AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
There are a lot of good reasons to consider the World of Hyatt Credit Card. Here are our top 5.
- Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent
- Get 1 free night each year after your Cardmember anniversary at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort
- Enjoy complimentary World of Hyatt Discoverist status for as long as your account is open.
- Receive 5 tier qualifying night credits towards status after account opening, and each year after that for as long as your account is open
- Earn an extra free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel if you spend $15,000 in a calendar year
- Earn 2 qualifying night credits towards tier status everytime you spend $5,000 on your card
- Earn up to 9 points total for Hyatt stays - 4 Bonus Points per $1 spent at Hyatt hotels & 5 Base Points per $1 you can earn as a World of Hyatt member
- Earn 2 Bonus Points per $1 spent at restaurants, on airlines tickets purchased directly from the airlines, on local transit and commuting and on fitness club and gym memberships
- Up to 9X points total per $1 spent at Hyatt - 4X points per $1 when you use your card at Hyatt hotels & 5X points per $1 you can earn as a World of Hyatt member
- 2X points per $1 spent at restaurants, on airlines tickets purchased directly from the airlines, on local transit and commuting and on fitness club and gym memberships
- 1X point per $1 everywhere else
1. Spend Your Way to Top-Tier Elite Status
While the World of Hyatt Card comes with automatic Discoverist status, Hyatt’s low and mid-level elite tiers aren’t particularly rewarding. That said, one of the most exciting features of the card is the ability to earn uncapped elite qualifying nights through spending alone.
Folks with the resources to direct a significant volume of spending to the World of Hyatt Card have the opportunity to earn top-tier Hyatt Globalist status without needing to spend 30 nights in a hotel room in 2021.
In addition to the 5 elite qualifying nights awarded each year, cardmembers earn 2 elite nights for every $5,000 spent on the card, and there is no limit to the number of elite nights you can earn.
“…there is no limit to the number of World of Hyatt Tier-Qualifying Night credits that you can earn.”
It’s possible to earn Globalist via spending alone. But, there's no point chasing status if you aren’t booking Hyatt stays. If you’re not staying a minimum of 15 nights per year with Hyatt (using points or cash), it's not worth chasing top-tier status in the first place.
A more realistic path might look something like:
- 30 nights required to reach Globalist in 2021
- – 5 elite night credits received annually as a cardmember
- – 10 nights, either paid revenue stays or points stays booked as part of your annual travels
- – 4 nights. An average number of nights redeemed from the signup bonus
- – 1 free night earned after $15K spend (annual free night won’t post until after card anniversary, the second year you’d have 2 nights)
- 30 required – 15 stayed – 5 earned through card = 10 elite nights still required
- 10 / 2 = 5 x $5,000 = $25,000 spend required to reach Globalist
If that sounds like too much, every 2 nights you redeem points against you can drop $5K off the spend required to reach top-tier elite status with Hyatt.
It’s important to calculate the opportunity cost of chasing elite status in these situations. You need to place a value on Globalist status and decide if it’s worth pursuing, whether you’ll get enough value out of holding status to make it worth chasing down. There is no point in status hunting with any hotel program if you don’t stay enough to leverage the perks, and chasing Hyatt Globalist could be an expensive exercise.
2. World of Hyatt Card Signup Bonus
The World of Hyatt Card is currently offering a tiered signup bonus: Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent.
It’s a significant increase in spending to earn the entire 60,000-point bonus, but you have 6 months to reach the full $15K spending threshold.
3. Top Bonus Categories and Earning Potential
The World of Hyatt Card is one of the highest-earning rewards cards for Hyatt purchases, eclipsing even the top cards earning flexible points that transfer to World of Hyatt 1:1. Take a look at the bonus categories for the card:
- 4X points on Hyatt purchases
- 2X points at restaurants, on airline tickets purchased directly from the airlines, on local transit and commuting, and on fitness club and gym memberships
- 1X point on all other purchases
The bonus points on gym and fitness club memberships is a unique category. While it might not be a considerable portion of your monthly spend, having membership fees tick over every month adding bonus points to your account is like points on autopilot. In fact, looking at the category bonuses, autopilot seems to be the theme.
4. Additional Free Night Certificates
The World of Hyatt Card offers the opportunity to earn two free night certificates each year. Cardholders receive an anniversary category 1-4 free night certificate each year they hold the card. Plus, you also have the chance to earn a second free night certificate each year you spend $15K on the card. The free nights are valid for one year from the date you earn them.
