World of Hyatt Rewards Program Guide | LendingTree (2024)

World of Hyatt is one of the best hotel loyalty programs, offering valuable rewards points, upscale properties and strong elite benefits. Even the infrequent traveler can unlock World of Hyatt perks like free nights and club room upgrades. World of Hyatt also offers credit cards for personal and business use that make earning points and elite status even easier.

World of Hyatt’s rewards points are worth more than any other hotel points on the market. They’re worth approximately 1.7 cents per point when used toward hotel stays.

By taking advantage of seasonal pricing on award nights, members can redeem nights starting at just 3,500 points. Luxury and all-inclusive resorts start at just 17,000 points per night. While World of Hyatt’s footprint is smaller than that of other hotel brands, it has some of the most desirable properties in the world.

Yes, the World of Hyatt program is worth it, especially since it’s free and easy to join. Hyatt points are more valuable than hotel points from competitor brands, and elite status offers attractive benefits. You don’t need to accrue many points for a free stay, since award nights start at just 3,500 points. The World of Hyatt Credit Card makes it easy to earn points for award stays and elite night credits toward status tiers.

A Hyatt point is worth around $0.017, based on our sampling of domestic and international properties with various booking periods ranging from booking the week-of to six months in advance.

In general, you’ll get between $0.01 and $0.025 cents per Hyatt point. However, the value of Hyatt points varies greatly depending on how you use them.

• You can easily redeem points for over $0.02 each at a typical Category 1 Hyatt Place location where the cash rate is $100 per night. The Hyatt Place Memphis/Germantown is available starting at 5,000 points per night. However, if you pay cash, the rate is $133 per night ($158 with tax), which makes this redemption worth over $0.03 per point.
• Higher category properties tend to be more expensive, which makes them excellent candidates for point redemptions. For example, a king bed with a view of the harbor at The Park Hyatt Sydney in Australia starts at 40,000 points per night for a room that is more than $815 per night. That’s a value of over $0.02 per point.
• Some markets (e.g., Chicago) might experience high rates during one period while offering reasonable rates at a different time. Busy travel dates can also affect the price you’ll pay in cash or points. Before booking your room, compare the cash rate versus the award rate to determine whether using points is better than paying cash.

World of Hyatt offers excellent value for travelers who are Hyatt loyalists. There are many advantages to the World of Hyatt program, but it makes sense to understand its limitations as well.

Pros

• Points are valuable. Hyatt points are worth $0.017 each, which is more than Hilton, Marriott or IHG (ranging from $0.004 to $0.009 each).
• Great benefits for higher tiers of elite status. While the lower elite tiers offer some fairly generic perks, top-tier Hyatt Globalist members enjoy excellent benefits that make this status worth attaining.
• Milestone rewards. Milestone Rewards allow members to enjoy free nights, club upgrades and bonus points as they rack up nights throughout the year, rather than waiting until they reach a new membership tier.
• Upscale hotel brands. Hyatt’s brands themselves are a strength. Even Hyatt’s limited-service brands are often more upscale than the competition. Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels are Hyatt’s most inexpensive offerings, yet they are head and shoulders above the budget brands of the other hotel chains. On the other end of the spectrum, Hyatt is chock full of luxury properties.
• Variety of transfer partners. Your point earning options aren’t limited to Hyatt. Hyatt has several transfer partners, including Chase Ultimate Rewards®, that allow you to transfer points.

Cons

• Limited footprint. Hyatt has roughly 1,250 properties, while its competitors have at least 6,000 each.
• Few credit card options. World of Hyatt only has one option for consumers and one for small businesses. Its competitors offer multiple cards at varying price points.
• Hyatt points are hard to come by. While Hyatt points are very valuable, Hyatt offers limited options for earning them.

Hyatt has over 1,250 properties in over 76 countries around the world. Properties span all six inhabited continents. With 23 unique hotel brands, finding a fit for your particular travel style with Hyatt is easy to do.

Possibly the greatest weakness in an otherwise fantastic program is the relatively few number of hotels worldwide. Competitors Hilton, IHG and Marriott each have over 6,000 properties worldwide, while Hyatt has just over 1,250 global properties.

Hyatt partners with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, a curated collection of more than 500 boutique properties in more than 90 countries around the globe. This partnership has expanded the number of hotels available to World of Hyatt members.

Hyatt has one of the poorest representations of the major hotel brands in Europe. However, if you include the Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties that partner with World of Hyatt, Hyatt fares a bit better.

While Hyatt points are valuable, they can be hard to come by. Compared to other loyalty programs, options for earning Hyatt points are fairly limited (for instance, Hyatt does not have a dining or shopping program). Still, there are some viable options for earning Hyatt points quickly — especially through hotel stays and co-branded credit cards.

Hyatt hotel stays

One of the best ways to earn Hyatt points is by purchasing hotel rooms directly from Hyatt. Award nights start at 5 base points per dollar spent (taxes not included) for regular members and go as high as 6.5 points per dollar for Globalist members. Plus, you can earn additional points for ongoing promotions.

