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Those of us who love to use points at World of Hyatt properties have been on pins and needles waiting in anticipation of how Mr and Mrs Smith properties would be folded into their current portfolio. If you’re unaware Mr and Mrs Smith was acquired by Hyatt in 2023 to replace the outgoing partnership of Small Luxury Hotels, and that partnership unlocked the world of many small luxury boutique properties with points at often incredible value. That was the hope with Mr and Mrs Smith as well.
Program details:
- 700+ Mr and Mrs Smith properties will be a part of the program
- 5 Base Points per every eligible $1 USD spent on room rates
- Standard tier Bonus Points on eligible room rates for elite tier member
- Credit toward earning tier status and Milestone Rewards
- Use your earned points for free nights at Hyatt hotels and participating Mr & Mrs Smith hotels
- Room upgrades for Globalists upon check-in (based on availability)
- Credit toward a Brand Explorer Award—earn a free night for every five unique Hyatt brands experienced, including Mr & Mrs Smith
Well… those a bunch of those properties are now available to book and…I’m quite confused and disappointed. What the heck is going on?
Hyatt has a fixed award chart for all of their other brands, but Mr and Mrs Smith properties seem to be floating in a dynamic way similar to IHG, Marriott, or Hilton. I hope this isn’t a canary in the coal mine. Case in point: the rooms at Flat Mountain Farm. The Wren is a very cool 2 bedroom cabin that costs $595 per night…in points it’s 72,250. What is that? That rate doesn’t exist anywhere else.
In fact, this is one of the worst valuations of Hyatt points at less than a penny a point.
This is the fixed rate Hyatt chart at normal hotels
All Inclusives
Miraval
Is this the beginning of the end?
As much as I don’t want to say it, I fear that one day Hyatt will go fully dynamic and destroy their unique value proposition in the hotel space. Is that day now? No…but this move is quite worrying, and one might say, well Zach these hotels are so different and distinct how could you peg them to various categories? That’s a great question, but they were able to do it when they partnered with Small Luxury Hotels and they own the Mr and Mrs Smith booking platform, so…why not?
While the Mr and Mrs Smith hotels look very cool…they seem to be a terrible use of the points.
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
75k Ultimate Rewards after $4k spend in 3 months
*you may find an elevated offer walking into a branch – see below
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 75k Ultimate Rewards after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $937.50 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- Some people have seen Chase branches offering the following:
- 75k Ultimate Rewards After $4k spend in 3 months + 10k Ultimate Rewards after $6k in 6 months
- 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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