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Obviously this isn’t the time to buy points speculatively. However, there are some people looking to plan travel way in advance, so if that applies to you, buying points at a discount could be worth considering. Let me say upfront that most people shouldn’t be speculatively buying points, but I’ll continue to cover the deals that are available, as everyone can decide for themselves what makes the most sense.
World of Hyatt has just launched their latest promotion on purchased points, which is valid for several weeks (hopefully — maybe — we’ll be traveling by then again?!).
Buy Hyatt Points With 30% Bonus
Through Sunday, May 10, 2020, World of Hyatt is offering a 30% bonus when you buy at least 5,000 points in one transaction.
World of Hyatt lets you buy up to 55,000 points per account per calendar year pre-bonus. Through this promotion you could buy a maximum of 71,500 points (including the bonus) at a cost of $1,320, which is a rate of ~1.85 cents per World of Hyatt point.
Ordinarily when Hyatt offers a bonus on purchased points, they offer anywhere from a 30-40% bonus, for a cost of ~1.71-1.85 cents per point.
It’s disappointing to see Hyatt not offering a best-ever promotion at the moment in light of the circumstances. This isn’t the time to offer promotions on purchased points that are on the lower end of what we see, in my opinion.
Best Credit Card For Buying Hyatt Points
Hyatt points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.
I’d recommend using a card with which you’re trying to reach a minimum spend, or a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi® Double Cash Card (review).
When in doubt, review which credit cards are best for buying points and miles.
Combining Hyatt Points
While Hyatt limits how many points you can buy per year, Hyatt also lets you combine points across accounts for the purposes of redemption, which could be a good deal. There are two major restrictions to be aware of:
- You can only transfer points to another member “in order to have a sufficient number of points to redeem a particular award”
- You can only combine points (regardless of whether you’re sending or receiving) once every 30 days
In order to combine points, you’ll need to complete Hyatt’s point combining request form.
Is Buying Hyatt Points With A 30% Bonus A Good Deal?
I value World of Hyatt points at ~1.5 cents each, though they can definitely be redeemed for a lot more than that. I just think that’s a fair number.
At the rate of ~1.85 cents per point, you can purchase enough points for a free night at a Category 7 property for $555, or a Category 6 property for $465, while paid rates at those hotels are often $1,000+ per night.
For example, the Park Hyatt Maldives is a Category 7 property (standard price of 30,000 points per night), and cash rates are often $1,200+ per night.
There’s even a lot of value on the other end of the spectrum. For example, the Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is a Category 1 property (5,000 points per night) with paid rates often being $180+ per night including the 25% tax and service charge, which you don’t have to pay on an award booking. Meanwhile, if buying points, your cost would be about $90 per night.
Other Ways To Earn Hyatt Points
There are lots of circumstances under which it could make sense to buy World of Hyatt points.
However, if you want to acquire World of Hyatt points at a lower out of pocket, there are some other options involving credit cards.
In addition to being able to earn World of Hyatt points with The World of Hyatt Credit Card (review), you can also transfer over points from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
See this post for everything you need to know about earning Hyatt points with credit cards.
Hyatt Buy Points Summary
As is always the case, you should crunch the numbers and see if this promotion works for you. In particular, at this very moment you shouldn’t buy points without a very specific use in mind, given all the uncertainty.
A 30% bonus on the purchase of World of Hyatt points could represent a good deal. I know many people find it worthwhile to buy World of Hyatt points, especially those outside the US, who don’t have access to lucrative credit cards.
Just remember that there are also other ways to earn World of Hyatt points, like by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Do you plan on buying Hyatt points with a 30% bonus?
@lucky
BA is suspending up to 36k employees !
Purely speculation here, but would I be wrong to assume that as the coronavirus heads towards killing us all off the earth (but somehow managing to miss Mr. Trump) – hotel chains will be under more pressure to get revenue where they can and these points will probably be cheaper if the crisis is prolonged?
I’ve think we’ve seen as high as 40%, correct?