Why Hyatt hotels are part of my travel strategy
My ambition is to visit as many places as I can, comfortably, cheaply, and conveniently. Hyatt hotels have been an essential part of that plan. Hyatts are throughout the US and the rest of the world. They have 1,279 hotels and resorts in 75 countries.
There are Hyatts that can offer everything, from quick, solo weekend trips to family resort vacations. Hyatt ranks its properties on a 1 (lowest) to 8 (highest) scale. This ranking is based as much on local prices and demand as on hotel quality or luxury. I’ve stayed at properties as varied as the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa (Category 7) to The Eliza Jane (Category 5) in New Orleans to the Hotel Kansas City (Category 3) and Hyatt Place Albuquerque Airport (Category 2). The Eliza Jane and Hotel Kansas City are comparable hotels, but are different tiers because one is in New Orleans and the other is in Kansas City (don’t blame the messenger!)
Why Hyatt above other, larger chains such as Marriott or Hilton? Because it’s simple for me to accumulate points and benefits through Chase Ultimate Rewards and through my World of Hyatt credit card. The required number of points for a stay is based on the award category of the hotel and whether you’re staying at peak or off-peak days. So, a mid-week stopover at a Hyatt House in Mexico City may be 5,000 points per night and a standard suite at the Park Hyatt in NYC in autumn may run 66,000/night. You obtain Hyatt points through staying at the hotel, transferring points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, or spending on the World of Hyatt credit card.
How to Earn Hyatt Points and Benefits
There are four ways I earn Hyatt points and benefits today:
Stay at a Hyatt. As a member of the World of Hyatt program, I collect points and benefits with each stay. Paid stays earn 5x points. And, through the Hyatt Brand Explorer program, every 5 different Hyatt brands I stay at earn me one free Category 1-4 night.
Register for promotions. Hyatt regularly runs promotions for World of Hyatt members. I invariably sign up for a promotion, even if I assume there’s little chance I’ll use it. They might extend double points on international stays, 3 nights for the price of two, or extra points for staying at a new property.
Get a World of Hyatt credit card. The World of Hyatt credit card isn’t my principal travel credit card. That honor goes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The benefits of the Hyatt card to me still outstrip the $95 annual fee. The World of Hyatt credit card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases on the card in the first 3 months. You then can earn up to an an added 30,000 points by spending $15,000 in the first 6 months. The card also comes with one free night in a category 1-4 property and one free night after spending $15K in the membership year. Card holders earn bonuses on Hyatt spending and on Hyatt promotions. So, it’s straightforward to see how rapidly you can pile up free nights!
Transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt. This perk lured me to Hyatt hotels. Hyatt is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, which means I can shift my points from my Chase account to my World of Hyatt account. Points have transferred in less than a minute for me each time.
World of Hyatt Credit Card
Just having the World of Hyatt credit card gets you perks at the hotel, even if you never use the card. You receive one free night at any Category 1–4 Hyatt hotel or resort every year after your cardmember anniversary. You also get complimentary World of Hyatt Discoverist status as long as your World of Hyatt Credit Card is open. Discoverist doesn’t come with much, but it’s come in handy. The status comes with a bottle of water daily and 2 p.m. late checkout, when available. Both benefits, however small, have proved useful to me on almost every trip.
Why it’s still the best for me
Hyatt hotels aren’t everywhere. I want to visit Montana to see Bozeman and Big Sky and no Hyatt exists in the entire state at the moment. Nevertheless, more than enough Hyatts are in many of the places that I want to go, so I may not exhaust the program in a lifetime.