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In general hotel rewards cards are good for their initial bonus offer, for status they give you just for having the card, and for an annual free night that’s worth more than the annual fee — making the card worth keeping.
That’s how I think about most hotel credit cards, but I go out of my way to spend on the World Of Hyatt Credit Card because:
- Spending on the card helps make progress towards elite status
- Hyatt rewards you for every 10 elite qualifying nights you earn
- I find Hyatt’s status to be the most rewarding
I got the new World Of Hyatt Credit Card as soon as it was available last summer, and I put significant spend on it last year and again this year already.
The card offers an initial bonus to earn 50,000 points: 25,000 after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening and an additional 25,000 after you spend $6,000 total on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening. That’s just $1000 per month average to earn the full bonus.
New Hyatt Card’s Features
The new card is the best for earning at Hyatt, gives a real boost towards Hyatt status, and is the only card I know that bonuses fitness club and gym memberships. Here’s earning:
- 4 points per dollar Hyatt spend
- 2 points per dollar restaurants; airline tickets purchased through the airline; fitness club and gym memberships; local transit and commuting including ride share services
- 1 point per dollar other purchases
It’s also great for earning free nights in addition to points. You get both a free category 1-4 night each year at card renewal and an additional free night at a category 1-4 Hyatt property after spending $15,000 in a year. That makes putting $15,000 annual spend on the card attractive.
How This Card Helps You Earn Status
The real winner here is help towards elite status. The card comes with 5 elite nights each year. Then each $5000 spent on the card earns 2 more elite nights.
- Hyatt has the most lucrative top elite tier
- They’ll now let you earn that status with credit card spending alone, with the introduction of this card
Globalist Room Service Breakfast, Park Hyatt Vendome Paris
I’ve been top tier with Hyatt for about a decade because they offer richer benefits that I care about than other chains, and I generally like their properties.
Globalist (top tier elite) members earning 60 elite night credits get,
- Best available room at check-in, including standard suites
- Club lounge access at properties with lounges
- 4 suite upgrades (for up to 7 nights each) confirmed at booking
- Full breakfast at properties without club lounges (not just continental breakfast like other chains offer)
- A dedicated reservations representative to handle all of your Hyatt needs (‘My Hyatt Concierge’), I don’t have to call to reserve suites, make complicated bookings, or follow up with properties.
Club Lounge Outdoor Deck, Grand Hyatt New York
Earning Top Status With the Credit Card
Hyatt requires 60 elite nights to earn top elite status. You receive 5 nights just for having the card and 2 more nights for each $5000 spent on the card.
As a result if you don’t have even a single Hyatt night, then you need to spend:
- $140,000 on the card in a year to earn Globalist status for the first time
- $125,000 on the card in a year to renew Globalist status
More realistically if you have 30 hotel nights that you can give to Hyatt in a year, getting the card brings you to 35 and then $65,000 spend in a year would get you to Globalist the first time and in the future $50,000 spend would get you there.
Whatever spend you put on the card is spend you aren’t putting on a different card. But the rewards from this card, combined with the rewards earned with Hyatt status, are lucrative enough that I think spending towards status can make sense for those in a position to do so. And remember that using the free nights you earn with the card, and free nights from points transferred in from Chase Ultimate Rewards, all count towards the nights you need for status.
Evening Cocktails and Snacks for Globalists at the Park Hyatt Tokyo
Generating Big Rewards While You Spend For Status
In the first year the World Of Hyatt Credit Card will let you earn a 50,000 point initial bonus. At cardmember renewal you receive a category 1-4 night. And spending $15,000 on the card each year earns a category 1-4 night.
And earning for your spending on the card has become more rewarding, with more points for Hyatt stays and better double points categories.
But since can earn elite status for your spending, and Hyatt adds rewards for every 10 elite nights you earn, your spending gets even more rewarding.
| # Nights | Or | Benefit |
| 10 | 25k base points or 3 meetings | Discoverist |
| 20 | 35k base points | 2 club lounge access awards |
| 30 | 50k base points or 10 meetings | Explorist, 2 club access awards, cat 1-4 free night |
| 40 | 65k base points | 5k points or $100 Hyatt gift card or 10k points off FIND experience |
| 50 | 80k base points | 2 confirmed suite upgrade awards |
| 60 | 100k base points or 20 meetings | Globalist, 2 suite upgrade awards, cat 1-7 free night, concierge |
| 70 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 80 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 90 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 100 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
If you spend enough on the card, combined with actual nights that you stay, in order to earn the initial bonus as well as Hyatt’s Globalist status you’ll receive:
- 50,000 point initial bonus (worth 2-12 nights depending on where you redeem)
- Points for your spending
- Category 1-4 night at $15,000 spend
- Category 1-4 night when you hit 30 elite nights in the Hyatt program (Explorist)
- Category 1-4 night at annual card renewal
- 5000 points or $100 Hyatt credit at 40 elite nights
- Category 1-7 night when you hit 60 elite nights in the Hyatt program (Globalist)
- 4 suite upgrades that allow you to confirm a suite at time of booking for up to 7 nights if a standard suite is available (2 at 50 nights and 2 at 60 nights)
Club lounge at the Grand Hyatt Singapore
That’s a lot of return for your spending. I spent $25,000 on my card last year to put me back over the top for 2019 elite status. I repeated this year. Some readers have reported they’ve done mostly card spend for Globalist status but remember that award nights count towards status too and you can transfer Chase points to Hyatt, redeem those for free nights, and pair those with card spend for Globalist status.
you are mistaken on the reduced qualifying nights required for a requalifying globalist from next year onwards. the threshold becomes 60 for all, new or requalifying.
