In general, I think hotel credit cards are incredibly underrated. They can offer huge perks that more offset the annual fees, and some cards even offer free nights that can get you a lot of value.
While I have quite a few hotel credit cards, in this post I wanted to take a look at the hotel credit card that I spend the most money on. It goes without saying that hotel stays might not be a focus for many right now, but this card can earn you rewards that you can redeem for years to come.
In mid-2018 Chase and Hyatt refreshed their co-branded credit card, and they created what I consider to be one of the best hotel credit cards out there, with the introduction of the World Of Hyatt Credit Card.
What makes this card so brilliant is that it's worth having regardless of whether you want to keep it just for the ongoing perks, or whether you want to spend money on it. Let's take a closer look at what you need to know about this card:
The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers a welcome bonus of up to 50,000 World of Hyatt points:
Personally, I value World of Hyatt points at ~1.5 cents each, so to me those 50,000 points are worth ~$750.
50,000 points is enough for up to 10 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt property, as those retail for 5,000 points per night.
Redeem just 8,000 points per night at the Hyatt Regency Bali
The welcome bonus on this card isn't available to those who currently have any Hyatt credit card, or have received the new cardmember bonus on any Hyatt credit card in the past 24 months.
You're not eligible for this card if you have the previous version of the Hyatt credit card. If that's the case, you should be able to call Chase and product change to this card. Whether or not that's worth it is a different story, though.
Chase has what's known as the 5/24 rule. This means that if you've opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months you typically won't be approved for this card. If you do apply for this card, make sure you're under that limit.
See this post to learn how to check your 5/24 status.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card has a $95 annual fee, and it isn't waived for the first year. You can add additional cardmembers to your account at no extra cost.
As I'll explain below, this annual fee is so well worth it even if you don't spend money on the card, since you get an anniversary free night certificate.
The World Of Hyatt Credit Card offers pretty good points earning opportunities. While this isn't the card that I use for all of my spending, I strategically spend money on the card, and it works great for for me.
How good are the points earning rates?
The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers 4x points for spending at Hyatt hotels and resorts. While I usually use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card for hotel spending (as the card earns 3x points), I always use the Hyatt card for spending at Hyatt hotels.
The 4x points apply at all Hyatt properties, and even at Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties that are affiliated with Hyatt.
Earn 4x points at Hotel Ranga, an SLH hotel in Iceland
The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers 2x points for restaurant spending globally, though personally this still isn't a card I'd use for restaurants, given that other cards offer 3-5x points.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers 2x points on airline tickets purchased directly from airlines. Again, this isn't the card I'd use for airline tickets, given that other cards offer 3-5x points.
Hyatt has a focus on wellness, so one of the cool bonus categories they have is offering 2x points on fitness clubs and gym memberships. For anyone wondering, this also includes group fitness businesses, like Barry's Bootcamp, SoulCycle, etc.
This is an area where the card's bonus category is industry-leading, as I can't think of any other card that offers such a good return on fitness spending.
Unfortunately this has become significantly less valuable in recent months, given the coronavirus pandemic.
The World of Hyatt Card offers 2x points on local transit and commuting, which includes rideshare services such as Lyft and Uber. Other cards still offer a better return on spending than this card does, though.
For categories in which you can't earn 2-4x points, the World of Hyatt Card offers one World of Hyatt point per dollar spent.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it's an excellent card for purchases abroad. That's especially true when staying at Hyatts abroad, as well as for dining and commuting outside the US.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card features contactless pay technology. This means you can pay using your card without even swiping it whenever you see the contactless pay symbol.
The area where the World Of Hyatt Credit Card really excels is when it comes to the benefits it offers. In my opinion, these benefits more than justify the annual fee, regardless of whether you're spending nothing on the card, or are spending a significant amount.
The first three benefits below are perks that you get just for having the card, while the two after that can be earned for putting spending on the card.
Just for having the World of Hyatt Credit Card you get a Category 1-4 free night certificate on your account anniversary every year. This will be issued shortly after your anniversary and is valid for 12 months.
Categories 1-4 cover a majority of Hyatt's properties, and I've consistently been able to redeem this for hotels that retail for $250+ per night. This alone justifies the annual fee on the card.
See this post for all the credit cards offering free night awards.
I used my free night certificate at the Park Hyatt Saigon
You receive Hyatt's entry-level Discoverist status for as long as you have the Hyatt Card. The status will post for the primary cardmember shortly after you are approved. Discoverist status comes with the following benefits:
Discoverist members may receive preferred rooms
Just for having the card you receive five elite qualifying nights towards status annually. You will receive these within eight weeks of being approved for the card (though usually much faster), and in subsequent years they will post within eight weeks of January 1.
This will be useful if you're hoping to earn Hyatt's Explorist or Globalist status. Ordinarily, Explorist requires 30 elite nights and Globalist requires 60 elite nights, so that would lower the number of nights you actually need to stay at 25 or 55, respectively.
This could even be useful if you're going for 2020 status, as you would still get five elite nights towards status for this year if you applied for the card now. Do keep in mind that for existing World of Hyatt Elite members, status is being extended by 12 months in 2020 due to the current pandemic.
See this post for all the credit cards that can help you earn hotel status.
