Understanding Hyatt Point Cash Cost and Redemption

Hyatt points can be redeemed for free nights at participating hotels, but understanding the point cash cost is crucial to making the most of your points.

The point cash cost is the amount of money you would have paid for a free night if you had booked it with cash, rather than points.

This value can vary depending on the hotel and the time of year you're traveling.

For example, a standard room at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa might cost $500 per night, but redeeming 25,000 points for the same room would have a point cash cost of $200.

Hyatt's Points + Cash program is a great way to save on hotel stays, but it's essential to understand the basics before booking.

You'll redeem 50% of the points required for a stay, and receive a 50-70% discount off the standard rate for the room type chosen.

Points + Cash stays are capacity controlled, which means there are blackout dates or limited availability, unlike free night award stays.

The cash portion of the Points + Cash rate is payable at the hotel at check-out, and is subject to the same percentage taxes and fees as a revenue stay.

You earn World of Hyatt points for the cash portion of a Points + Cash stay, with a rate of 5x points per dollar spent, plus elite bonuses of 10-30%.

You also earn elite nights for Points + Cash stays, just like you would if paying cash or redeeming points.

Here are some additional details to keep in mind:

When booking with Hyatt's Pay My Way rate, there are a few quirks to keep in mind.

You should check on your Points + Cash reservations made quite a long time ago, as the rate may have changed significantly due to currency fluctuations.

When booking a hotel reservation, it's essential to be aware of the quirks that can affect your stay. Booking with a Pay My Way rate, also known as Points + Cash, has its own set of rules.

Be aware that Pay My Way rates are subject to change, even after you've booked your stay. This can result in a higher rate than expected.

Some hotels may not allow changes or cancellations to Pay My Way bookings, so be sure to review the hotel's policies before booking. It's also a good idea to read the fine print on the hotel's website.

Pay My Way bookings can be a great way to save money, but it's crucial to understand the terms and conditions before making a reservation.

Checking on reservations made with Points + Cash can be a good idea, especially if you booked a long time ago. This is because Hyatt locks in your rate based on the conversion at the time of booking.

If the US Dollar changes significantly against the currency you're booked in, you may be able to get a lower rate. This can save you money on your stay.

Of course, the rate could also go the other way, and you'd end up paying more.

If you're traveling with a large family, you'll want to know about Hyatt's Family Rate options. This rate plan can be a game-changer for families like mine, who need to book two hotel rooms.

For example, booking a room at the Andaz London for three nights can cost around 60,000 World of Hyatt points, but booking the second room using the Family Rate can cost approximately $200 per night instead of the usual $400.

Not all Hyatt hotels participate in the Family Rate plan, so be sure to check with Hyatt chat or call to confirm availability at your desired hotel. Some participating hotels in Asia, Europe, and Africa can be found on Hyatt's website.

You can't book the Family Rate online if you're paying with points, so you'll need to call in to book rooms using this rate plan. The second room is intended for kids, but there isn't a specific age limit - it varies by location, so be sure to ask about your specific hotel's policy.

Here are some key things to keep in mind about the Hyatt Family Rate plan:

If you're booking a hotel stay using points or a free night certificate, you're in luck - many hotel programs waive resort fees.

Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham are among the chains that don't charge resort fees on award stays.

This means you don't have to factor in the resort fee when calculating the cost of your award stay.

For these chains, the total cash rate already includes the resort fee, so you can just focus on the point price and points earned on the cash rate.

To accurately calculate the cost of a Hyatt point cash stay, it's essential to consider all expenses involved. Taxes and fees will be added to the cash portion of your booking.

When using Pay My Way, taxes and fees will be included in the total cost, so make sure to factor them in.

As you're calculating the cost of your stay, don't forget to factor in taxes and fees.

Taxes and fees will be applied to the cash portion of your booking, not the points or award stays.

Hyatt award stays, for example, don't have taxes or fees, so you won't have to worry about those costs.

However, if you're using Pay My Way, you'll need to pay taxes and fees on the cash portion of your booking.

Pay close attention to the total as you're choosing how to pay, and make sure to factor in the full cost of the stay.

Hyatt Points + Cash can be a good deal in certain situations, especially when you have a small number of points to redeem for a hotel stay.

The value of cash+points is better than points only when points aren't a good redemption vs cash.

You'd be even better off paying cash for it when points aren't a good deal.

