Already have some Hyatt points? Congratulations, you’re very smart. Thinking about collecting some? You’ll definitely want to read too! Hyatt points are among the absolute best loyalty currencies in the world, offering their collectors the opportunity to not only stay for free, but upgrade their hotel stays, or even flights. Here are the best ways to spend your Hyatt points…
Cash + Points + Suite Upgrade…
For those without unlimited points balances who also want to earn elite status credit for your stays, using a cash + points rate and then upgrading to a suite with points can be brilliant. At the highest end properties, where you may face prices north of $650 per night for a standard room, you can use 15,000 points + $300 per night to hedge your costs. For only 6,000 more points for night you can then upgrade to a suite. A suite in many of these hotels would usually costs thousands per night, so to pay $300 per night and only 21,000 points is pretty awesome. If you don’t care about elite status and don’t want to fork over any cash, you can also pay just 40,000-48,000 points per night for a suite in top properties.
The Obvious One… Free Nights.
The most obvious solution for Hyatt points is to redeem them for free nights. There are seven hotel categories which allow you to redeem as little as 5,000 points for a free night in some solid hotels, or as much as 30,000 points per night for some incredible hotels. For the best rate of return, shoot high for top end properties which can go for more than $700 per night while only paying 30,000 points, or shoot low and find the best destinations and properties at the lower end, where there are some steals. For example, the Park Hyatt Mendoza, in Argentina’s wine region is only 8,000 points per night as a Category 2 property. Need to figure out where the good values are? Check out the category list HERE. Some real gems.
Suite Upgrades Using Points.
Whether you’re traveling solo or bringing the entire band, suites can be the perfect solution for a magical stay. Not only do suites generally include club lounge access, which offer free breakfast, canapés and alcoholic beverages, they mean more space to unwind, better views and perhaps even space for some stragglers. On stays where you (or someone else) is paying, using just 3,000 points for a Club Room upgrade (lounge access) or 6,000 points for a Suite upgrade is an amazing value. Even if you don’t have points, you can buy 6,000 points for $120, which is almost always going to be much less than the difference in price.
Airline Miles? Yeah. Sometimes It Makes Sense.
For the most part, you’ll earn only one airline mile for every two Hyatt points that you transfer, though you’ll get slightly more with LAN, Virgin Atlantic or Air China. Transferring to airline miles would make sense if you have all your hotel stays paid for or don’t stay in hotels, and or if you have a ton (and I do mean a ton) of Hyatt points and could use miles for an airline upgrade or free ticket. Transferring a few Hyatt points to airline miles can also be a great option to stop your airline miles from expiring, since any new points earned postpone the expiration date…
