Why You Should Get the Hyatt Credit Card—And Keep it!

We have been getting lots of questions about which credit card to get for aspirational stays, and we are hearing that everyone wants a credit card you can keep for years and still receive a good return rather than just a one-time sign up bonus.

That leads us to writing this article about the Hyatt credit card! Because of this card, we were able to get to Cancun and stay for free! We are going to take you through sign-up bonus, earning structure, properties and points needed for them, and why the card is worth keeping long-term. Please let us know if you have any questions, and please share with others that would benefit!

***This article is full of pictures of hotels and links to their website. We want you to be informed of what exactly you are getting when signing up for a credit card, and we want you to know all of the options available; therefore, please read the article all the way to the bottom so you see why the card is a keeper.***

The Hyatt Credit Card through Chase is offering a 40,000 point sign-up bonus after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months after your account is opened. This spend requirement is lower than most other cards, and the 40,000 points can get you in some REALLY NICE HOTELS (some listed later in the article).

Other Perks

The card has a $75 annual fee, but this is easily offset by the sign-up bonus and the yearly free night.

Each year at your cardmember anniversary, you will receive a certificate for a free night at a category 1-4 Hyatt. I will list some of the best 1-4 category properties later in the article, but it is relatively easy to make this worth at least $200 of a hotel stay. So, as long as you travel at all in the year, you will be paying $75 for a $200 stay!

The card also offers secondary rental insurance for a rental car, automatic Discoverist Status with World of Hyatt (find out more here) and no foreign transaction fees.

Earning Structure

The Hyatt card will earn:

3x points per dollar when spent at Hyatt hotels

2x points per dollar when spent at restaurants, on airline tickets, or on car rentals

1 point per dollar everywhere else

With the 40,000 point sign-up bonus, you can easily reach 50,000 total points over a 6 month period of time. That means if you sign up now, you will have 50,000 points by Christmas without any extra work at all. That’s enough for a 2 night stay at a category 6 Hyatt hotel!

Hyatt properties are categorized 1-7, and the point distribution per night is listed below.

Category 1 5,000 points

Category 2 8,000 points

Category 3 12,000 points

Category 4 15,000 points

Category 5 20,000 points

Category 6 25,000 points

Category 7 30,000 points

Because it will be easy to get 50,000 points in about six months of using the Hyatt card, let’s look at some category 6 properties where you could spend 2 nights for free!

Royal Palms Resort and Spa-Phoenix, Arizona

Hyatt Residence Club Main Street-Breckenridge, Colorado

Hyatt Residence Club Key West, Beach House-Key West, Florida

Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort-Wailea, Hawaii

Park Hyatt-Chicago, Illinois

Delano Las Vegas-Las Vegas, Nevada

Andaz 5th Avenue-New York, New York

Because the credit card sign-up bonus is for 40,000 points, a 2 night stay at a category 5 hotel is immediately earned as soon as you meet your spend requirement of $2,000 in 3 months. Here are some options for you to get some amazing redemptions for free stays!

Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa Scottsdale-Scottsdale, Arizona

Andaz West Hollywood-West Hollywood, California

Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach-Clearwater, Florida

Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa-Lahaina, Hawaii

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, Spa and Casino-Incline Village, Nevada

Holston House Nashville-Nashville, Tennessee

The Driskill-Austin, Texas

Let’s think big here:

Keep the Hyatt credit card and use it for one year. You will have 60,000 points after the sign-up bonus and normal spend on the card. That gives you enough points to stay 4 nights at a category 4 property since they cost 15,000 points per night.

As an added bonus, you will receive your free night after one year of having the card, which will actually give you 5 TOTAL FREE NIGHTS! This type of redemption is why credit cards can really maximize your travel plans, and it’s why we want to help everyone learn how to travel for free as much as possible! Let’s look at some awesome category 4 properties.***The properties listed below cost 15,000 points per night.***

Hyatt Residence Club-Sedona, Arizona

Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf-San Francisco, California

Grand Hyatt-Washington, DC

The Confidante-Miami Beach, Florida

Andaz Savannah-Savannah, Georgia

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

As stated previously, any of the category 4 hotels above could easily become a 5 night stay after only ONE YEAR of having the Hyatt card! I have listed several other properties below that I thought may be of interest.

Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor-Boston, Massachusetts

Hyatt Regency Chicago-Chicago, Illinois 

The Bellevue Hotel-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor-Baltimore, Maryland

The simplest way to answer this question is to bring up the fact that the annual fee is $75 but you get a free stay at a category 1-4 property every time you will be paying the $75. If you haven’t checked out the incredible category 4 properties pictured just above this section, I strongly encourage you to give them a look!

Secondly, if you keep the card you can use this card for earning at restaurants for 2 points per dollar. The Chase Sapphire Reserve is really the only card that earns more per dollar for dining, so it is a smart choice to put your meal on the Hyatt card when you eat out!

Last of all, keeping a credit card means you have more available credit, which raises your credit score. Keeping the card also increases your credit history. So, signing up for credit cards you want to keep long-term helps your credit score, which is why the Hyatt card is a great fit.

I know this article was filled with pictures and links to hotels, but that’s what anyone needs when making a decision to get a credit card. You need to know what this specific card can get you, and you need to know all of the options!

I hope you have learned something about the Hyatt credit card that can benefit you, and hopefully you will be maximizing the value of this card for travels in the future!

Please let us know if you have questions, and share with others!