Update: Reposting this because I recently received my 2023 40 Night Milestone choice. I chose 5,000 Hyatt points rather than the $100 Hyatt gift card so that I’d have one less thing to remember to deal with. Additionally, note that the FIND experience option has improved. It used to be a 10K discount (~$140 off) that expired in 6 months. Now, it is a $150 credit which expires 14 months past the end of the current calendar year.
Many hotel loyalty programs offer extra perks when you reach different thresholds of elite status. Hyatt does too, but they also reward members with perks all along the way. Once you’ve spent 20 nights in Hyatt or partner hotels in a calendar year, you earn your first World of Hyatt Milestone Reward (2 club lounge access awards). Then, every 10 nights after that — up to 100 nights, you earn a new milestone reward. A full list of Milestone Rewards is shown at the bottom of this post. This post, though, is about the reward earned at 40 nights. At 40 nights, you get your choice of:
- 5,000 World of Hyatt Bonus Points
- $100 Hyatt Gift Card
- $150 FIND experience credit
I recently achieved 40 nights and was sent an email telling me to pick one of the above rewards. Which should I pick?
What are 5,000 World of Hyatt Bonus Points worth?
At the time of this update, our Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hyatt points is 2.1 cents each. That’s the value at which it is easy to get that much value or more from points when booking free nights. So, 5,000 points can easily be redeemed for $105 or more towards Hyatt stays. That said, I wouldn’t buy Hyatt points for 2.1 cents each unless I needed them for a specific award and I didn’t have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards or Bilt points to transfer over. If the points were available for sale, I’d pay at most 1.5 cents each. That means that I’d be willing to pay up to $75 for 5,000 points.
- Acquisition Value (Amount I’d be willing to pay): $75
- Redemption Value: $105+ (it is easy to get $105 or more value from 5,000 points)
FYI: Hyatt points never expire as long as you have account activity at least once every 24 months.
What is a $100 Hyatt Gift Card worth?
This may seem like a ridiculous question. Obviously it’s worth $100, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, it can be used to offset $100 worth of Hyatt charges. No, I wouldn’t pay face value for this gift card. For one, it is limited to Hyatt hotels & resorts within the Americas. Additionally, Hyatt gift cards are sometimes available for sale at a good discount. If the $100 gift card was available for sale, I’d be willing to pay up to $80.
- Acquisition Value: $80
- Redemption Value: $100
FYI: Hyatt Gift Cards never expire.
What is a $150 FIND experience credit worth?
FIND experiences include things like chef-led cooking lessons, food tastings, surfing, falconry, etc. If you book these things through Hyatt, you can either pay cash (and earn Hyatt points for the purchase) or redeem points at 1.4 cents value towards the experience. The $150 FIND credit is a discount off of paying cash. If this credit was available for sale, though, I’d pay way less than $150 for it. For one, I don’t know if the FIND prices are any good. Two: they don’t have a very big selection of options and so I don’t know that I’ll have the opportunity to use the discount. Three: the FIND Credit is only valid for the remainder of the Calendar Year in which it is issued, plus an additional fourteen (14) months. That’s a big improvement over the original 6 month timeframe for this award, but still I would never pay anywhere near face value for a credit that expires. So, if I was given the option to buy one of these, I would likely pass altogether. However, if I thought there was a good chance of my using the certificate I might be willing to pay $75. The most I’d be willing to pay would be $125, but that would only be if I was 100% sure that I had a great immediate use for the certificate.
- Acquisition Value: $0, $75, or $125 (see above)
- Redemption Value: $150
Which Hyatt Milestone Reward should I pick?
As you can see above, the FIND Experience discount offers the greatest potential redemption value, but it also happens to be the one I’d pay least for if it was for sale.
Out of the other two options, the $100 Hyatt gift card has a slight edge… based on how much I’d be willing to pay for either award. That said, there is a mental cost to remembering to use that $100 certificate and a potential real cost if you forget about it altogether. Additionally, the 5K points have a much higher potential value when used. For those reasons I chose 5K points in 2023.
Bottom Line
Both the 5,000 points and $100 gift card are perfectly good options for most people, but I like the 5K points because of its ease of use and potentially higher redemption value.
World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards
For reference, below is the World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards chart. More details can be found here.
| Elite Nights Earned | Milestone Reward |
|---|---|
| 20 Nights (or 35K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 30 Nights (or 50K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 40 Nights (or 65K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 50 Nights (or 80K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 60 Nights (or 100K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| My Hyatt Concierge | |
| 2 Guest of Honor Awards | |
| 70, 80, 90 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $300 FIND Credit | |
| 100 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 110, 120, 130, 140 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 150 Nights | |
| Automatic: | Ultimate Free Night Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night |
Completely separate from elite status, Milestone Rewards are available to everyone and are based on the number of nights you stay in a calendar year. Most awards are valid for the rest of the calendar year in which they are selected and 14 months beyond. The Ultimate Free Night award, Miraval Extra Night Award, and the 2K Next Stay Awards are good for 180 days.
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Would be great if you could link this post to your “World of Hyatt Complete Guide” if not already. Long time follower, thank you so much for what you do!
BTW, make sure you actually pick one of these! I recommend doing it as soon as you get the email. If you don’t pick in 90 days, you forfeit it…unlike Marriott where they will default to one of the options. IMHO they should really default to the 5,000 points rather than forfeit.
The ‘Club Upgrade’ awards are particularly annoying since so many Clubs in the US anyway never reopened…
[…] Previous articleWhich 40 Night Hyatt Milestone Reward should I pick? […]
Lucked out that my 40th night posted as I was starting a stay at HR Maui. Easy decision to take $100 off our bill at checkout rather than 5k miles.
