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Hyatt has announced its first points promotion for 2019 and it is kicking off the year with almost exactly the same promotion as it offered around this time last year. If you buy a minimum of 3,000 – 5,000 World of Hyatt Points (the minimum purchase amount varies) Hyatt will throw in a 30% bonus.
At first glance this doesn’t appear to be all that attractive but, as I’ll show in this post, there will be times when points purchased in this sale will save you money – possibly quite a bit.
Here’s a link to the promotion
Buy Hyatt Points – Headline Rules
- Offer available with purchases made between 12:01 am ET January 22, 2019 and ends 11:59 pm February 22, 2019.
- Purchase 3,000 or more Bonus Points in a single transaction and receive 30% additional Bonus Points.
- Bonus Points will be awarded upon completion of individual transactions.
- You may purchase World of Hyatt Bonus points 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- Offer may be withdrawn or changed without notice.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.
- Purchased points are not refundable and transactions are non-reversible.
- Purchased points are applicable toward all World of Hyatt awards.
- Points purchased using this option will post within 48 hours.
- Purchased points do not count toward World of Hyatt elite membership tiers.
Full terms and conditions can be found via the promotion page.
Hyatt’s 30% Bonus Points Promotion – The Math
The good news is that as long as you buy at least 3,000 points you will be buying World of Hyatt points at the best rate this promotion offers.
Whether you buy 3,000 points….
….or 55,000 points (the maximum allowed)….
….the cost per point doesn’t change – it remains at ~1.85 cents/point.
Should You Buy Hyatt Points In This Promotion?
The first thing you should know is that this isn’t going to be the highest bonus we’re likely to see in 2018. The best offer we’ve seen from Hyatt in recent times is a 40% bonus and it’s a pretty save guess to say that this offer will turn up at some point in 2019.
However, having said that, although Hyatt’s point sales appear with a reasonably frequency, the non-targeted 40% bonuses don’t come around all that often in a calendar year so keep that in mind when deciding if you should buy points in this sale.
As always, the key to deciding how good or bad this promotion is, is the World of Hyatt award chart:
Top-tier Hyatt Properties cost 30,000 points/night so, if you were to buy enough points in this promotion to book such a property, the award night would end up costing you approximately $554.
If you’d like to use points purchased in this promotion to book select Small Luxury Hotels properties (40,000 points/night) the night would cost $740.
I consider $554 – $740 to be an incredible amount of money for a single night at a hotel and, personally, I can only imagine paying that in very special circumstances.
But that’s just how I feel. The economics may work for others so, if you think $554 – $740 for a room at a top Hyatt/SLH property is ok or if you can see that it would save you money on the cash rate currently being offered at a property you’re going to visit, then this promotion will probably be of interest.
If, like me, you’re thinking that $554 – $740 for a hotel night is more than a little excessive it’s time to consider if this promotion can work elsewhere.
Using 1.85 cents as the cost of a World of Hyatt point this is how much Hyatt properties outside of the top two categories cost:
- Category 1 – $93
- Category 2 – $148
- Category 3 – $222
- Category 4 – $278
- Category 5 – $370
- Category 6 – $463
Looking at those prices I can see that there will be times when buying points in this promotion will save you some cash….but those occasions may not be all that plentiful.
Take the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport as an example. This is one of the closest hotels to LAX and, outside of promotions, it’s unusual to see rooms offered at under $200/night. Mostly they seem to price at between $220 and $250 per night.
On a random night in June this property is currently charging $232:
Once you factor in all the taxes this room rate comes to over $265 for the night:
As this is a Hyatt Category 3 property an award night (for the same date) can be booked for 12,000 points:
In this promotion that number of points would cost approximately $222 so buying points would save you almost $46/night.
Is that life changing? No….but as Hyatt award nights count towards elite status qualification why not save some cash if you can?
This sort of math will work at mid-tier properties too.
The Grand Hyatt San Francisco is a Category 5 property and at various points of the year will only cost around $270 + taxes for a standard room.
Clearly buying enough points in this promotion to book a standard room at the Grand Hyatt when rates are that low is a bad idea as the points would cost you $370…but there will be times when points will definitely save you cash.
At busier times prices at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco can go up significantly and it’s at times like these that’s the math looks very different.
Here’s a Wednesday night in July which would set you back $465….
…and that goes up to $570 when taxes and fees are added in:
The same night can be booked for just 20,000 points….
….which, in this sale, would cost $370.
That’s a fantastic saving of $200 on a single night.
As you can see, if you want/need to stay at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco (or at any other similar property) on an expensive night like this then points from this promotion would be a big help.
Bottom Line
In some cases this promotion isn’t a very good deal at all but, in others, buying Hyatt points at 1.85 cents each can definitely save you money.
As always it all comes down to individual circumstances and the math – don’t buy points without working out the math.
Link to buy Hyatt Points at 1.85 cents each
I have Explorist status and my account showed 30% on 5000 or more. Still good. I bought enough to top off my account to cover a single night award at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. Thanks for the heads up.
Ah…looks like the minimum purchase point is targeted. Thanks for letting me know.
Hyatt Incline Village (Lake Tahoe) is Cat 5 so cost for 20k points is $370. Peak summer rates can run $600+ tax + resort fee per night, so the savings is $250-300 per night!
That’s fantastic value! What’s the property like? I may be heading up to Tahoe later this year and this is one of the properties on my radar.