The only times cash+points makes sense is if the points value is close to its assumed value and you want it to count towards lifetime status.

Hyatt points used to be worth a lot more, with a value of $0.02, but that changed with the introduction of standard rate on the cash portion.

This devaluation of Hyatt points makes cash+points a less attractive option.

You can use Points + Cash for a World of Hyatt Guest of Honor booking, but only in certain cases.

I've personally used cash + points for a Guest of Honor booking in San Diego, so it's not entirely impossible.

The value of your Hyatt points can fluctuate depending on your elite status. With most hotel programs, elite members earn more points per dollar on paid stays than do non-elite members.

This means that the relative value of an award stay compared to a paid stay decreases as you climb the elite ladder. The following table shows the median point values with various levels of elite status, but unfortunately, the article doesn't provide a table.

A Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hyatt points is now 1.7 cents per point, which is a good choice for getting value or better for your points. This value is lower than the previous RRV of 2.1 cents per point.

If you're one of those who like to cherry pick awards, you might be able to get a higher value of 2.1 cents per point. However, this is not the RRV and may not be a good choice for most people.

You can choose any combination of points, cash, or free night certificates with Pay My Way. This flexibility makes it easier to find a payment option that suits your needs.

For a three-night stay, you could potentially pay three different ways, using a combination of points, cash, and free night certificates.

This feature is especially helpful for families, as it allows you to spread the cost of a trip across multiple payment options.

You can find Pay My Way options by searching for a room with World of Hyatt and looking at the cash rates.

Pay My Way is not available for all properties or all room types, but if it is available, it will be listed next to the cash rate for the room.

Once you select Pay My Way, you'll be taken to a page that shows you multiple options.

You can choose any combination of points, cash, or free night certificates.

On a three-night stay, you could potentially pay three different ways, giving you more flexibility in your booking.

Pay My Way is a game-changer for families, especially those with larger households. It makes traveling using credit card points more accessible, as it takes less time to earn points for smaller families.

For families like mine, it takes twice as long to earn enough points for a trip because we often need two hotel rooms. This is where Pay My Way comes in – it's an option that makes traveling more manageable.

Hyatt Family Rate is a great feature of Pay My Way, allowing families to book one room using points and a second "kids room" at half off the cash price. This can be especially useful when traveling internationally to regions with strict occupancy rules.

Some participating hotels in Asia, Europe, and Africa offer the Family Plan rate, but it's not available at all Hyatt hotels. It's essential to check with Hyatt chat or call to confirm whether it's available at the hotel you're interested in booking.

You typically can't book this rate online unless you're paying solely with cash, so be prepared to call in to book rooms using the Family Plan rate with points. The second room can only be booked with cash, not points.

The second room is intended for kids, so there's an age limit for who's allowed to stay in that room. However, the exact age requirements vary depending on the location, so you'll need to call to ask about your specific hotel.

To top up your World of Hyatt account, you can earn points through the World of Hyatt Credit Card.

You'll earn a Category 1–4 free night award by holding the card, and another one after spending $15,000 within a year.

The World of Hyatt Card and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card also earn you points.

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards to World of Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, and points transfers should be immediate.

Alternatively, you can buy Hyatt points during a bonus or discount sale.

Here are the details on the World of Hyatt Credit Card benefits:

Pay My Way is a game-changer for families like mine, making traveling with credit card points more accessible because it allows you to choose any combination of points, cash, or free night certificates.

This feature is particularly useful for families who need two hotel rooms, like mine, which takes twice as long to earn enough points for due to the increased room requirements.

Hyatt Pay My Way makes sense to use when you don't have enough free night awards to cover all the nights of your stay, which is a common scenario for many travelers.

You can also redeem World of Hyatt points for nights with expensive cash rates and pay cash for nights with low cash rates, which can be a great way to maximize your points value.

TPG's valuations peg the value of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents per point, so you'd want to redeem points when you can get a redemption value of at least 1.7 cents per point.

However, keep in mind that not all available rates are accessible when using Pay My Way, so it's worth considering whether you'd get a better deal by booking multiple reservations.

The Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Hyatt points has dropped to 1.7 cents per point. This means that if you redeem your points for a Hyatt stay, you can expect to get around $0.017 in value for each point.

The value of your points doesn't change much with elite status, but Globalist members get a slightly lower median point value of 1.6 cents per point. This is still a decent value, but it's worth noting that Globalist members get some perks like free parking on award stays.

