Hyatt 30% Bonus on Purchased Points – Worth It?

Now through August 31, 2012, Hyatt is offering bonuses between 10-30% on purchased Gold Passport points (for your own account, you can't buy them for someone else).

Crunching the Numbers
Here's how it breaks down:

-Buy 1,000 - 9,000 points and get a 10% Bonus
-Buy 10,000 - 29,000 points and get a 20% Bonus
-Buy 30,000 - 40,000 points and get a 30% Bonus

Normally, Hyatt points cost 2.4 cents each. With this promo, however, when you purchase 9,000 points, you get 9,900 for $216, so 2.2 cents each. When you buy 29,000, you receive 34,800 points for $696, so 2 cents each. Now we're getting somewhere. Finally, when you purchase 40,000 points, you get 52,000 total for $960, or 1.85 cents apiece. You can only purchase up to 40,000 Gold Passport points for yourself a year.

Worth It?
As usual, it rarely makes sense to make a big points purchase if you don't have a specific award stay in mind. Especially since even at 1.85 cents, these might be a bit overpriced. However, if you have a particular award stay you're gunning for and not upcoming opportunities to earn Hyatt points, purchasing enough points to top up might make sense.

There are a couple other cases where I would think about it personally as well. With this promo, you could buy 34,000 points for $816 and get an additional 10,200 for a total of 44,200, enough for two free nights at any top-tier Category 6 hotel such as the newly reopened Park Hyatt Sydney, where rooms are going for $770 a night. So instead of paying $1,540, you'd be saving $724…almost a 50% discount.

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Buying enough points for 2 free nights at the Park Hyatt Sydney might be one of the scenarios where it's worth it.

On the other hand, if you wanted to stay at a Category 4 property such as the Hyatt Regency Orlando, you'd need 15,000 points. That would cost you $336 (you'd pay for 14,000 and get 2,800 as a bonus). Rooms at this hotel are going for just $170 a night though, so you'd actually be paying double!

Buying a few extra thousand points to top up to the closest award level might make sense, as would redeeming for free nights at Hyatt's top-tier hotels and resorts since, in general, those are some of the best redemption options out there. However, I would always caution you to check the rates at the specific property you are interested in and see if purchasing points makes sense for your particular situation.
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