The Hyatt points sale will expire soon and you may want to give it another look if you have been a big fan of the previous Hyatt Points+Cash model that was changed last year.
The Hyatt Sale
- Link: Buy Hyatt Points
- Buy 5,000 – 55,000 points and receive a 40% bonus
- Works out to 1.71 cents per point
- Sale is good through August 27
Regular Cost of Hyatt Points
Hyatt points cost 2.4 cents each, normally. Unless you are topping up for a particular award, I would never suggest purchasing Hyatt points at that cost.
Hyatt Points on Sale for 1.71 Cents Each
However, until August 27, you can purchase Hyatt points with a 40% bonus. This brings the cost of Hyatt points down quite a bit and can definitely make more sense – depending on the type of award you are wanting to book.
To max out the Hyatt points sale bonus, you would need to purchase 55,000 points. This would give you a total of 77,000 points for $1,320. This breaks down to a final cost of 1.71 cents per point.
Create Your Own Points+Cash Rate?
Late last year, Hyatt really gutted the great value of Points+Cash by tying the cash component to the standard rate of the room. That means you still pay the same amount of points you used to per category, but now you pay 50% of the standard rate for that night as well.
| Hotel Category | Standard Room
Points Per Night |
NEW: Standard Room
Points + Cash Per Night1 |
| 1 | 5,000 | 2,500 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 2 | 8,000 | 4,000 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 3 | 12,000 | 6,000 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 4 | 15,000 | 7,500 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 5 | 20,000 | 10,000 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 6 | 25,000 | 12,500 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
| 7 | 30,000 | 15,000 + 50% of the Standard Rate for standard rooms |
For example, previously, a Category 3 would require 6,000 points and $75 per night. Now, if a certain hotel you want charges a standard rate of $380 for the night, you would pay 6,000 points and $190 for the night.
Do keep in mind that for some properties, the new Points+Cash model could be better than the old way. However, that would also mean that the total cash rate is probably pretty low as well so you may want to book outright with cash instead of points.
Buy the Other Half of Points Needed for a Full Reward Night
As you can see, it is still a better deal to buy points for Category 1 and 7 and isn’t much more for Categories 2-4
With this Hyatt points sale, you could basically create your own Points+Cash rate by purchasing points now at 1.71 cents each (or 1.67 cents, see below) and then redeem for a full reward night. For our Category 3 example, that would mean you pay $102.60 for the other 6,000 points you would need for a full reward (12,000 points per night). That costs $28 more than the old Points+Cash rate but is much better than paying way over $100 per night.
Yeah for Elite Status!
Now that reward nights count for elite status as well, it can make sense to just book reward nights (plus, Globalist members get free parking with full reward nights).
Is this a good deal for everyone? Not for everyone, but it can make sense for anyone that used to make a lot of Points+Cash bookings. For me, I used to book a lot in the Category 2 area. That meant $55 plus 4,000 points. At the hotel I normally use, the new rate would be around 4,000 points and about $90 per night. If I were to purchase the points, I would instead pay $68 for the remaining 4,000 points to make it a reward night. That is an increase of $13 per night – not too bad!
And It Can Be Better!
Some hotels have higher taxes that they put on the cash component for Points+Cash bookings as well, even before. That means that you should go back and check your usual hotels – you may find that you were spending more than you would if you bought the points now!
Getting Hyatt Points Even Cheaper
However, if you go through TopCashBack, you can get 2.5% cash back on your points purchase! This brings the total out-of-pocket cost for 77,000 points down to $1,286 (or 1.67 cents per point).
Some readers have mentioned in the past that they have not received TopCashBack payouts – my answer would be to not buy with the above 2.5% as the difference maker. If you think 1.71 cents per Hyatt point works for you, go ahead and buy and if you get the TCB payout, that is just gravy! Unless you want to buy in the first link above and let me get the affiliate payout instead. 😉
Summary
That is really not that bad of a deal! Yes, it is better to transfer them from your Ultimate Rewards account and you can earn UR points for less than that with office supply purchases on some of the Chase business cards.
But, it will depend on what other partners you like to transfer to. For example, if you like to transfer to United, you may be better off buying some Hyatt points at this price and keeping your UR points for United since you cannot buy United miles at this price.
Featured image is the Park Hyatt Istanbul
