Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
It’s been a little over a year and a half since we did an analysis of the redemption value of Hyatt points. Our last one, in late 2022, was smack-dab in the middle of the worst of the pandemic-fueled, stratospheric spike in hotel prices. That seems to have subsided somewhat in the US and hotel tariffs, while still high, haven’t maintained their sharp upward climb of 2021-23.
Although Hyatt has continued to maintain its award charts, a lot has changed since late-2022. Most importantly, there’s been two rounds of category changes, both of which weren’t terribly kind to properties in the US, where more properties went up in category than down. Additionally, although Hyatt originally said that Category 8 was “only for SLH properties,” it’s now grown to include 24 of Hyatt’s own hotels worldwide. Most of these newly-christened 8s were former Category 7s that are now 50% more expensive at peak pricing than they used to be at normal standard pricing.
Taken all together, it’s had an impact and this post will walk through our best estimate of the current “value” of Hyatt points towards award redemptions.
Background
When collecting points and miles, it’s a good idea to have a general idea of what points are worth. For example, let’s say that you have the opportunity to earn 1,000 Hyatt points or 2,000 Hilton points. If you don’t know what the points are worth, you’d likely go for the Hilton points. But, in our analyses we’ve found Hyatt points to be worth 3.5 times as much as Hilton points. Therefore, on average, 1,000 Hyatt points are worth considerable more than 2,000 Hilton points, and easily worth taking in this either/or scenario.
Methodology
In order to determine the value of Hyatt points, we collected real-world cash prices and point prices. As we’ve done previously, we examined a number of major hotel markets in the U.S.: Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Miami, New York City, Orlando, and Seattle. Within each market, we identified the first three search results with a guest rating of 4 or better, and recorded both the cash and award prices for three dates each: a weekday, a weekend, and a 3-day holiday weekend.
- Why U.S. only? U.S. consumers are known to spend most of their points and miles on domestic travel. Since the majority of this blog’s audience resides in the U.S. we opted for a U.S. centric view of point values.
- Why Guest Ratings? The goal wasn’t to find the 3 best Hyatt hotels in each market. Instead, the goal was to find the 3 Hyatt-bookable hotels that are very popular. But, which ones are people really likely to book? By using a combination of Hyatt’s default sorting and by picking only highly-rated hotels, we think it’s reasonable to assume that many members would pick these hotels.
- Which paid rates were selected? We always picked the best refundable paid rate shown on Hyatt’s website, but without applying any discounts like AAA, military, government, etc. In most cases, that’s Hyatt’s Member Rate.
- Which specific dates did we use?
- Weekday: Wednesday September 11, 2024
- Weekend: Friday-Sunday September 13 – 15, 2024
- Holiday Weekend: Friday-Mon August 30 – September 2, 2024 (Labor Day Weekend)
How we calculate cents per point (CPP)
When we calculate Cents Per Point (CPP), we want to account for taxes and fees, as well as points that would be earned on paid stays (and conversely wouldn’t be on award stays). The calculation is based on the following terms:
- Base Cash Rate: This is the hotel room rate before taxes and fees.
- Total Cash Rate: This is the total amount, including taxes and fees, that would be paid if booking a hotel’s cash rate.
- Resort Fee: This is a fee that is imposed by many hotels above and beyond any required taxes. This goes by different names at different hotels: Resort fee, Destination charge, Founders fee, etc.
- Points Per Dollar Earned: The number of points per dollar earned by non-elite members on paid stays. For example, Hyatt members earn 5 points per dollar, Marriott members earn 10 points per dollar (at most hotels), etc.
- Points Earned on Cash Rate: This is the number of points you would earn if you paid the cash rate. The calculation for this is: (Base Cash Rate) x (Points Per Dollar Earned). For this calculation, our default approach is to assume that the traveler does not have elite status (elite members earn more points per dollar).
- Point Price: The number of points required to book a night at the hotel
- Cents Per Point (CPP): This is the value you get per point when using your points instead of cash to pay for a stay.
