Before You Buy Hyatt Points, I've Got A Better Way To Quickly Earn Hyatt Points
The World of Hyatt loyalty point is by far the most valuable hotel currency out there, often doubling or tripling the value of points from competitors like Mariott, Hilton, and IHG. This, combined with the fact that the value of their points purchase bundles isn’t half bad, makes it very tempting to just buy Hyatt points, especially if you have a trip coming up. But purchasing points from anyone, even Hyatt, is an expensive proposition. For example, right now (July 24th, 2023), they’re having a points sale providing an extra 25% points. Even with that boost, you’d be paying almost 2 cents per point for 25,000 points. While it’s possible to offset this with Hyatt’s relatively generous point valuation, it’s not guaranteed. So before you buy Hyatt points, consider the following alternatives first:
“Buy” Hyatt points the cheap way: by buying things you’d normally get anyway
You spend money. This is enough for you to earn World of Hyatt points if you make one simple change to your spending habits (no I’m not going to suggest that you spend it on me–although I won’t tell you NOT to do that!): use the right card.
When you use a card that generates Hyatt points, the urge to buy Hyatt points will probably never arise.
There are two ways to generate Hyatt points with credit cards: Directly and indirectly.
Earn Hyatt points directly with a World of Hyatt credit card
A World of Hyatt credit card is one of the most reliable tools to earn Hyatt points in the long term. Not only do you get a nice sign up bonus, you’ll get an incredible 4x multiplier whenever you spend money at a Hyatt hotel with your Hyatt credit card (they cleverly market it as 9x, but this includes the 5 points you already get as a World of Hyatt member, no matter what card you use).
If the World of Hyatt point is the only currency you care about and you don’t want multiple credit cards, a World of credit card is a great everyday card as well, since you‘ll earn additional multipliers, depending on whether you get the Hyatt business or Hyatt personal credit card. I’ll cover the differences below.
World of Hyatt personal credit card
2 Hyatt points for every dollar spent on dining
2 Hyatt points for every dollar on airline tickets purchased directly through the airline
2 Hyatt points for every dollar spent on local transit and commuting
2 Hyatt points for every dollar spent at gyms
1 point per dollar on everything else
30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first the months of card opening*
2 points per dollar on all spend in the first three months of card opening, up to $15,000*
*The sign up bonus is marketed as 60,000 points, but be sure to thoroughly read those last two bullet points to understand how it really works.
World of Hyatt business credit card
2 Hyatt points per dollar for your top three spend categories, which can include:
Dining
Airline tickets purchased directly with the airline
Car rental agencies
Local transit and commuting
Gas stations
Internet, cable and phone services
Social media and search engine advertising
Shipping
2 Hyatt points for every dollar spent at gyms
60,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first the months of card opening*
Additional benefits of a World of Hyatt credit card
Both the business and personal World of Hyatt credit card give you automatic Discoverist status. Also the personal World of Hyatt credit card provides you with a free night at a category 1-4 hotel each year. This category range includes some of their top hotels, including multiple Grand Hyatts and international resorts.
The free night benefit is especially valuable, since it more than offsets the $95 annual fee of the personal World of Hyatt credit card. It’s also the main reason why the personal version would be my recommendation for you to get. The business version has a $199 annual fee; while it provides some nice business-focused benefits to offset this, such as $100 in Hyatt statement credits when you spend money with them and free discoverist status for up to five employees, this just can't compete with a free night at a hotel that could run your up to $500 for less than a hundred bucks.
Read the full details about the World of Hyatt credit cards here.
Earn Hyatt points indirectly with a third party credit card that earns points transferable to Hyatt
This, in my opinion, should be everyone’s long-term bread and butter for earning Hyatt points. By earning points transferable to Hyatt with a third-party credit card, you can rack up huge multipliers for regular spend–and let’s not forget about those sign up bonuses. It’s sort of like having a passive income for your Hyatt points.
As of right now, there are only six personal credit cards that can earn points transferable to Hyatt (that sounds like a lot, but you’ll quickly see why it’s not).
The Chase Freedom Unlimited
This card is the bread and butter of any Chase card setup. You get 1.5 points for every dollar you spend without any special conditions. This means that it should fill the gaps for spending on anything that you don’t have a card with a multiplier for. For example, if you’re buying a PS5 from Amazon, there normally isn’t any multiplier, so you’d be stuck getting 500ish points. But with the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you’ll get 750 points instead!
