World of Hyatt points are on sale again with 40% bonus points on purchases of 10,000 or more points through October 18. The regular purchase rate is $24 per 1,000 points. This promotion drops the purchase rate to $17.15 per 1,000 points.
Value of Hyatt purchased points for the budget traveler
I was a fan of Hyatt points when my hotel stays were primarily USA travel. The program is far less useful to me in Europe due to the high category hotels, high room rates and small footprint of the Hyatt brand.
My focus is keeping my average hotel room rate below $100 per night. The price of a World of Hyatt category 1 reward night at 5,000 points is $86 when buying points at $17.15 per 1,000 points and $137 for 8,000 points to book a category 2 hotel.
The majority of Hyatt Category 1 and Category 2 hotel reward nights being in the USA combined with the fact that the USA has the highest average hotel rates regionally worldwide makes World of Hyatt points useful for USA budget travel.
World of Hyatt category 1 Hotels World Map = 244 hotels worldwide, mostly in USA
Many of the Hyatt category 1 hotels are airport locations. Most of my Hyatt reward night redemptions over the past few years were due to an unexpected airport overnight I needed and a stay at category 1 Hyatt hotel using points being the best deal I found. Hyatt points have saved me from an expensive overnight stay in a number of airport locations.
World of Hyatt Category 2 Hotels World Map = 221 hotels worldwide, mostly in USA
Hyatt Regency Valencia, California
When I road trip through California from Monterey to Los Angeles and the California southland, my general itinerary involves staying somewhere north of Los Angeles the night before heading into the freeway hell of LA.
Valencia is the kind of location I might use and Category 2 Hyatt Regency Valencia at 8,000 points per night ($137 in points) is the kind of Hyatt deal where buying points in this sale represents good value for a hotel with high weekday rates.
Investing $240 in 14,000 Hyatt points can be a handy backup plan to find a hotel discount when you need a last minute room at an airport. That is where I find value with Hyatt points these days. There are plenty of other good value opportunities for room upgrades, lounge upgrades and more on hotel stays at higher tier properties around the world. For me though, as someone who pays for my own hotels and likes to keep my nightly spend at $100 per night, there is limited value for points in upscale Hyatt Hotels. Nightly room rates at Hyatt brand hotels are typically too high compared to other hotels in the area. I mostly find value in recent years with Hyatt points for the occasional category 1 and category 2 hotel reward nights I find myself needing when I get stranded unexpectedly at an airport.
Loyalty Traveler – Review Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port (my unexpected 2-night stay waiting for an American Airlines flight to San Jose, California in January 2019).
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