5 Easy Steps to Maximize your Travel Rewards with Hyatt Hotels

Planning your next getaway? Let's maximize your travel rewards for a luxurious stay without breaking the bank. In this guide, we'll walk through the steps to calculate the value of redeeming your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a free night at a Hyatt hotel. Whether you're eyeing a tropical retreat or a city escape, this strategy will help you make the most of your points while enjoying a top-notch stay.

1. Log into your World of Hyatt Rewards Account: If you don’t have a World of Hyatt Rewards Account yet, open one here.
2. Search Hyatt for a Hotel Stay in your location of choice: Navigate to the Hyatt App or website and select “Show World of Hyatt Points & Awards”. For instance, running a search for Kauai reveals that the Grand Hyatt Kauai offers rooms for over $1000/night. However, searching for award travel unveils award nights for 35,000 points.
3. Determine the value of your Chase Ultimate rewards: Chase Ultimate Rewards points have a cash-out value of $1/100 points. Therefore, for 35,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, you'd receive $350 cash back.
4. Calculate your cash savings/value rate: Transferring 35,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt yields 35,000 Hyatt Rewards Points, which equals one night at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. Cashing out those points would have resulted in $350 cash back. $1000-$350 = $650 savings. This redemption effectively saves $650/night 
5. Check for amenities and surprise fees and compare to other hotels in the area: Before booking, review any resort fees or parking charges. Additionally, compare amenities like spas, pool access, and on-site dining to ensure the hotel aligns with your preferences.

Check out the lists below to see some example calculations on different Hyatt Stays!

Want more info? Check out this post: 6 easy steps to score free nights at Hyatt Hotels

If you want to get started, Open a Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card ($95 annual Fee) (<referral link) or a Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card ($95 annual Fee). I have both of these cards. If I were only going to open one or choose one to start with, I’d pick the Chase Sapphire Preferred: it’s more versatile and has better overall travel benefits IMO.

Hyatt Hotels I’ve personally stayed at with Reward rates. 

Some of these were really great redemptions (i.e. Grand Hyatt Kauai and Hyatt Regency Mission Bay), while others weren’t great redemptions (i.e. Hyatt Regency Long Beach). I ranked them in order of my best to worst redemptions. 

• Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa: 30,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $1000 and up
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $700 

• Mar Monte Santa Barbara: 25,000 points/night 

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $320-900 and up
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $250 (we stayed on a weekend that rooms were $500+ a night). 

• Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina San Diego: 12,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $260 and up
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $240

• Hyatt Regency Jersey City on the Hudson: 15,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $250 and up

• Cash savings/night by booking points: $100 

• Hyatt Centric Midtown 5th Avenue New York: 25,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $350 and up
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $100

• Hyatt Place St George/Convention Center: 9,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $151
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $60-70

• Hyatt Regency Long Beach: 27,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD:  $250-$300 and up
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $0-20 (Not a great redemption - I should’ve paid with my Hyatt Credit Card and earned the points instead)

My Dream List of US Hyatt Hotels:

• Alila Ventana Big Sur, CA: 45,000 points/night

• Starting cost/night standard room USD: $2245/night
• Cash savings/night by booking points: $1500+

• Hyatt Carmel Highlands, CA: 30,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $491 and up
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $190/night

• Hyatt Vacation Club at Highlands, Carmel CA: 30,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $677/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $377/night

• Grand Hyatt Vail, CO: 25,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $300(off season)-700/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $50-350

• Alila Napa Valley, CA: 30,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $749/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $450

• Midtown Manhattan, NY: 30,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $795/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $490

• Rawah Ranch, CO: 40,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $1348/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $950/night

• Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa, CO:45,000 points/night
  • Starting cost/night standard room USD: $750/night
  • Cash savings/night by booking points: $300/night

 Want more info? Check out this post: 6 easy steps to score free nights at Hyatt Hotels

If you want to get started, Open a Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card ($95 annual Fee) (<referral link) or a Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card ($95 annual Fee). I have both of these cards. If I were only going to open one or choose one to start with, I’d pick the Chase Sapphire Preferred: it’s more versatile and has better overall travel benefits IMO.

*Disclaimer: I don’t recommend buying things you don’t need to hit the spending requirement. I like to sign up for a new credit card when I know I have a big purchase coming up that I can put on my card (i.e. my annual gym membership, a big housing expense, new tires, etc). 

*Disclaimer #2: ONLY do this if you have the money to pay for the purchases ON HAND. You should ideally not be going into Credit card debt or paying credit card interest EVER, let alone to get travel rewards.