Buying Hyatt Gold Passport points normally costs $24 per 1,000 points. Hyatt is running a one week only bonus points offer from January 31 through February 6, 2013 for a 10% to 30% bonus on points purchases.
Hyatt Gold Passport members can purchase a maximum 40,000 points per year. This limited time offer makes possible the purchase of 52,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for $960.
But is Hyatt’s 30% bonus points a good deal?
Promotion Basics:
- Purchase 1,000 to 9,000 points and get a 10% bonus
- Purchase 10,000 to 29,000 points and get a 20% bonus
- Purchase 30,000 to 40,000 points and get a 30% bonus
- Bonus points offer only applicable to member’s purchases for own account. Gifted points do not receive bonus.
- Points purchased post to member’s account within 48 hours.
- Bonus points offer runs January 31-February 6 (no time zone listed, so I assume either ET (New York) or CT (Chicago – Hyatt HQ)).
Analysis
Purchasing a few thousand points to reach a one night award level can certainly be a good value.
For example, assume my account is 15,400 points and I want points for a Hyatt category 5 hotel at 18,000 points to redeem a free night rather than pay $370 per night. Spending $72 to buy 3,300 points to save $300 on a hotel I want is a good deal.
My primary question though is whether buying points during this bonus offer is a good deal in general when I do not have immediate plans to use them?
30% Bonus Points = $18.46 per 1,000 Hyatt points
30,000 points + 30% = 39,000 points for $720. The rate is reduced from $24 to $18.46 per 1,000 points.
Hyatt Table of Award Night Cost with 30% bonus points purchase
- Category 1 hotel = 5,000 points = $92.31 per award night.
- Category 2 hotel = 8,000 points = $147.70 per award night.
- Category 3 hotel = 12,000 points = $221.54 per award night.
- Category 4 hotel = 15,000 points = $276.92 per award night.
- Category 5 hotel = 18,000 points = $332.31 per award night.
- Category 6 hotel = 22,000 points = $406.15 per award night.
The dollar amounts are the cost to buy points for the hotel category award night.
Hyatt award nights cover hotel tax and resort fees. Buying points is a good deal if you have hotel stays where the rate after tax is higher than the award night cost shown in the table.
Some considerations for award nights vs. paid stays:
- Award nights do not earn Hyatt Gold Passport promotion bonus credit.
- Award nights do not earn Hyatt Gold Passport elite stay credit.
- Hyatt Gold Diamond member confirmed suite upgrade certificates are not applicable to award stays.
The award cost rates displayed in the table convince me there are many Hyatt brand hotels where buying points will be cheaper than paying published rates for certain dates and places.
The table also shows me that buying $720 or more in points for the 30% bonus is not a great deal without a definite plan for spending points on specific hotel award stays.
Over $200 per night is higher than I pay for 99% of my hotel stays, so an award night at a Hyatt Gold Passport category 3 or higher hotel is more than I am willing to pay.
I’ll wait for a Hyatt Gold Passport promotion bonus where earning points comes at a reasonably low price point that also includes hotel nights with my paid stays.
The fact that Hyatt Gold Passport had this offer in 2012 and again in 2013 allows me to place a benchmark value of Hyatt points at $18.46 per 1,000. It would have been possible for a member to buy 104,000 points over the past year for $1,920.
That means the 1,000 points Diamond amenity at US hotels is an $18.46 value. Earning 2,000 bonus points from a loyalty promotion offer is about a $37 rebate value for the stay.
Earning 1,000 points on $200 in hotel spend is about $18.46 rebate in points value from a paid Hyatt stay. That is about a 9% rebate on all Hyatt spend. Add elite status bonus points, credit card spend bonus points and promotion bonus points to base spend points and the Hyatt paid stay rebate value improves significantly.
When you look at Hyatt rates in 2013, compare the published rate after tax to the table in this post showing the award rate cost when points are valued at $18.46 per 1,000 points.
For Gold Passport members paying for Hyatt hotels where the rates exceed the amounts in the table above, then buying points at $18.46 per 1,000 points is probably a good deal. For those of us without immediate plans for booking high cost hotels with points, the money can probably be better used to earn loyalty points and miles from paid stays with high value promotions.
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