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Hyatt has had a handful of promotions concurrently running for several months now : 3x points, 15-25% back + free parking on award stays, a super compelling double Elite night promotion, and an interesting twist to the World of Hyatt credit card. They just made that CRAZY good by not only extending those tasty promos until Feb 28th, 2020, but they slashed World of Hyatt elite qualifications by 50%!!!
Ever since Hyatt set Gold Passport on fire a few years back, I’ve been maintaining mid-tier explorist status via MGM matches, but 2020 is super weird and the confluence of these promos led me to mattress run for Globalist status. Now… the pot is even sweeter and I’ll likely hit Globalist status for the 2021 qualification year on January 1st. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!
The promos currently running that we will break down
- 50% off World of Hyatt elite status
- Double Elite Nights – One this year, one next
- 3x Points until 1/4/2021
- 15-25% off on award stays + free parking
- New World of Hyatt credit card offer
World of Hyatt elite status is 50% off
You can read the full press release here, but it’s screen capped below. To make it clear… these levels will give you elite status until the end of Feb 2023! The only caveat is that the Milestone rewards will stay in tact, so you can get Globalist status at 30 nights, but you wouldn’t get the suite upgrades unless you hit the night thresholds that award them.
- Discoverist – 5 Tier-Qualifying Nights or 12,500 base points
- Explorist – 15 Tier-Qualifying Nights or 25,000 base points
- Globalist – 30 Tier-Qualifying Nights or 50,000 base points
Since World of Hyatt is doubling elite nights until Feb 28th, you could effectively stay 15 nights between January 1st and February 28th and get Globalist status. Do that at a Category 1 hotel and you could get 2 years of elite status for less than 60k points. I’ll explain throughout the article
Double Elite nights with a twist
This promo, shown below, gives you an Elite night this year, and then another one for next year every night you stay. This includes award stays. I needed 18 nights to hit Globalist, so I’ll start next year at 18 nights.
I completed my “mattress run” and am awaiting my 5 additional elite nights from my World of Hyatt credit to appear and I”ll hit the 60 night threshold for 2020 Globalist which will expire 2/28/2021. However, since I’m starting the year with 18 nights, I’m over half way to Globalist status already. Here’s the catch…as you read on you’ll see how I’ll need to just stay one night to get to the 30 I need to extend my status until 2/28/23
3x points promotion is racking up points (until 02/28/2021)
3x points isn’t just 3x as one would think, it’s actually 15x. Hyatt members earn 5x points on every dollar spent, and Hyatt is tripling that total, not just adding in another 3x to it. As you can see below, on a $145 hotel bill ( including a $55 pet fee – gotta love Hyatt Place ) I earned 2323 points, or roughly 16x. Since I’ll have Gloablist status, I’ll get even more.
Bonus points are capped at 150k or 225k if you are a Hyatt credit card holder..
15-25% off point redemptions + free parking through January 4th, 2021
This is a fantastic offer, and ultimately opens the door towards status running. If you live near a Category 1 hotel, you could stay for just 3750 points per night. And this is exactly what I did. These nights, as we discussed above, count towards status AND you can another Elite night credit for next year. That’s basically akin to buying Elite nights for just 1875 points per night
World of Hyatt 10 elite night offer
Recently Chase enriched their World of Hyatt credit card with 10 elite nights this year, and 10 again next year. If you’re keeping track, I mentioned that I would start the year with 18 nights, since those counted this year and next. Add in an additional 10, and I’m starting the year with 28 nights.
30 is all I need for Hyatt Globalist status until 2/28/23
As I mentioned above, every night until 2/28/23 will credit as two elite nights. That means I’ll stay once and hit 30.
This is the best mattress run I’ve ever done.
If the world doesn’t fall apart, I’m planning on getting married next year and it will be amazing to have top tier status at both Hilton and Hyatt ( We have Hilton via the Aspire, btw ).
The biggest reason is to have guaranteed breakfast, suite upgrade certs, and waived resort fees. I don’t know where we’re headed on our honeymoon, but if it were somewhere like the Maldives, an Alila, Park Hyatts, etc those benefits could add up quickly.
How much did it ultimately cost me?
I did 13 nights at 5k a night. That’s 65k points with a 25% rebate or 46,250k points. The other 5 I found a hotel for $62 a night and paid cash, roughly $340 with tax. I I received a 5k bonus at 50 nights, and I’ll get a category 7 night at 60 nights. In addition to that, I”ll hit the min spend requirement to earn a 50k bonus with the World of Hyatt credit card. I plan on redeeming 5k (3750 after 25% off ) points for a January 1st hotel to push me over 2021 status.
That means I’ll end up using
- (50k) for nights
- $340 cash
- Earn 55k ( 50k bonus for WOH cc and 5k at 50 nights )
I’ll net out 5k Hyatt points ahead, $340 down, with a cat 7 free night and another cat 4 free night ( for 30 nights during 2021 ), and Globalist status until 2/28/23. I’ll also have 4 suite nights that expire 2/28/22
Honestly…I could not be happier with the investment.
If you’re interested in seeing where all the Cat 1 hotels are:
Check out my favorite Hyatt in the World: The Alila Villas Uluwatu
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
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 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, 2027.
- $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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.