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Alex: You have a lot of options when it comes to using your points for hotel stays. Listen in as we take a deep dive into the Hyatt program and share why it’s our absolute favorite.

Welcome to Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad. We are three moms who’ve discovered how to leverage credit card welcome offers to get hundreds of thousands of dollars of travel expenses for nearly free. We’ve used credit card points and miles to take vacations to places like Hawaii, Paris, Greece, Maldives, Japan, and so much more. And the best part? We each still have 800 plus credit scores. Imagine being able to take the vacation of your dreams for nearly free. It’s totally possible, and we’re here to show you how.

Alex: Hey, I’m Alex.

Pam: And I’m Pam, Alex’s mom.

Jess: And I’m Jess. Let’s talk points.

Today we are talking all about our absolute favorite hotel chain. You’re going to be shocked when I tell you which one it is. That’s right. It is Hyatt. You may hear us talk about Hyatt frequently and wonder why we’re so obsessed with it. We are going to tell you all about why Hyatt deserves all the praise that it gets in today’s episode.

And we do have an episode about Hyatt already, because obviously it was one of the things we wanted to talk about most when we first started our podcast. But things have significantly changed in the world of Hyatt in the last two years since that episode came out. And so, we wanted to update that and give some more input into why we love Hyatt so much. So, Alex, kick it off with one of the top reasons why Hyatt comes out on top for us.

Alex: Yeah, so Hyatt is the only main hotel brand that still has an award chart. And if you’re listening, you’re like, okay, cool. What’s an award chart? Like it doesn’t sound that exciting. But when I tell you the details, it is actually really exciting. So when you have an award chart, the points per night are capped. Like they’re not going to go any higher than that. Marriott, IHG, Hilton, they do not have those. At one time or another they did, and they’ve slowly, each one of them has gotten rid of them. So we’re hoping Hyatt doesn’t follow suit and do that, but every year when they stick with that award chart, we are like happy as could be.

But what that means is, like Marriott can charge kind of whatever they feel like charging for a hotel night. And a lot of times what that means is it is tied to the cash rate. So if it’s a cheap, like $200 or $150 a night hotel, that’s going to be cheap in points. But if it’s a hotel that’s going to cost you $1,000 plus dollars a night, they’re going to be charging you an insane amount of points. And so your points just don’t go very far, and it’s hard to find that outsized value.

With Hyatt, having that award chart, we know the most we will ever pay for a Hyatt hotel night is 45,000 points per night. It is not going to be higher than that. I mean, for a standard room. If you got a suite and all that, it could be higher. But for a standard room at a normal hotel, not at a not like an all-inclusive, you’re never going to pay more than 45,000 points per night. So that lets us, we can book those $1,000 plus per night hotels for just 45,000 points.

So, huge, huge thing that differentiates it from those other hotel brands is that award chart. They do have off-peak, standard, and peak pricing. And so, if you’re traveling off-peak, you’re going to pay less. So those top-tier hotels with Hyatt, you’ll be paying 35,000 points a night. Standard, you’d be paying 40. Peak is going to be 45. And so it’s really, you don’t have to do very much guesswork in figuring out how much I’m going to pay.

A lot of times people will be like, oh, I want to stay at this Marriott hotel. Should I get this Marriott card? And I’m always like, you’re going to want to do some research to figure out how far those points are going to get you because odds are you’re not going to get as much value as you think you might. With Hyatt, and then you can look at the pricing and, by the time you’re ready to book, that pricing could be completely different. With Hyatt, you know the price you’re going to pay and it’s not going to change.

So every year they come out with like their a calendar with each price per night, off-peak, peak pricing, all of that, and it doesn’t change. You know, like, okay, the prices are out. I can rest easy knowing that’s how much I’m going to pay. And so it makes it really easy as someone like myself who is a planner to figure out how many points I need to make a specific redemption work. So I love the award chart. I love that nothing’s going to change, and I can just figure everything out and know what I’m getting into.

Pam: Yeah, another reason we really love Hyatt is that it’s really easy to earn a lot of Hyatt points. We transfer almost all of our Chase Ultimate Rewards into Hyatt. I think I have used Chase Ultimate Rewards once or twice and transferred into United, maybe just to top off so I could fly a United flight. One time I did actually, they had a really good transfer bonus to United, and I did do that.

