World of Hyatt Card Full Review

Chase and Hyatt have announced a brand new World of Hyatt Credit Card has been launched. The card features a lot of changes compared to the old Hyatt Credit Card, most notably a path to spend to Globalist status that looks pretty good, not to mention a terrific signup bonus. Read on for card details and how to get elite status through spend.

Key Card Details

• $95 annual fee
• Get one free night at any Hyatt Category 1-4 property each year after account anniversary
• Get one additional free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt if you spend $15,000 during your cardmember anniversary year
• Earn 4x at Hyatt hotels (including participating restaurants and spas)
• Earn 2x  on local transit and commuting, including taxis, mass transit, tolls and ride-share services
• Earn 2x at restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops
• Earn 2x on airline tickets purchased directly from an airline
• Earn 2x on fitness clubs and gym memberships
• Earn 1x everywhere else
• Get automatic Discoverist status with the card
• Get 5 elite qualifying night credits toward elite status each year
• Earn 2 additional elite qualifying night credits for each $5,000 you spend on the card

Annual fee increase

Let’s get the main negative point out of the way first: the annual fee is increasing – going from $75 for the old Hyatt Credit Card to $95 on the new card. Current cardholders will be given an opportunity to upgrade to the new card (getting 2,000 points if they are approved for an upgrade). Alternatively, they will be able to keep the $75 classic Hyatt Credit Card if they prefer. That said, I think that most people who found the previous card worth keeping will likely find the $20 increase worth the price of admission.

Speaking of current cardholders….

Current cardmembers are not eligible to apply

Similar to the language added to Chase Sapphire applications last year, Chase is limiting customers to one or the other in terms of Hyatt cards. If you currently have a Chase Hyatt credit card, you will have to either upgrade or close it. The terms clearly state that you will not be eligible to have both cards, nor can you earn the new cardmember bonus if you’ve received one in the last two years on a Hyatt credit card:

Earn up to 60,000 Bonus Points: 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

That’s disappointing for those who were hoping to stack an additional Cat 1-4 free night certificate and those who received a signup bonus on the Hyatt card within the past 24 months. The good news is that, as noted above, those members who currently have the card open should have an opportunity to upgrade to the new card and receive 2,000 points. That certainly doesn’t hold a candle to earning the new cardmember bonus, but it likely beats waiting if you recently opened your Hyatt card account.

Awesome new member bonus: 60K = 2 free top-tier nights or 15 Category 1 nights

The signup bonus on this card trumps the previous best bonus — which had been 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel in the world (that offer expired last year). The new 60,000-point bonus is far superior in my opinion for several reasons:

• Points are more flexible (you can use these points for 2 nights at a top-tier Park Hyatt or for more than 2-weeks at Cat 1 hotels or any combo in the middle)
• Points don’t expire as long as you have account activity, whereas certificates expire (typically after 1 year). That applies pressure to use the certificates for max value before they are gone, which inevitably pushes some into analysis paralysis and a suboptimal redemption when the clock runs out and the certs are unused.
• Award nights count toward status in the new World of Hyatt program, giving you the ability to split up this bonus to pick up some extra elite-qualifying nights.

Bonus categories: not great, but not bad

While dining and travel are bonused categories on many rewards cards (including Chase Ultimate Rewards cards that out-earn the World of Hyatt card), the inclusion of fitness clubs and gym memberships as a bonus category is the first I’m aware of a rewards card tapping into the modern trend toward physical fitness.

While it may not offer huge earning potential, it’s a nice opportunity for some easy spend that may be reimbursable from your health insurance company.

Again, you can do better in the other bonus categories with other Chase credit cards, but this will be the best card for you to use during your Hyatt stays as you’ll receive 4x points per dollar when paying with the card in addition to the 5x points you receive for being a World of Hyatt member.

Spend your way to an extra free night

As with the current Hyatt Credit Card, you will get one free Category 1-4 night each year at your account anniversary. However, there is now the added benefit of an additional free night after you spend $15,000 in a card-member year. If you plan to spend $15,000 on Hyatt stays throughout the year this is the perfect way to get an extra night! But I wouldn’t put any non-bonused spend on this card in an attempt to reach that threshold. When you consider the opportunity cost of putting that money towards minimum spends on other cards, or putting it on a card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you’d receive more value than you’d be received with an additional free night.

Spend your way to status

One of the most interesting things about the new card is that it has never been easier to reach higher levels of elite status. While the Discoverist status awarded to cardholders isn’t especially helpful, the card awards 5 elite nights toward status each year. In order to earn Globalist status, you would need to earn an additional 55 nights for the first year.

What’s more is that the card also earns 2 elite qualifying night credits every time you spend $5,000 on the card, with no limit to the number of elite qualifying nights you can earn this way. In other words, you can spend your way to Globalist status with the new World of Hyatt Credit Card.

But timing is everything here. Be aware that the terms state that it could take the rest of the calendar month in which you earn them plus eight more weeks for the nights to post so you would want to meet this spend well ahead of the end of the year.

Please allow up to 8 weeks from the last day of the calendar month when you qualify, for World of Hyatt Tier-Qualifying Night credits to be added to your World of Hyatt account.

This is certainly a very nice benefit to be added but it is almost never worth it to chase status or put spend on a card arbitrarily just to get you to the next tier, as you always want to consider the opportunity cost of other cards!

Final Thoughts

The new Chase Hyatt Credit Card looks pretty exciting. The signup bonus is valuable and flexible and the ongoing benefits make it worthwhile to consider spending regularly on the card. You can definitely earn more points in most of the bonus categories with other credit cards, but the World of Hyatt Credit Card will give the additional benefit of earning an unlimited number of elite qualifying nights through spend. Those who have received a signup bonus in the last 24 months will not be eligible to apply, but upgrades will be available. Overall, this is a strong development that makes the Hyatt Credit Card worth a look!

Cheers and safe travels!