It’s no secret that (when it is safe to do so) my family likes to travel far and wide, using points and miles whenever possible. We earn our points a number of ways, but for at least the last decade, one of those ways is by strategically signing up for rewards-earning credit cards with big sign-up bonuses. We don’t go crazy with that element of our earning strategy, but there’s no faster and cheaper way to get 50,000, 60,000, 100,000 or even 150,000 miles or points in a hurry than via a big fat sign-up bonus.
Related: Welcome bonuses of 100,000 points or more
In the days of Chase 5/24, once-in-a-lifetime bonuses, same “card family” restrictions and more, my husband and I are both pretty picky when it comes to applying for new cards. But there is one card that was sitting at the top of our wish list since it was introduced in the summer of 2018 — The World of Hyatt Credit Card. In fact, this is the card we most recently added to our respective wallets.
We are, admittedly, Hyatt junkies.
We love the properties (especially the family-friendly resorts), appreciate the award chart and like to bump up our World of Hyatt account balances by transferring points in from Chase Ultimate Rewards cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. However, there are lots of great ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points, so we try and keep our World of Hyatt balances healthy to preserve Ultimate Rewards points for other uses.
Get 50,000 Hyatt points worth $850
The World of Hyatt Credit Card currently has a welcome bonus of 50,000 bonus points — 25,000 bonus Hyatt points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening and an additional 25,000 after you spend a total of $6,000 in the first six months.
Considering Hyatt award prices start at 5,000 points per night, and many family-friendly resorts are 20,000 – 25,000 points per night, 50,000 is a good number of points to kick-start your points earnings for a future family vacation. While we aren’t recommending leisure travel right now, Hyatt actually delayed most of its 2020 award chart changes. This means we already know what Hyatt hotels will cost using points as long as you book by early 2021 — for as far out as the schedule allows, which by early 2021 will be early 2022.
TPG currently values 50,000 World of Hyatt points at $850, based on 1.7 cents.
My own personal valuations based on our own travel patterns fall into roughly same range. In the last few years, we’ve used World of Hyatt points to book stays at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, Andaz Costa Rica, the all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana, Park Hyatt New York, Park Hyatt Vienna, Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Grand Hyatt DFW, Hyatt Regency Lost Pines and more. In pretty much every single one of these cases we got at least 2 cents in value per World of Hyatt point redeemed when comparing the award price to the cash price.
Since families often travel at peak (aka expensive) times, getting a great value for your redeemed points is pretty simple with Hyatt, especially since the chain delayed the implementation of peak and off-peak award prices until 2021 due to COVID-19.
Related reading: What is World of Hyatt elite status worth in 2020?
Get two award nights each year
The World of Hyatt Credit Card automatically gives you one Category 1-4 award each year that you renew the World of Hyatt Credit Card and then you can earn a second 1-4 award night with $15,000 in spending on the card in a cardmember year. At an average of just $1,250 spent on the card each month to hit that yearly spending total, I think that is a fair trade-off to earn a second award night.
Our family often uses these award nights at hotels that are selling for $200 – $300 per night. We’ve used our Category 1-4 awards at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort in San Antonio, the Hyatt Place Keystone in Colorado ski country, the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport and the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington in Seattle.
Earn up to 4x points per dollar
The World of Hyatt Credit Card is the best card for Hyatt expenses as it offers four points per dollar charged on Hyatt stays and experiences, including at participating restaurants and spas within Hyatt properties.
However, it is also good for other expenses, such as gym memberships, where the card awards 2x Hyatt points per dollar charged. When life reopens, we will be moving our recurring gym charges on this card to earn some easy points every month. In addition to gyms and fitness clubs, you will also earn 2x points on local transit and commuting charges, including on rideshare services.
Related reading: Best credit cards for gym memberships
Spend toward Hyatt Globalist elite status
The World of Hyatt card will provide automatic Discoverist status, just like the older version of the card. Hyatt Discoverist status frankly isn’t all that exciting (other than for potentially matching to M Life). However, the card makes it easy to get a jump on more valuable higher elite status tiers.
Normally, the World of Hyatt card offers an automatic five qualifying nights per year toward Hyatt elite status just for having the card. The five initial tier-qualifying nights will credit into your World of Hyatt account within eight weeks of your World of Hyatt Credit Card account opening date and then again each calendar year. But right now, the World of Hyatt Credit Card is offering a faster past to elite status than normal through
Now through June 30, 2020, new World of Hyatt Credit Card holders will automatically get 10 qualifying night credits — double what is usually offered, in addition to the up to 50,000 bonus points.
On top of that, from April 15 through June 30, 2020, new and existing World of Hyatt Credit Card holders will earn three elite-qualifying nights for every $5,000 spent on the card instead of the normal two nights per $5,000 spent. Those with the now-discontinued Hyatt Credit Card will earn two qualifying nights for every $5,000 spent on their card, which is great considering cardholders ordinarily don’t have the opportunity to earn any elite credits through spending on the card.
Top-tier Hyatt Globalist status requires 60 eligible nights in a calendar year, but you can drop that number pretty quickly if you are a heavy user of the World of Hyatt Card. You could target $15,000 in spending on the card each year to earn the additional Category 1 – 4 award, and that spending alone would also score you a total of 11 (included five, plus six more) qualifying nights toward Hyatt status, leaving just 49 nights to go to earn Globalist status. If you did all that with a new card during the temporary spending incentive by June 30, that number would actually jump to a total of 19 nights and an extra Category 1 – 4 award that could be earned with $15,000 in spending.
Of course, you could theoretically spend your way all the way to Hyatt Globalist status with $140,000 charged on the Hyatt card in a calendar year. That number assumes no bonuses or paid or award Hyatt stays that year, which is a pretty bad assumption since there’s no reason to have Hyatt Globalist status if you never stay at a Hyatt.
Related reading: Best credit cards for earning elite status
For those not already familiar, World of Hyatt Globalist status unlocks some really good perks for traveling families, including waived resort fees, club lounge access, complimentary space-available suite upgrades, confirmed suite upgrade certificates, free included breakfast for two adults and two children at locations without a club lounge, a 4:00 p.m. late checkout and waived parking fees when redeeming awards.
It’s fair to say Hyatt Globalist status is my favorite hotel elite status out there for families.
Who can apply for the World of Hyatt credit card
If you want the World of Hyatt Credit Card, be sure and read the fine print. In addition to being below 5/24, the terms on the World of Hyatt Credit Card state that the product is not available to current cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card or previous cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
In common terms, this means you can’t have an open Hyatt credit card or have gotten the bonus for a Hyatt card in the last two years. If you have the old Hyatt credit card and don’t want to go through the process of closing it and applying for this new card, you can talk to Chase about simply upgrading your current Hyatt card to this one. That will keep your account number, account history, etc.
However, you won’t be able to get the 50,000 point new cardholder bonus simply by upgrading from the old Hyatt card to this one. There are sometimes Hyatt upgrade offers available to targeted customers, but usually in the neighborhood of around 5,000 points, a far cry from 50,000 points.
Related reading: Ultimate guide to credit card upgrades
Bottom line
I’m very glad to now have the World of Hyatt credit card in my wallet as it amps up the earnings on select categories, such as Hyatt stays and gym memberships, and (most importantly) it will make re-earning Hyatt Globalist status easier when I decide to get serious about that travel goal.
Additional reporting by Benét J. Wilson
Featured photo by Eric Helgas/The Points Guy
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