There were rumors in recent months, but there’s now been a formal announcement. Cardholders of the legacy Hyatt credit card will be automatically product changed to the World of Hyatt credit card on January 11, 2021.
There are some benefits to having the World of Hyatt credit card over the legacy Hyatt card. The World of Hyatt card offers 4x on paid Hyatt stays versus 3x on the legacy card, you can earn two elite night credits for every $5,000 spent on the newest card and it also offers more categories in which you can earn bonus points per dollar.
One of the main downsides to this change is that the legacy card had a $75 annual fee whereas the new card has a $95 annual fee. If you’ve been keeping the legacy Hyatt card around for its category 1-4 certificate at renewal each year, that’s now going to cost you an extra $20.
Here’s a table courtesy of Hyatt listing the differences between the two cards:
There are a couple of other disappointing aspects to this automatic product change. First, Chase has sometimes offered bonus points for actively product changing from a legacy card to the new version of a card. I think they might have offered the opportunity to do this on the Hyatt card a couple of years ago when they launched the World of Hyatt card, but it’s been some time if that was the case and, if I recall correctly, the upgrade incentive wasn’t very incentivizing.
It feels like Chase and/or Hyatt is also being shady with the date chosen for this change to occur. They launched a spending promotion last month offering a free category 1-4 night certificate when spending $5,000 $4,000 on the legacy card by December 31, 2020. One of the terms of that promotion is:
Please allow 4 weeks from the end of the promotion period for the Free Night Award to be issued to your World of Hyatt account at worldofhyatt.com.
Assuming that the certificate isn’t awarded as promptly as it could be, that means you’ll have to allow your Hyatt card to be upgraded to the World of Hyatt card in order to get that certificate awarded on your account.
Similarly, Chase is offering bonus points on co-branded cards right now. My World of Hyatt card wasn’t targeted, but my wife’s legacy Hyatt card did receive the offer for 3x at grocery stores and 5x on Amazon on up to $1,500 of combined spend per month in November and December.
One of the terms from that spending offer is:
Please allow up to 8 weeks after qualifying purchases post to your account for Bonus Points to post to your account.
So once again, unless Chase awards the bonus points within a week-and-a-half of the new year, you’ll have to allow your card to be upgraded in order to earn the bonus points.
We’ve already spent $1,500 on Amazon on my wife’s card and $1,000 elsewhere, so I guess we’ll continue our original plans to meet that $5,000 $4,000 spending requirement while simultaneously stacking with the 3x/5x spending offer and allow her card to be product changed in January. She’s under 5/24, so we’ll likely cancel her card as soon as her anniversary night certificate is awarded and then apply for the World of Hyatt card anew in order to earn the welcome bonus – hopefully the bonus will have been increased by then.
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Without any request from me, a $25 annual fee credit posted on my legacy Hyatt card account yesterday.
Here’s my dilemma. My legacy annual fee hits Feb 1, 2021. Looking back, my old free night was posted to my account on Jan 27. I’d love to have the free night post, then close the legacy card, thus allowing a double-dip, but doing all prior to the Jan 11, 2021 automatic conversion. Any ideas or am I stuck with bad luck timing? I don’t want to lose the opportunity to sign up for a new WoH card bonus in the future.
Would my best strategy be to just allow the conversion, get my free night at $75, and then cancel in Feb 2022 after the new anniversary hits but within my 30 day window to cancel without paying the $95? I’ll likely just need to wait another year if I want the bonus. In the meantime, wife could apply for the bonus points if necessary?
I’ll hope to keep status matching with MLife to hold Explorist, even if I don’t have the WoH card.
Thoughts?
I don’t think the free night will post before January 11, so you’ll have to let your card convert in order to get the free night certificate.
With the conversion happening on January 11 though, it means you’ll be charged $95 at renewal rather than $75.
I don’t think the conversion means you couldn’t get a signup bonus though. You can only get one Hyatt bonus every 24 months, so the fact that this is a legacy card presumably means you’ve held it for longer than that?
I don’t think the conversion means you couldn’t get a signup bonus though. You can only get one Hyatt bonus every 24 months, so the fact that this is a legacy card presumably means you’ve held it for longer than that?
Do we have any data points on this? In Chase’s system it may have the credit history, but now show as an official WoH card. Just trying to decide if a free night is worth $95 at the possible expense of not being able to apply for the WoH card cleanly with 50k bonus and qualifying nights for another 2 years.
Data points would be great!
It’s on the application page:
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
Provided you close your existing card before you apply for a new one, you’ll be eligible for a new bonus provided you got your last bonus more than 24 months ago.
[…] credit card accounts and saw that the $75 annual fee posted on my old Chase Hyatt Credit Card. Effective January 11, 2021, Chase will convert all cardmembers who have the old Chase Hyatt Credit Card to the new $95 annual […]
so how many nights of higher elite nights will be offered in 2022 at the first year of conversion? will there be 5 or 5+5 = 10?
I would expect 5
Time to cancel and apply for the new one, especially with the 50k signup bonus right now. I’m at least glad that they posted a conversion date rather than just springing it on us.
For those with the old card, and doing the Hyatt mattress run December/January, means 5 less nights in 2021 to get to Globalist?
Any idea when those 5 nights will post? I saw somewhere up to 8 weeks after the conversion. I wonder if you request a conversion at the end of December if you’d get the 5 nights to post earlier (my wife has WoH, and her 5 nights posted Jan 1 this year).