Alex: You mean Air France?

Pam: Yes.

Alex: That was gonna say, I’ve never seen a transfer bonus to United. I’m right.

Pam: You’re right. Yes, you’re right. It was on Air, it was on Air France for our trip that we’re doing to Morocco. And that was a really unusual thing to do, because honestly, I’m one of those, and I, this isn’t what I would tell other people to do, but I get my Chase Ultimate Rewards. I usually don’t have any Chase Ultimate Rewards. I get them and I transfer them into Hyatt. That’s where I know I’m going to use them. And so there’s like, there’s just not another thing that I’m going to do.

And that’s so against what we normally would say. We usually say we don’t take our flexible currencies from other banks and transfer them to hotels. I mean, once in a while, Jess, as she talked on a previous episode, did some to Hilton, but that’s just not something that we do. Hyatt is definitely the exception. I would say 90% of the time I transfer them, and I transfer them constantly.

Another thing is there are so many cards that we can earn Hyatt points with. Any card that earns Ultimate Rewards, we can transfer to Hyatt. So that’s the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, all the Inks. And even a great new card, which we have all just recently applied for, the Chase Sapphire Reserve Business with an unprecedented welcome offer of 200k Ultimate Rewards. You can be sure when that was open, I was probably one of the first people in the world that applied for that card.

Jess: We’re not even joking.

Pam: We had the link.

Jess: Seriously, I was waiting till we had the link.

Pam: I applied, instant approval. I was so excited. It was one of the greatest days of the year for me to be able to get more ultimate rewards that I could transfer to Hyatt. That’s how much I love them.

Alex: If you’re listening though, and you’re listening to this later, like, weeks or months after this has aired, that offer, that’s a limited time offer. So don’t expect to see that if you’re listening to this super later.

Pam: Yeah, we don’t know what the standard pricing will be on that for the elevated offer.

Alex: For the standard offer.

Pam: Yeah, but this is a good deal right now.

Jess: This is going to be one of those times that Pam can always recall. You know, she’s going to be like, I remember exactly where I was when the Chase Sapphire Reserve Business went live.

Pam: Exactly. You talk about moments that are indelibly printed in your mind. This is one for me.

Jess: That’s hilarious.

Alex: I mean, really, serious. I was that excited. That’s how much I love, you know.

Jess: I mean, that’s the thing. People are going to think we’re joking. Like, no, she, you guys don’t even get it how obsessed my mom is with points and miles. She was talking to someone just the other day, and they were like, “Wow, this is really your passion. It brings you a lot of joy.”

Pam: They said, “You should never quit that. Stay with what you’re doing.”

So, there are a couple other ways to earn Hyatt points that are great. Our certainly strategies that we use, and that is the Hyatt personal card and the Hyatt business card. Hyatt business card, both of them become part of our strategy for getting Globalist, and you’ll hear more about why Globalist status is so important for each of us in a little bit. But yeah, you could you could say I’m a little obsessed with Hyatt points and it is great that it’s so easy to be able to get so many of those.

And then Alex, I mean, Jess is going to talk about another thing I’m obsessed with is the outsized value we get for Hyatt. I mean, it is insane how much cheaper it is to book a Hyatt quality luxury bougie hotel than other ones. So, Jess, you got it.

Jess: Yes. So, Alex sort of alluded to this, but I thought I would give a couple of examples. So, the first one is like super ultra luxury example, and that is in Maui. There are a few hotels right next to one another. So, we are truly comparing apples to apples here. There’s the Andaz Maui, the Grand Wailea, and the Wailea Beach Resort. So, they’re all in Wailea, which is my favorite area of Maui. Super luxurious area, pricey area. And so, it’s funny because we’ll talk about the Andaz Maui and we’ll say, but it’s just so expensive. It’s 40,000 Hyatt points a night.

