Chase Wants You To Use What Card?

Chase sent out a marketing e-mail to customers of a particular card yesterday. When Chase sends out marketing e-mails for this card, I often look because they have had some valuable incentive bonuses in the past, which is why I opened it to look. Instead, I saw some words of “advice” that were actually not the best for Chase customers.

Chase Wants You To Use What Card?

Chase has a lot of great cards, many of those great cards feed into the Ultimate Rewards program. As such, you can transfer those points earned to a variety of airlines and hotels at a rate of 1:1. Obviously, Chase knows that! 🙂 But, the e-mail they sent yesterday encouraged holders of the Hyatt card to use the Hyatt card to get free nights faster, which is actually not the fastest way!

Here is the text from the e-mail:

Your Hyatt Credit Card is the fastest way to earn free nights at amazing Hyatt hotels and resorts around the world. Enjoy a romantic long weekend in Paris. Or take the family to Hawaii for a week in paradise. Book your free nights today for a welcome retreat at one of our unique Hyatt properties.

The operative word in that e-mail is fastest. If you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, or Ink Plus, you have the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards into the Hyatt Gold Passport program. Thanks to all of the wonderful bonus categories amongst those cards, you can actually earn Hyatt points faster with those cards than you can with the Hyatt Credit Card (with one tiny exception we will look at in a minute).

There are several similarities between the Hyatt card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred when it comes to bonus categories. They have a similar bonus in those categories, for one thing. One of the differences that makes me prefer the Chase Sapphire Preferred instead is the annual 7% dividend on all bonus points earned throughout the year. Admittedly, that dividend amount would not be that high for most customers, but it does give Sapphire Preferred users a slight edge. There is also another difference that puts the CSP above the Hyatt card – the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. You have a lot of great earning opportunities there that you would not get with just the Hyatt 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. 

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Hyatt Hotel Spending

As you can see, the only category that Hyatt comes out in front on is the spending at Hyatt hotels. Even then, I would not use the Hyatt credit card. If I really wanted better point earning, I would use an American Express small business card to take advantage of their OPEN program. It gives a 5% statement credit on all Hyatt stays. So, you could actually use your Amex SPG card, earn points for Starwood stays, and get 5% cash back! That beats out the 3 points per dollar from Hyatt!

Wait For the Bonus!

As I wrote about in this post, Hyatt and Chase often send out promotional offers to their customers who have not used the Hyatt Credit Card in a while. These offers are typically in the range of earning 5,000 Hyatt points if you make around $750-1,000 per month (for three months) in purchases. It is definitely a good incentive to not use the Hyatt Credit Card on a normal basis – this way, you can (hopefully) be extended one of these incentive offers

So, When Would You Use The Hyatt Card?

Unless you are a total Hyatt loyalist and you do not have any Ultimate Rewards earning credit card, there is almost no reason to be using the Hyatt credit card for any spending. There are really only two reasons that you would use the Hyatt Credit Card.

No Other Cards

There are some people who have an extremely narrow focus when it comes to earning miles and points. They may have only one or two cards and that is what they put their spending on. While I appreciate that everyone has different point priorities, I do feel it is better to have the flexility that the Chase Ultimate Rewards program offers than being locked into a specific chain. But, if you are going to only stick with one or two cards, that would be one reason to put your spending on the Hyatt card.

Credit Towards Hyatt Diamond Status

The Hyatt Credit Card offers a nice incentive to Hyatt loyalists – spend a lot of money on the card, and you can be as much as 20% closer to achieving Hyatt Diamond status. If you spend $20,000 on the card in one calendar year, you will receive 2 stays and 5 nights as credit towards Hyatt Diamond status. If you spend an additional $20,000 in the same calendar year (for a total of $40,000), you will receive an additional 3 stays and 5 nights toward the Hyatt Diamond status. That gives you a total of 5 stays and 10 nights towards a status level that requires 25 stays or 50 nights.

*Sidebar: Chase/Hyatt – I have to say, that is pretty stingy of you! If you spend the $40,000 on a Hilton Reserve or Surpass card, you will receive Hilton Diamond status. If you just have one SPG Amex card, you will get 2 stay and 5 nights of credit per year – double that if you have both SPG cards. To require that much spending on your card and only give that amount is not that great of an incentive! 🙂

Summary

I think Chase is definitely not as helpful as they should be – using the Hyatt card will get you free nights faster than if you did not have a credit card, but it certainly will not get them for you faster than the other ways listed here. I know this was a co-marketing e-mail by both Chase and Hyatt, but maybe they could have changed that wording a little? 🙂

Do not misunderstand me – the Chase Hyatt Credit Card is a fantastic card to hold onto. The annual free night bonus makes the card worth more than the annual fee and you receive Hyatt Platinum status, so it will remain a keeper! I just do not believe it is the best card for earning Hyatt points.