While the most popular way to redeem World of Hyatt points is for free night redemptions, the program also has a Points + Cash option, whereby you can redeem part points and part cash toward the cost of a hotel stay.
Continue reading: Is World Of Hyatt Points + Cash A Good Deal?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I have used the LP upgrade at the Paris Etoille and Venice Centric to upgrade for a very low price and points into a suite, in Paris it included access to their nice lounge.
Great article, very useful. I too had been virtually ignoring points + cash as the value used to be so bad; I'll have to start paying attention again. Thank you for the heads up!
Lucky, for cash + points booking, do you earn base points or does the spend count towards Lifetime Globalist?
Thanks.
In my experience when Points+Cash turns out to be a good deal, paying only cash is frequently just a better deal looking at the assumed cost per point. Especially if you are willing to prepay and get something non-refundable.
Something about this analysis felt wrong so I tried to replicate it. Yes, in Dubai in summer the P+C represents a “good” deal for the cash component, but that’s because points is such a bad idea. The room costs $90 or 12,000 points or 6,000 + $55. Yes. $55 for 6000 points is great, but that’s only because points is a terrible idea in either instance. Nothing to see here folks. Lucky, get some sleep!!!
Sorry, but I agree with another reader, you need to get some sleep. You mentioned a couple times that while P+C became useless in 2018 (I totally agree), it became somewhat more useful in 2020. But you don't mention at all what happened in 2020 to make P+C worth another look. I honestly still ignore these rates but was curious when I started reading, only to get no information as to why P+C is somehow better in 2021 vs 2019.
Also I think it was a bit lazy to do your analysis by spotting the P+C cash rate as you compared options, but not clicking through each one to add in the taxes. That's the true cost per point vs redeeming a full night's points.
@ Tahsin -- Yep, you earn base points, and that also counts toward lifetime Globalist status.
Ben, this one is incorrect.
You can’t make a World of Hyatt Guest of Honor booking using Points + Cash
I did a guest of honor for my wife the other day in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and we did cash + points.
Back when cash+points were based on the lowest rate, it was a great option for high end properties such as Hawaii. Back then Hyatt points were worth .02. The change to standard rate on the cash portion, hugely devalued Hyatt points.
Forgive me, but isn't it obvious? Whenever points are not a good redemption vs cash, then the value of cash+points is better. But you would be even better off if you just paid cash for it, due to the above. whenever an award vs cash price is favorable, then the cash+points is a poor value because cash is bad and in this case you should book all with points. so the only times it makes some sense is if the points value is close to its assumed value - and you want it to count towards lifetime status.
This is all well and good, but Hyatt NEVER has had availability for me for any city I travel to. Not once. I've tried probably ten times, always with a flexibility of +- 2 days, and...nothing.
Completely useless program.
When were you searching for availability? You seem to have a problem that very few people have.
Great Analysis thanks Lucky.
Which of the hotels would be better paying all cash on a refundable member rate? In other words, what’s the point evaluation implied by the all points versus all cash rate.
So, I'd need to look at the baseline cash rates alongside these two numbers. I know I've seen a few situations at e.g. Marriott where the cash side of the points+cash rate wasn't half of the overall cash rate.
Also, does this account for resort fees (or parking, if a Globalist) in the difference between the two, since those waivers apply to points-only but not points+cash?
In your 5 examples the best savings using cash and points was like buying the points you for 1.45 cents. Seeing how you value Hyatt points at 1.4 that means none of the examples were valuable or good value to save the points. I agree and searched 10 properties and dates and like you could not find a single property where cash and points brought value.
To grayanderson’s point, the fair test is the all-in cash rate vs the cash part of P+C plus the points at your own valuation. With P+C you still pay the full % taxes on the cash portion and lose the resort fee waiver, so at a resort with a big daily fee that alone can wipe out the gain. Quick math for Beachfan’s question is (cash rate minus P+C cash) divided by half the award points, which gives you cents per point. If that’s under your ~1.4 to 1.5 cent valuation, pay cash on the refundable member rate and earn the 5x plus bonus.
FWIW that cash baseline can itself differ depending on which country you search from, since hotel inventory and pricing vary by market. Arbitrica checks the same Hyatt from a ton of countries for free and finds kind of the lowest price in the world, which makes the cpp math more honest. Just remember a third party rate won’t earn Hyatt points, so compare like for like. Run the cpp number first and only use P+C when it clears your valuation