Update: As a reminder, today is the last day to buy World of Hyatt points with up to a 40% bonus.
Through November 27, 2018, World of Hyatt is offering a bonus on purchased points. You do need to log into your World of Hyatt account to see the offer, so there’s a chance there are some targeted versions of the deal, though all the accounts I manage see the same offer.
Buy Hyatt points with up to a 40% bonus
As far as I can tell, the best bonus seems to be for a 40% bonus when purchasing at least 10,000 points in one transaction.
That means with this offer you could purchase a maximum of 77,000 World of Hyatt points at a cost of $1,320, which is a rate of ~1.71 cents per World of Hyatt point.
Hyatt offers a bonus on purchased points a few times per year, and when they do, we typically see bonuses in the range of 30-40%. So a 40% bonus is as good as it gets.
Hyatt points purchases are processed by points.com, so don’t qualify as hotel spend for the purposes of your credit card. Therefore you’ll want to use a credit card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spend, and then use a card that maximizes your return on everyday, non-bonused spend, like The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express, Chase Freedom Unlimited®, etc.
Is buying Hyatt points with a 40% 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 ~1.71 cents per point, you can purchase enough points for a free night at a Category 7 property for ~$515, or a Category 6 property for ~$430, while paid rates at those hotels are often $1,000+ per night.
For example, the Park Hyatt Maldives is a Category 6 property (normally costing 25,000 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 (normally retailing for 5,000 points per night), and paid rates are often $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 you’d pay just ~$80 per night.
Historically Points + Cash was also a great use of Hyatt points, though unfortunately that redemption option was devalued as of November 1, 2018. While Points + Cash used to require a set number of points plus a set amount of cash, the pricing is now variable. Points + Cash now requires half of the usual number of points, plus half of the standard rate for a given night.
Other ways to earn World of Hyatt points
There are lots of circumstances under which it could make sense to buy World of Hyatt points.
If you want to acquire Hyatt points with less of an out of pocket cost, there are many ways to do so:
Earn Hyatt points
Bottom line
As is always the case, you should crunch the numbers and see if this promotion works for you. This offer is as good as bonuses on the purchase of World of Hyatt points get, and many people find this to be a great deal (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 over Chase Ultimate Rewards points. However, not everyone has access to US credit cards, and/or has the ability to earn points that way.
Do you plan on buying points with Hyatt’s current promotion?
Any DPs on how it codes?
Would this code as hotel spend under Chase Reserve, or perhaps as Hyatt spend under WOH visa?
@ Warren Frey — Points.com doesn’t qualify as a travel purchase, so you’ll want to use something that maximizes your return on everyday spend.
@ Nicesharky — It wouldn’t, since it’s processed by points.com.
Just a reminder that you can only purchase so many Hyatt points each year…
It does say debit Mastercard for payment so can I buy a debit Mastercard gift card and pay.
“though rumor has it that this redemption option will be devalued as of November 1, 2018.”
Any update on this?
@ Spruce Goods — Yep, post updated to reflect that, sorry. 🙂
I did this at the beginning of the year and redeemed the points for 5 nights at the Andaz Costa Rica. The room rate with taxes and the resort fees would have been about $500 a night or $2500.00 for the stay. I maxed out the bonus so it was only $1320.00. I felt pretty good about it!