In late March, World of Hyatt launched its current promotion on purchased points. This is a reminder of that, as the promotion is set to expire in a couple of days. This could potentially be a great deal, especially for all those who may newly be interested in the World of Hyatt program thanks to how easy it is to earn status this year.
Buy Hyatt Points For 25% Off
Through Friday, April 30, 2021, World of Hyatt is offering a 25% discount 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. Through this promotion you could buy a total of 55,000 World of Hyatt points at a cost of $990, which is a rate of ~1.8 cents per World of Hyatt point.
Ordinarily when Hyatt offers a promotion on purchased points, the program offers either a 30-40% bonus or a 25% discount, and all of those offers put the price to purchase points in a roughly similar range.
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 spending requirement, or a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review), Citi® Double Cash Card (review), or The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (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 redemptions, 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 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 ~1.8 cents per point, you can purchase enough points for a free night at a Category 7 property for $540, or a Category 6 property for $450, while paid rates at those hotels are often $1,000+ per night.
For example, the Park Hyatt Maldives is a Category 7 property (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.
A 25% discount 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. It could make even more sense now than in the past, given the promotion on redeeming points.
Just remember that there are also other ways to earn World of Hyatt points, like by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards.
If you’ve been considering this promotion but haven’t yet made a purchase, this is your last chance.
Do you plan on buying Hyatt points with a 25% discount?
Again do not buy nickels for dimes.
“ At the rate of ~1.8 cents per point, you can purchase enough points for a free night at a Category 7 property for $540, or a Category 6 property for $450, while paid rates at those hotels are often $1,000+ per night.”
Almost never. There are exceptions of course like the Maldives, where you have to add in food and a halfway round the world trip. There’s Ventana Big Sur where I doubt much of anyone pays the crazy cash rates. But outside of event dates, where awards dry up fast, few Hyatts are anywhere near that expensive
Buy points only when using them immediately and only for an arbitrage.
Do not buy nickels for dimes. Never pay $1 when a salesman tells you the good is only worth $.83 (literally the ratio of what you’re paying here and what the post says true points are worth!)
M, this isn’t for everyone. It prolly doesn’t make sense to buy points to stay at the Hyatt Place in Florence, S.C. But if you’re doing a holiday stay at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts like I am, where the base room is $800/night, the saving are big. I just spent $540 on the points I needed for my last night. That’s already a savings of $260. And since this is an award stay, I’m not paying the additional $250+ a night in taxes and fees that you incur on a cash rate. That’s a swing of $500+.
So thanks for the heads up, Ben!
@M, there are some other outsized values that can be had within the US besides just the two hotels you mentioned such as Park Hyatt New York, of 30k points per night or a cash rate that can approach 1k per night, or the Grand Hyatt Kauai which is 25k points and cash rate when factoring in resort fees and all can be over $700 a night. Theres probably numerous more (Andaz Maui maybe if can get award availability) on the high end side these two I could think of right away!
@DCA Frank. Surprised you are seeing rates at St Kitts for $800 a night. It’s possible, especially for the pool suites, but lately many rooms there have been starting at around $400. Perhaps spring break period hiking of prices – but in January they were practically giving the rooms away.
I tend to agree with M, unless you are looking at an aspirational property where the rooms start at $1K a night AND you can book rooms for a stay very soon I just don’t see the point of tying up your cash. I prefer to keep chugging it out getting points the old fashioned way (staying in hotels) and only then booking an award stay.
I was tempted to buy points (as I could easily see myself staying at Hyatts with cash prices of $600 a night or more, which could transferring points worthwhile), but:
1) UR are very easy to earn thanks to the Freedom Flex / Freedom Unlimited revamps, and they transfer over
2) I will be under 5/24 and eligible for a Sapphire bonus in July, so I should be able to earn a UR bonus
3) Same thing with a Hyatt card
Given the existence of UR, hard to buy Hyatt points at anything more than 1.5 cents per point
@stuart, in December over the festive period — when I’m staying — a random day was pricing at $1,100+. Apologies for saying “holiday” when I should have said December.
I can’t find the promotion. It does not come up for either me or my husband. Any suggestions?
Does buying points bill thru Hyatt or a source where I can use a beneficial card?
Ben,
I love your announcements about buying points
Thank You
Seriously your the best Nd a life saver
Ben,
I love your announcements about buying points
Thank You
Seriously your the best and a true life saver
“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 ~1.8 cents per point…”
…they are at least 20% too expensive.
I know you get paid through referrals, but it’s a bit disingenuous to try to make a case that they’re a good deal when you’ve just done the math showing they’re a bad deal. You wouldn’t buy a car that you knew was 20% overpriced. Arguably, it’s never a good deal to buy points (unless you need just a few that you can use same day) given the unilaterally ever-changing terms and limited availability by all the programs.
@ AW — That’s simply not the case. My valuations are intended to be conservative and to account for the risk of holding onto the points, and there are tons of cases where you can get outsized value when purchasing points at this price. I’d absolutely only buy points with a short term use in mind, but all kinds of people consistently redeem Hyatt points for more than double of the purchase price here.
Don’t buy any Hyatt points if you’re looking to redeem at the Grand Hyatt Kauai – they are NOT accepting points OR award stays. I see standard rooms going for $800+ in June and that’s not including resort fees and taxes which will put the price over $1000 a night. (When I looked at this last month, same room were going for $600 and they were accepting points stays). Hyatt knows there’s pent up demand and will shameless gouge the fools. Rental cars = same thing. It’s revenge time for the hospitality industry and we will just have to accept it 🙁
Ben-
One thing I sometimes do is look at as similar is when I “buy” points via Hyatt credit card spend, specifically by paying estimated taxes. For those who have the pleasure of quarterly tax payments, the online processors can generate a lot of points at a “cost” of about 1.92 cents/ point (I know the fees are 1.96%, but you need to factor in the points you generate on the fees themselves). That may be numerically greater than the 1.8 cent/ point by buying outright from Hyatt per above, but the Hyatt card also may allow for bonus nights as well as credits toward status; the status and milestone awards may be worth it for some to “buy” at this rate. This may not be for everyone, but also can be a thought.