Hotel Programs that Waive Resort Fees on Award Stays
Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham waive resort fees when you book stays using points or free night certificates. For these chains, the resort fee does not have to be considered separately from the Total Cash Rate (which includes the resort fee). So, the CPP calculation is as follows:
CPP = Total Cash Rate ÷ [Point Price + Points Earned on Cash Rate]
Hotel Programs that Charge Resort Fees on Award Stays
IHG, Marriott, and many other hotel programs impose resort fees on award stays. For these chains, the resort fee must be specifically taken into account in the CPP calculation. We do that by subtracting it out of the Total Cash Rate. The CPP calculation is as follows:
CPP = [Total Cash Rate – Resort Fee] ÷ [Point Price + Points Earned on Cash Rate]
Results
Point Value
| Analysis Date: | 6/20/24 | 12/5/22 | 2/23/22 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Point Value (Median) | 1.7 cents | 2.1 cents | 1.6 |
| Point Value (Mean) | 1.8 cents | 2.3 cents | 1.9 |
| Cash Price (Median) | $350 | $398 | $248 |
| Cash Price (Mean) | $442 | $469 | $304 |
| Award Price (Median) | 18,000 | 17,000 | 15,000 |
| Award Price (Mean) | 21,024 | 18,442 | 16,757 |
| Minimum Point Value | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Maximum Point Value | 3.6 | 4.9 | 3.9 |
* Analyses prior to 12/5/22 relied on pre-tax numbers and didn’t account for points earned on paid stays.
The median observed point value for Hyatt points was 1.7 cents per point. This means that half of the observed results offered equal or better point value and half offered equal or worse value. Another way to think about it is that without trying to cherry pick good awards, you have a 50/50 chance of getting 1.7 cents or better value from your Hyatt points when booking free night awards.
Compared to our last analysis, the value of Hyatt points has taken a bit of a dive. This is a combined result of a) the cash prices of the hotels in the markets that we surveyed being slightly less than 2022 and b) the points prices of those hotels were higher. This is especially noticeable in the mean value of ~21,000 points, almost 15% higher than the mean in 2022. The category changes in 2023 and 2024 saw quite a few more US properties go up than down and we’re seeing that reflected in these numbers…despite a slight softening of cash costs.
Pick your own point value
| Analysis Date: | 6/20/24 | 12/5/22 | 2/23/22 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50th Percentile (Median) | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| 60th Percentile | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| 70th Percentile | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.1 |
| 80th Percentile | 2.1 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| 90th Percentile | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.0 |
* Analyses prior to 12/5/22 relied on pre-tax numbers and didn’t account for points earned on paid stays.
When we publish Reasonable Redemption Values of points (RRVs), we conservatively pick the middle value, or the 50th percentile. The idea is that just by randomly picking hotels to use your points, you have a 50/50 chance of getting this value or better.
But what if you “cherry-pick” awards? Many people prefer to hold onto their points until they find uses that represent good value. If that’s you, then you may want to use the table above to pick your own point value. For example, if you think that you’ll hold out for the best 10% value awards, then pick the 90th percentile. If you cherry-pick a bit, but not that much, you might want to use the 70th percentile (for example). We’re guessing that most cherry-pickers will land around the 80th percentile: 2.1 cents per point.
This analysis shows that those who cherry-pick good value awards can count on getting around 2.1 cents per point value, or better.
Reasonable Redemption Value for Hyatt points: 1.7 CPP
Our Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hyatt points was previously set to 2.1 cents per point but it has now dropped to 1.7. RRV’s are intended to be the point at which it is reasonable to get that much value or better for your points. Therefore, we believe that the median observed value for is a good choice for our RRV.
- Reasonable Redemption Value for Hyatt: 1.7 cents per point
- Targeted Redemption Value for those who cherry pick awards: 2.1 cents per point
Points are worth less for elite members
With most hotel programs, elite members earn more points per dollar on paid stays than do non-elite members. As a result, the relative value of an award stay compared to a paid stay decreases. The following table shows the median point values with various levels of elite status.
| Elite Level | Point Bonus on Paid Stays | Median Cents Per Point |
|---|---|---|
| None | None | 1.7 |
| Discoverist | 10% | 1.7 |
| Explorist | 20% | 1.7 |
| Globalist | 30% | 1.6 |
As you can see above, points are worth a tiny bit less for Globalist members, but the small elite bonuses for lower level members don’t move the needle. Also, keep in mind that Globalist members get free parking on award stays so if that was factored in, Globalists would actually get better point value than others.
