World Of Hyatt Business Credit Card Review: Big Bonus, Elite Status

Link: Apply now for the World of Hyatt Business Card

Chase and Hyatt have the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card, which complements the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review), Hyatt’s personal credit card. In this post I wanted to provide a detailed review of the card.

Hyatt Business Card Basics For April 2024

There’s a lot to understand about the World of Hyatt Business Card, as it’s totally different than the personal version of the card. There are many reasons to consider this card, from a solid welcome bonus, to valuable bonus categories, to the ability to spend your way toward Globalist status.

Bonus Of 60K World Of Hyatt Points

The World of Hyatt Business Card is offering a welcome bonus where you can earn 60,000 World of Hyatt bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months.

This is a solid bonus — I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, so to me, those points are worth $900.

When it comes to eligibility for the Hyatt Business Card bonus, you potentially qualify as long as you don’t currently have that exact card, and haven’t received a welcome bonus on that exact card in the past 24 months. Note that eligibility is otherwise unrelated to whether you have the personal version of the card. Chase’s general application restrictions apply.

$199 Annual Fee

The World of Hyatt Business Card has a $199 annual fee, which is on the steep side. You can add employees as authorized users at no extra cost.

On the plus side, you should be able to recoup most of that annual fee with the card’s perks.

Hyatt Business Card Spending Bonus Categories

The World of Hyatt Business Card is the first Chase card to introduce an adaptive accelerator that rewards cardmembers based on the categories that they spend the most in each quarter. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this concept introduced on other Chase cards in the future as well.

The Hyatt Business Card offers the following return on spending, all with no foreign transaction fees:

• 4x World of Hyatt points for spending at Hyatt hotels
• 2x World of Hyatt points in your top three spending categories each quarter through December 31, 2024 (in 2025 and beyond, you’ll earn 2x points on your top two spending categories)
• 2x World of Hyatt points for fitness clubs and gym memberships
• 1x World of Hyatt points on all other purchases

For the adaptive accelerator, potential bonus categories include the following:

• Dining
• Airline tickets purchased directly with airlines
• Car rental agencies
• Local transit and commuting
• Gas stations
• Internet, cable, and phone services
• Social media and search engine advertising
• Shipping

With the adaptive accelerator, there’s no limit to how many bonus points you can earn, and you’ll automatically receive 2x points for the eligible categories where you spend the most — there’s no registration required, but rather at the end of the quarter you’ll automatically be rewarded.

Based on my valuation of 1.5 cents per World of Hyatt point, this means you’re earning the equivalent of 6% back at Hyatt properties, 3% back in the adaptive accelerate categories and on fitness clubs and gym memberships, and 1.5% back on all other purchases.

This doesn’t factor in the potential to earn World of Hyatt elite status with the card, which I’ll cover in more detail below.

Hyatt Business Card Perks & Benefits

The World of Hyatt Business Card offers some unique perks, but I’d argue that they’re not as compelling as on the personal version of the card. There’s no anniversary free night certificate, and there are no World of Hyatt elite nights just for having the card (without spending). What does the card offer?

$100 In Hyatt Credits Every Anniversary Year

The World of Hyatt Business Card offers up to $100 in Hyatt credits every anniversary year. Just spend $50 or more at any Hyatt property in the world with the card, and you’ll receive a $50 statement credit, up to two times each anniversary year.

This should more or less be worth face value to cardmembers, assuming you visit a Hyatt at least twice a year (and if you don’t, this card probably isn’t for you). The credit doesn’t have to be used toward the room rate, but rather can be applied to everything from parking, to spa treatments, to dining.

Discoverist Status For You & Five Employees

The World of Hyatt Business Card offers entry level Discoverist status for as long as you have the card. Not only that, but you can gift the status to up to five company employees (they don’t have to be authorized users on the card). That status ordinarily requires 10 elite nights or 25,000 base points in a year.

Discoverist status offers a 10% points bonus, premium internet, late check-out, preferred rooms, and more.

Earn World Of Hyatt Status With Spending

The World of Hyatt Business Card offers five elite qualifying nights for each $10,000 spent on the card in a calendar year. In other words, in the right increments, you’re earning one elite night for every $2,000 spent.

