Selfcare is the new black and sometimes, you just need a nice, free stay-cation to reward yourself. However, you don’t need to fly abroad to take care of yourself. You can find amazing hotels right in your backyard.
World of Hyatt is my favorite hotel loyalty program, but one of Hyatt’s disadvantages is that they don’t have nearly the global footprint of their competitors (e.g. Marriott, Hilton, or IHG).
LUXURY HOTELS
Over the last year or so Hyatt has been creatively and aggressively expanding their portfolio, both through partnerships and acquisitions.
In October 2018, Hyatt announced their acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality. You may have not heard of them before because they are a small international hotel management company but they have a phenomenal collection of luxury hotels. With that acquisition, Hyatt took over the management contracts for brands such as Alila, Destination, Joie de Vivre, and Thompson.
Well, since the acquisition, Hyatt has added some AMAZING properties to their portfolio and I’m obsessed.
In this post, I wanted to focus on 7 “sweets spot” luxury hotels that were acquired under the Joie de Vivre Hotel brand. All of the hotels offer amazing value but the hotels that are Category 1-4 are amazing value as you can use the credit card anniversary free night certificates in these locations.
It’s possible to find nights that aren’t cRaZy expensive but generally these hotels will easily go for $500+/night (particularly #4 and #7).
HYATT AWARD CHART
Before we dive in, let’s take a look at the Hyatt award chart. It’s pretty self explanatory…
OK, NOW THE BEST PART…
#1: Hotel Revival – Baltimore, MD (Category 2)
#2: The Talbott – Chicago, IL (Category 3)
#3: Wild Palms Hotel – Sunnyvale, CA (Category 3)
#4: Chicago Athletic Association – Chicago, IL (Category 4)
#5: Hotel Avante – Mountain View, CA (Category 4)
#6: Park South – New York City, NY (Category 5)
#7: Hotel Kabuki – San Francisco, CA (Category 5)
PEAK AND OFF-PEAK PRICING
It’s worth noting that starting in March 2020, Hyatt will transition to peak and off-peak pricing. This is a double edge sword as it requires flexibility to maximize your points. However, if you have an existing award booking when the list is published in March, and the price decreases due to being listed as “off-peak,” you’ll get an automatic refund for the point difference. Should your existing award booking increase in price, you won’t be charged more due to it being listed as “peak.”
EARNING HYATT POINTS IS EASY
One of the reasons that I find World of Hyatt to be so valuable is because of how easy the points are to come by.
There are a lot of credit cards where you can earn Hyatt points. For example, you can earn World of Hyatt points with The World Of Hyatt Credit Card, AND/OR transfer over points from Ultimate Rewards. Being able to efficiently transfer credit card points to Hyatt makes a world of difference. Here are some of the cards that I recommend for accumulating Hyatt points:
| Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – This is my favorite beginners travel rewards card which has a welcome bonus of 60,000 points (highest ever) after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve Card – The current welcome bonus is 50,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You’ll also get a $300 travel credit per year which wipes away a big chunk of the $450 annual fee. |
| The World Of Hyatt Credit Card – Earn up to 50,000 Bonus Points – 25,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus an additional 25,000 Bonus Points after you spend a total of $6,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening. |
| Ink Business Cash Credit Card – You will earn a $500 cash back welcome bonus on this card after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. This is one of the best no annual fee business cards on the market as you are able to earn up to 5% cash back on a variety of business expenses such as office supply stores, internet, cable, and phone services. |
Just for perspective, if you select any of the cards above and stay at the Hotel Revival, you could stay a week for free. #ImJustSayin’
FINAL STAMP
Anytime an airline or hotel says they are making “enhancements” to a program, generally, it’s not a good sign for customers. However, Hyatt points already stretch further than Marriott Bonvoy points so “off-peak” pricing could make some popular spots more accessible for those of us with tighter points budgets.
The World of Hyatt program provides some amazing award stay opportunities. In fact, it’s the only hotel program I recommend transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to under normal circumstances.
With “peak” and “off-peak” pricing I suspect the more desirable locations will require more points during popular school breaks (e.g. summer/winter holidays and spring break), but one aspect that really excites me is Hyatt automatically refunds points for reservations that become cheaper in March. Tell me that’s not phenomenal!
Has anyone stayed in any of these hotels? What was your experience?
1TattedPassport 