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Hyatt has been running its current points promotion for over a month but tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of the 40% bonus that’s on offer to anyone buying a minimum of 10,000 points. Hyatt’s non-targeted 40% bonus promotions don’t come around all that often so now’s a good time to stock up on points if the math works for you.
Buy Hyatt Points – Headline T&Cs
- Offer available with purchases made by 11:59 pm on June 11, 2019.
- Purchase 5,000 to 9,000 Bonus Points in a single transaction and receive 30% additional Bonus Points.
- Purchase 10,000 or more Bonus Points in a single transaction and receive 40% additional Bonus Points.
- Bonus Points will be awarded upon completion of individual transactions.
- Bonus Points can be purchased in increments of 1,000, up to 55,000 points per calendar year.
- Members can receive points in increments of 1,000, up to 55,000 points per calendar year.
- Additional Bonus Points awarded under this offer do not count towards these maximums.
- Offer may be withdrawn or changed without notice.
- Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.
- Only purchases made online are eligible for the promotion.
- Price includes all applicable fees.
- GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents.
- This transaction is completed by Points.com.
Link to offer page and full terms and conditions
The Promotion
This is the exact same promotion Hyatt ran around this time last year…and it’s pretty simple:
- Buy 1,000 – 4,000 points and get zero bonus
- Buy 5,000 – 9,000 points and get a 30% bonus
- Buy 10,000 – 55,000 points and get a 40% bonus
It doesn’t appear as if the tier structure varies from member to member so everyone is probably seeing the same tiers as shown above.
The Math
Because Hyatt doesn’t change the price of points within its bonus bands you’ll be buying Hyatt points at the best available rate as long as you purchase at least 10,000 points in this sale.
Here’s proof:
Whether you buy the minimum number of points that entitles you to the 40% bonus…
….or the maximum number of points permitted…
….the cost per point doesn’t change. It remains at ~1.71 cents/point.
Is This A Good Deal?
While it’s true to say that Hyatt offers bonuses on the sale of its point reasonably frequently, the 40% bonuses don’t come around that often and, when they do, they’re often targeted so you’re not always certain to be offered the 40% bonus even when it’s around (this promotion doesn’t appear to be targeted).
That makes this promotion worth a closer look.
The Hyatt award chart is one of the keys to deciding how good this promotion is:
Top-tier Hyatt properties cost 30,000 points/night and the top properties imported in from the Small Luxury Hotels portfolio cost 40,000 points/night so, if you wanted to buy enough points in this promotion to book a night at one of these properties, it would set you back either ~$513 or ~$684
I can’t think of very many circumstances where I’d consider paying that much for a night at a hotel so, from my point of view, this promotion is not much use for top-tier redemptions (others may see things differently).
I’m well aware that some people will argue that a few top-end Park Hyatt properties will charge a lot more than $513/night (the Park Hyatt New York is a good example of such a property)…
…and will suggest that paying $513 for points that are used to book this room is a pretty sweet deal….but I don’t like that kind of reasoning.
This kind of reasoning may make sense for someone looking to top up an account to allow them to book a multi-night stay (or for someone wanting to add a night to an existing booking) but it makes absolutely no sense for someone without enough existing points to book a few more nights as well.
Do you really want to spend that much on a single night stay in NYC when you’ll probably have very little time to actually enjoy all that the hotel offers?
My suggestion is that most people should be ignoring the very top-tier properties and focusing on some of the very good properties a little further down Hyatt’s rankings if they’re to get the best value out of this points sale.
Taking a mid-tier Hyatt property (like the Category 5 Andaz Wall Street which costs 20,000 points/night) as an example can show this points sale in two different lights – one good and one bad.
20,000 points in this promotion would cost approximately $342 and on off-peak days that’s not a great deal at this property.
On weekends and at slower times of the year the Andaz Wall Street can be booked for just $198 + taxes + atrocious destination fees…
….which comes to approximately $264/night with all the additional costs added in:
Why would you pay $342 for 20,000 points when you can book the room for less and also earn points into the bargain?
In mid-week and during peak season things can be different. If you can find award availability points can be a money saver.
When things get busy it’s not at all unusual to see room rates at the Andaz Wall St. push $500 before taxes and fees…
…and when all the extras are added in the nightly rate moves to over $600/night:
Buying 20,000 points for $342 in this promotion would save you ~$230/night.
Note: Because the horrendous destination fee is payable on award bookings as well as cash bookings this has to be taken out of the equation when working out how much money a points booking will save you.
Don’t Forget
Hyatt points sales are processed by Points.com so you’re not going to get a credit card travel/hotel category bonus if you buy points in this sale. This is a good time to use a card on which you’re looking to earn a sign-up bonus or a card whose points you value highly.
My personal preference would be to use the Blue Business Plus Credit Card from Amex (2 points/dollar here) or a strong cash back credit card like the Citi Double Cash Card (2% back per dollar) or the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card (1.5% or 1.5 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points per dollar).
Bottom Line
In some cases this isn’t a great deal at all even though this is the best bonus we see Hyatt offer….but there are instances where buying points in this promotion can save you a lot of money.
As always, it all comes down to individual circumstances and math.
I’d never buy points speculatively as you never know when Hyatt will choose to devalue its currency but, if I was planning a stay in the next few months, I would check award availability, compare the cash rate to the number of points needed, do the math and see if buying points at 1.71 cents each could save me some money.
Link to buy Hyatt points at ~1.71 cents each