Just a heads up to those who are changed from the old version to the WoH card–watch out for changes with posting of the annual fee, annual award night, etc.
My data points: originally received old Hyatt card in May 2018. Paid $75 annual fee in the beginning of June 2019 and got my free annual night. In July 2019, I took them up on an offer to upgrade for 5K points. That reset the year and I got another new free night at the end of July 2019 (less than 2 months after the last one). My annual fee, however, now posts December 1.
The interesting thing is the spend $15k in a cardmember, get another free night runs by my original sign up date of mid May (confirmed with customer service–though that is changing next year). I then get my annual free night in July, and pay my annual fee in December. Makes no sense, but be aware.
Stephen, I have the legacy card and it’s up for the renewal fee in Jan. Wouldn’t it be better (I’m 1/24) to cancel my card before Jan. and apply for the new Hyatt card for a new sign up bonus rather then let it product change?
I am in the same boat, see my post above. Unless you actually can’t go a few months without a Hyatt card.
As a data point, both my husband and I canceled our original Hyatt card early in the pandemic, after the fee posted but before paying the fee, and we each were surprised when the award night posted to our account.
It’s shady that Chase doesn’t offer a bonus for the product change when they did in the past. I’m going for the free night right now. Once that posts, I plan on cancelling the card and reapplying for the new Hyatt card.
I’ll have to think about this. I could spend $4,000 now and get a free 1-4 night (per the offer I received) and wait for my annual night from the old card which comes in January, then cancel before the fee is due.
Let’s say the opportunity cost for spending the $4,000 is $100 (I could get 2.65% cash back on my BofA card, though I never would as I have better cards to spend on).
I would end up in February with 2 free 1-4 nights plus 4,000 points. Not bad. Then I may get the new Hyatt card later.
I also remember that I would have been better off not taking Chase’s offer to upgrade my Marriott card when they came out with a similar upgraded version. Of course here there apparently will be no choice.
One other thing to conside is how long you have had the old Hyatt card in case your average age of credit is an issue. I have had my card for 4 years and my average age of credit is higher, so I will actually improve my average by dropping it.
… by dropping the card, I mean. 🙂
I am doing the $4k free night promo. I expect to end up with more than 4000k points since a significant part of my spend will be groceries and Amazon (3X/5X).
I think for the Marriott card I received a 40k point upgrade bonus. The Hyatt and IHG offers never seemed worth it to me.
You are correct. The upgrade offer was for only 2000 points when the WofH credit card was first released.
Thanks – that explains why we never upgraded her card.
Doesn’t matter much now, but Chase has emailed me roughly monthly to upgrade my old Hyatt to a World of Hyatt:
Starting in 2018: 2000 points to upgrade
Starting Jan 2019: 2500 points to upgrade
Starting Apr 2019: 3500 points to upgrade
Starting July 2019: 5000 points to upgrade
Starting Jan 2020: no points to upgrade
Stephen, if my wife and my annual certificates already deposited and we paid the $75 annual fees, can we cancel the legacy card and keep those certificates until later in 2021 when I know we can travel and use them?
We planned to cancel mid-next year and apply for the updated card for the sign ups, would this plan preserve that ability?
Yep, once they’re in your Hyatt account, they’re fine. Cancelling now and applying next year would be fine provided you’re below 5/24.
It’s only a 4k spending requirement. If you cancel after the product change, I don’t think you can apply for that card for 24 months.That’s why we have this timing!
NO, the 24 months is for a new sign-up bonus. So as long as you have had that card for 24 months since your original bonus posted then you can cancel anytime and wait a bit before applying – dependent on your 5/24 status and credit score/history, etc.
Good point about the $4k spending – I’ve updated the post.
I’ve had the old Hyatt card for years. Would it make sense to apply for the new card now to get the signup bonus? I assume it’s considered a different card?
Good question. I’m in the same boat. I went to Hyatt’s site to look up the card.
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
I am planning on cancelling my old one and applying for the new one later in 2021. My wife is a Globalist anyway, so we will be using her points/nights mostly.
I will be losing the free 1-4 night if I cancel before January, but I am already losing last year’s free night as I am not staying in hotels yet …
I figure the annual fee difference is negligible and I can get a new bonus (in exchange for a hard pull and a strike against Chase’s 5/24 – both of which I can easily afford right now).
And, who knows? I may just forget about my Hyatt card and just tag along with my wife’s card. Luckily I have not spent anything on their current $4,000 spend promo. So, this looks to me like a loss for Hyatt – at least as far as my card goes.
And as for using my current balance of Hyatt points, I can always “borrow” my wife’s Globalist status.
I believe that your free night from last year has changed to an expiration of 12-31-2021.
Similar question to the above. My wife has it for purposes of the free night, but rarely uses it. Does it make sense to cancel now and reapply? You say you are waiting until after you get the new card in order to get the free night and then cancel; isn’t the free night certificate conditional upon paying the next annual fee?
If you are below 5/24 then yes it does.
In theory, yes you have to pay the annual fee. In reality, Chase awards certificates far more quickly than Amex, so they’ll sometimes hit your account before the fee is due – I’m hoping that’s the case here.
Yes, it’s a different card – you can only have one or the other though, so you’d have to cancel your legacy card before applying for the new World of Hyatt card.