Some room charges are also eligible to earn base points, including spa, food and beverage purchases, but it depends on the property. Alcoholic beverage purchases billed to your room may not earn base points. Elite bonus points are earned as redeemable points, but these are not counted as base points toward elite status.

Credit cards that earn World of Hyatt points

The World of Hyatt credit cards are another great source of Hyatt points — especially for new members who can earn the cards’ sign-up bonuses. Card members get an additional 4 points on Hyatt purchases with the cards and qualify for other great hotel perks, including automatic Discoverist status with Hyatt.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® cards

Co-branded credit cards aren’t the only cards that can help you earn more points toward future Hyatt stays. If you have an eligible Chase credit card, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000 points to World of Hyatt.

*These cards allow you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt. If you own one of these cards, you can transfer points from any no-annual-fee Ultimate Rewards cards that you own as well.

The primary use of Hyatt points is for hotel stays with World of Hyatt. This is where you will find the best value. World of Hyatt uses a few different award charts for determining how many points are required for an award night. Hyatt recently released pricing for premium suites, which means that you can book a wide variety of room types using your Hyatt points and know the cost upfront. Here are your best options:

Free nights

Free nights with Hyatt are generally the best way to go with your points. World of Hyatt has off-peak, standard and peak pricing for each tier and category of rooms. You only need 3,500 points to book a room at the lowest tier in off-peak season, while premium suites can go for up to 90,000 points per night.

Although Category 1 is the lowest category hotel, it includes some Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties in a few desirable locations. The lowest tiers of Hyatt’s chart, in general, are an excellent value, allowing you to book nicer-than-average hotels with a modest number of points.

Here are some other good uses of points:

• Weekend stays — In most tourist destinations, weekends often have the highest prices since that’s when most travelers are visiting. Using points for weekend stays can be useful if your points are limited and you have to choose which nights to use points and which to pay in cash.
• All-inclusive resorts — All-inclusive resorts tend to be more expensive than other hotel options, yet they still offer valuable savings because meals, drinks and some activities are included at no extra charge. For many travelers, the extra cost in points can be well worth it.
• Booking a luxury vacation — For many travelers, high-end hotels are out of their budget financially. However, when you book a room using points, these luxury accommodations become much more affordable.

Savvy traveler tip: Hyatt makes it extremely easy to book hotel stays with your points. You simply need to search a destination on Hyatt’s website and select the “Use Points” checkbox. Once you select a property, you can easily toggle between cash rates and points rates, or select a room type to view all available rates.

All-inclusive award nights

In addition to the standard award chart, Hyatt uses a separate award chart for its all-inclusive properties. Depending on the hotel and the time of booking (off-peak peak/standard/peak) you can book an award night with 12,000 to 115,000 points.

Rates are based on two-person occupancy, with an extra charge for each additional person up to a maximum of four people per room.

Miraval Resorts

Hyatt also has special pricing for its Miraval Resorts, which are luxury all-inclusive experiences. The range of these bookings is much higher than the regular Hyatt award chart. Awards start at 40,000 points for an off-peak single-occupancy standard room and range to a sky-high 137,000 points for a premium suite during peak season. Additionally, you’ll receive a resort credit of $175 per person to cover extra charges.

Room upgrades

Hyatt also lets you upgrade your room using World of Hyatt points. This is only applicable to cash bookings. Upgrades with Hyatt can be a good value at high category properties when cash rates are cheap. For example, booking a Club room at a Category 6 property requires 8,000 more points per night than booking a standard room. If you pay cash, you can obtain this Club upgrade for just 3,000 points per night.

Hyatt Points + Cash

Hyatt also allows you to use half the required points for a hotel category and pay the rest in cash to give you more flexibility when booking free nights. Pricing for Points + Cash redemptions also follow the off-peak, standard and peak pricing schedules.

The upside here is that you won’t have to accumulate a ton of points before you can use them. The downside is that you don’t get any extra value by choosing the Points + Cash rate. You’ll pay half the points and 50% to 70% of the going rate for the night. Points + Cash stays also lose out on 100% award stay benefits, like waived resort and parking fees. Because of this rule, you may be better off splitting your reservation into all points for some nights and all cash for the others.

World of Hyatt elite status is Hyatt’s way of rewarding you for your loyalty to its hotel chain. Each tier of elite status provides valuable perks that will make your Hyatt stays even more enjoyable. With perks like suite upgrades and waived resort fees, the highest tier of Hyatt elite status can be extremely valuable.

You typically need to earn status through either nights or base points. Alternatively, you can qualify for Hyatt elite status by planning meetings or events.

World of Hyatt elite status is valid from the moment you qualify for it through the end of February two calendar years in the future. For example, if you qualify for Explorist in September 2023, this status will last until February 2025.

The information related to the World of Hyatt Credit Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.

Ian Snyder

Ian Snyder is a freelancewriter who has been covering credit card rewards and travel loyalty programs for over 3 years. He has a passion for extracting the greatest value possible from airline miles and hotel points and has earned and redeemed millions of points over the past severalyears, primarily through the savvy use of credit cards. His credit card knowledge extends to all major bank programs and the unique set of partners available through each.

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