In Tim’s post “Which hotel credit card is the most rewarding for spending?” the World of Hyatt credit card didn’t perform particularly well. Hyatt settled for the middle of the pack, well below the Sonesta and Hilton Surpass cards. But Tim’s post specifically did not account for elite nights or status earned from spend. That was a sensible simplification, but I think that not accounting for elite rewards hurt Hyatt’s card more than other hotel cards because Hyatt credit cards can be used to earn elite nights, and Hyatt has a particularly rewarding Milestone Rewards program.
Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards offer perks once you’ve completed set numbers of qualifying nights within a calendar year. For example, after 30 nights you’ll get a category 1-4 free night certificate. Where it gets really interesting is at 40 nights where you can get both a Guest of Honor award and a Suite Upgrade Award. And the perks get even better at 50 and 60 nights.
A member of our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook Group once posted about how he used spend on his Hyatt credit card to help earn Milestone Rewards. If I remember correctly, he wrote that it was like earning 2x on all his spend because he earned not just the points from the spend but valuable Milestone Rewards as well (plus a Category 1-4 Free Night after $15K spend). I thought that was a really interesting way to think about it. And I wondered… if we equate Milestone Rewards to points earned, is it possible to estimate the “X” (the number of points per dollar) indirectly earned with the Hyatt credit card?
Milestone Rewards Chart
With Hyatt, when you complete enough elite qualifying nights within a calendar year, you earn Milestone Rewards. You can earn elite qualifying nights either by staying at Hyatt or Mr & Mrs Smith hotels, or through credit card spend, or both. Additionally, the World of Hyatt card offers an automatic 5 elite qualifying nights per year.
| Elite Nights Earned | Milestone Reward |
|---|---|
| 20 Nights (or 35K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 30 Nights (or 50K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 40 Nights (or 65K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 50 Nights (or 80K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 60 Nights (or 100K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| My Hyatt Concierge | |
| 2 Guest of Honor Awards | |
| 70, 80, 90 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $300 FIND Credit | |
| 100 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 110, 120, 130, 140 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 150 Nights | |
| Automatic: | Ultimate Free Night Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night |
Completely separate from elite status, Milestone Rewards are available to everyone and are based on the number of nights you stay in a calendar year. Most awards are valid for the rest of the calendar year in which they are selected and 14 months beyond. Free Night awards, the Miraval Extra Night Award, and the 2K Next Stay Awards are good for only 180 days.
Point Equivalents
For each Milestone benefit, I estimated how many points it was worth. Specifically, I asked myself how many points would they have to offer for me to be just as happy getting points instead of the milestone benefit. When there was a choice of multiple benefits, I picked the one that I thought would be most useful to the most people.
I did the same exercise for the big spend bonuses available with the World of Hyatt (consumer) card and the World of Hyatt Business card.
Milestone Reward Value Estimates
Below are values I used for this analysis. Where there were choices, I underlined the reward I assumed would be selected:
| Milestone Rewards | Estimated Value (in points) | Value Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 20 night choice (2K Next Stay, 2 Club Access, or $25 FIND) | 1,000 |
|
| 30 night automatic: Cat 1-4 Free Night Certificate | 10,000 | Cat 1-4 Free Night: Can be used for maximum value of 18K points (peak priced category 4 hotel). However, cert expires after 180 days, and cannot be combined with suite upgrade certificate. Historically, if these certs expire and you complain to Hyatt, they’ll give you 10,000 points (this is only true of certs issued by Hyatt, not those issued by Chase) |
| 30 night choice (2K Next Stay, 2 Club Access, or $25 FIND) | 1,000 | See notes above for the 20 night choices |
| 40 night automatic: 1 Guest of Honor Award | 20,000 | Guest of Honor Award: This can be extremely value since it can be used to give you Globalist status for a stay of up to 7 nights. If you instead gift this to someone else, you’ll get one elite night once they check out. The value of this one is extremely subjective. It would be reasonably to estimate the value close to 0 if you have Globalist status anyway and if you don’t value gifting these to others. In my case, I tend to gift these to family members 3 or 4 times per year and I love how much value they get from these gifts. I’m estimating here that I’d be willing to pay 20,000 points to give them that same experience if these awards didn’t exist and if there was a way to pay with points for it. That said, the value diminishes: there are probably 2 gifts per year in my case where the guest of honor benefits are really good. So I value the first few of these awards more than ones earned at later milestones. |