The real frustration here, is unlike Marriott Gift Card which is global, Hyatt GC can only be used in North America, which greatly limits its usefulness and convenience.
With Marriott GC you can participate in numerous sale like AMEX Offer, put the save on future stay, meal in Maldives etc.
Outside US during the pandemic, the only viable option is the points.
Don’t forget the difficulty in using the $100 gift card, unless Hyatt has fixed that.
I had to wait around for ages many times while at the checkout desk as the Hyatt employee tried to figure out how to do it. To me, I would say that $100 gift card is worth about $12 and the frustration $88.
40 night by the end of April. Wow! Out of curiosity how many base points did you rack up? Zero?
11.5k (I had to check since I never look at that)
Speaking of Hyatt Carmel properties, based on a recommendation FM had a few years ago, I stayed at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn over a long weekend and loved it. The ocean views were spectacular. I’ve been intrigued by your reviews of Carmel Valley Ranch and Carmel Big Sur. Best of the three in your view? Now that I have Globalist and a lot of points from the WOH SUB, I’m looking to take another trip to the area soon.
In my opinion, each is best for different reasons:
Thanks! I appreciate the insight! You’re right, that state park is awesome. I spent almost a whole day there when I visited, and it’s only a short drive from the hotel.
Thanks to the various Hyatt promos, I’m also going to hit 40 nights soon, too. I was also going to pick the $100 gift certificate because I’ll use it for dining at one of their resorts. I usually stay on points from my Chase card, and (unless there’s a promo going on), a $100 dining credit costs 8000 points. I’m somewhat reluctant to use these points for good-but-overpriced dining, so I only do it a few times a year (usually when there’s a promo). So this will be a fun treat for us. If I take the 5000 points, I won’t even notice them in my Hyatt account.
I’m actually going to hit at least 100 nights this year (between double nights, a new Hyatt card, spend, etc.), which means I’ll be receiving options for the higher tiers – with a choice between 10K points and suite upgrades.
Given that I’m not sure whether or not I will need that many upgrades (nice problem to have), is it possible to delay my choice of reward? In other words, what happens if I hit one of those higher tiers (70 nights or higher) in November, 2021 – can I delay responding with my choice of reward until January, 2022 in order to get an extra year to use the suite upgrades? (They expire 14 months after the end of the calendar year). If so, anyone know how long I can delay responding?
Thanks.
Great question. When you get to 70, 80, 90, and 100 nights you get an email and have 90 days to make your choice of points or an upgrade cert. I don’t know what would happen if you wait and pick next year.
I have 2 suite upgrade rewards expiring 2/22 and 2 suite upgrade rewards expiring 2/23. I will be earning milestone awards for 70, 80, 90, 100. I am facing the 10k points vs upgrade award decision. It is difficult to give up 10k points/$150 for a SUA that I might never use.
PS There will be a lot of globalists. On the other hand, I am not sure how many globalists will be in SE Asia.
Seems pretty simple. Ask the hotel you are staying at about gift cards, choose giftcard as the reward choice, redeem right away. After you choose it you get the giftcard in the email in less than a minute. Pretty sure it won’t get “hacked” by then.
There is almost no way 5,000 points is worth more than $100.
I’d also venture to say most people who get this choice have plenty of points (I guess not the mattress runners).
“There is almost no way 5,000 points is worth more than $100”.
I’m surprised to hear someone who earns 40 elite nights at Hyatt make that statement. I’ve often used 5,000 points for a Category 1 property that was north of $100 per night and likewise I’ve often redeemed for Category 2-4 properties where the points were worth 2c each (just minutes ago I booked a property for 8K points per night that was otherwise $245/nt plus tax for the advance purchase/nonrefundable rate).
At the high end of the spectrum, when I stay at a property that is 25K or 30K points per night (which in enough cases with Hyatt can be a hotel that would otherwise cost six or seven hundred bucks a night or more), I guess it’s less realistic to value the points at 2c each because I wouldn’t have actually spent $500 or $600 even if that would be a “deal” for that particular property, but I enjoy having points for those types of stays, too. And while I have plenty of Ultimate Rewards points to use, they’re worth more to me as flexible Ultimate Rewards points, so picking up 5K Hyatt points helps keep my UR points flexible.
I think a heavy influence here is the fact that I rarely pay cash for Hyatt stays. I would if rates were cheap enough of course, but it’s rare in my travel patterns that paying the cash rate makes more sense (not unheard of, just rare). I could definitely see why someone would choose the $100 gift card — and I’m not rushing my choice, so maybe I’ll end up picking it, too — but I can see why some would take the points and it was my assumption that I would probably do that myself (again, we’ll see).
I took the 5000 points last year because they are easier to use, but because the daily rates are so low right now, I took the $100. gift card this year and already used it. It covered the cost of a hotel night that would have been 15,000 points. Even so, at check out, the desk person told me it would take her awhile to figure out how to enter the gift card and I didn’t need to wait; she would email me the receipt, which she did. That is the problem I have had in the past; a lot of the employees don’t know how to enter the gift cards.
Took the 5K points. I have recently lucked with good value, and, I am still skittish after losing money on Hyatt gift cards in the past.
Interesting that ppl are having issues using the gift cards. I’ve done selected this for the last 3-4 years including just the other day when I went over 40 nights, and I’ve never had an issue using it. I just present the email on the phone at checkout and the agents are able to apply it to my bill, so for me this is like cash and worth $100, especially when I use it on a work trip that I’m expensing. I wonder if the issue is happening at lower tier properties or international ones instead of frequent business traveler properties.