As you may have heard yesterday, the sign up bonus on the Hyatt Credit Card is set to change. Beginning a week from today (June 29, 2017), the sign up bonus will change from the long-standard two free nights after $2,000 spend in the first three months to 40,000 Hyatt points (presumably after the same amount of spend).
The Change
Current sign-up bonus: 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel in the world after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months
New Sign-up bonus begins June 29, 2017: 40,000 Hyatt points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months
Which is better?
On the face of it, the change seems like a decrease — and indeed it is for those who intend to stay at top-tier properties. Category 6 and 7 Hyatts run 25,000 or 30,000 points per night, meaning that the current “two free nights” could get you a room worth the equivalent of as much as 60,000 points. If you had your heart set on the Park Hyatt Maldives or Tokyo or the Andaz 5th Ave, the new bonus is a bummer (and perhaps a reason to apply now while you can still get 2 free nights anywhere).
However, there are three groups of people who might find the new bonus to be a better deal.
Group 1: Those without status
If you have no Hyatt status, you might come out better with the points in several scenarios.
First, if you have a friend who is a Globalist member, you can transfer your points to that friend and have him or her book a room for you via Hyatt’s Guest-of-Honor program – meaning that you can enjoy his or her Globalist benefits on your stay. Hyatt allows free transfers between members, though note that you can only send or receive points once per 30-day period. Things like lounge access or free breakfast for two or free parking can really add up. I recently stayed at the Andaz 5th Ave in New York. My stay was far from stellar, but the savings on two nights of parking is substantial (standard-size car overnight parking is $67 a night). Of course, with the new signup bonus you wouldn’t have enough points for two nights at the Andaz New York — but there are plenty of Category 5 hotels where free parking would be a valuable benefit and 40K can buy you two nights. Add in lounge access or free breakfast at the right hotels and points could be much more valuable than nights (which can’t be transferred for Guest-of-Honor stays).
Further, points can be used to buy at least some of the benefits of status. For example, you can book a club level room or a suite with points. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Saipan in 2015, where a standard room costs 8,000 points a night. A club-level room was 12,000 points per night. Club-level rooms there often go for north of $400 a night before tax. If you’re not a Hyatt Elite member, you can still get the benefits of status (club access) for 3 nights with the new offer.
Furthermore, you might be able to book a suite for a reasonable rate as well. See the chart below for the number of points you’d need. As you can see, the 40K sign up bonus would get you multiple nights in a suite up to Category 3.
Not even Hyatt Globalists can confirm a suite on the 2 free night sign up bonus from the credit card — so being able to use points might be more valuable if you need a room with more space.
Group 2: People who prefer more nights at simpler hotels
Those who prefer multiple nights at lower-level hotels will make out much better. I’ve mentioned in the past that the Hyatt Place Poughkeepsie is a good value as a Category 1. I just booked a weekend there this summer. It’s definitely not our favorite Hyatt, but it’s close enough to the Culinary Institute of America, and we enjoy a meal there now and then. Cash rates for the weekend I booked were higher than normal:
We normally go for just a night and have dinner. At 5,000 points a night, we could get a number of weekend getaways out of the 40K sign up bonus.
That’s an outsized example — most Category 1 hotels are probably more like $100-$150 a night, but Hyatt House and Hyatt Place locations all include free breakfast and typically include a room with a sofa (and a kitchenette in the case of Hyatt House). Not bad for a family.
Group 3: Hyatt Globalists
This one might seem counter-intuitive. Globalists get free breakfast and lounge access — why would they prefer the points over the 2 free nights? Suite upgrades. One of the benefits of the new World of Hyatt program is that Globalist Tier Upgrade Awards (suite upgrades) can be applied to pure award stays (100% points). However, they can not be applied to free night stays (such as with the 2 free nights from the Hyatt Credit Card). With four suite upgrades to use per year, Globalists may prefer to have the points so they can use them for a stay with a suite upgrade award attached.
So which is better?
