Should You Buy Hyatt Points For 1.85 Cents Each?

buy hyatt points

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The latest targeted “buy points” promotion is out from the World of Hyatt (I still hate that name) and it’s offering members the opportunity to purchase points with a 30% bonus. The last Hyatt promotion I remember seeing (back in October) offered up to 40% bonus points (so you could purchase points for 1.71 cents each) while what we’re seeing now is the exact same promotion Hyatt ran 12 months ago.

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Buying Hyatt Gold Passport Points For 1.85 Cents Each

As long as you buy over 5,000 World of Hyatt points you’ll get a 30% bonus on whatever you purchase – there’s no other tiering to worry about so you’ll pay the same amount per point regardless of how many or how few points you purchase. I like this idea as it makes it cheaper for Hyatt fans who don’t need a large number of points and just want to top off an account to reach an award.

Here’s a link to the current promotion which will take you to a page where you’ll need your World of Hyatt number to log in. After that it’s all be pretty self-explanatory.

Hyatt allows guests to purchase/receive up to 55,000 Gold Passport Points per calendar year (this figure doesn’t including bonus points) so, if you haven’t bought points yet in 2017 you can go for the full amount…which will cost you $1,320:

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55,000 points with a 30% bonus on top will get you 71,500 World of Hyatt points which, at a total cost of $1,320, comes to 1.85 cents per point.

Should You Buy Hyatt Points In This Promotion?

Here’s what the The Hyatt award chart currently looks like:

hyatt-award-chart

So, if you wanted to buy enough points for an award night at a top Hyatt property (Category 7) like the Park Hyatt Sydney….

Park Hyatt SydneyPark Hyatt Sydney – Image courtesy of Hyatt

….you would have to buy at least 24,000 points….which would cost $576.00….but you would also have some points left over.

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That could be a good deal if you were set on visiting this hotel as, having picked 3 random dates in July, October and November the prices for the cheapest available room were:a white background with black text

and….a white background with black text

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I should point out that I would absolutely never, ever, pay that amount for a room….but obviously some do, so buying points in this promotion may work for those who would.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Park Hyatt Sydney is a lot of miles away from most Hyatt loyalists so you would either already need to have enough points to book more award nights or be prepared to pay cash for a fee more nights to make any trip there worthwhile.

A property I know very well, the Category 5 Andaz West Hollywood would cost 20,000 points for an award night so the minimum number of points you would have to purchase for a free night would be 16,000……a black text on a white background

….at a cost of $384.

Andaz West HollywoodThe Andaz West Hollywood

This is definitely a borderline deal.

You can often get this property for under $350 per night including taxes (in the quieter times) so buying points in this case wouldn’t be the best idea…..but this property can also go for a lot more:

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Whenever I try to decide if buying points makes sense I simply do the math and make sure I take a few other things into consideration:

  • I take a look at a property I want to visit and compare the cost of a standard room to how much it would cost to buy enough points to book the same room.
  • If the math in this calculation is favorable I then make sure that I can either buy enough points for a trip or that I already have enough points to allow me to build a trip of a reasonable length when I add in the points I can buy.
  • I then check to see what the rate rules are for a cash purchase – award nights are almost always flexible and can be cancelled very close in to arrival while most of the best cash rates are non-refundable. If I’m in any doubt as to whether or not I may have to cancel I make sure I’m comparing the cost of a flexible cash rate to the cost of the award.

Times When Buying Points Makes Sense

  • When you’re topping off an account to get an award you’ve been waiting to reach:

If you’re already almost all of the way to an award (through hotel stays, credit card spend etc…) then these promotionsInvalid request error occurred. are a pretty good way of getting the few thousand points you need to reach the award you’ve been working towards.

  • When you were planning on a cash stay (before the promotion came out) and now buying points and using then for that stay is the cheaper way to go.

If you were already planning a stay at a Hyatt property then you were clearly prepared to pay the going rate…so you wouldn’t be fooling yourself that the points are saving you money….they really would!

This is where I tend to see most value and where I think most people would be able to make the most out of a promotion like this.

Bottom Line

I say this time and time again but it’s always worth saying again…..do the math before you buy! That’s the only way to be sure if you’re getting a good deal or not.

There are definitely times when points bought in this promotion will save you money but that in itself isn’t a reason to buy. If you don’t have an immediate or short-term use for the points then you shouldn’t be buying any – points can be devalued without notice and you could get caught out…badly. Have a plan and you should be fine.

Personally I’m not a buyer at 1.85 cents per points as I’m in no major need of Hyatt points and I have little doubt that, at some point in this year (I’m guessing July) they’ll be available for less.

1 COMMENT

  1. I still hate the world of hyatt name too…as well as globalist, extortionist and whatever the other one is. Gosh…makes you wonder if they did even a single focus group beforehand. It’s like the head of the project wanted to date the person who came up with these retarded names and was like “umm…yeah, ok, great work…let’s go get a drink at my place?”

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