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Hyatt Bonus Journeys

Hyatt has worn the crown of hotel loyalty promotions for months now, but many of those promotions were coming to an end 2/28/21. We’ve been spoiled. Hyatt has been offering 3x points, double elite nights, discounted award stays, free parking, and they cut elite status requirements by 50% for 2021. I was hoping the party wouldn’t come to an end, but alas, they lights are on and the punchbowl is almost empty. Just when we thought the party was over…Hyatt announced an after party focused on bonus points and even a potential free night. Let’s take a look at Hyatt’s new iteration of their Bonus Journeys promotion that will begin March 1st and end May 15th.

First you need to Register for Hyatt Bonus Journeys – do so here

Bonus Journeys = Bonus points this time around

For Qualifying nights March 1st to June 15th
Earn 2k points after every 2 nights
- These don’t have to be consecutive!
WOH credit card holders earn 2500 points every 2 nights
- These don’t have to be consecutive either!
Stay 10 total nights…earn a free category 1-4 certificate.
Award nights count as eligible nights
- This is awesome
These include participating M Life Rewards hotels, SLH hotels, and Lindblad Expeditions

What are some of my favorite Hyatt stays?

I have used points to stay at the following properties

How many points you’d earn if you stayed 10 nights with/without status.

Let’s say you stayed at a $150 a night hotel with no status

10 nights = 5 ( 2k ) = 10k bonus points
No elite status
- $1500 x 5 WOH points per dollar = 7500 points
Free category 4 hotel

You’d end up earning a free 1-4 night and 17,500 points on $1500 spend. Pretty awesome.

The promo that just ended would have given a bonus 3x the 5x, which would have equated to 8x points and double elite nights. So instead of 17,500 points you’d would have earned 22,500 points and 20 elite nights with no free category 4 hotel. Interesting debate…do you want 5k more points and 10 elite nights or a free category 1-4 night which could be worth 15k points?

Same hotel with top tier Globalist status at $150 a night

10 nights = 5 ( 2500 ) = 12,500 points
Globalist status
- $1500 x 6.5 WOH/$ = 9750 points
Free night category 4 hotel

If you carry Hyatt’s top tier status you’d earn 22,250 points and a free night. Comparing that to the promo that just ended that gave 4x the 6.5x or 26x points which would have netted 39k points. Monster difference here and even if you fully value the category 1-4 hotel you wouldn’t come close to the same about of points.

How I’m approaching this promotion as a Globalist-lite

I currently have Hyatt Globalist status until 2/23; however, I’m currently sitting at 36 elite nights. I have full Globalist status through 2/22, but beginning next year I won’t have any suite night awards in my account. The thought that crosses my mind is whether this is worth checking into a Hyatt just to earn those nights.

The cheapest Hyatt hotels are 5k a night – these are category 1 hotels. I’ll manage to stay 4 paid Hyatt nights by May 15th, which puts me at 40 nights and leaves me just 10 nights shy of 2 suite upgrades. Is it worth checking into a Category 1 hotel for those 10 nights? I’d spend 50k points, get 12,500 back ( I’m a WOH cardholder ) so I’d spend 37,500 points to get 2 suite upgrades. Each upgrade can be used to upgrade a room to a suite for 7 nights. The max would be 14 nights which is roughly 2700 points per suite night. Normally suite nights are 6k a night. I highly doubt I’d be using them for 7 nights stays and odds are they would be for long weekend stays.

Long story… I’ll take advantage of it on paid stays, but it’s not worth it to me for a couple of suite upgrades. There will be more promos before the end of the year + see how much organic travel I do before I chase after something I may or may not use.

Don’t forget that Chase Ultimate Rewards are a transfer part of Hyatt

You can instantly move Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 into World of Hyatt. I have done this countless times and it provides a great way to shore up a Hyatt account.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Partner Chart