Hyatt is, in my view, the fourth largest hotel chain in the US travel and credit card market. Marriott and Hilton are unquestionably the largest, while IHG is third, although they don't brand as well as the biggest two players. Even though it isn't as large as these brands, however, Hyatt is an extremely compelling travel option, particularly from a points and miles or credit card standpoint. For a few reasons, it's going to be my next credit card!
First, their points are much more valuable than any of the other brands'. They also have an excellent transfer option in Chase UR points. Depending on your status with World of Hyatt, their loyalty program, you can get some unique benefits (and the credit card gives you their first-level status). And lastly, I find that even though that don't have nearly as many locations as the three larger chains, they seem to always have one or two superbly located hotels.
To begin, let's cover the details of the card. The World of Hyatt card is a Visa issued by Chase, and carries a $95 annual fee. The signup bonus is 30,000 Hyatt points, with another 15,000 available through an elevated earning signup promotion. Chase markets this as a "60,000 point signup bonus" which I find extremely disingenuous. The bonus is 30,000 points for spending $3,000 in the first 3 months, plus 30,000 for earning 2 points per dollar on up to $15,000 of non-category spending in the first 6 months. But anyone would already be earning 1 point per dollar on this spending anyways! This is like saying the Chase Sapphire Preferred has an 64,000 point signup bonus, because you earn 60,000 points for spending $4,000, but also earn at least 1 point per dollar on those $4,000. I digress, but I will accurately refer to this signup bonus as up to 45,000 points for $15,000 in spending in the first 6 months.
Hyatt points are surprisingly valuable for hotel points. Hilton Honors points, Marriott Bonvoy points, and IHG Rewards points are all challenging to get more than 1 cent of value from per point. For example, a Hilton in a downtown area might cost $250 per night, or 60,000 points. That's less than 0.5 cents per point. Hyatt, on the other hand, is almost always above 1 cent, and is typically around 2 cents per point. To make up for this, they are a bit harder to earn; the World of Hyatt card earns a maximum of 9 points per dollar on Hyatt spend, including what you earn as a loyalty member, but the Hilton Honors Aspire card (which I love) earns a whopping 34 points per dollar! However, 9 points per dollar, valued at 2 cents each, is about 18% return on spend, whereas 34 points valued at only 0.5-0.6 cents is 17-20% return, making them comparable.
On top of the value, you can also easily top up your Hyatt points balance from Chase UR points. While Hilton, Marriott, and IHG all have some transfer options, too, transferring to Hyatt is actually a pretty good use of Chase points because of their high value. I routinely find Hyatt redemption options worth well over 2 cents per point, which is a worthy use of Chase UR points in my opinion. The ability to quickly increase a balance like this can be critical if you find a great booking that you want to make immediately.
Next, holding the World of Hyatt card grants you the first status level with Hyatt: Discoverist. There are a few nice benefits that this status gives you. A couple I plan on using are the American Airlines bonus points, the MGM resorts status match, and late checkout. Hyatt and American Airlines offer one of the only true double-dipping opportunity in all of points and miles - if you have Hyatt status, you can earn 1 Hyatt point for every dollar spent with American Airlines. That's not dollars spent on the card, it's just dollars spent with American, and it's in addition to the AAdvantage miles you'll earn through American's own loyalty program.
In addition to automatic status, the World of Hyatt card offers a quicker path to achieving higher status through elite night credits. There are 5 elite night credits each year of holding the card, plus 2 nights for every $5,000 spent. If you spend $15,000 in a year on the card to get the additional free night (see below), then you will also have 11 total elite night credits. Second-tier Explorist status takes 30 nights, so that level of spending on this card gets you more than a third of the way there. 19 nights stayed at Hyatts plus $15,000 spent on the card is all it will take.
Beyond status, the card also offers a free night, like many hotel credit cards. This free night is for category 1-4 hotels, of Hyatt's total of 8 categories. And unlike Marriott, it doesn't matter if it's peak season for the hotel; as long as it's category 4 or lower, the free night will work. To make it better, spending $15,000 in a year on the Hyatt card will grant you an additional category 1-4 free night. That's a pretty reasonable amount of spending for a free night that might be worth $300; Hilton will make you spend $60,000 to get an extra free night. The last benefit of the Hyatt card is that one of its bonus earning categories is gyms and fitness clubs. This category isn't common for bonus earning, but can be a consistent $50-300 per month per couple, or more for a larger family. Kristyn and I belong to a pretty nice gym near us, so we'll earn about 5,000 points per year just from the membership.
The last reason for ultimately choosing this card is that I'd like to stay at Hyatts more, and might have to. There certainly aren't the most locations of Hyatt hotels, but the ones they do have always seem to be well-positioned within a city or region. Where there might be 10-15 Hiltons, two of which are in great positions, the only two Hyatts in the city are just both in great positions. Two places we'll be visiting next year - Nice, France, and Zurich, Switzerland - have several hotel chain options, but both have a Hyatt located in the center of the city, which is exactly where we want to be on vacation!
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