4 Great Perks For a Future Premium Hyatt Credit Card

No, there isn’t a Hyatt premium card – yet. There has been conversation about one for a bit and Hyatt is really the chain left out right now from the big-dollar-annual-fee-premium card market. Marriott/Ritz-Carlton has one, there will be one coming from Amex for the new Marriott/SPG program, Hilton has one, and even IHG just mixed things up a bit by rolling out two cards to replace their one (though neither one is over $100 for the annual fee).

Recently, Hyatt released their awesome new World of Hyatt card and I think it lays the groundwork for a premium Hyatt card to come in the near future. If that happens, here are 4 perks that I think a premium Hyatt credit card should have.

4 Perks for a Future Premium Hyatt Credit Card

Of course, any premium Hyatt credit card would also have increased category bonus amounts and things like and would come with a fee of around $450. But, here are some thoughts going beyond that.

Why I Think There Will Be a Premium Hyatt Credit Card

Hyatt has kept with the single credit card for a long time now. While other hotels have offered business cards or stripped down versions of their main, personal cards, Hyatt just kept jugging along with a single credit card that was simply called – the Hyatt credit card.

That was until recently when they rolled out their World of Hyatt card – yet, they stopped issuing their old Hyatt card so we are still at just one Hyatt card.

Hyatt has been a bit behind other co-branded hotel cards when it comes to things like affiliate links (they were the last – by quite a lot – to offer affiliate links and referral offers) so it is not a huge surprise that they will likely be the last in the hotel premium card space.

But, I think it is almost a must – Hyatt needs to roll out a premium card at some point and the changes to the World of Hyatt program make it a prime time to do just that.

So, by comparing similar hotel premium cards and also taking what I know about Hyatt, here are 4 perks that I think a premium Hyatt credit card should have.

1. Hyatt Globalist-lite

Why

When Hyatt rolled out the World of Hyatt program, they crushed a lot of their top elite members by ditching the stay requirement and jumping the night requirement by 20%. That combined with their relatively small global footprint caused many Hyatt loyalists to drop them or not put the effort in to gain that top status.

Between Hyatt Diamond and Hyatt Globalist, there is definitely room for a Globalist-lite version. I had spoken with Hyatt’s EVP Mark about this last year and he allowed that it sounded like a good idea. In fact, Hyatt even offered a Globalist-lite version as a Hyatt credit card promo last year to those who hit 20 nights in the last quarter of the year.

What Would It Look Like

This is what I envision a Globalist-lite looking like in terms of benefits:

• No suite upgrade awards (full Globalists get 4 confirmed upgrades per year)
• Suite upgrades at check-in (as exists for Globalists now)
• Free breakfast
• Resort and parking fees waived on full award stays (Globalists receive waived-resort fees on award and eligible rates)
• 4PM late checkout

Basically, a Globalist-lite would strip the confirmed upgrades and annual free night (for achieving the required night stays). It would still offer suite upgrades based on availability at check-in. I think the waived fees could be eliminated, though.

2. Annual Free Hotel Night With Spend – Any Hotel

More so than some hotel programs, I think Hyatt’s free nights have potentially really high value. You can use them (Category 1 – 7) at Hyatt properties that may normally cost $1,000 or more per night! Many other chains just don’t have that same type of value across the board on the highest tier (SPG certainly did but they did not have free night certificates).

The new World of Hyatt card lets you get an extra free night with $15,000 in spending but they limit it to a Category 1 – 4

What It Would Look Like

So, I would not think it likely that Hyatt would offer a free Category 1 – 7 night as an anniversary bonus. I do think it likely that they would offer that with something like $20,000 – $30,000 spending in a cardmember year. That way they are getting the spending but they are also offering something with some incredible value.

Note: If they required $30,000 in spending, that would actually give enough points for a Category 7 anyway so it would mean someone could get 2 free nights with that.

Alternative?

I would say that I believe they would offer the free Category 1 – 4 that they offer on their card now. I would not be surprised if they let you upgrade that free night by offering a spending threshold of $15,000. This would be a nice way to encourage more spending out of people that would like that top-of-the-line hotel.

3. Serious Fitness Perk

Why

Hyatt is making big strides at being more about fitness and wellbeing for their members. This is seen through various promos as well as their new category bonus of fitness centers on the World of Hyatt card.

What It Would Look Like

I think offering something like credits for fitness/gym memberships – maybe around $100 – $200? – would be a great and unique way to go. This would be a way to seriously encourage members to take advantage of fitness opportunities wherever they are.

Another option would be something like 10 – 15 fitness passes for nationwide fitness centers that could be taken advantage of during travels. But, I think the fitness credit would work better for Hyatt since they wouldn’t actually need to pay out on it unless it used (or the passes could be something where the credit for it wipes it out when using the card). Either way, this could be a huge perk for the type of travelers that Hyatt is trying to pursue.

4. Hotel Credit

This would be a credit that would not apply to the room charge but could be used for things like parking, resort fees, and even dining. Some of these are things that people can get waived through things like the Amex FHR or Visa Luxury Hotel Collection but it would be nice to have it available when used directly with Hyatt and at places that would not be available through those outlets.

This could be in place of the airline incidental offerings of other cards as it would be a great way for Hyatt to encourage members to stay with them more by having these perks be more targeted for hotel stays. I would imagine something like a $200 perk on this could be nice.

Takeaway

Hyatt has shown that they want to take their credit card portfolio more seriously and they have also shown that they realize some steps taken with the World of Hyatt program may have been a bit extreme. Because many premium credit cards tend to have the same types of perks, I think there is definitely space for Hyatt to go in a different direction by making the Globalist-lite the prize in a premium Hyatt card but also have these hundreds of dollars in perks available for the customers that really like to stay at Hyatt properties and are into the fitness realm as well.

What are some things you would like to see in a premium Hyatt credit card?