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Last year Hyatt Gold Passport offered a bonus on purchased concomitant with a rebate on redemptions — increasing the value of points you can buy.
It looks like they’re doing something similar again. There’s currently a 10% rebate on redeemed points for co-brand credit card holders through October 31.
And they’re also offering a bonus on purchased points through October 25.
They’ll ask you to verify your account information. Then you’ll see the offer.
It’s a tiered offer: but 5000 points to unlock a 30% bonus or 10,000 or more for a 40% bonus.
With a 40% bonus Hyatt is selling you points at 1.71 cents apiece. I personally value them at about 1.4 cents apiece so this doesn’t make me a buyer (points would have to be priced at less than 1.4 cents for that).
You can get more than 2 cents apiece out of your points so if you were going to pay cash for a room anyway buying points can be used to get a room discount.
And topping off an account could make sense if you were close to an award.
Note that Hyatt points are sold via Points.com so aren’t hotel spend for credit card category bonuses.
40% is the Best I’ve Seen for a Hyatt Buy Points Bonus
The standard bonus offer from Hyatt for purchasing points in the past has been 30%.
A 40% bonus has been offered several times though, not just last summer the summer before as well.
Bedroom of a Suite at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur which is being reduced to category 3
Leveraging Buy Points With Cash and Points
One place where it’s a little better is with cash and points awards which are effectively discounted paid room rates (which count towards elite status and promotions, and can be upgraded to suites with Diamond confirmed suite upgrades).
That’s because if you need to top off an account to have enough points to make a cash and points award, then buying these points acts as a further ticket to buy points at an even greater discount — category 2 through 6 cash and points awards let you buy points at 1.2 – 1.3 cents apiece.
(Category 1 and 7 cash and points awards price the points you’re buying back at 2 cents apiece… but cash and points awards are still better than buying points at 2 cents because cash and points awards are themselves points/promotion/status-earning.)
So average the total cost of your points purchase with the cost of points when making that award and it brings down the total cost still… not to a price where I’d speculatively buy points, but to a place where you may be getting a good discount on a room you’d otherwise pay full price for.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
And Then Co-Brand Cardholders Get 10% Points Back
For stays through October 31 if you have or get the Hyatt card you get a 10% rebate on your redemptions.
If you don’t have the points you need for a redemption, if you’re targeted for a 40% bonus (as I was) and you’re eligible for the rebate (as I am) then this can be a particularly good deal especially on category 2 through 6 cash and points.
Bedroom at the Hyatt Regency Danang
Note that the rebate isn’t as big on a cash and points booking as on a regular free night award, because you’re spending fewer points, I still consider cash and points the better deal for category 2-6 properties.
You’re pushing a points sale you don’t like, and drooling over a 10% discount that it is too late to sign up for.
What a waste, but Chase probably loves it, so there’s that.
@Joseph N why would Chase love it? You should have signed up for the 10% discount when I first wrote about it.