Strategies To Help Get Targeted For Hyatt & IHG Credit Card Offers

It has been several months of trying different things with different family members’ accounts and I have picked up some things that may help you get targeted for some of the various offers that pop up on the Hyatt and IHG credit cards. Here are some of those strategies to help get targeted for these credit cards.

Strategies To Help Get Targeted For Hyatt & IHG Credit Card Offers

First things first – this will likely not work for everyone. This is based on a sampling of several accounts between these two hotels and I thought it would help to share what has worked for these accounts if you are interested in getting some different offers on these cards. But, by no means am I saying that this is a sure-thing for everyone.

Should You Care About Targeted Offers?

The short answer is “YES” you should care! Typically, targeted credit card offers are going to be much more desirable than the normal public offers that you see on credit card websites. On the rare occasion, you may get targeted for an offer that you didn’t really want (in the case of an offer that gives more points but requires the annual fee) but most of the time, you do want it.

Targeted offers on the Hyatt & IHG credit cards are really nice as well because if, for some reason, you would rather choose the regular offer, you can still do that by simply visiting the bank’s website and applying. Having a targeted offer does not mean that is the only offer you can sign-up for. But, having the targeted offer does give you some options!

What Are The Targeted Offers?

Here are the variety of offers that I have seen for the Hyatt & IHG credit cards.

Hyatt

• 2 Free Nights after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Public offer
• 2 Free Nights, $50 statement credit after spending $1,000 in 90 days & 5,000 bonus points for adding an authorized user – Public offer for customers who have a stay since May 1 at Hyatt
• 50,000 Hyatt points after spending $1,000 in 90 days & 5,000 bonus points for adding an authorized user- Targeted offer

IHG

• 60,000 IHG points after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Public offer
• 70,000 IHG points after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Targeted offer
• 80,000 IHG points after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Targeted offer
• 80,000 IHG points & $50 statement credit after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Targeted offer
• 40,000 IHG points & 1 Free Night after spending $1,000 in 90 days – Targeted offer

As you can see, there is a bit of variety there! Also, you can see that in neither case is the public offer the best offer so targeted offers are definitely something to look for!

Strategies To Help Get Targeted Offers – Hyatt

With the Hyatt card, I did tests with a total of 6 accounts. I used a number of variables to check – setup new accounts, transfer points to accounts (new and old), registered for promotions, bought points, made reservations, completed stays, etc. I mixed it up enough that I could try and see what may work. Here is what I found:

The accounts that received the targeted offer of 50,000 Hyatt points were:

• new accounts that had registered for a stay promotion
• they did not have any points in the account
• no stay had ever been completed, nor had the account holder’s name been put on a reservation
• these accounts had never had the Hyatt credit card before
• new accounts that had points in them did not receive the targeted offer
• the new accounts were at least 6 months old when the offer was received, but the offer was rolled out to many targeted accounts at the same time so I don’t think the age of the account had any bearing on that.

Now, while those were my experiences, I have read of other people getting this targeted offer in their regular Hyatt account. It could be totally random but in my case, this offer had appeared on two different accounts with the matching characteristics.

In the case of the 50,000 point Hyatt offer, the targeted offer has ended (11/30 was the announced end date) but it is possible that was a trial run and that they will either run it again, or they will roll it out publicly. In the last year, Chase and Hyatt have gotten creative with this card as they ran a great promo that cardholders would receive a 20% rebate on points used for reservations. That was a great promo and resulted in a lot of new sign-ups! That was early last year and then they rolled out this targeted offer. It is a good sign that they are willing to get creative, especially since the card offer has been stuck at the same bonus and benefits since its introduction (although they have played around with the spending requirement and the annual fee waiver).

Existing Hyatt Credit Cardholders

Over the last few years, they have run promos for existing cardholders where they would require a certain amount of spending in a 3 month time to trigger a nice bonus. While I have not seen as many of them as I used to, it does seem that these offers do come out from time to time and are available, many times, to those who have not used the card in a while. It may be worthwhile to stick that card in a drawer for a little while (few months) to see if you get such an offer.

Strategies To Help Get Targeted Offers – IHG

The IHG card is even more confusing! For a long time, the 80,000 IHG points were standard with the card. After that, it slipped to 70,000 (even 72,000) and now down to 60,000 points. While people still report that they have had success messaging Chase after receiving the card and requesting to be matched to the 80,000 point offer, that is never a sure thing.

The good news is that IHG likes to make an application and receipt of the IHG card as part of their promotions. I have not received an IHG promotion offering yet that would entice me to jump on the card just to fulfill that part of the requirement. From what I have heard, that is similar with many people’s experiences. That means that IHG is trying to get more cardholders and if they cannot do it that way, they may try to up the bonus again.

With the IHG card, I did tests of 4 accounts. I also used a number of variables – setup new accounts, transferred points to the accounts (new and old) registered for promotions, made reservations, and completed stays. In those 4 accounts, only one account received different targeted offers (my account!). Here is what my account activity looked like:

• did not have IHG card
• transferred points
• earned points
• made reservations
• completed stays
• registered for promotions
• completed promotions
• burned free nights

Basically, mine was a somewhat active account. There was only one difference made between the receipt of the various targeted offers. The first targeted offer I received was for the 80,000 points and it was after the summer promotion had been run. Between that time and the next offer, I transferred points to the account from my Chase account, made a points reservation and cancelled the reservation. I am not sure if any of that had anything to do with the second offer – which was 40,000 points and 1 free night – but those were the differences.

In the case of IHG, it seems they are making targeted offers more selective than Hyatt did. It also seems that they like to target (between the 4 accounts tested) accounts that see a decent amount of activity. If you want to get some of these targeted offers with IHG, I would suggest you register for each promotion, make some reservations (not prepaid so that you can cancel them later), and transfer 1,000 points in from Ultimate Rewards. That may be enough to get targeted, though I obviously cannot say for sure.

Summary

People are always asking me about various targeted offers. While this is certainly not a scientific sampling of data, I did think it might be a good idea to share what I had found with the various accounts of Hyatt & IHG that been targeted with the interesting credit card offers. Of course, your mileage may vary and either of these hotels may make these targeted offers public tomorrow! But, if you really want one of these targeted offers, following some of the above steps may help you get targeted.

Were you targeted for any of the above offers? Please leave any data points that might help others with a strategy as well!