Overvaluing vs. Undervaluing Points
There is no perfect way to estimate the value of points. Decisions we made here in some ways overvalue points and in some ways undervalue points. The hope is that these things roughly offset each other…
Factors that cause us to undervalue points
- With hotel programs that offer 4th Night Free Awards (IHG, with some credit cards), or 5th Night Free Awards (Hilton & Marriott), or award discounts (Wyndham), we do not consider the point savings in our analyses.
- With hotel programs that offer free parking on award stays to top-tier elites (Hyatt), we do not factor this in.
Factors that cause us to overvalue points
- We do not use discount rates (other than member rates) in our analyses. In real-life, many people book hotels cheaper (and sometimes far cheaper) by using AAA rates, government & military rates, senior rates, etc.
- We do not use hotel promotional rates. Often, individual hotels have deals such as “Stay 2 Nights, Get 1 Night Free” which can greatly reduce the cost of a stay.
- We do not use prepaid rates in our analyses. Sometimes these rates are significantly lower than refundable rates.
- We do not factor in rebates which can be earned from booking hotels through shopping portals.
- We do not factor in extra points earned on paid stays for those with elite status.
- We do not factor in rewards earned from credit card spend at hotels.
- We do not factor in hotel loyalty program promotions: Most promotions, but not all, only offer incentives for paid stays. We often see promos offering bonus points, double or triple points, free night awards, etc.
- With hotel programs that waive resort fees for top tier elites on paid stays (e.g. Hyatt), we do not factor this in.
How can Hyatt points be worth more than Ultimate Rewards?
At the time of this writing, our Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Chase Ultimate Rewards points is 1.5 cents per point. Meanwhile, our RRV for Hyatt is 1.7 cents per point. But, given that Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to Hyatt and many other programs 1 to 1, shouldn’t Chase points be valued equal to or higher than Hyatt points? And, if given the choice to earn the same number of Hyatt or Chase points, wouldn’t we pick the Chase points?
Yes and yes. We would rather have Chase points than Hyatt points (as long as we also have a card like the Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred which makes it possible to transfer to Hyatt and other programs) and so, yes, Chase points are “worth” at least as much as Hyatt points.
This is part of the reason why we try, as much as possible, to avoid the word “worth” in our Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs). Our RRVs are point estimates showing that it is reasonable to get that much value or more. With Hyatt, you’re most likely to use your Hyatt points for Hyatt stays and so, as our analysis showed, it’s reasonable to expect to get 1.7 cents per point value or more. With Chase points, however, it’s totally reasonable to use them in other ways.
If you have the Sapphire Reserve card, you’ll get 1.5 cents per point value by booking travel through Chase Travel, which can be a reasonable option, especially since you’ll earn both miles and elite-qualifying points when booking most flights. Similarly, it’s reasonable to transfer points to airline partners like United, Air Canada, Air France, etc. However, with those programs, you might get more than 1.5 cents per point value, but you might not get as much as with Hyatt unless you cherry-pick high-value awards.
So, the final answer here is that Chase points are worth at least as much as Hyatt points… when transferred to Hyatt or to an equally valuable transfer partner. But, it’s also reasonable for our Reasonable Redemption Value of Chase points to be lower than Hyatt points because it’s absolutely reasonable to get 1.5 cents per point value from those Chase points.
Conclusion
Based on the latest analysis, the Hyatt Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) has dropped to 1.7 cents per point (from 2.1 previously). That’s a big drop, most likely do to the cash prices of Hyatt properties stabilizing during the same time period that points prices have gone up. Hyatt still often offers better than 2 cents per points value on award redemptions…you just have to search a little harder to get it.
The idea behind using the median for our RRVs is that you have a 50/50 chance of getting that much value or more from your award stays and so it is reasonable to expect to get that much value or better. For those more advanced, this post’s percentile results show that it’s reasonable to expect to get 2.1 cents per point or better if you cherry-pick good-value awards.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Another way to think of the Hyatt vs. Chase RRV paradox at the end is that Chase RRV is like a 1.5-cent Visa GC per point, and Hyatt RRV is like a 1.7-cent Hyatt GC per point.
