I have written before about the tremendous deal that is offered for applying for the Hyatt Chase card – 2 free nights at any Hyatt in the world after spending $1,000 in 3 months. The annual fee of $75 is not waived for the first year, so you are basically paying $75 for two nights at a Hyatt. My wife and I had each used the free nights we earned at the Andaz 5th Ave in NYC. The nights we were there, our booked room was going for over $575 a night making those two nights a total value of over $1200 (with tax). Plus we were upgraded to suites both times (the Hyatt Chase card gives Hyatt Platinum status which is their mid-tier status). In addition to the sign-up bonus, you also get a free Category 1 -4 night with your card anniversary (so, paying $75 for a Hyatt hotel up to category 4 – the room is normally worth more than the $75).
Current Hyatt Chase card offer
Anyway, I saw at DansDeals (he has since pulled that post about the offer changing and the link now goes to a post from October – edit 2/8) that he is has to pull his affiliate link for the Hyatt Chase card by tonight at 5PM (even though Chase affiliates are not supposed to be sounding warnings about links expiring anymore). The last time they pulled the links on this card, they had changed the sign-up requirement from 2 free nights after 1st purchase to 2 free nights after $1,000 in 3 months. While the credit trend is to make the spending thresholds bigger, I cannot imagine they would do that with this card since it would be a little out of whack with the other hotel cards. Even airline cards do not require more spend than that (United, Delta, US Air) – normally it is the flexible point cards (like Ultimate Reward and Membership Reward cards) that require the higher thresholds.
So, what might be changing? Even though I really like this card and what is has to offer, I have been really hoping that they would change the reward. As an explanation, the Hyatt Gold Passport program has 6 different categories of hotels. The highest category, 6, requires 22,000 points for a free night. From there it drops to 18,000 for a category 5; 15, 000 for a category 4; 12,000 for a category 3; 8,000 for a category 2, and 5,000 for a category 1. This means that the Hyatt Chase card bonus is actually worth a total of 44,000 points (sometimes less since some people may redeem for a category 4 if that is what works for them – that equals a bonus of 30,000 points). Most hotel cards (with the exception of the Hilton Reserve card which gives 2 free weekend nights) offer points for room redemption as the sign-up bonus. This is what I have been hoping Hyatt and Chase would switch to. So, if they offered 40,000 Hyatt points after spending $1,000 in 3 months, you would be able to redeem them for more than just 2 nights at some of the categories (for instance, our local Hyatt is a category 2 – that would mean 5 nights with that bonus!). It would also help for those trying to plan longer stays at a Hyatt – they could transfer some Ultimate Reward points, which transfer at 1:1, to Hyatt for a longer stay than just the two nights. Also, to redeem for a suite, you must have a stay longer than 2 nights. If they offered 40,000 points, this would allow you to transfer or spend and save to get the total you would need for a suite redemption.
Do I think this is what is going to happen? Probably not, but this would be my wish! Excuse my ramblings on this but I thought I would throw out my thoughts on the issue before they roll out whatever changes are coming. For what it is worth, the Gold Passport part of the Hyatt site was down last night and they changed some of the category rankings today so it would seem to indicate that they are pushing out some changes if they are pulling the card today as well. If you have been thinking about getting it, I would apply today. Chase will match you to the better offer (if there is one) within 90 days of opening the account. On the other hand, if they are changing the product, that would mean that you may be able to apply for the new Hyatt Chase card even if you have had one before (if it is indeed a new product). Decisions, decisions! I do know that this is a great card with a great offer – some friends of mine are redeeming their free nights at the Park Hyatt in Paris – the cost per night for the nights they secured was almost $1100 PER NIGHT! It is the top redemption hotel for these nights because of the value.
Park Room at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris
Hyatt Chase Visa – 2 Free Nights at any Hyatt after spending $1,000 in 3 months – application link (I do not receive a commission for this card)
Chase Sapphire Preferred – 40,000 Ultimate Reward points (can be transferred to Hyatt at 1:1) after $4,000 in 3 months – application link (I do not receive a commission for this card)
*I do not receive any commission for the credit card links in this article