| 40 night choice (5K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $150 FIND) | 36,000 |
|
| 50 night choice (5K points, 2 Suite Upgrades, or $150 FIND) | 54,000 |
|
| 60 night automatic: Cat 1-7 Free Night | 20,000 | Cat 1-7 Free Night: Can be used for maximum value of 35K points (peak priced category 7 hotel). However, cert expires after 180 days, and cannot be combined with suite upgrade certificate. Historically, if these certs expire and you complain to Hyatt, they’ll give you 20,000 points |
| 60 night automatic: 2 Suite Upgrades | 36,000 | 2 Suite Upgrades: See 40 night notes for 1 Suite upgrade above. There is likely to be diminishing return for earning more suite upgrades. You may not find good uses for these 4th and 5th upgrade certs. For that reason, I estimate the value of these two together at only the value of the first single upgrade. |
| 60 night automatic: My Hyatt Concierge | 20,000 | My Hyatt Concierge: How valuable is a concierge that you can email with requests to apply suite upgrades, alter reservations, etc.? That’s really hard to say. Also, the quality of the concierges that people are assigned vary tremendously. Personally, I get a decent amount of value but if I could buy this perk with points I don’t think I’d pay more than 20K points per year. |
| 60 night automatic: 2 Guest of Honor Awards | 30,000 | 2 Guest of Honor Awards: See notes for 40 nights, above. Due to diminishing returns I value these two certs at 50% more value than the first cert earned at 40 nights. |
| 60 night automatic: Globalist elite status | 60,000 | Globalist status: This gives you a 30% point bonus on paid stays; waived resort fees on all stays; room upgrades, including suites; 4PM late check-out; Club access or free breakfast; and Free parking on award stays. It’s really hard to put a value on this. I’m arbitrarily putting this down as being worth 60,000 points |
| 70 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 3,000 | Guest of Honor Award: After earning a number of these via earlier milestones, the value of these eventually drops very low. |
| 70 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $300 FIND | 10,000 |
|
| 80 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 3,000 | Guest of Honor Award: See 70 night notes |
| 80 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $300 FIND | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $300 FIND: See notes above for 70 night milestones |
| 90 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 3,000 | Guest of Honor Award: See 70 night notes |
| 90 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $300 FIND | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or $300 FIND: See notes above for 70 night milestones |
| 100 night automatic: Cat 1-7 Free Night | 20,000 | Cat 1-7 Free Night: See 60 night notes |
| 100 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 |
|
| 110 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 1,000 | Guest of Honor Award: After earning many of these via earlier milestones, the value of these dips to near 0. |
| 110 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night: See 100 night notes, above |
| 120 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 1,000 | Guest of Honor Award: See 110 night notes |
| 120 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night: See 100 night notes, above |
| 130 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 1,000 | Guest of Honor Award: See 110 night notes |
| 130 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night: See 100 night notes, above |
| 140 night automatic: Guest of Honor Award | 1,000 | Guest of Honor Award: See 110 night notes |
| 140 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night: See 100 night notes, above |
| 150 night automatic: Ultimate Free Night Award | 30,000 | Ultimate Free Night Award: This is good for good for one free night in any Category 1-8 hotel, Category A-F all-inclusive resort or participating Miraval resort. The best value use of this is for a Miraval resort double occupancy during peak pricing: 72K points. However, cert expires after 180 days, and cannot be combined with a suite upgrade certificate. I don’t know what would happen if this cert expires without being used but my guess is that Hyatt may offer around 30,000 points if you ask nicely. |
| 150 night choice: 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night | 10,000 | 10K points, 1 Suite Upgrade, or Miraval Extra Night: See 100 night notes, above |
Credit Card Big Spend Rewards
World of Hyatt (Consumer) Card: Earn a category 1-4 free night after $15K spend with the World of Hyatt card. The free night can be used for maximum value of 18K points (peak priced category 4 hotel). However, the cert expires after 12 months, and cannot be combined with suite upgrade certificate. I set the value to 12,000 points.
World of Hyatt Business Card: After $50K spend in a calendar year, get 10% back on redeemed points for the rest of that calendar year (Up to 20K points back per year). The value of this perk depends heavily on how much you’re likely to spend in points for Hyatt award nights after achieving the $50K spend. I set the value to 15,000 points.
Points earned from spend: With both cards I made the simplifying assumption that you would only earn 1 point per dollar on all spend. This is despite the fact that both cards have multiple 2x categories and both earn 4x at Hyatt and Mr & Mrs Smith properties.
