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Using Hyatt points to upgrade from a base room to a suite is arguably one of the highest value redemptions you can make. Often times the price differential is 100s of dollars, but it only costs 6k points to upgrade a standard room to a standard suite and 9k points to a premium suite. While it’s been something that I’ve done frequently in the past, I wasn’t aware that the option is now available online, at the time of booking. This is an amazing perk – have I missed this at some point?
Here’s the official chart from World of Hyatt that breaks down the upgrade award rates
An example in London with a premium suite
I had been looking at using points to stay at The Great Scotland Yard hotel which is a part of the Unbound Collection and is currently a part of the 25% back promo when using points, points + cash, etc.
The base room is:
However, when you look at View Points you can see that booking the base room and then upgrading into a Premium Suite is the rack rate + 9000 points. Pretty amazing, especially considering I”d get 2250 of those points back as well.
That premium suite is a Sherlock Suite that is over 300 pounds more per night. At 9000 points, that’s 33 cents per point.
The Park Hyatt New York
I did another search to see if standard suites were available with a points upgrade at the time of booking. I stumbled upon the Park Hyatt New York. Obviously these rates are insanely high, but they illustrate the point.
Then with points, you can upgrade to a standard suite
Which would usually cost $995
Hyatt Regency Orlando
This hotel always has fun upgrade options and it didn’t disappoint. Club, standard and premium were all available. There were so many options I had to click the arrow to see them all
Overall
This is a great addition to the Hyatt website and illustrates just how valuable these points can be when used for the right redemptions.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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