This is a better rate of earning elite nights than on the personal version of the card, though the business card doesn’t offer the five elite nights annually just for having the card, unlike the personal card. Earning elite nights through spending can be worth it whether you’re just trying to earn Globalist status, or want to get to the next Milestone Rewards threshold.

Also keep in mind that earning the entire welcome bonus requires spending $12,000, so at that point you’d already have spent enough to earn five elite nights toward status. That’s another benefit of picking up the card.

Up To 10% Of Redeemed World Of Hyatt Points Back

When you spend $50,000 or more on the World of Hyatt Business Card in a calendar year, you’ll receive 10% of redeemed points back as bonus points for the remainder of the year:

• You only start getting the 10% back after you complete the $50,000 in spending, and the 10% back is only valid for the remainder of the calendar year
• You’re capped at getting 20,000 World of Hyatt points back this way, which sure is a low limit

Hyatt Leverage Small Business Program Membership

The primary cardmember can be enrolled in the Hyatt Leverage program, which is a small business program run by Hyatt. With a Hyatt Leverage membership, you can receive up to 15% off standard rates at participating Hyatt properties worldwide, and in some cases these savings may be bigger than you’d get directly.

With Hyatt Leverage, you can book online with a special code after you register. Now, in fairness, joining Hyatt Leverage is free for anyone with a legitimate business. However, technically it’s designed for businesses that stay at least 50 nights at Hyatts per year, and your membership can be discontinued if you don’t meet that threshold, on a case-by-case basis. If you have the Hyatt Business Card, you don’t need to meet that threshold.

My Take On The Hyatt Business Card

I’m about as much of a Hyatt loyalist as you’ll find, so what do I make of the World of Hyatt Business Card? If you ask me, the card definitely isn’t as lucrative as the World of Hyatt Credit Card. That being said, the card offers a generous welcome bonus and is the most lucrative card for earning Hyatt elite nights through spending.

Personally I applied for the card shortly after it opened to applicants, and was instantly approved. How do I view the long term value of this card? A few things stand out to me:

• The way I view it, this card really “costs” $99 per year to hold onto — that’s because I’d subtract the $100 annual Hyatt credit from the $199 annual fee, for mental accounting purposes
• While the adaptive bonus categories are a cool concept, the reality is that there are cards earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points that earn more points, and those points can be transferred 1:1 to World of Hyatt
• Unlike the personal version of the card, the business version of the card doesn’t offer rich perks just for having it without spending — the card does offer Discoverist status, but as someone who already has Globalist status, that’s not of any value to me
• The business version of the card does earn you elite nights at a faster rate than the personal card — with the former you can earn an elite night with as little as $2,000 in spending, while with the latter you can earn an elite night with as little as $2,500 in spending
• There are no opportunities to earn free night awards with this card, which is unusual for a hotel credit card
• I could potentially see merit to spending $50,000 on the card per year if the 10% back on points at least weren’t capped, but a cap of 20,000 points back that way is just low; however, some might find it worthwhile to spend $50,000 to earn elite nights, in which case the 10% of points back is the icing on the cake

So yeah, as a savvy consumer and Hyatt loyalist, I’m struggling with this card — I’m better off putting spending on a card earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points, or on my personal Hyatt card.

I suspect this card not being overly rewarding (especially without much spending) is probably an intentional play here:

• I’m guessing Chase and Hyatt might not want people to get this card if they don’t plan on spending a considerable amount on it
• At the end of the day the card is still quite well rounded for small businesses looking to earn Hyatt status, since you’ll earn elite nights at a pretty quick pace with this card

Bottom Line

The World of Hyatt Business Card is the co-branded Chase and Hyatt business card, and it complements the World of Hyatt Credit Card. The business card has a solid welcome bonus at the moment, which can earn you 60,000 World of Hyatt bonus points.

I think this card is worth applying for, though on an ongoing basis, I don’t think the value of the card is the same slam dunk as you’ll find on the personal version of the card.

What do you make of the World of Hyatt Business Card?