The extra free night adds another layer of value to the card. That's particularly true in the first year when that first $15,000 will also help you earn the 60,000 welcome bonus. Even better, spending $15,000 will net you 6 elite qualifying nights.
5. Frequent Promotions for Cardholders
With most hotel cards, the benefits remain pretty static. They may get an occasional update, but you shouldn't count on any special treatment that wasn't advertised on the application page. Chase and Hyatt have done a really nice job of including something special for cardholders when a new promotion is announced for World of Hyatt members.
For example, during the recent Bonus Journeys promotion, World of Hyatt Card holders got a 25% rebate on award redemptions while non-elite members only got a 15% rebate.
We've consistently seen Chase and Hyatt find creative ways to thank cardholders, and over time, those extra benefits can really add up.
Application Restrictions
The World of Hyatt Card is not available to anyone who already has a Hyatt credit card from Chase. This includes the previous version of the Hyatt Card which closed to new applicants when this card was released.
You won't be approved for the World of Hyatt Card if five or more new credit-card accounts were added to your personal credit report in the past 24 months. In general, small business cards you may have opened won't count. To learn more about this policy, which applies to all Chase credit cards, see our post on the 5/24 rule.
Final Thoughts
The World of Hyatt Card is a significant improvement over the previous card, enough of an improvement that we anticipate it could swing some folks into repositioning their loyalty to Hyatt, particularly when you factor in that Ultimate Rewards points transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.
The ability to top off all the required nights for top-tier Globalist status through card spend alone is a huge draw, as is the additional free night certificate and the increased points earning potential.
Think you’ll apply for the World of Hyatt Card? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the card in the comments below!
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
This card is on my radar when I drop back under 5/24. Having low-level elite status isn’t a big deal, as I get Hilton Silver from the Amex Hilton. However, I’ve ironically been doing many more stays with Hyatt this year due to Amex offers and credits, so this card has become all the more compelling to add to my wallet.
Huge fan of this card. I’ve had it since 2018 and will be getting upgraded to the new World of Hyatt Card this month. I’ve always found it easy (and rewarding) to get value from the annual night certificate.
Sounds good. But I’d wait for an increased welcome offer.
Love this card and the Chase 1:1 transfer. Hyatt has the best redemption program in my opinion. I wish I didn’t have it so that I can benefit from the 50k welcome bonus, Thanks for highlighting it.
Chase is really dominant in the loyalty credit card sector. That makes getting more loyalty credit cards harder than ever.
If I cancel my old existing Hyatt credit card. How long do I have to wait to apply for the world of Hyatt credit card to be eligible for the bonus?
The current T&C state: “The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.” So, as long as your old Hyatt card bonus was earned >24 months ago, you should be eligible!
I have the legacy card, which I’ve read is going to be changed to the WoH card, but I’ve still not heard anything from Hyatt.
If you stay at hotels that are part of the Hyatt ecosystem this is a great card We really like the Hyatt touch so we have this card
I’m not pursuing new travel cards during the pandemic, but the WOH card is on my radar for future reference. .
I really want to like this card but the rewards just aren’t that great. I wish they would add more 2x options or change the existing ones to 3x (or maybe even 2.5). I need to look again where Hyatt properties are to see if this is even viable for me.
This new card is worth considering but I think I should cool it with Chase for now.
How soon do you become a Discoverist after being approved for the card? (I’ve got a Hyatt stay coming up in just a few weeks.)
It doesn’t specifically say how long it takes to “activate” the benefit — but indicates that as long as you have the card you’ll have Discoverist.
Just switched from the old card to the new one. I got 2000 points for switching, but really did it for the new benefit of 1 qualifying night per 5k spend.
Me as well.
New to using Hyatt. I really wish they had something that didn’t have an AF.
At this time in my life I just can’t have several cards with an AF. Maybe later. I prob feel this way since I don’t really book them much but if they have more rooms that can accommodate 2adults and 2 kids. I’m finding with Hilton it’s more difficult to find that.
Is there something that can show me who has the most hotels that can accommodate me? So I could focus on them with points and stays?
You really shouldn’t have much of an issue with 2 adults and 2 kids — unless you’re only in Europe, which is where you’ll regularly run into trouble with more than 2 people in a room. Where are you seeing this problem?
I personally like this – a tiered bonus based on spend. Some will greatly benefit from this.
I’m glad you made the point that you shouldn’t chase top-tier status if you aren’t going to use it. Many people aim for status for their one annual vacation, when using a cashback or similar card instead could have allowed them to simply pay for the upgrade with much less fuss…
So I guess it’s upgrade or nothing for those of us with the old Hyatt card.
