How to Transfer Hyatt Points Between Accounts

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Saving up for that next big redemption can be a daunting challenge, but if you have a friend or family member willing to help you, things can move twice as fast. If you can tap into the superpower that is “two-player mode” — twice as many credit cards and twice as many welcome bonuses — the points will rack up faster than you can imagine. Still, you may have to combine them into a single account to use them most effectively, and that’s where things start to get sticky.

We’ve compiled a complete guide on how different credit card, airline and hotel loyalty programs handle this issue of points pooling, but the World of Hyatt program simultaneously ranks as one of the quirkiest and yet most generous players. It’s also taken steps over the last several months to shed its reputation of narrow geographic coverage by adding over 150 Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties and integrating Thompson Hotels into its portfolio. As a result, it’s more important than ever to know how to maximize the program.

Today we’ll explore everything you need to know to successfully combine Hyatt points between accounts.

How to Combine Points

As noted above, the World of Hyatt program is both incredibly flexible but also somewhat restrictive when it comes to combining points. On the surface, it sounds fantastic, as Hyatt allows any member to combine his/her points with another account once every 30 days, and there’s no limit to how many points or how many times you can do this. However, there are some important caveats.

For starters, Hyatt requires a paper form for these transactions. You must include complete information for the transferring account and the recipient account, including signatures from both accountholders. You can find the form on Hyatt’s website at this link (warning: PDF link). The completed form can either be mailed in or scanned and emailed to World of Hyatt customer service. Once the form is received, it should be processed within 2-4 weeks, though it’ll often process faster. As soon as the transfer is finalized, you’re free to redeem the points for your desired award.

In addition, the terms and conditions clearly state that it has to be for a specific redemption. Here is the full verbiage from the form linked above (emphasis mine):

“Member may combine the necessary number of points from their World of Hyatt account with those in one other specically designated World of Hyatt account in order to have a sufficient number of points to redeem a particular award.”

Whether that rule has ever been enforced is a different question, but Hyatt is making it clear that you should use but not abuse this option.

When Should You Combine Points?

If you’re teaming up with your spouse, sibling or child to plan a family vacation, combining points might seem like a no-brainer. Pooling your points together may unlock the ability to book a premium suite at a Hyatt property, or it could allow you to turn a three-day award trip into a week-long one. Here are some of the main reasons why you might want to take advantage of this option:

• Stop points from expiring: World of Hyatt points will expire after 24 months without activity. Transferring points counts as an account activity that will reset your expiration date. You can also give your points away to a friend if you really don’t think you’re ever going to use them.
• Save up for a specific award: While Hyatt has made man fans with its relatively cheap award chart (free nights start at just 5,000 points), maybe you have your eyes set higher on a top-tier Park Hyatt (30,000 points a night for hotels like the Park Hyatt Sydney and Park Hyatt New York). You also may want to snag one of the properties that falls into Hyatt’s new Category 8, an award level that may be beyond the threshold of what you’d normally be able to afford. By combining points into a single account, these awards are within your reach.
• Share elite benefits: Hyatt Globalist members can transfer their elite benefits to friends and family when they redeem points for them using the Guest of Honor perk. If you happen to be close friends with (or related to) a Globalist, you can transfer points to his/her account and book the award for you to get a taste of what top-tier elite status feels like.

Earning Hyatt Points

There are many different ways to boost your World of Hyatt account balance and make these transfers possible. In addition to staying in the hundreds of properties around the world, you can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. This allows you to convert points earned on cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card to Hyatt points. You can even do this with cards that normally offer cash-back (like the Chase Freedom Unlimited) if you pair it with a premium card. This is the key strategy behind TPG Editor Nick Ewen’s perfect quartet of Chase cards.

You could also consider applying for The World of Hyatt Credit Card, which is currently offering a sign-up bonus of up to 50,000 points. You’ll earn 25,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus an additional 25,000 points after you spend $6,000 total on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening. The card also offers 4x points at Hyatt properties along with 2x points on transit and local commuting purchases, dining purchases, airfare bought directly with an airline, and fitness and gym memberships. You’ll also receive a free night certificate each year valid at Category 1-4 hotels and enjoy automatic Discoverist status as long as you hold the card.

Bottom Line

Hyatt is a popular program with award travelers thanks to its well-priced award chart and the ease of earning points (especially with 1:1 transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards). Other than the paper form, Hyatt also earns high marks for making it free and easy for members to transfer points to each other. It’s also one of the only programs that will explicitly let you transfer elite benefits as well, and the Guest of Honor perk is a great reason to considering letting someone else book your Hyatt stay for you. Hopefully this guide has provided concrete tips to help you make the most of your next Hyatt redemption.

Featured photo courtesy of Park Hyatt Sydney.