Nowadays many travel loyalty programs offer some sort of experiences marketplaces. Most loyalty program executives believe that members want more experiential options for redeeming their points, and this is intended to meet that need.
In this post, I want to take a look at World of Hyatt FIND, which is Hyatt’s wellness-focused experiences marketplace. This is an opportunity to earn and redeem World of Hyatt points, and even ties into the Milestone Rewards program. Let’s take a look at the program, and talk about under what circumstances there could be value to this.
In this post:
World of Hyatt FIND offers wellbeing experiences
World of Hyatt offers the FIND experiences marketplace, which can be accessed at experiences.hyatt.com. FIND offers 500+ experiences across 75+ destinations.
FIND is exclusively for World of Hyatt members, though anyone can join the program for free. You can enjoy these experiences in conjunction with a Hyatt stay, or completely independent of a stay. Members can either pay cash for these experiences and earn points, or otherwise redeem points.
You can filter FIND experiences either by destination, by type of activity (culture & community, arts, restoration, or exploration). Some of the experiences are around long term, while others are only limited time. The experiences differ quite a bit, and in some cases are connected to a hotel, while in other cases they aren’t.
For example, in Vienna you could do anything from a Viennese vineyard tour, to a private music history tour, to a palace and garden tour, to a art museum tour. None of those directly have anything to do with a hotel, but some people might enjoy these experiences in conjunction with a stay.
In some cases, the options seem downright random, like Kennedy Space Center tickets, which doesn’t seem to have much to do with any Hyatt.
In other cases, the experiences are pretty directly connected to Hyatt properties, especially for more remote locations. For example, in Oman you’ll find several experiences related to the two Alila properties there (Alila Jabal Akhdar and Alila Hinu Bay), ranging from cliff edge dining, to stargazing.
For non-hotel experiences, my general assumption would be that you can probably find cheaper rates through other companies for comparable experiences. But that’s also where the loyalty program aspect of this comes into play.
Earn & redeem World of Hyatt points for FIND experiences
The reason that Hyatt’s FIND experiences marketplace will likely be interesting to some is because of the World of Hyatt connection. You can earn and redeem points for these experiences, and can also select FIND credits as part of the Milestone Rewards program.
To start, if you pay cash for a World of Hyatt FIND experience, here’s what you can expect:
- You can earn 10x World of Hyatt points per dollar spent, which is double the regular earnings rate for hotel stays (you usually earn 5x points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties); I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, so to me that’s the equivalent of a 15% return
- You also receive your typical elite bonuses — Discoverists earn a 10% bonus, Explorists earn a 20% bonus, and Globalists earn a 30% bonus
- Base points earned with FIND experiences count toward lifetime World of Hyatt Globalist status; you actually earn 10x base points rather than 5x base points, so these experiences count toward lifetime Globalist status twice as fast
- You can earn 4x World of Hyatt bonus points when paying for your experience with either the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) or World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review)
For example, as a World of Hyatt Globalist member paying with a co-branded Hyatt credit card, you’d earn 17x World of Hyatt points per dollar spent. If you’re like me and value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, that’s like a return of over 25% on that spending, which is quite good.
What about redeeming World of Hyatt points? Well, World of Hyatt points can consistently be redeemed toward the cost of FIND experiences at the rate of 1.4 cents per point. That’s not a bad rate at which to “cash out” those points, even if it’s slightly less than what I value them at.
However, if we’re going to view points as a true currency, then I’d say paying cash is generally a better value here. That’s because if you redeem points, you’re also forgoing quite a few points, and that needs to be factored into the math as well. But I also recognize that many people are (understandably) more willing to splurge with points than cash.
The last thing worth mentioning is that World of Hyatt has the Milestone Rewards program, whereby you can select perks of your choice when passing certain thresholds (in terms of the number of elite nights earned in a calendar year). At various thresholds, you can select a FIND experiences credit as your reward, ranging anywhere from $25 to $300 in value.
Assuming you could actually get use out of it and value the credit at close to face value, it could represent a decent selection option, at least at some thresholds.
Bottom line
Hyatt offers the FIND experiences platform, allowing members to book wellbeing experiences. You can either pay for these experiences and earn 10x World of Hyatt base points per dollar spent, or you can redeem World of Hyatt points toward these experiences at the rate of 1.4 cents each.
I think this platform is worth being aware of. It’s not the most exciting thing on earth, but it has some cool experiences, and in some situations this could also represent a good deal. For example, you can buy Kennedy Space Center tickets at a very slight premium through this platform, but the rewards that you earn will make this a better deal then buying them direct.
What do you make of Hyatt’s FIND experiences platform?
Any idea if spending a FIND experiences credit (from a milestones bonus) results in earning 10 points per $ on the whole cost of the experience, or just the non-voucher, cash element?
@ Craig -- I haven't done this myself, but it's my understanding that you'd only be rewarded for the portion paid with cash, and not the portion paid with the voucher.
Only cash element gives 10 points per $ earning, did it last year and used $25 voucher.
The pricing on these experiences is absolutely bizarre. For example, you can get a 2 1/2 hour tour of the Louvre museum in Paris for €70, or you can get a 3- hour experience for €800
The tours in most of the major cities are either priced so low they defy belief or they are so outrageously expensive that it’s hard to believe anybody could actually sign up for one
Having said that, there is...
The pricing on these experiences is absolutely bizarre. For example, you can get a 2 1/2 hour tour of the Louvre museum in Paris for €70, or you can get a 3- hour experience for €800
The tours in most of the major cities are either priced so low they defy belief or they are so outrageously expensive that it’s hard to believe anybody could actually sign up for one
Having said that, there is some value to be found in certain cities. Also interesting to point out that some of these experiences are in cities where there aren’t any Hyatt properties