Results
I tested a number of spend scenarios based on either also spending 15 nights or 25 nights in Hyatt hotels. In scenarios where there was any consumer card spend, I assumed that you would also get the automatic 5 elite nights that the card offers automatically even without spend.
| # Nights at Hyatt Hotels | Consumer Card Spend | Business Card Spend | Total Nights Earned | Result Points Per Dollar |
% Rebate Equivalent (Assumes points worth 1.7 cents each) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Nights | $15,000 | $0 | 26 | 1.87 | 3.17% |
| 15 Nights | $30,000 | $0 | 32 | 1.8 | 3.06% |
| 15 Nights | $60,000 | $0 | 44 | 2.33 | 3.97% |
| 15 Nights | $80,000 | $0 | 52 | 2.68 | 4.55% |
| 15 Nights | $100,000 | $0 | 60 | 4.0 | 6.8% |
| 25 Nights | $15,000 | $0 | 36 | 2.53 | 4.31% |
| 25 Nights | $30,000 | $0 | 42 | 3.63 | 6.18% |
| 25 Nights | $60,000 | $0 | 54 | 3.22 | 5.47% |
| 25 Nights | $80,000 | $0 | 62 | 4.74 | 8.05% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $15,000 | 20 | 1.07 | 1.81% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $30,000 | 30 | 1.4 | 2.38% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $50,000 | 40 | 2.66 | 4.52% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $60,000 | 45 | 2.38 | 4.05% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $80,000 | 55 | 2.71 | 4.61% |
| 15 Nights | $0 | $90,000 | 60 | 4.37 | 7.42% |
| 25 Nights | $0 | $15,000 | 30 | 1.73 | 2.95% |
| 25 Nights | $0 | $30,000 | 40 | 3.23 | 5.50% |
| 25 Nights | $0 | $60,000 | 55 | 3.27 | 5.55% |
| 25 Nights | $0 | $70,000 | 60 | 5.31 | 9.03% |
| 15 Nights | $15,000 | $10,000 | 31 | 1.96 | 3.33% |
| 15 Nights | $15,000 | $30,000 | 41 | 2.78 | 4.72% |
| 15 Nights | $15,000 | $50,000 | 51 | 3.29 | 5.6% |
| 15 Nights | $15,000 | $70,000 | 61 | 4.71 | 8.0% |
| 25 Nights | $15,000 | $10,000 | 41 | 4.16 | 7.07% |
| 25 Nights | $15,000 | $30,000 | 51 | 3.96 | 6.72% |
| 25 Nights | $15,000 | $50,000 | 61 | 5.83 | 9.91% |
| 25 Nights | $15,000 | $70,000 | 71 | 4.85 | 8.24% |
Here are the primary sweet-spots for spend:
- With just the consumer Hyatt card:
- With 15 nights at hotels:
- Spend $15,000. That will get you the credit card’s free night certificate plus the 20 Night Milestone Awards.
- Spend $100,000. That will get you the credit card’s free night certificate, plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 25 nights at hotels:
- Spend $30,000. That will get you the credit card’s free night certificate plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 40 night reward.
- Spend $80,000. That will get you the credit card’s free night certificate, plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 15 nights at hotels:
- With just the business card:
- With 15 nights at hotels:
- Spend $50,000. That will get you the credit card’s 20% rebate plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 40 night reward.
- Spend $90,000. That will get you the credit card’s 20% rebate, plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 25 nights at hotels:
- Spend $70,000. That will get you the credit card’s 20% rebate, plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 15 nights at hotels:
- With both cards:
- With 15 nights at hotels:
- Spend $15,000 on the consumer card and $70,000 on the business card. That will get you both card’s big spend bonuses plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 25 nights at hotels:
- Spend $15,000 on the consumer card and $50,000 on the business card. That will get you both card’s big spend bonuses plus all of the Milestone Rewards up to and including the 60 night reward, plus you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of the year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
- With 15 nights at hotels:
The sweetest of the sweet-spots described above is the combo where you spend 25 nights at hotels, spend $15,000 on the World of Hyatt consumer card, and spend $50,000 on the business card. With my point-equivalent assumptions, this nets an incredible 5.83 points per dollar in value.
Enter your own values
It’s likely that you won’t be staying exactly 15 or 25 nights in Hyatt hotels. It’s also likely that you don’t value Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards exactly the same as I do. It’s even possible that you don’t value Hyatt points the same as I do. Cool. I’ve got you. You can use the same Google Docs spreadsheet I used to calculate your own results.
Click here to make your own copy of my “Hyatt Milestone Spending. What’s my X?” spreadsheet.
With you own copy of the spreadsheet, you can change any of the green cells to match your own situation. Make sure to look at all of the options on every tab. Once you’ve entered your own values, you’ll find the results on the Earning Rate Calculator tab.
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