But compare that to the Grand Wailea, which is going to run you 110,000, 110,000 Hilton points a night for the Grand Wailea. Or the Wailea Beach Resort, which is a Marriott property. This one’s a little bit harder to guestimate because it varies a lot, but I looked at the full calendar for the whole next year. The lowest I saw was 72,000 Marriott points a night, the highest I saw was 113,000 Marriott points a night.

So, the Andaz does seem very expensive in comparison to other Hyatts, but you’re truly getting such an outsized value there when compared to how, you know, you’re going to pay two or three times that number of points to stay at a comparable Hilton or Marriott property. Another example I like to give because I enjoy any chance to bring up Taylor Swift in our podcast. And that is, when I went and saw Taylor in New Orleans for the Eras tour, I stayed at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, which is just right around the corner from the stadium where she played. That is a Category 3 Hyatt. And so, even though the night the nights that she was in town were peak nights, I paid 15,000 Hyatt points per night to stay at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. The Taylor effect cash rates of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans were over $1,000 a night.

The Hiltons and the Marriotts that were nearby and the IHGs were charging over 100,000 points a night because they are dynamic pricing. The cash price is high, the points price is going to be high. Even though it was a peak night with Hyatt, I paid 15,000 Hyatt points a night. And so that’s just one of the examples of any sort of events you’re going to. You know, any sort of sport, you know, we have people who want to go like go visit all the Major League Baseball parks and they want to stay at a hotel right near the park. And if there was a game, a really popular game going on, those nights might be going for a lot of money, but you can still find so much value with Hyatt. Hyatt also does not charge taxes or resort fees on award stays. So your stay at a Hyatt, if you’re using points, is going to be $0. It’s the same with Hilton, but IHG and Marriott do charge resort fees on award stays, and so you’re not going to get a truly free hotel stay with either of those brands.

Alex: Okay, moving on to free nights. So Hyatt has free night certificates. They are really easy to earn. The first way that you can get a free night certificate is through the Hyatt personal card. Just for holding this card, you will get it each year on your account anniversary. And so we keep this card every year. It’s just a no-brainer. That free night certificate, we can get far more value than the annual fee on that card. You also get another free night certificate if you spend $15,000 on the personal card in a calendar year. And that’s not going to be like something everybody’s going to want to do. Like that’s a lot of spend to get a free night certificate. And these are category 1 through 4 certificates. So they are capped.

But like for myself, my mom’s going to talk about Globalist here in a bit, but that is part of my Globalist strategy is to spend $15,000 on that card because I will get some elite nights with it, plus the free night certificate. So that makes a lot of sense. You also can get a free night certificate if you stay 30 nights. That is a milestone reward, which Jess will be talking about milestone rewards here in a bit. But just another way to earn a free night.

And then Hyatt Bingo is another option for earning those free nights. So basically, for every five unique brands within Hyatt that you stay at, they like inside the app you can find this. There will, it’ll list all the hotel brands. Every time you stay at five unique ones, you get a free night. And so I think I’ve earned two so far.

Pam: I’ve earned three.

Alex: You’ve earned three?

Jess: I’ve earned two, but I’m like halfway to my, I think I have 13. I think I have 13, and so it’s like two more and I’ll get a free night.

Alex: Yeah, and that’s kind of the surprising thing too is there’s just so many brands within Hyatt, like different hotel chains, and they’ve recently acquired more. And so when they acquire more, they add more in those opportunities to earn more free nights through the Hyatt Bingo. And that’s not the official name. Like if you look up, Hyatt doesn’t call it Hyatt Bingo. That’s just what we call it. What is it called? Like Hyatt Brand Explorer, maybe?

Pam: Yeah, yes, that’s what it’s called.

Alex: So anyway, that’s another way you can you can earn them. They also have Hyatt Category 1 through 7 free night certificates, but that’s a milestone reward that’s the only way to get those, which we’ll touch on.

But the really nice thing that I love about the free night certificates, the Category 1 through 4 ones that you earn through these ways that I’ve just mentioned, is you can gift them to other people via your online Hyatt account. And so this is super helpful for me because anytime my husband earns one of these free night certificates, I transfer them to my Hyatt account so that way I can use them and earn more elite nights because I’m the one in my family who’s earning Globalist status. And so that will just help me get, you know, another night here and there towards status. So that’s a nice thing.

