The new World of Hyatt Credit Card launches today, a new rewards card from Chase and Hyatt that’s a genuine improvement on the hotel brand’s previous offering. The updated card earns users more on Hyatt purchases than ever before, adds two new bonus categories (meaning you rack up points faster), and lets World of Hyatt members earn status based on everyday spending, something that wasn’t previously possible. Bottom line: If you stay at Hyatt hotels with any frequency, you should seriously consider it.
The new card’s main earning features include:
- 4 points per $1 spent on Hyatt stays and at participating restaurants
and spas. - 2 points per $1 spent at restaurants and on airline tickets purchased
directly from the airline (as opposed to sites like Expedia). - 2 points per $1 spent on fitness club and gym memberships.
- 2 points per $1 spent on transit and commuting, including ride-share
services like Lyft and Uber. - 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
The offer of four points per dollar spent at Hyatt is an upgrade from the brand’s previous Chase card, the aptly named Hyatt Credit Card, which earned three points per dollar on hotel spending. Fitness club and commuting are entirely new points-earning categories; Hyatt maintained two-for-one earning on restaurants, a nice perk.
As an added sweetener, the new World of Hyatt Credit Card offers a signup bonus of 40,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening an account. You’ll get another 20,000 points if you spend $6,000 total within the first 6 months. That’s useful if you want to redeem your points for a stay at a Category 7 property like the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme or have your own Lost in Translation moment at Park Hyatt Tokyo; both of those properties run 30,000 points per night.
Even with all the perks, travelers who aren’t major Hyatt loyalists should consider this card a compliment to—not a replacement for—cards that offer more flexible programs, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Barclays Arrival Premier World Elite Mastercard. But for an annual fee of $95, compared to their old card’s $75 annual fee, frequent Hyatt guests stand to earn a lot more for their loyalty by picking up the new World of Hyatt Credit Card.
Those travelers who are Hyatt devotees have yet another reason to pick it up: Along with better bonuses, the World of Hyatt Credit Card helps you earn elite Hyatt status, whereas the old card didn’t. You’ll start with automatic Discoverist status, the second of four membership levels that come with perks like 2 p.m. late checkout and dedicated check in lines.
The World of Hyatt Credit card also gives you:
- 5 qualifying night credits every year
- 2 qualifying night credits after every $5,000 in spend on the card
That makes it easier to reach the third status tier—Explorist—which requires 30 qualifying nights in a year and comes with further perks, like better room upgrades and club lounge passes. (Globalist status, the highest tier, comes with suite upgrades upon availability and 4 p.m. late checkout; it’s available after 60 qualifying nights a year.)
Two last notes: All World of Hyatt members already earn five points on all Hyatt purchases, and having either card means you’ll earn a total of eight or nine points per dollar spent. Both cards give you a free night each anniversary year at a Category 1-4 Hyatt property, too.
