World of Hyatt Credit Card Review

Full Review of World of Hyatt Credit Card

Pros Explained

• Up to 60,000 Points One-Time Offer with Up to Six-Month Earning Period: You can earn up to 30,000 bonus points with this card’s bonus by spending $3,000 in the first three months of the account being open. You can earn an additional 30,000 points if you reach $15,000 in spending during the first six months of the account. Some competing cards require spending $5,000 in three months to earn a bonus, which can be difficult to reach.
• Up to Two Award Nights per Year: You automatically earn an award night at a category 1–4 Hyatt hotel after each cardmember anniversary. This award night can easily offset the card's annual fee. Earn an extra free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel if you spend $15,000 in a calendar year. While other cards offer the ability to earn additional award nights with long hotel stays, most don’t offer an additional night for reaching a spending requirement within a year.
• Earn 9 Total Points per Dollar Spent at Hyatt Hotels: You will earn 4 points per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels including participating restaurants and participating Small Luxury Hotel (SLH) properties from using this card in addition to the 5 points you would normally get from the Hyatt loyalty program for a total of 9 points per dollar spent. Our valuation methodology values Hyatt points at 2.01 cents each, which results in a value of 8.4 cents per dollar spent on the 4 points earned from using this card. This is a much higher value than you can earn with any other hotel rewards card or even the best cash back credit cards.

Cons Explained

• Hyatt Hotels Aren't as Widespread as Some Other Brands: While Hyatt is a well-known brand, it doesn't have a huge hotel footprint compared with some of its competitors. It currently has more than 1,000 properties worldwide. However, other major brands have more locations to choose from. For instance, IHG has more than 6,000 properties worldwide and Marriott has more than 7,000.
• Annual Fee Isn’t Waived the First Year: The World of Hyatt credit card's $95 annual fee is charged every year, including your first year. Some competing cards waive their annual fee during the first year.
• Confusing Rewards Earning Structure Combines Credit Card and Hotel Loyalty Points: The marketing for this credit card can be confusing because it mentions that you can earn 9 World of Hyatt points per dollar spent when using the card. That's true, but it combines the 5 points per dollar spent you can earn through the World of Hyatt loyalty program, which you can earn whether you have the card or not, with the 4 points per dollar spent you earn with the credit card.

The World of Hyatt credit card is a good fit for people with good to excellent credit who find themselves regularly staying at Hyatt hotels. The 4 points per dollar spent for using the credit card at Hyatt hotels can quickly add up, especially when you consider the additional 5 points per dollar spent that you can earn as a World of Hyatt loyalty program member.

Based on our valuation of 2.01 cents per point, you’d only have to spend about $1,182 each year at Hyatt hotels or about $2,363 in the 2 points per dollar spent bonus categories to offset the $95 annual fee on this card. That doesn't even take into account the category 1–4 night you receive on each cardmember anniversary or any other benefits this card offers.

World of Hyatt Credit Card One-Time Offer

To be eligible for this card and to earn the bonus, you must not currently hold any Hyatt credit cards or be a previous cardmember of any Hyatt credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. 

If you qualify for the bonus, it is broken into two distinct parts. First, you can earn 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in purchases within three months from account opening. Plus, you'll get 2 Bonus Points per $1 spent on purchases that earn 1 Bonus Point up to $15,000 in the first 6 months of account opening for a possible extra 30,000 points. The bonus should post to your World of Hyatt account within six to eight weeks after qualifying. Your card must remain open for at least three months. Otherwise, Hyatt and Chase may deduct the bonus points you earn from your World of Hyatt account.

According to our valuation of 2.01 cents per point, the 30,000 point bonus is worth $630. Don’t forget to reduce these bonus amounts by the $95 annual fee you have to pay, though.

Rewards Earning Details

Earning rewards with the World of Hyatt credit card is fairly straightforward, but some of the bonus categories aren’t very common and can be a bit difficult to remember. The points you’ve earned do not expire as long as your credit card account is open.

You'll earn 4 bonus points per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels, including participating restaurants and participating Small Luxury Hotel (SLH) properties. Additionally, you'll earn 2 bonus points per dollar spent at restaurants, on airline tickets purchased directly from the airline, local transit, commuting, fitness club or gym memberships, and FIND experiences booked at World of Hyatt's FIND website. You'll also earn 1 bonus point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

The rewards rates in bonus categories are strong when you consider their estimated value at 2.01 cents per point. That said, you can approach that level of return on spending on all other purchases with certain no annual fee cash back credit cards.

Rewards Redemption Details

You can redeem your World of Hyatt points in many ways, but using them to book a hotel stay usually results in the highest value per point. Hyatt offers two ways to use points to book hotel stays. You can book with only points or pay with points and cash. 

Points rates vary from 5,000 points per night for a category 1 hotel to as much as 40,000 points per night for a category 8 hotel. If you opt to book with points and cash, the points amount drops in half and you pay half of the standard rate in cash for your stay.

You can also use your points to upgrade your room on some paid stays. Upgrades may not always be available and are not allowed at some hotels. A Regency Club or Grand Club upgrade costs 3,000 points per night, a suite upgrade costs 6,000 points per night, and a premium suite upgrade costs 9,000 points per night. 

