3 nights at the Hyatt Capital Gate with the 40,000 point offer!
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 40,000 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: 40,000 Point Offer
Ultimate Reward Saver
Every year 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 40K Hyatt card 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 40,000+ 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 40,000 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, Globalist members are allowed to book reward nights for friends and family and have them share in their benefits. Getting points as a Globalist 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: 40,000 Point Offer
Takeaway
As you can see, unless you are only redeeming at the Category 7 properties (and maybe for Category 6), the winner is the 40,000 point offer. If you do not have plans to book at Category 7 hotels, you should definitely strongly consider the 40K Hyatt card offer, when it comes out next week. In fact, even if you are planning to stay at Category 6 hotels the 40K Hyatt card offer may be better. Why? Because it only leaves you a few thousand points shy and it still gives you that added flexibility.
Will you wait for the new Hyatt card offer of 40,000 points or apply now for the 2 free nights?
Good analysis. I think another key factor is the risk that this new cc offer will cme with the dreaded 5/24 limitation. If you are over 5/24, I’m not sure if that’s not the most relevant element in this discussion.
Thanks! Since it is just the offer changing and not an actual product change, my best guess is it would remain not under 5/24.
for 40k pts, don’t see many takers; if or when chase in future increase to 50k, will apply
As for the anniversary night offer, if you haven’t used the free night and cancel the card, does it still remain in your Hyatt account? I have my anniversary night unused, but it would be 24 months next month since I got the sign up bonus and would like to cancel the card and reapply after 30+ days of cancellation.
I think starting the new offer out at 40k will give Chase a chance to have a seasonal 50k offer, which I would definitely touch.