Live: Buy Hyatt Gift Cards For 10% Off

It’s rare to see Hyatt offer any sort of promotions on buying gift cards, so there’s a noteworthy promotion that’s now live for the second time this year.

Buy Hyatt Gift Cards For 10% Off

Several weeks ago Hyatt announced that they’d offer 10% off purchased gift cards over two periods:

More from OMAAT Buy GHA Discovery Dollars (D$) For 15% Off: Intriguing, But Is It Worth It? Read more

• November 29 through December 2, 2019
• December 20 through December 23, 2019

So that second promotion period is now live.

To take advantage of this promotion you have to use promotion code WINTER19 when you purchase gift cards (and you’ll want to make sure that you actually see the discount reflected at check-out).

Now that the promotion is available I tested this out, and it does, in fact, seem to work.

If you’re considering taking advantage of this promotion, there are some important terms to be aware of:

• Hyatt gift cards can only be redeemed at participating Hyatt properties in North America, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America, and South America
• You can buy gift cards in increments between $25 and $2,000, and you can buy no more than $10,000 worth of gift cards per day
• Hyatt gift cards don’t expire
• Gift cards are transferable to friends, family members, etc.
• You can’t use gift cards for pre-paid reservations, but rather can only use them to settle a balance at check-out
• You earn points as usual and receive benefits for the stays where you use gift cards (after all, you’re only redeeming these at check-out when settling payment)

Should You Buy Hyatt Gift Cards For 10% Off?

I’m a Hyatt loyalist, so naturally, I’m asking myself whether this is worth it or not. The upside to this promotion is obvious — you can save 10%, and that’s awesome.

But what are the downsides?

On the most basic level, there’s always some risk associated with gift card theft.

Furthermore, purchasing gift cards doesn’t count as a Hyatt purchase since this is processed by a third party:

• Usually, when I pay at a Hyatt I use the World of Hyatt Credit Card, which offers 4x World of Hyatt points per dollar spent (I value that at a 6% return)
• For this purchase I’d instead use the Citi Double Cash® Card, which offers a total of 2x ThankYou points (1 when you purchase and 1 when you pay) — (I value that at a 3.4% return); these purchases seem to code as “merchandise & services”

So there’s a 2.6% “spread” right there.

The one other downside is that if you’re using a gift card at an eligible property outside the US, there’s a chance that there may be a bit of a buffer on the exchange rate, as they might not use the exact correct exchange rate. Hopefully, that’s not the case, but it also wouldn’t surprise me.

Bottom Line

The second round of Hyatt’s 10% off gift card promo is now live. Prior to this promo, I don’t remember the last time Hyatt offered a discount on gift cards.

I’m tempted to take advantage of this, but realistically the upside is only so much when you factor in the (mild) risk, the difference in credit card points you earn, and the potential aggravation you may experience at check-out.

I think I’ll still buy some, but I don’t necessarily think this is as much of a no brainer as it appears at first glance (if these coded as Hyatt purchases then I’d say it would be more of a no brainer).

Do you plan on buying Hyatt gift cards for 10% off?