Keep in mind that everything here is framed as cash back, but when you’ve completed your base Chase setup, you can actually use everything you get as points (1.5% cash back equals 1.5 points per dollar, as mentioned above). Note that in order to convert the cash back into transferrable Chase points, you’ll need a Sapphire card. More details on that in the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred sections.
By the way, there’s a zero dollar annual fee for this one!
See the full details about the Chase Freedom Unlimited here.
The Chase Freedom Rise
This is one of Chase’s latest additions to their credit card family. It actually functions exactly the same as Chase Freedom Unlimited. Except for the fact that the sign up bonus is almost nonexistent (2,500 points for enrolling in automatic payments, as opposed to the Freedom Unlimited, which gets you 20,000 points after spending $500 in the first three months of opening your card).
So why would you want to go for a Chase Freedom Rise over a Chase Freedom Unlimited? Because it’s actually more of a starter credit card. There are always exceptions, but Chase generally approves people for the Freedom Unlimited who have a credit score hovering around the 700s. If you’re building or rebuilding your credit or have just started your credit journey, your score likely isn’t that high. Chase is more flexible with its approval for the Freedom Rise, especially if you start building a relationship with them by opening a bank account and keeping at least $250 in it.
This presents a great way to start racking up Chase points and building a foundation for collecting future Hyatt points (big emphasis on future–be sure to read at least one of the Chase Sapphire sections below).
See the full details about the Chase Freedom Rise here.
The Chase Freedom Flex
This is my personal favorite workhorse Chase card (I actually have the grandfathered Chase Freedom, but they’re basically the same card). The Freedom Flex can get you five points for every dollar you spend!
It offers you its multipliers on a rotating quarterly category basis. This means that Chase picks a handful of categories, and every time you use your Freedom Flex, you’ll get that bonus. Chase is pretty good about including categories that most people can use. Sometimes it includes groceries; other times it’s gas; sometimes it’s even places where people like to go crazy with shopping like Amazon.
The multiplier is limited to 5 points per dollar on $1,500 worth of spend each quarter, so if you’re a big spender, you may want to monitor your category spend and then switch to the Freedom Unlimited when you hit that $1,500 threshold. Some people get around this by getting multiple Freedom Flex cards (yep, you can get a bunch; Chase won’t care as long as you’re not over 5/24 and they like your credit profile; you can also product change into a Freedom Flex).
As with all Freedom cards, the points are marketed as cash back. In order to convert the cash back into transferrable Chase points, you’ll need a Sapphire card. More details on that in the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred sections.
The sign up bonus is the same as the Freedom Unlimited: 20,000 points after spending $500 in the first three months of account opening.
Oh, by the way, there’s no annual fee.
See the full details about the Chase Freedom Flex here.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred
If you want to convert your Chase points to Hyatt points, you need a Sapphire card. I repeat, you need a Sapphire card. I mentioned in the Chase Freedom Rise section that all of your Chase points are future Hyatt points when you earn them with that card. That’s because without a Sapphire card, the Chase points you earn with any Freedom card are just cash back. A Sapphire card unlocks the ability to transfer your Chase points to its partners, including Hyatt.
Keep in mind that you can only have one Sapphire card at a time, so if you get this one, the Sapphire Reserve isn’t an option for you unless you product change to it. Here are the multipliers the Sapphire Preferred offers:
5 points per dollar on travel booked through Chase
2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases
3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases
3 points per dollar on dining
3 points per dollar on select streaming services
You’ll also get a sign up bonus of 60,000 points when you spend $4,000 within the first three months of account opening.
There is a $95 annual fee with this one, but there are a few perks to offset that cost. For example, you get a $50 credit each year for travel booked through Chase and $60 worth of Instacart credits each year.
Check all of the benefits out here.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve
For the purpose of transferring Hyatt points, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is identical to the Preferred, so I’ll just start by listing the multipliers.
5 points per dollar on travel booked through Chase
10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase
10 points per dollar on Lyft
3 points per dollar on all other travel purchases
10 points per dollar on dining booked through Chase
3 points per dollar on all other dining
You’ll also get a sign up bonus of 60,000 points when you spend $4,000 within the first three months of account opening.
This one has a $550 annual fee. That sounds high, but as with the preferred, that’s more than offset by the perks and value you get. For example, $300 of that fee is effectively wiped out by simply using the card for $300 travel purchases, which they’ll give you a credit for. You’ll also get $60 worth of Door Dash credits, $180 worth of Instacart credits, free Global entry/TSA precheck, a bunch of cool statuses to make travel easier, and more.
See the full list of benefits here.