Points can be redeemed for dining or spa credits, but the valuations are less than a penny per point. Using points for meetings and events is another redemption option, but the value per point is only 1.33 cents. You can use 6,000 points to book a one-day intermediate-size car rental through Avis, but this doesn’t offer a lucrative valuation for your points, either.

Transferring Points

Hyatt does allow you to transfer points to participating travel loyalty programs, but it usually isn’t a great value. One rare exception where it may make sense is if you need to top off one of your loyalty program accounts to book an award you wouldn’t otherwise be able to obtain.

In particular, you can usually transfer points from Hyatt to a wide range of participating airline travel loyalty programs at a ratio of 2.5 World of Hyatt points to 1 point in the other program. A minimum of 5,000 World of Hyatt points are required for each transfer request, but transfers above that amount may be done in 1,250 Hyatt point increments.

Certain travel partners offer different conversion rates, though. For example, you can transfer 5,000 World of Hyatt points to the following partners at these rates:

• Aeromexico/LAN Airlines S.A. – 1,000 kilometers
• Air China – 800 kilometers
• China Eastern Airlines – 800 points
• Qantas Airways – 600 points
• Southwest Airlines – 600 points
• Virgin Atlantic Airways – 750 miles

How to Maximize Your Rewards

To maximize your rewards, you’ll want to make sure you put all Hyatt and other bonus category purchases on this credit card. Once you’ve accumulated enough points, you can further maximize your value by carefully selecting how you redeem the points you earn. 

Certain hotels will result in higher per point redemption values even though the program uses a hotel category pricing chart to account for the differences in hotel cost and quality.

Average Case

If you’re doing business or visiting family in Minneapolis-St. Paul, you might book a room at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. You’d have to pay 12,000 points per night for a standard room with one king bed, while the hotel charges a standard rate of $129 a night for a January 19, 2022 reservation for that room. This results in a value of 1.08 cents per point.

Aspirational Case

If you want to get the most value out of your points, you might consider saving them up and planning a vacation around the hotels with the best redemption values. Those tend to be Hyatt’s higher-tier properties. So, for example, if you’re visiting New York City, you could stay at the Park Hyatt New York. The standard rate for a single room with a king bed is $795 per night for a January 19, 2022 reservation, but you could instead use 30,000 points a night to book the same room. That’s a value of 2.7 cents per point.

World of Hyatt Credit Card's Outstanding Benefits

• Hyatt Discoverist elite status and more: You automatically get Hyatt Discoverist status with this card, as well as five qualifying night credits toward your next tier status every year, plus two additional qualifying night credits toward your next tier status every time you spend $5,000 on your card.
• Baggage delay insurance: You can be reimbursed up to $100 per day for five days for essentials when your baggage is delayed more than six hours by a passenger carrier.
• Lost luggage reimbursement: Up to $3,000 per passenger for carry-on or checked bags damaged or lost by the carrier.
• Trip cancellation or interruption insurance: Up to $5,000 per trip for prepaid, nonrefundable travel if your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, and other covered situations.

Standard Benefits

• Concierge for booking event tickets, making dinner reservations, etc.
• Purchase protection
• Earn an extra free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel if you spend $15,000 in a calendar year.

Cardholder Experience

Chase ranked fourth and scored two points below average in the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study.

All Chase cardmembers, and even non-Chase customers, can enroll in Chase’s free Credit Journey service. This service provides free access to your VantageScore 3.0 credit score, which is updated weekly. You can also access a credit score simulator and other educational credit resources. 

Customers who need assistance with their card can call customer service 24/7 at 800-935-9935. You can also look for answers to any issues you’re having on the Chase website or with the Chase mobile app.

Security Features

The World of Hyatt credit card offers standard security features. In addition, you can lock and unlock your card on the Chase website or Chase app to prevent new, non-recurring purchases you haven’t authorized. You can get access to a credit report and sign up for credit alerts through Chase Credit Journey to monitor your credit report for potential fraud.

Fees to Watch Out For

The fees the World of Hyatt credit card charges are fairly standard for this type of card. But be aware that the $95 annual fee is not waived in the first year as it is with some other credit cards. In addition, the balance transfer fees ($5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater) and cash advance fees ($10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater) are higher than some other credit cards charge.

Our Verdict

The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers quite a few ways to get outstanding value for the $95 annual fee you’ll pay. The large one time bonus of up to 60,000 points, the annual award night at a category 1–4 Hyatt hotel awarded on each cardmember anniversary, and the 4 points you earn per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels (plus 5 for being a World of Hyatt Member) are all exceptionally good perks. If you’re strategic by redeeming your points for Hyatt Hotel stays you can maximize the value from this card.

In categories where your purchases earn you only 1 point (or 2.01 cents) per dollar, you may feel as though there are better earning opportunities elsewhere but only if you have a card that exceeds that approximate 2% return on spending (which is still pretty exceptional) on other purchase categories like groceries, gas, drug stores or entertainment.