While you receive a Category 1-4 free night certificate annually just for having the card, you can earn a second one if you spend $15,000 on the card during your cardmember anniversary year.
Note that this is different than the calendar year - the cardmember anniversary year consists of the 12 statements following when you open the card.
The Park Hyatt Siem Reap is a Category 3 hotel
In addition to the five elite nights you get just for having the card, you earn a further two elite qualifying nights for every $5,000 you spend on the card. This means that in theory, you could spend your way all the way to Explorist or Globalist status, if you wanted to.
Reaching the $5,000 threshold has nothing to do with the calendar or cardmember year - the counter simply resets every time you spend $5,000, and then you start earning towards your next two elite nights.
While there's no guarantee this will continue to be offered in future years, historically Hyatt has offered a 10% refund on redeemed points for those with their co-brand credit card who redeem points in summer. For example, they offered this in both 2018 and 2019, and it's a very nice value-add.
They might not offer it this summer due to the pandemic, but I would expect to see similar promotions in the future.
One of the great features of Chase cards is access to Chase Offers, which provides savings on purchases with all kinds of retailers. The program wasn't launched that long ago, but has already saved me a significant amount of money. For example, there's currently a Chase Offers deal to save 10% on a Hyatt stay, and I recently took advantage of that.
The World of Hyatt Card offers auto rental collision damage waiver coverage. Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card.
Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the US and abroad. Do note that in the US the coverage is secondary to your personal insurance, though.
The World of Hyatt Card offers a variety of other protection when traveling. Among these features is:
Make sure you check your cardmember agreement for all of the details, since there are terms & conditions.
The best value for redeeming World of Hyatt points is using their free night award chart. The great thing is that you earn elite nights for your stay even if you're redeeming points or using a free night certificate.
Hyatt's award chart looks as follows:
There's value to be had at all levels of the chart. As a general rule of thumb, I try to redeem at properties where I'm getting more than two cents of value per point.
In other words, I'd redeem points at a Category 1 hotel when the paid rate is $100+, I'd redeem points at a Category 7 hotel when the paid rate is $600+, etc.
There's so much value to be had at all levels of the award chart, and in particular, I love redeeming at Hyatt's top properties.
Redeem Hyatt points at the Alila in Bali
Let me answer this very simply - if you're eligible for the card and have any interest in staying at Hyatt properties then yes, the World Of Hyatt Credit Card is absolutely worth it. This is a card I personally have, and that I wholeheartedly recommend.
With that simple answer out of the way, let's talk more about the best strategy to take with the Hyatt Card - how much money should you spend on it, should you be putting all of your spending on this, and more.
Personally, my approach is to put $15,000 of spending on the World of Hyatt Card every year, and I think that's a great strategy. As mentioned above, you get an anniversary free night certificate and five elite nights towards status just for having the card.
However, by spending $15,000 on the card in a cardmember year you receive:
As anyone who is a World of Hyatt Globalist can attest to, the status is really valuable, and for many of us, the co-branded credit card makes it much easier to earn that status.
But even taking the value of the elite nights out of the equation, say you spend $15,000 on the card in categories on which you otherwise wouldn't earn bonus points. You're earning a Category 4 certificate that could be redeemed at a hotel costing 15,000 points, and that's generally exactly how I redeem it.
So to me, that's almost like earning two World of Hyatt points per dollar spent, which is an unbeatable return on everyday spending.
The reality is that I do even better than that, since a good bit of that $15,000 of spending is at Hyatt hotels (where I earn 4x points), so the math works out even more favorably.
The Park Hyatt Ningbo is a Category 4 Hyatt property
I've had some people ask if it's worth spending your way to Globalist status with this credit card. Hyatt Globalist status ordinarily requires 60 elite qualifying nights.
You receive five elite qualifying nights just for having the card, meaning that from scratch you'd need to spend $140,000 to earn Globalist status. $140,000 of spending would get you 56 elite qualifying nights, plus the five you get just for having the card, for a total of 61 elite nights.
Personally, that's not the approach I'd take, though. I think the better approach is to better mix-and-match spending. For example, if you stay 30 nights per year at Hyatt (keep in mind that even award stays count), you could spend a much more reasonable amount to earn the remaining 30 elite nights (you'd need to earn 25 elite nights, which would require $65,000 of spending).
Globalist status is my favorite top tier hotel status, and it comes with all kinds of awesome perks. Just to share some of the benefits:
Room service breakfast & a suite upgrade at the Park Hyatt Paris thanks to my status
While the World of Hyatt Card is awesome, I'd note that it's not the only way to earn World of Hyatt points. You can also transfer over points from Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, which is one of my favorite uses of those points. There could be value in using:
See this post for all the best ways to earn Hyatt points.
Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt
The World Of Hyatt Credit Card is exceptional. It's a card I have, and also a card I spend at least $15,000 on per year.
The card is worth having even if you don't plan on putting spending on it - you get an anniversary free night certificate you can use at a hotel that costs significantly more than the annual fee, you get complimentary Discoverist status, and you get five elite nights towards a higher status tier.
Beyond that it can be worth putting spending on the card, thanks to the unique bonus categories (4x points on Hyatt stays and 2x points on fitness and gyms), as well as the additional elite nights and second free night certificate.
I'm a huge fan of this card.
If you want to learn more about the World of Hyatt Credit Card or apply, follow this link.
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