Bottom Line About Using Chase Credit Cards For Hyatt Points
While there are technically five cards available, the Chase system is actually a lot easier than it would seem at first. It’s built around you having 2-3 credit cards that all work in concert as one. The rewards you can rack up are insane.
The Bilt Card
You know what’s difficult–and sometimes impossible–to put on a credit card? Your rent. The Bilt Card solves this problem by letting you make rent payments with your card, with no strings attached or hoops to jump through. What’s more, your rent payments will earn points, all of which are transferable to Hyatt. It also offers the following multipliers:
2 points per dollar on travel
3 points per dollar on dining
A Chase setup generally offers more value, but if you’re not concerned about cool perks like the ones offered by the Sapphire reserve, and you just want a single card to rack up Hyatt points, this may be the card for you. Even if you go with the Chase setup, this is still a good card to add if you’re paying rent for hundreds or thousands of extra Hyatt points each month.
There’s also no annual fee with the Bilt card.
Read more about the Bilt card here.
Bonus: Chase Ink Business Cards
If you’ve got a business or are starting one, and you aren’t interested in a Sapphire card, the Chase Ink Business Preferred card could be a good option for you. It offers unique business-specific benefits and multipliers with the same $95 annual fee as the Sapphire Preferred.
The Chase Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited are great no annual fee workhorse cards.
There’s also the Ink Business Premier, which is focused on high spenders. It boasts sparse perks to offset its $195 annual fee, but provides a flat 2 points per dollar on all spending, as well as 2.5 points per dollar on purchases of $5,000 or more.
I don’t want to focus too much on business cards, so if you’re interested, I’ll let you read more about the Chase Ink cards here.
Does buying Hyatt points or transferring points to Hyatt count towards status?
In short, no.
Hyatt base points vs current points balance
Hyatt makes it a point (no pun intended) to show you how many points you’ve earned by spending money at their hotels in a given year and your current points balance. If your Hyatt base point balance is zero and you transfer or buy A MILLION points, your base point balance would still be a big, fat zero.
Is there ever a good time to buy Hyatt points?
Actually, yes. There are a few occasions when you should consider buying Hyatt points:
1. Your trip is around the corner and you don’t have enough points
Let’s say you have 20,000 Hyatt points, but a points reservation requires 25,000 points. Even at the current cost of $120, or 2.4 cents per point, most of your booking will already be getting paid for. Even if buying the 5,000 points pushes you below the magical 1.5 cents per point line (a general value goal for most credit card rewards currencies), it still may be worthwhile for you if it lets you have your dream vacation.
2. You’ve already found a reservation that will offset the cost of buying the points (and you don’t have enough)
Hyatt points valuations can get insane. In some cases, they can approach 10 cents per point in value. This is obviously much more than the 2-3 cents per point you’ll be paying to buy Hyatt points, so buying them when you’ve found a booking that will be worth more than the cost of the points, you can buy the points and then book to essentially get yourself a nice discount off of the normal cash price.
In case you aren’t sure how to calculate the cost of buying points or the value of a points booking, check this quick guide out:
The cost of buying Hyatt points = (the cost of the points)/(the number of points)
The points value of a Hyatt points redemption= (the cost of the booking, including taxes and fees)/(the number of points needed to book)
The net cost of buying Hyatt points = (the cost of buying Hyatt points) - (the points value of a Hyatt points redemption)
If the net cost of buying Hyatt points is negative, you’re saving yourself some money!
3. Hyatt is having an insane points sale
Unless there’s a drastic change, Hyatt will continue to be the king of points redemption valuation. I’m never shocked when I find a Hyatt redemption worth more than 3 cents per point, and 1.5 cents is nearly a shoo in right now. Since purchasing Hyatt points, even at the lowest value, is 2.4 cents per point, speculatively purchasing Hyatt points when they go on sale could net you some savings in the long term.
Keep in mind that while I’m presenting this as an option, I generally recommend against points speculation, because the value of all reward points dwindles over time; it’d suck to buy tens of thousands of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents per point, knowing that finding a Hyatt redemption in excess of 2 cents per point isn’t very hard, only for Hyatt to suddenly change their system and make their points worth 1 cent per point.
Also, keep in mind that when you’re buying Hyatt points, you could’ve used that financial power for regular spending towards a credit card sign-up bonus worth tens of thousands of points instead.
Don’t forget that you can also net Hyatt points from a cash Hyatt stay (5 points per dollar with any card or status), especially if you use a Hyatt credit card (9 total points per dollar) or a Hyatt transfer partner card (8 points per dollar with a Chase Sapphire Reserve).