In the end, which sign up bonus is better really just depends on how you intend to use it. Two free nights at any property in the world certainly has its appeal and could be incredibly valuable — other folks may find one of the arguments above more compelling. Either way, it’s nice that we know in advance so you can plan accordingly. Again, the bonus will change on June 29th. If you’re interested in the nights, you’ll want to sign up before then.
For more information on this card and all of the best current offers, see our Best Offers page.
Points or nights? What’s your preference? Let us know which bonus appeals to you.
H/T: View from the Wing
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What about the Anniversary Night? Will it still be one night at a Category 4 or less property or will it also be changed to points?
The anniversary night is still one night Category 1-4.
[…] the longstanding 2 free nights anywhere to 40,000 points. In covering that change, we wrote about some of the reasons why this may be a favorable change for some. It seems that Hyatt is trying a different kind of bonus to see what kind of reaction […]
This sounds like a new contract with Chase. There is the risk that this new card may become subject to 5/24.
Just a note about the suite awards: they are minimum 3 nights, so, technically, if all you have is the sign up bonus, you could only book up to category 2
I applied for Hyatt card 2 months ago and already got 2 free nights.
If I’ll apply in July, will I be able to get 40k points or they’ll consider it the same card just with different bonus ?
I could have gone for 50k because I do prefer the flexibility of points, but 40k isn’t enough. I’m going to squeeze in a last minute app to do the 2 free nights.
I’ve held this card for about 5 years. If I cancel it today, can I reapply before 6/29 (so like, 5 days from cancellation) and snag the 2 free nights offer? Is 5 days long enough to wait between a close-open?
I honestly don’t know for sure. I might chance it if I had a plan for the 2 free nights — but it’s tight. Hard to say.
@mike. I don’t know if it will out for Hyatt, but when the Fairmont card was ending, I spoke to a rep. He told me that I could cancel the card(since my last bonus was 5 years before when they inaugurated the card) and reapply I the same day and be approved. I decided to chance it and cancelled and reapplied in the same day and WAS APPROVED!!! Before cancelling I redeemed my points into Ovation Certificates because I wasn’t confident that I would have 30 days to move them. We recently stayed 3 glorious free nights in a Lake front suite in Lake Louise & 4 free nights in a suite at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. (I had my husband reapply too.) I encourage you to call the application line and ask. Good luck.
Thanks for the feedback! I’ll give it a try!
“The current “two free nights” could get you a room worth the equivalent of as much as 60,000 points.” Actually, the two free nights could be equivalent to 100,000 points for a family of 4 staying at an all-inclusive. 40k points isn’t enough for even 1 night at Ziva Cancun for a family of 4.
How do you get to 50K/night?
The max I could do is the following:
– Ziva (a couple options) Category 6 (25K/night)
– Add two children at 10K/night
= 2x (25+10+10) = 90K
That being said, I completely agree with your opinion. Ziva with these certificates is one of the best options out there.
It’s a bit of a pain to book (since it has to be done through the phone), but because of that there’s generally pretty good availability 🙂
I signed up for this card 6/5/15, should be good to go if I apply now, right?
When did you complete spending last time?
“This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.”
So if you took more than a month to complete the spend, or it took them a full billing cycle to provide the bonus, then you’re not yet eligible.
I understand that’s how it reads, but I’ve also read the info below (from a forum post dated October 2016).
Any other DP’s on this?
I don’t know what date they actually use but I can tell you that since they’ve had that 24-month language in the agreements I’ve gotten 3 cards & received the signup bonus when it’s only been about 22 months since receiving the last bonus (but has been a full 24 months since actually signing up for the last card.) At first I did this by mistake, but then seeing that the 24 months wasn’t enforced, I didn’t worry too much about it. I’ve done this with the Fairmont card, Ink, and Southwest personal Premier. The last card/bonus I signed up for was the SW card last February (so my experience isn’t super recent.)
Situation #4. Cash and points
Want to stretch your points further?
What about people trying to earn status for next year?
C+P is a great way to do that, and the points offers that abilities.