Hyatt Announces Double Points Promotion, First Promo of 2020

Hey, remember me?  Time to get back into blogging on a regular basis.  Apologies for not staying current with everyone.

Hyatt announced their first systemwide promotion of 2020 this morning, bringing back double points across over 1,000 properties worldwide, with an extra bonus for folks who hold a Hyatt credit card.  Let’s dig into how good this promotion is.

Hyatt Bonus Journeys Promotion Details 

First, the details on the promotion:

Beginning today, World of Hyatt members can register to earn thousands of Bonus Points from February 15 through May 15, 2020 at over 1,000 participating locations worldwide starting with their second stay during that period:

• All members can earn Double Points on eligible spend at:
  • More than 875 Hyatt hotels across 17 brands such as Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Regency, Andaz and Grand Hyatt. 
  • 10+ participating MGM Resorts destinations including Bellagio®, Aria® and more. 
  • More than 300 participating Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotels in markets like Croatia, Turks & Caicos and Denmark.
  • Over 300 Lindblad Expedition experiences to Antarctica, the Galapagos and beyond.
• Plus, World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers and Hyatt Credit Cardmembers can earn an additional 1,500 Bonus Points for each qualifying stay that includes a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night (also starting with the second stay).

You need to register for the promotion prior to staying and no later than March 31, 2020.  It’s free to register and should only take you a minute or two.  Do that now before you forget, even if you don’t have Hyatt stays planned in the near future. Better to register now and not need it than forget and miss out on double points later on.

Is This Hyatt Promo Enough To Switch Your Business?

Double base points is pretty generous as far as the current state of hotel promotions is concerned.  You do need to take into account that you won’t earn bonus points on your very first stay in the promotion period.  You should definitely take that math into account, especially if your first stay during the promotion period is a pricey one.

I value Hyatt points at about 1.5 cents each, a magnitude higher than IHG, Hilton or Marriott.  A big part of that is that their award chart tops out for the vast majority of properties at 30,000 points per night, where Hilton and Marriott can stretch over 100,000 in some cases. 

Earning 10 points per dollar on a weekday stay is pretty compelling for me.  And, since I hold the World of Hyatt credit card, a weekend stay would earn another 1,500 points, a great return on a shorter/cheaper stay.

We discussed the current Hilton Honors promotion on my podcast recently.  That promotion offers 2,000 bonus points per stay and a 10,000 point bonus for every ten nights stayed.  That means the type of stays you plan to have likely dictate which promotion is best for you.  Really cheap rates will score a better return with Hilton than with Hyatt.

If you have a Hyatt credit card and a weekend stay, there’s no question the Hyatt promotion is a much better choice.  I love that Hyatt continues to offer benefits for folks who hold one of their co-branded credit cards.  Their award booking rebate promotion from the past few summers has been one of my favorites.  They make it easy to want to keep one of their credit cards in your wallet.

The Final Two Pennies

Don’t forget to register for the promotion.  Do it now before you forget.

The current Hyatt promotion is probably on par with what I was expecting, maybe just a bit better.  I wish they started the promotion earlier, and that they didn’t have the annoying first stay excluded. Other than that, I like it.  The last promotion of 2019 offered double points across all hotels and triple points at Hyatt Place properties.  While I certainly prefer full service hotels, triple points was a really nice premium for folks who frequent Hyatt Place.

While I don’t hate the Hilton promotion, I think it’s worth noting that a Hyatt point is probably worth about 3 times as much as a Hilton point.  That probably puts the break-even rate at around $150 for the Hyatt promotion to make sense.  That folds in the 10K bonus after ten nights that Hilton offers.  If you’re not going to hit exactly ten nights, then your break-even rate is probably lower.

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