Should I cancel my existing hyatt card and go for this one? Has anyone successfully done so? Is there a waiting period after cancellation before I should apply for the new one?
You’ll need to decide that for yourself.
1) You could consider upgrading your card to the new card. Some have shared an offer of 2,000 points to upgrade the card.
2) If you received the bonus on your current card more than 24 months ago, you could close the current card and open up the new card. You’d be eligible for the welcome bonus at that point if you met the spend requirements.
3) If it has been less than 24 months since you received the welcome bonus, your only option would be to upgrade.
This is the card I have been waiting for! Thank you for this great write up
Thanks a lot, I didn’t know their miles went as far as they do. Looking at a few areas, I’m finding 12,000 point accommodations that will suit my needs fine, that means 5 free nights from the bonus, not including the 6000 points from spending $6000 to get it. Just applied and got approved, before Chase applies 5/24 to everything (as I read here and elsewhere).
nice to see the new options
I am going to do some calculations to determine is I switch my hat to Hyatts.
Definitely an interesting offer.
Good details. Seriously considering as I have an August stay with Hyatt planned and no current CC with them.
Whenever I’ve stayed at a Hyatt property I have never been disappointed. Love that this is such a tempting offer.
Also worried about 5/24.. but this is a nice bonus.
Very convincing!
Thank you for the analysis!
Not being subject to the 5/24 rule is pretty awesome. But I think that it will count against the 5/24 rule, for when I apply for other cards, so I’m going to have to pass on this one.
$1k per month to earn the full bonus on this card should likely be super-easy for most, but that is indeed a sharp up-tick from the days of the old $1k total spend for 2 free night certs, and also the more recent $2k for 40k points Hyatt CC offers.
Other than the signup bonus, I don’t see why someone with the other card (Free anniversary night) would switch…..although, I guess you could use that for the free night and just keep both.
Reaching level 2 in 6 x months is relatively easy to bag 60k points, I’m liking the free night certificate also, thanks!
Even the 60k bonus is great let alone the elite status and free night cert.
So, with all the new hotel card bonuses out recently (Marriott with big bonuses, the IHG Rewards re-configuration with a big bonus, Hilton with big bonuses), in what order would you recommend getting them – or, would you recommend skipping one or more and focusing on only a subset? Assume no particular pre-existing loyalty to any of the chains.
Based on where they’re all at right now, the Hyatt one is of most interest to me, personally. That said, I’d look at where your balances are now and what trips you have coming up. Identify the property(ies) you’d ideally look to stay at and figure out which one makes the most sense for you.
I have some Hyatt points expiring, what is the best way to use/keep them without staying at a hotel?
There are many activities you can perform: https://awardwallet.com/blog/world-hyatt-points-expire/. The easiest is probably to transfer the points to someone else that you know.
Thanks!
Definitely considering this one. Glad Hyatt finally made a CC spend way to pick up nights/status like Marriott and Hilton.
Having 60K points is slightly better than the free 2 nights offer that they’ve had before. However, the increased spend can be burdensome.
I am currently at 4/24. If I apply for this credit card then I will still be 4/24. At a later if Chase changes their policy on the World of Hyatt Credit Card do I stay 4/24 or do I get bumped to 5/24?
If you apply for and are approved you’ll be 5/24. While as of this posting we have no evidence to indicate that this card currently considers your 5/24 status when reviewing eligibility, it does count towards your 5/24 status. More details here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/chase-524-policy-work/
Thank you for this information. I will save my application until the next time United Explorer comes with a 60,000 mile bonus.
Sounds like a lot of new positives for this card.
Are bonuses available for someone who already holds the older Chase Hyatt card?
No, it is not.
Sign me up. Need those nights in Vietnam this winter!
If you’re staying in HCMC, you should also consider the InterContinental Asiana Saigon for your stay. It’s definitely right up there, on par with the Park Hyatt Saigon.
Thanks for the firsthand hotel reviews for HCMC, as should have a trip coming up there within the year.
Thank you. 60,000 point sign up bonus doesn’t sound that high to me for a hotel card, but 60,000 points redemption averae equalling 6 nights sounds really high. And no 5/24 at this time, means, possibly, it’s now or never.
Exactly. No two points have the same value — it all depends on what the award charts look like and of course availability.
Thanks for the overview of this card, I’ve been waiting for a new card with some great offers like this one.