TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Other links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card welcome offers, earning rates and benefits and some credit card benefits will require enrollment. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
The World of Hyatt credit card is the only consumer co-branded Hyatt credit card in existence and is without question a card that should have a place in every Hyatt fan’s wallet. Between the earning rates and the great benefits that the card offers, the modest annual fee is easily covered, and with Hyatt known to give cardholders added bonuses in some of its global promotions, this is a card that keeps getting more valuable.
The World of Hyatt credit card
In brief
The World of Hyatt credit card is one of the the two best-earning credit cards for spending at Hyatt properties worldwide (the other is the refreshed Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card which comes with a $795 annual fee), it offers cardholders Hyatt elite status as well as paths to even higher elite status, it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and, among other great benefits, it gives cardholders a free night at select Hyatt properties around the world on their annual cardholder anniversary. Value-wise, this card is solid.
In detail
Here’s what you need to know about the World of Hyatt Credit Card from Chase:
Annual fee:
$95
Current welcome offer:
Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months following account opening and earn up to 30,000 more Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months following account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point/dollar spent.
Note: The World of Hyatt Credit Card is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
Earnings:
- 4 points/dollar at Hyatt properties worldwide
- 2 points/dollar at restaurants worldwide
- 2 points/dollar on airfare booked directly with airlines
- 2 points/dollar on local transit and commuting spending
- 2 points/dollar at fitness clubs and gyms
- 2 point/dollar on spending in all other categories on the first $15,000 of otherwise unbonused spending in the first 6 months of card membership*
*1 point/dollar on eligible spending after that.
Why this is a great card
World of Hyatt elite status every year
Holders of the World of Hyatt credit card automatically given Hyatt ‘Discoverist’ elite status which, although only Hyatt’s entry-level status, offers the following benefits:
- 10% more points on all Hyatt stays
- Upgrade to a preferred room (subject to availability)
- 2 pm checkout (subject to availability)
- Premium internet
- Daily bottled water
The upgrades can be hit-and-miss, but the bonus points and the late checkout (which, in my experience, is almost always honored) can quickly make the annual fee look worthwhile.
No card earns a better return at Hyatt properties
This may seem like an obvious thing to say (this is, after all, the only consumer Hyatt credit card available) but it’s only since the World of Hyatt credit card was introduced and the legacy Hyatt credit card retired, that a co-branded Hyatt card has been the best card to use at Hyatt properties (the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card was the better card up until then).
With earnings of 4 points/dollar for all Hyatt spending and with my value for Hyatt points standing at 1.4 cents (based on the value I know I can get out of my points will little effort), I view this as a card that gives cardholders an effective rebate of 5.6% on Hyatt spending. That’s a very good rebate for a $95/year credit card.
Free Night Certificate
All holders of the World of Hyatt credit card are given a free night certificate every year on their card anniversary. The certificate is valid at properties in Categories 1 through 4, it covers the cost of the room and any applicable taxes, and because Hyatt doesn’t charge resort/destination fees on award night bookings, any stay booked with a free night certificate is genuinely “free”.
Given that a free night at a Category 4 property (e.g. the Hyatt Regency Seattle) can cost in excess of $300, that makes this one of the best benefits around.
Yes, with the category changes we’ve seen Hyatt push through in the past few years, the free night certificate has got less valuable than it was when this card first launched and that’s something Hyatt needs to fix. The certificate is, however, still valuable, and for most people should still make this card’s annual fee quite easy to offset.
5 elite night credits
Not only does the World of Hyatt credit card bestow Hyatt Discoverist status on all cardholders, but it also gives all cardholders 5 elite night credits every year.
These 5 elite night credits give cardholders a good boost towards Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards, and they lower the number of nights that a cardholder needs to credit to the World of Hyatt program to earn higher elite status.
Ordinarily, Hyatt Explorist status requires a guest to credit 30 elite nights to their account and Hyatt Globalist status requires 60 elite night credits, so holders of the World of Hyatt credit card get those targets cut to 25 nights and 55 nights respectively.
Note: Hyatt says that the 5 elite night credits will appear in a new cardholder’s World of Hyatt account within 8 weeks of account opening but in my experience, they post a lot quicker.
Earn more elite night credits
I’ve already pointed out that the World of Hyatt credit card offers 5 elite night credits per year, but the card has one more way in which it helps to boost a cardholder’s progress to higher elite status – all cardholders earn 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 spent on their card.
Technically, this would allow a cardholder to spend their way to top-tier status without ever walking into a Hyatt property, but as that’s something that very few people are likely to do, this should be viewed as just another way to earn status a little more easily rather than a key benefit offered by the card.
Earn a second free night certificate
As well as offering cardholders a free night certificate on their card anniversary, the World of Hyatt credit card allows cardholders to earn a second certificate (also valid for stays at properties in Categories 1 through 4) after they spend $15,000 on their card in a calendar year.
This certificate comes on top of the 6 elite night credits that a cardholder would earn for spending $15,000 on their World of Hyatt credit card and is valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
Bottom line
The World of Hyatt credit card is a must-have card for anyone who stays at Hyatt properties with any frequency or anyone who is considering abandoning another hotel chain for Hyatt.
This is a card that can improve all Hyatt stays courtesy of the elite status it bestows on cardholders (late checkouts, room upgrades, bonus points on all stays, etc…), it offers a free night at a Category 1-4 property every year (which should easily cover the annual fee), it makes the higher tiers of Hyatt status easier to reach courtesy of the elite night credits it offers (you can spend your way to top-tier status if you really want to!), and no other credit card offers a better return at Hyatt properties than this one.
Put simply, if you’re a fan of the World of Hyatt program and Hyatt’s properties, this is a card you should definitely have in your portfolio.
I’m confused. Simply put. How much credit card charging would I need to get globalist? I got the card in December and have already charged 15,000. Thanks for the help
Here’s how to work this out:
1) Check how many elite night credits you currently have in your account.
2) Deduct the number of elite nights that you have from the number of nights needed to earn Globalist in 2021 (30 nights).
3) As your card will earn you 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 of spending you put on it, you now divide the number of nights that you need for Globalist by 2 and then multiply that number by $5,000 to get your answer (this simplistic math works best if you need an even number of nights – in the example below I show what happens if you need an odd number of nights).
So, as an example:
If you have 9 nights in your account now, you still need a further 21 nights to earn Globalist Status in 2021.
Every $5,000 you spend will get you 2 elite night credits so $50,000 of spending will earn you 20 elite night credits.
You can now choose whether to earn the last elite night credit that you need by staying at a World of Hyatt property, or you can choose to spend a further $5,000 on your card (for a total of $55,000) which will earn you a further 2 elite night credits and take over the line.