World of Hyatt is offering a 25% discount on purchased points until 29 February. This is an offer worth looking at for high-end Hyatt hotel redemptions.

This offer is a little different in that it is a discount on the price of purcashing points, as opposed to a bonus.

World of Hyatt points are my favourite hotel loyalty points to purchase as their award chart provides great value and is easy to understand.

Should I buy World of Hyatt points or pay the cash rate?

In October I went on a last-minute trip to Ho Chi Minh City for three nights. I wanted to stay at the beautiful Park Hyatt Saigon, which is the #2 ranked hotel in the city by TripAdvisor reviews.

This is a Category 4 property, costing 15,000 points per night. For three nights, the 45,000 points would have cost me US$810 if I bought points during this promotion at 1.8 US cents each.

However, I was able to get a cash rate of $749, which was cheaper than taking the points route. Plus, by paying cash, I was eligible to earn 3,745 points, which are worth $60 to me (at 1.6 cents each). So the effective cost of my stay was $689 (compared to using $810 to buy points).

When buying points, my advice is always:

1. Only buy when you have a specific redemption in mind
2. Make sure to check against cash rates
3. Factor in the points you’ll earn when paying in cash

Why purchase points?

World of Hyatt points can be redeemed at Hyatt hotels worldwide, including properties located in Melbourne (three), Sydney (two), Perth and Canberra (one each).

The Park Hyatt Auckland is set to open in June 2020, and will be Category 5, where a free night will cost 20,000 points per night.

There are also several Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties located across Australia and New Zealand that points can be redeemed at.

As usual with hotel points purchase promos, buying points to redeem immediately may make sense on a night at a hotel with a high cash rate.

Current offer

You can receive a discount on purchases of 5,000 points and above. The maximum amount you can buy at a time is 55,000 points for US$990, or about 1.8 US cents per point.

Offer history

Previous promotions have offered World of Hyatt points with the following bonus amounts:

Guide to buying World of Hyatt points to redeem for cheaper stays

The redemption opportunities in the region using purchased World of Hyatt points are limited unless the nightly rates are otherwise exceptionally high.

Aspirational hotels overseas are usually a better option, often being put in lower redemption categories.

The process looks a bit like this:

1. Research the paid rate and cost in World of Hyatt points for the date and hotel you are interested over on the Hyatt website
2. Compare the cost of purchasing the points needed vs booking the paid rate, and see if there’s good value to be had
3. If so, buy the necessary points and make the booking.

The cost in World of Hyatt Points for points or cash+points stays can be found on the Hyatt website here.

You can look up the categories of various Hyatt hotels globally here.

There can be a good saving based on the standard rates by booking with points, but that the saving will be more marked when the promotion is more aggressive and when redeeming for nights during peak/more expensive periods or at especially expensive hotels.

That said, in the past I have managed to leverage purchased points into a room at the Grand Hyatt when rates were much higher over a peak weekend in Melbourne, effectively halving the cost.

If you run some test bookings for dates you are interested in, and you see a high comparative rate, then that’s a great option to take advantage of buying points for.

Alternative Opportunity 1: Different room types

One useful benefit of World of Hyatt over other hotel loyalty programmes is that they actively market a few different room types available for redemptions, so if you have specific room requirements, you can sometimes take advantage of points too.

Many other hotel programmes only allow redemptions, or publish prices, for the base room type.

Note that the Park Hyatt Sydney allows points redemptions for base rooms only.

Alternative Opportunity 2: Points + Cash

There are also points plus cash redemption options available to use points on as well.

The cash co-payment is based on half of the published rate for the night.

The advantage of this method is that you’ll receive elite status nights on your World of Hyatt account for the stay, unlike an outright points booking and, of course, you can make the points in your account go further. Keep an eye out for these deals and see if the maths works out.

Alternative opportunity 3: Redeem points for FIND Experiences

Like other major hotel chains, Hyatt has added the option of redeeming your points for activities such as yoga, guided hikes and cooking classes.

From a value point-of-view, it is probably best to just pay in cash and earn 10 Base Points per eligible US$1 spent.

You can find more information on the programme on the Hyatt website.

Hyatt and AAdvantage Partnership

Do you have Discoverist status or higher? It might be worth taking two minutes to link your World of Hyatt and American Airlines AAdvantage accounts. You’ll be able to double-dip by earning both Hyatt points and AAdvantage miles on American Airlines flights.

Conclusion

I have taken advantage of promotions in the past to buy Hyatt World of Hyatt points when there has been a specific use in mind, and it makes financial sense to do.

These aren’t points to buy and hold without a specific use in mind, but buying points to redeem outright could be useful if the maths stacks up.