I haven’t gotten into the math on this, but I suspect you can beat 1.7c pretty easily if you go to less buzzy locations. My favorite Hyatt destination is pretty easily repeatable at over 3.0c right now…but it’s not in a trendy vacation spot like most of the cities you guys are using for this methodology. (It is, however, a 5 minute walk from my favorite MLB team’s home stadium) I suspect there may be some similar results elsewhere in secondary and tertiary markets, while you won’t get nearly the extra value in places like New York, Chicago, Seattle, California, Florida, etc.
There’s a bit of irony in a blog that specializes in writing sweet-spots, how-tos, “which pts tools is best”, etc also writing about reasonable redemption values. As if we’re not all here to find said sweet spots.
While 1.7c is reasonable, based on the cost of acquiring them and based on the cost at which Hyatt sells them, anything below 2.0c makes less than sense.
In other words, cherry picking them is why we’re here.
Some great examples of cherry picked redemptions that I’ve recently made at >= 2.0c:
Further, as you mentioned there are a ton of unaccounted for variables which makes this less than accurate at an apples-to-apples comparison with other programs (which seems to be the goal of RRV). Instead if you focus on cost of acquisition, which is irrespective of the program, it becomes clear that anything greater than that is always a mathematical win.
My 2.0c
For an absurd Hyatt points example, during a 5-day Feb 24 stay at Hotel La Compañia in Panama City, our 12k/night award stay (reserved in early ‘23 before rates went up), was upgraded to a “Grand” class suite with a member rate of $2454/night, over $.20/pt.
You could also be upgraded to that suite if you paid cash. You didnt book that suite for 12k points originaly. Nor were you going to pay $2454 for a room. Of course you are entitled to believe whatever numbers that make you happy :0)
Another blogger has commented that his Hyatt redemptions tend to average out to about 1.5cpp. it would seem that the dispersion of experiences is quite large. And, when one’s redemption value gets below a certain threshold, it makes no sense to transfer points to the program.
I want to thank you for posting these articles periodically.I used an earlier version to get reimbursement for an unexpected Hyatt stay during a trip which was interrupted for medical reasons. I submitted a FM RRV analysis to my travel insurance provider and argued that the points had monetary value. I ended up getting reimbursed for the value of the points. I had paid nights as well, so that probably helped, but I was happy to get reimbursed for the points value.
I read the title and thought about 1.7¢. No analysis needed.
If you factor in the Mr and Mrs Smith abomination, its even worse.
I get 2.625c in cash from my BofA card thanks to the info out there
The best Ink unlimited or freedom unlimited gets me is 1.5 UR = 1.75c cost
I do get 3x groceries – small amounts at 0.85c cost
I get almost free from Visa gift cards at staples 0.5c cost
Overall about 1.5c
I probably get similar value but I get to stay at properties normally I would not be able to
Lastly, I get 3x with HH cards for regular spend, but only 1x with Hyatt or 1.5x via Chase
So as far as I am concerned, 1 Hyatt = 2-3 HH points
Until Hyatt goes dynamic system-wide. 🙁
The points are worth, in my opinion, the rate the Hyatt charges you to purchase them. This amounts to 1.6 or 1.7 cents per point depending on their rotating sales promotion. I know I can get better redemption than this but I also know that if I want to stay at say, HR Waikiki on points, the redemption value will be right around the purchase price of 1.7. Hyatt mostly has this figured out. Are there pockets of sweet spot redemptions? Sure, but they are few and far between these days.
[…] Miler (who has one of my favorite travel hacking podcasts) says most people should expect to get about 2.1 cents from each Hyatt Point. I really like Frequent Miler’s methodology. It does a good job of explaining how Globalists […]
Good analysis. My non-fancy gut opinion as a Hyatt Globalist with tons of redemptions is that Hyatt points are worth 2 cents each. Not that I’d be a buyer at that price, given how it’s relatively easy to gin them up. Also, I’d note that I generally wouldn’t PAY for most of these properties at 2 cents/point — kind of like airline first class redemption values.
TBH you could also do a Stookey centric view as well. (Maybe a good April Fools post hehe)
Great article. The only thing I do differently to determine points value is to calculate for not just the Hyatt hotel but also other similar hotels in that city. I happen to get very good rates with Marriott so that changes my valuation.