Here's a breakdown of the median point values with various levels of elite status:

As you can see, the small elite bonuses don't make a big difference in the value of your points.

Calculating CPP is a crucial step in determining the value of your Hyatt points. The calculation is based on several key terms, including Base Cash Rate, Total Cash Rate, and Points Per Dollar Earned.

The Base Cash Rate is the hotel room rate before taxes and fees, while the Total Cash Rate includes all taxes and fees. Points Per Dollar Earned is the number of points earned per dollar spent on a paid stay, which varies by hotel program.

To calculate CPP, you need to consider the cost of using your points to book a night at the hotel, known as the Point Price. This is then compared to the value of your points in cents per point, or CPP.

Here's a breakdown of the key terms used in calculating CPP:

I've calculated that buying Hyatt points can be a good value, especially if you're redeeming them for a hotel stay. In some cases, you can get as much as 6.22 cents per point.

The Hyatt Place Dubai Jumeirah is a great example, where you're essentially buying points for 6.22 cents each. This is because you're spending $109 to save 1,750 points.

You can also get a good value by redeeming points for a hotel stay at the Hyatt Centric Dubai Jumeirah, where you're spending $69 to save 6,000 points. This works out to buying points for 1.15 cents each.

In contrast, redeeming points for a hotel stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney isn't as good of a value, where you're essentially spending $285 to save 20,000 points. This works out to buying points for 1.43 cents each.

Overall, the value of buying Hyatt points can vary greatly depending on the hotel and location.

Calculating CPP can be a bit of a puzzle, but it's actually quite straightforward. To start, you need to know the base cash rate, which is the hotel room rate before taxes and fees. This is the foundation for calculating CPP.

Taxes and fees can add up quickly, so it's essential to include them in your calculation. The total cash rate is the total amount, including taxes and fees, that would be paid if booking a hotel's cash rate. This includes the base cash rate plus any taxes and fees.

Resort fees, also known as destination charges or founders fees, can also impact your CPP calculation. These fees are typically imposed by hotels above and beyond any required taxes.

To calculate CPP, you need to know the points per dollar earned, which is the number of points earned per dollar spent on a paid stay. For non-elite members, this rate is usually fixed, such as 5 points per dollar for Hyatt members.

Points earned on the cash rate are calculated by multiplying the base cash rate by the points per dollar earned. This gives you the total number of points earned if you paid the cash rate.

The point price is the number of points required to book a night at the hotel. This is what you need to compare to the points earned on the cash rate to calculate CPP.

Here's a simple formula to calculate CPP:

CPP = (Points Earned on Cash Rate - Point Price) / Point Price

For example, if you earn 5 points per dollar on a paid stay and the base cash rate is $100, you would earn 500 points. If the point price is 20,000 points, your CPP would be:

CPP = (500 - 20,000) / 20,000 = -19,500 / 20,000 = -0.975 cents per point

This means that using your points to book a stay would actually cost you 0.975 cents per point.

As you consider joining the Hyatt elite program, it's essential to understand how it affects your points' value.

Points are worth less for elite members, with Globalist members getting the smallest bonus.

While the point bonus for lower-level elite members, such as Discoverist and Explorist, is 10% and 20% respectively, it doesn't significantly impact the point value.

The median cents per point for all elite members is 1.7, except for Globalist members, who get a slightly lower value of 1.6 cents per point.

This means that Globalist members get a tiny bit less value from their points, but they also get free parking on award stays, which could offset this difference.

We examined a number of major hotel markets in the U.S., including Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Miami, New York City, Orlando, and Seattle.

The majority of U.S. consumers spend most of their points and miles on domestic travel, so we opted for a U.S. centric view of point values. This approach helps us better understand the value of Hyatt points for our audience.

To determine the value of Hyatt points, we identified the first three search results with a guest rating of 4 or better in each market. This ensured we were looking at the most popular and highly-rated hotels.

We recorded both the cash and award prices for three dates each: a weekday, a weekend, and a 3-day holiday weekend. This gave us a comprehensive picture of how Hyatt points can be used.

We picked the best refundable paid rate shown on Hyatt's website, which in most cases was the Hyatt Member Rate, without applying any discounts like AAA, military, government, etc.

Here are the specific dates we used: a weekday, a weekend, and a 3-day holiday weekend.