The following is a question from reader Brad in Minneapolis, MN. Brad received an offer for the Hyatt Visa in his email inbox and had some questions for me.
Hi Jeff – I received the email below from Hyatt and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the offer? I know you’re big on keeping track of the latest rewards cc offers. Just curious how this stacks up with the AMEX/SPG card or other rewards cards?
Chase Hyatt Visa Has a Great Signup Bonus
The Chase Hyatt Visa signup bonus offer that you received of 2 free nights after spending $1,000 in your first three months is a solid bonus with the potential of being a great bonus if you play your cards right. I will explain what that means in just a minute, but first let’s talk about what makes this bonus unique.
Most credit card signup bonuses give you a set number of points or miles after you reach a certain spend threshold over a pre-determined amount of time. When granted the bonus, you receive a flat number of points that can be redeemed for flights or hotel stays. Depending on the value of these points, a typical hotel signup bonus allows you to stay for ~0-1 nights at a high end hotel and anywhere from 2-5 nights at mid to low tier properties. With most credit card signup bonuses you can only afford to stay 0-1 nights at a premium property using your signup bonus.
As a card holder who works hard to spend enough money to earn a bonus, not earning enough points to earn even one free night can come as a real surprise to many. Actually, to call it a surprise is an understatement – many cardholders will be downright pissed off to learn that they didn’t earn enough points for a free night by signing up for a credit card.
How to Make Your Bonus Great
The Chase Hyatt Visa, on the other hand offers you a bonus that is almost too good to be true. Rather than receiving points that you apply toward room redemptions, they just give you two nights to use at any of their hotels in the world. This means that you can stay at Hyatt properties that cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per night, for free using your Hyatt card signup bonus. Using these nights to stay at the famous Park Hyatt properties in Paris and Tokyo can make your credit card signup bonus worth up to ~$2,000. Not bad for a card that only requires a $1,000 minimum spend.
Of course, I am giving extreme examples of how you can use these certificates at the most high end Hyatt properties in the world, but what about domestic stays? I used my two free nights at the Park Hyatt in Washington, DC and the Park Hyatt Chicago and saved around $700 using these certificates – which I consider to be a good value.
You can also redeem these nights for Hyatt properties other than the top of the line Park Hyatt properties. You could redeem your free nights at lower category Hyatt hotel and still save yourself $200-$400 in most cases.
Free Hyatt Night on Your Anniversary, Too!
Another bonus you receive for owning the Chase Hyatt Visa is that you receive a free night at a Hyatt category 1-4 hotel each year that you keep the card. I received my retention bonus in the mail last week and it reminded me of how great it is to be a card member. And that’s without even mentioning status upgrades, earning opportunities and more.
When is the Chase Hyatt Visa Not the Best Hotel Card Bonus?
The only real instance where you would not receive equal or greater value from the Chase Hyatt Visa when compared to other hotel credit card signup bonuses is when you want to use your signup bonus to stay several nights at category 1 or category 2 hotels. In these cases you may be able to get more free nights by pursuing a different signup bonus. While the Hyatt bonus is fixed at 2 nights, you may be able to get 3,4 or even 5 free nights with certain credit card signup bonuses.
But what is the fun in staying at low level hotel properties? In my case, it’s all about traveling outside of my normal means to awesome destinations and living in luxury. The Chase Hyatt Visa provides me with a tremendous opportunity to do that.
What about the SPG American Express Card?
While I personally carry the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card in my wallet and use it for SPG hotel stays, I cannot currently recommend that you sign up for this card based on signup bonus alone. From what I can see, the SPG American Express signup bonus is somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 Starpoints for both their business and personal cards. At 25,000 points, a signup bonus would allow you to have one night at a Starwood Level 6 property, which are their second highest valued properties. While these are surely nice properties and rooms, it is only one night (compared to two with the Hyatt card). Other cards have a similar conundrum when it comes to earning points for aspirational stays – the bonuses simply aren’t high enough to redeem for multiple nights at an aspirational property.
The Bottom line
If you want to maximize the value you receive from a hotel branded credit card, the Chase Hyatt Visa provides phenomenal value and a reason to dream. I signed up for the Hyatt card last year and I am quite happy with my choice. Hope you enjoy it as well!
Disclosure: I do not receive referral credit for any of the credit card links in this post.
