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There’s a new Hyatt Amex Offer out today which can save you up to 20% on stays. Before you get too excited though, there’s a catch – it’s only valid on stays at Hyatt properties in Canada.
The Deal
- Spend $500 on room rate and room charges at participating Hyatt properties in Canada & get $100 back with an Amex Offer.
Key Terms
- Expires April 30, 2024.
- Offer valid only at participating Hyatt Hotels & Resorts properties in Canada. Reservations must be made directly with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts at hyatt.com, via the World of Hyatt mobile application, or by calling 1-800-233-1234.
- Visit hyatt.com/search/Canada for a list of participating locations.
- Excludes purchases of gift cards.
- Not valid on purchases of bonus points or on transactions made with Hyatt partners.
- Excludes Hyatt Residences, timeshares and all locations outside of Canada.
- Not valid on transactions made at restaurants, spas or amenities.
- Qualifying purchase means a purchase at a participating property made during the offer period with your enrolled American Express Card and which is in an amount totaling at least $500 USD as posted to your account, following conversion from a foreign currency, if applicable, in accordance with your Cardmember Agreement.
- Offer only valid on room rate and room charges.
- Offer not valid for lodging stays that are paid for before the promotion start date or after the promotion end date.
Quick Thoughts
One of the useful things about spending offers such as these is that it’s valid on both room rate and room charges. That means that if you’re booking an award stay at a Canadian property (or properties), you could still trigger the statement credit from this Amex Offer by charging $500 to your room for food, drinks, activities, spa treatments, etc.
Note that the offer requires that you spend $500 USD, not $500 CAD. That’s particularly important to note in case you’re spending close to $500 USD as the exchange rate on the date it posts to your account could result in you being charged just under $500.
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Why am I always inclined to reject these in favor of spending on the Hyatt card and earn Hyatt points plus night credits? My gut instinct says if you spent exactly $500, the Amex offer has a higher return, but if you wind up spending more than a certain amount, you’re foregoing too many Hyatt points and nights.
I need to work out a generic formula…
A better option would be to split the cost with $500 on the card with the Amex Offer and the balance on a Hyatt card.
If you’d rather only pay with one card, the bill would have to be pretty high to make it worth putting on a Hyatt card. For example, let’s say the bill is $2,000. With the Amex Offer you’d save $100 & earn 2,000 Membership Rewards (assuming it’s on a card earning 1x). If putting that spend on a Hyatt card, you’d earn 8,000 Hyatt points.
If you value Hyatt points and Membership Rewards the same, that means you’d be trading off $100 cash for 6,000 Hyatt points, or effectively buying Hyatt points for 1.67cpp.
Splitting the bill at the exact minimum required (with a little cushion for exchange rate fluctuation) would probably be the best option, but you need to remember to do that.
You also need to count in the value of nights for spending on the various Hyatt cards – the business card is worth .5 qualifying nights per thousand spend. Figure you can average 5000 pts per night cost on a mattress run, so an easy extra 2.5 pt per dollar for spending on a Hyatt card, if you hit the levels exactly. (1.75 pts if you have a Cat 1 nearby with lots of off-peak nights.)
This is an interesting exercise, I’ve never gone with anything other than my gut.
So let’s run your scenario again. A $2000 spend earns $100 and 2000 MR points. Using the FM RRV of 1.55 cpp, that’s a value of $131. Spending that $2000 on the Hyatt Business card yields 1 qualifying night and 8000 Hyatt points. The FM Hyatt RRV is 2.1 cpp. The points alone are worth $168, the night is worth a minimum of $73.50 in cost avoidance. If you’d like to value it as spend, not cost avoidance, consider that (assuming you hit 70 nights) one qualifying night buys you 1000 Hyatt points (worth $21) or $30 FIND experience credit or .2 Suite Upgrade (potentially worth a whole lot if you used it on a week stay at a high Cat hotel, 0.2*18k if you use it for one night at the Andaz 5th Ave, or 3600 Hyatt points, or $75). Bottom line, even if you value the qualifying night as nothing, the Hyatt card still wins easily, but if you value the QN at something, it really wins.
Let’s drop back to an exact $500 spend. On Amex, that yields $100 and 500 MR points, FM value at $107.50. $500 on the Hyatt Business earns 2000 Hyatt points, value of $42. Value the QN at nothing and the Amex offer wins. But if you value the QN, the value of .25 QN lies somewhere between $18 cost avoidance or $19 spend. You can also double count here both cost avoidance and spend, but that still gives you only a $79 return, leading to another AMEX win. Ramp up the cost avoidance to a 5000 pt hotel, that’s $26, a weekend with the suite upgrade saves $38, that’s $106. Roughly break even. Long weekend with the SUA, Hyatt Business wins. But, you’re comparing cash in hand to something you actually need to do and hit exactly.
TLDR Bottom Line: If you only spend the minimum on the AMEX card, it’s the easier win. Spend more or do a little work on spending what the Hyatt Business earns, it wins. Either way, you need to do work – split the bill or make sure you hit your marks. If you have the Hyatt Business, just slapping that down to pay for the stay isn’t a terrible option, especially if you start hitting $600-$700 on the stay. As someone who’s always scrounging for more Hyatt points, I’m going with the Hyatt Business option.
I believe it should work but just want to make sure. Paying Advanced Purchase should trigger the credit correct? TIA.
Provided payment is taken before the Amex Offer’s expiry date, that should work. It doesn’t with Hilton Amex Offers due to the way payment for those is processed, but I think Hyatt works.
Thanks Stephen!