In mid-November 2021, World of Hyatt launched its current promotion on purchased points. I wanted to post a reminder of this offer as it will be expiring shortly, and it’s the best offer we’ve seen from the program this year. This could potentially represent an excellent deal.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased World of Hyatt points
Through Thursday, December 30, 2021, World of Hyatt is offering a 30% discount on purchased points. You can unlock the 30% discount as long as you purchase at least 5,000 points in one transaction.
How much does it cost to buy World of Hyatt points?
Ordinarily you can buy World of Hyatt points for 2.4 cents each, before any discounts or bonuses. If you maxed out the promotion and purchased 55,000 World of Hyatt points, you’d receive a total of 55,000 points at a cost of $924, which is a rate of 1.68 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. As you can tell, this is a better promotion, as you can get a 30% discount. So if you’ve been waiting to buy World of Hyatt points, pricing doesn’t get better than this.
How many World of Hyatt points can you buy?
World of Hyatt lets you buy up to 55,000 points per account per calendar year, before any bonuses.
While World of Hyatt limits how many points you can buy per year, the program 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.
Which credit card should you buy World of Hyatt points with?
World of 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), Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review), or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review).
When in doubt, review which credit cards are best for buying points and miles.
- Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Is buying World of Hyatt points worth it?
While I wouldn’t buy World of Hyatt points without a specific use in mind, there’s tons of value to be had if buying points strategically.
I’m a huge fan of the World of Hyatt program, thanks to the excellent hotel brands Hyatt has, and the general value of World of Hyatt Globalist status, including the ability to use suite upgrade awards when redeeming points. I’ve had so many amazing award stays with Hyatt over the years, and you could instantly buy points and redeem them at a property and save over 50% in the process. I’ll get into that in a bit more detail below.
How many points do you need for a free night at a Hyatt?
To give you a sense of award pricing, here’s the World of Hyatt award chart for standard room redemptions:
World of Hyatt Category | Off-Peak | Standard | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
Category 1 | 3,500 | 5,000 | 6,500 |
Category 2 | 6,500 | 8,000 | 9,500 |
Category 3 | 9,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 |
Category 4 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 18,000 |
Category 5 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 23,000 |
Category 6 | 21,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 |
Category 7 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 |
Category 8 | 35,000 | 40,000 | 45,000 |
Note that peak and off-peak pricing is new for World of Hyatt, and applies for stays as of March 2022. Furthermore, Category 7 is the highest price you’ll find for most standard Hyatt properties (including luxury ones). The Category 8 pricing is specifically for hotels booked through Hyatt’s partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
What are good uses of World of Hyatt points?
There are truly endless amazing redemptions, so let me give some examples of some of my favorite World of Hyatt redemptions in the past few years.
I’ve redeemed 30,000 World of Hyatt points per night for a stay at the Category 7 Alila Ventana Big Sur. Stays here include meals, and cash rates are regularly $2,000+ per night.
I’ve redeemed 30,000 World of Hyatt points per night for a stay at the Category 7 Park Hyatt Maldives, where cash rates are regularly $1,000+ per night.
I’ve redeemed 40,000 World of Hyatt points per night for a stay at the Category 8 Calala Island Nicaragua, which is bookable through World of Hyatt’s Small Luxury Hotels of the World partnership. This amazing private island has just four villas, and stays here include all food, drinks, and activities. Paid rates here would be $3,000+ per night.
Continuing with the Small Luxury Hotels of the World partnership, I’ve redeemed 40,000 World of Hyatt points per night for a stay at the Category 8 Canaves Oia Epitome Santorini, which is bookable through World of Hyatt’s Small Luxury Hotels of the World partnership. This is one of my favorite hotels in Greece, and paid rates here would are $1,500+ per night.
While some of my favorite uses of World of Hyatt points are for super-aspirational redemptions, there are also lots of good values to be had at more reasonably priced properties. However, I think it’s the luxury properties that are most worth highlighting, since that’s where you’ll generally find the most outsized value.
Do World of Hyatt points expire?
World of Hyatt points can expire if your account doesn’t have any activity for 24 consecutive months. However, any points earning or redemption activity would reset the expiration of your points.
How much are World of Hyatt points worth?
Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value World of Hyatt points at ~1.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. So the purchase price is only a bit higher than what I value the points, though like I said, there are ways to get much more value.
Does World of Hyatt have blackout dates?
World of Hyatt doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, and all standard rooms are supposed to be available for points redemptions at the published costs. This applies at all Hyatt managed properties, though note that there are capacity controls when redeeming at Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties.
How else can you earn World of 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 cost, 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) and World of Hyatt Business 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.
Bottom line
World of Hyatt is offering a 30% discount on the purchase of points, and that could represent a good deal. This is the best promotion we’ve seen from the program on purchased points all year.
I know many people find it worthwhile to buy World of Hyatt points, especially those outside the United States, who don’t have access to lucrative credit cards. As always, you’ll want to crunch the numbers for yourself, based on the potential stays you’d make.
Do you plan on buying Hyatt points with this promotion?
@DCS is this is a better deal than Hilton’s buy points promotion?
Purchase the max allowed points and already booked couple of hotels for the upcoming stay. Redemption is greater than two cents, some cases more than three cents. Will be transferring more points from Chase's CSR.
no blackout dates? alila napa is available with cash but not points for all the dates i've been trying for.
The secret is out plus Alilas change to include meals made this an even better deal. Everyone on earth with a chase saphire card knows this is the best hotel in the US to stay at with points, award space will be impossible to find, so glad i stayed there for a week in Jan 2020 right before covid hit!
Sounds like you're referring to Alila Ventana Big Sur. Christ is referring to Alila Napa.
Both are pretty popular though.
You can also earn in two ways not listed. You can earn Hyatt points on resort fees, even if booked with a travel agent (as long as you associate your World of Hyatt account to the booking prior to check in). You can also earn Hyatt points on the cash portion of cash+points bookings.
@Ben, love your blog. I know you pride yourself on accurate content, so I wanted to mention that your sentence "So if you’ve been waiting to buy World of Hyatt points, pricing doesn’t get better than this" isn't quite right. After all, it does get better than this - from Daily Getaways on a near-annual basis. So perhaps you might revise this to "Apart from the hard-to-get annual Daily Getaways deal, pricing doesn't get better than this"
Ha, you mean all 10 bots that were able to claim the deal
I'm down for this promo. I just wish they had a larger annual limit on point purchases.
Have you logged in?
Sometimes they expand the limit. When I logged in it said I could buy up to 110K (although oddly, the drop down only went to 69K)
55k points for $994 not bad considering there is a hotel im looking at for some skiing that is $1000 a night so good use of 30k points. Buy 55k, earn an additional 1500 hyatt points by using a chase freedom unlimited to buy said points. Solid deal this.
I’m currently staying at the Grand Hyatt Vail and have been very happy with the 25k point redemption, free $35 breakfast buffet (includes made to order omlet) and ski valet. I think one of the better Hyatt ski offering’s. Upgraded to a suite too over Christmas break. I’ve never purchased Hyatt points before but will do so here as burned through close to a million points this year.