Any idea if the club lounge awards are transferable, and are they good for more than one night?
@listen – iirc it’s still true for those requalifying this year
ah, i see you did add the “next year” qualifier – i think that is why Gary included it.
Am guessing you have Lifetime status with Marriott & auto Diamond status with the Hilton card, freeing up hotel spend for Hyatt status?
@listen – current globalists can still requalify in 2019 with 55 nights, they have to do 60 in 2020 to requalify
The benefits of top tier are not important or useful to everyone. When I am in Paris, Tokyo, Hawaii, New York, San Francisco, (my usual haunts), I don’t really care about a suite, I want to be out enjoying the cities not be in a hotel because I have a suite.
Late check out, even if not guaranteed is usually granted to some degree beyond the normal check out time even to the Discoverists.
None of the above cities have a category 4 hotel (the Hyatt Centric on Fisherman’s Wharf just went up to a 5), making my free night cert of no value.
I am a leisure traveler and majority of my spend goes to Chase Sapphire ot Citi Premier cards.
Not all will find Hyatt status useful when there are properties where one has status (with or without credit cards).
Shame non USA residents can’t access this card.
I could easily spend get 11 “nights” per year if I had this card.
The move back to 60 nights was the straw that broke the camels back for this Australian Diamond/Globalist – I’m not even going to try for 55 night qualification in 2019.
Explorist next year with 2 ‘club awards’ earned will see my Hyatt era out.
I was over 5/24 before this card was announced, and I would get it and spend today even without the bonus if Chase were cooperative. As it is, I rarely stay at Hyatt other than with UR from other cards.
@Christian club lounge awards are not transferable but each one can be used for the entire length of your stay.
Personally I think this is a good backup card for dining
interesting no mention whatsoever about the recent deval with peak redemptions. I guess that might detract from referral fees
I’m a big fan of Hyatt (ever since SPG disappeared), however the recent devals of peak award travel rip into the value of this program. It effectively increased point redemption costs 20% making WoH points much less valuable next year and that’s before the 2020 category changes. If they hadn’t done this, I would’ve agreed that using credit card spend for WoH points was among the most valuable ways to shop…but not now.
I can see the value of this card for people close to the next status level. I don’t think 50k points for 6k spend is some great deal. I have had the card in the past and it is alright, but other than for a specific segment of people, its merely average and there are many better cards out there that should be picked up first.
My wife and I are both canceling our Hyatt cards because we have been having a very difficult time finding where we can use our free nights. Limiting it to just category 1-4 eliminates almost all hotels that we would want to stay at. Plus there are so few hotels available to choose from even when we pay for our stays. That’s why I have been and continue to be an IHG fan despite their almost worthless loyalty program, because of the many nice hotels they have around the world that I enjoy staying at. I would rather pay for a nice room in a nice hotel in a good location than stay at an inferior hotel in a lousy location just because it is free.
Can you confirm that points transferred in from Chase count towards status? If that is correct then can one earn Globalist entirely by transferring in points without any credit card spend?
@Steve – no, points transferred from Chase do not count towards status with Hyatt [they do currently with IHG]
@Boraxo: “club lounge awards are not transferable but each one can be used for the entire length of your stay.”
Club lounge awards can only be used for a maximum of 7 nights.
For me, I will continue to use the Chase Freedom Unlimited and charge non-bonus spend there to get 1.5 points/$. The extra points would allow me to use points for upgrades when I want, so the benefit of allocating spend to get status is ameliorated. This approach requires a Chase Sapphire or similar to affect transfer to Hyatt.
I can’t yet make a case for move to the Hyatt card since I can’t see any way clear for me to ever get Globalist status thus I will just have to buy my upgrades. Perhaps the Cat 4 award might make the fee worth it to just have the card for Hyatt stays, but that is almost too much work.
Wife and I both took out these cards soon as they launched. That yielded 3 nights at the Centric Madrid points and cash (before the deval), 4 nights at the Andaz Singapore points and cash, a night at the Park Hyatt Sydney, 3 nights at the Bank Hotel Stockholm and a couple creative uses of the free night certs. We now opt for Hyatt whenever possible; we are heading for Argentina in January and planning a week at the Grand Hyatt Mendoza. I used the last of the Marriott and Hilton points this past winter in Melbourne and Adelaide. I don’t have their cards and ain’t likely to get them. With the addition of the SLH properties (Bank Hotel was a great redemption) I can usually find a nice hotel to earn/spend Hyatt points. Hyatt gets my business; We recently stayed at the Hilton Helsinki airport and I used Hotels.com to book it. 9% return ain’t bad.
Hi Gary,
I haven’t seen this covered but, it looks like a glitch is showing availability in Category 5 properties using the Anniversary Free Night certificates (Cat 1-4)! Better jump on that.