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Sweet Spot Sunday: Spend $15K on the World of Hyatt Card, get a heap of perks

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March 06, 2022
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7 min read
Grand Hyatt Washington DC entrance
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The World of Hyatt Credit Card is among the most valuable hotel credit cards for a series of reasons:

The card currently offers a bonus worth potentially over $1,000 in hotel stays after you meet minimum spending requirements, and the included perks can give you a ton of value every year.

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When opening this card, there are a few great incentives to spend $15,000 on the card. I’ll explain what they are — and why you should consider this card.

Why it’s special

(Photo courtesy of Hyatt)

There are three big reasons you might want to invest $15,000 in spending on this card — and they could easily amount to $1,300 or more in value.

Earn a valuable sign-up bonus

The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers an intro bonus of up to 60,000 points after you meet tiered spending requirements:

  • 30,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
  • Up to 30,000 more points (1 bonus point per dollar in addition to your regular earnings on up to $15,000 in purchases) during the first six months from account opening.

After spending $15,000 on the card, you’ll be sitting atop 60,000 Hyatt points. TPG estimates Hyatt points to be worth 1.7 cents each, making this bonus worth $1,020 in Hyatt stays. However, if you know the best ways to use Hyatt points, you can squeeze much more value from them.

Related: Sweet Spot Sunday: Booking the $800+ per night Park Hyatt Paris Vendome with points

Earn an additional free night certificate

The World of Hyatt Credit Card comes with a free night certificate after each account anniversary.

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This certificate is valid for stays at Category 1-4 Hyatt hotels. This can be worth hundreds of dollars depending on where you use it. My husband and I used our certificate to stay at Lahaina Shores Beach Resort in Maui, which cost over $300 per night during our stay.

In other words, this benefit alone has the potential to offset the card’s $95 annual fee many times over.

But get this: When you spend $15,000 during a calendar year, you’ll get another free night certificate, also valid at Category 1-4 Hyatt hotels. If you’re able to hit this spending requirement each year, you could easily receive $600 per year in value from free night certificates alone.

Related: How to earn and use Hyatt Free Night Certificates

Earn elite night credits

The World of Hyatt Credit Card comes with automatic Discoverist elite status, and gives you 5 elite night credits per calendar year just for having the card. But it also gives you the ability to earn 2 additional elite night credits for every $5,000 you spend. The amount of elite night credits you can earn is uncapped.

By spending $15,000 on this card, you’ll earn an additional 6 elite night credits. For those chasing Hyatt elite status, this can be a big deal. Here’s what you need to earn Hyatt elite status:

  • Discoverist: 10 elite nights in a calendar year (comes automatically with the World of Hyatt Card).
  • Explorist: 30 elite nights in a calendar year.
  • Globalist: 60 elite nights in a calendar year.

You’ll also earn valuable milestone rewards as you earn more elite nights. For example:

  • After 20 nights: two Club Lounge Access Awards.
  • After 30 nights: one Category 1-4 free night certificate and two more Club Lounge Access Awards.
  • After 40 nights: 5,000 bonus points or a $100 Hyatt gift card or 10,000 point discount on a Hyatt FIND experience.
  • After 50 nights: two Suite Upgrade Awards.
  • After 60 nights: two more Suite Upgrade Awards, one Category 1-7 Free Night Award and a dedicated Hyatt Concierge

Hyatt has, in many travelers' eyes, the single best hotel loyalty program — and provides the juiciest reasons to earn elite night credits.

Related: Which Hyatt Milestone Reward should you choose?

How to meet the $15,000 spending requirement

A $15,000 spending requirement is no small feat for many of us. To earn the card’s introductory bonus, you’ll have to meet it within the first six months of account opening. That amounts to $2,500 in spending each month for six months.

There are many ways to meet minimum spending requirements that you may not have thought of. Whenever you’re trying to earn a new card bonus, the obvious strategy is to funnel every single purchase through your new card. But there are other more aggressive things you can do, such as:

  • Paying your taxes with a credit card.
  • Switching your rent or mortgage to a credit card temporarily.
  • Prepaying your insurance and utilities for the year.
  • Adding authorized users to help you.
  • Effectively prepaying for things like groceries and gas by purchasing gift cards for future use.

Some of the above strategies may come with a fee, but they’re usually worth it when you’re trying to earn a bonus.

Related: Running out of time? 5 ways to hit your card’s minimum spending bonus

How to earn Hyatt points

(John Greim/Getty Images)

Accruing Hyatt points is a worthwhile time investment. There are two cobranded Hyatt credit cards at the moment, both issued by Chase.

The World of Hyatt Card we’ve already discussed.

Also available is the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card, which offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first three months from account opening.

Additionally, you can earn Hyatt points by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards at a ratio of 1:1. Because of this, the following cards effectively earn Hyatt points:

If you’ve got any of the above Ultimate Rewards earning cards, you can even convert the rewards you earn on no-annual-fee Ultimate Rewards earning cards such as the Chase Freedom Flex or Ink Business Cash Credit Card to Hyatt points. Read our post on how to do it.

Related: Here’s how to quickly stock up on Hyatt points for your next vacation

Bottom line

By opening the World of Hyatt Card and spending $15,000 within the first six months of account opening, you’ll receive:

  • 60,000 points (worth an average of $1,020 per TPG's valuations).
  • One free night certificate at a Category 1-4 hotel (worth potentially $300 or more).
  • 6 elite night credits (on top of the automatic 5 elite night credits you’ll get each year with the card)

That’s a no-brainer deal for a $95 annual fee. Even if you currently have the card and are debating whether to keep it, the card is certainly worth it for those who can spend $15,000 each year. The fact that you’ll get two free night certificates valid at Category 1-4 hotels means you could well receive $600 in value from the card per year, depending on where you use them.

Feature photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images.

Featured image by (Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.