But even if you wanted to be able to gift this free night to a family member or a friend, it’s so easy to do. You and that person need to have a Hyatt account, but you can just do it straight on the app. You don’t need to call anybody or anything like that. And this is actually a more recent change over the last, what, maybe the last year or so. And it is such, such a nice change. So I really like that option.

Pam: So, Alex, if he gifts it to you, since you are a Globalist, will you still get the Globalist benefits?

Alex: Yep.

Pam: Awesome. I need to, you know, I didn’t know or I forgot about that. I definitely need to make sure that I do that with your dad because I think we’ve used his and we’re not getting Globalist status, so I’m not getting, you know, the free breakfast.

Alex: Yeah, I always transfer his to mine. And I actually had kind of forgotten that he had one in his account, and I was like, wait a minute. Because I actually have an app on, not an app, a note on my phone where I keep track of all of my Hyatt stays so I can see how many more nights I need for Globalist. And I will put our free night certificates on there because each time I redeem one, it gets me an elite night towards status. And so I realized I didn’t have any one any that said like, Mitch’s free night certificate. And I was like, oh my goodness, I better go look into his account. And it was going to expire, like not anytime super soon, but maybe like in five or six months. And so I transferred that over, already booked a stay with it. And so it’s just kind of a nice way to get an extra free night in there.

Pam: Okay, so I’m going to talk a little bit about the very best hotel status that you can get from any of the four major hotel chains. And that is Globalist, and this is perfect timing because this week I got a notice that I had achieved Globalist status already for next year. And so, I was so excited. So I got, as Jess will talk about some of the rewards I’m going to get for that milestone reward. And I think you’re pretty close, aren’t you, Jess?

Jess: I’m at 58.

Pam: Oh yeah, she’s really close.

Jess: So two nights away.

Pam: And where are you, Alex?

Alex: I think I’m at like maybe 42. I want to say. But I’ll get there.

Pam: And it’s not like I spent 60 nights in a bed in Hyatt beds. But, you know, with the free night certificates using my business and my personal card to place some estimated taxes, that gave me enough elite night credits. So, anyway, it is by far the best status that you can possibly get. One of the reasons is the free breakfast that you get. Most hotel chains will cover if you’ve got their highest status will cover for two adults. But Hyatt will cover for two adults and two children. And they are, and we’re not talking about some little buffet breakfast. We’re talking about really good order from the table breakfast. Lots of times I get a hot dish, I can get a hot beverage, a cold beverage, and sometimes a buffet too. I mean, I have just had amazing, amazing breakfast. I have to say that with just like there’s it’s so amazing. And sometimes they will cover even more. Sometimes if you have three kids, they’ll just cover it.

And they cover, the thing that I find the most amazing, they also cover your tip. So I will just write Globalist on the tip. You don’t even pay for a tip. I have such an amazing benefit.

Alex: And don’t worry, they do tip the person for you. You’re not short-changing anybody.

Pam: Yes, they do get, they do, I think it’s 18% to 20% that they do cover. Um, so it’s such an amazing benefit.

They also, as a Globalist, you can get a suite upgrade award if there’s availability. So I am the person who will look to see if they’ve given it to me, and then I will look and see if there’s still availability. If they haven’t offered it to me, I will open up my little app and say, “Oh, it looks like you’ve got a suite. You know, standard suite. Is it possible I can get that?” And they’ve been really good about letting me have that.

Also, you do get suite upgrade awards. You get, um, some of those with your milestone rewards. And so I have several of those to use every year. I will save those for a great stay like we’re going to Morocco. We’re going to stay at the Park Hyatt Marrakesh, and I use them so that we were, you know, we could stay there on in suites so we would have more room. I have stayed in some of the most amazing suites. I mean, it blows my mind some of the places that I’ve been able to use these suite upgrade awards. There was the Park Hyatt in Dubai that was amazing, one of the hugest rooms ever. I’ve been with people and they have been shocked that we’ve been able to stay in that kind of luxury.

And this also, these suite upgrade awards really come in handy for families when they need more space. And that’s how it also comes in handy when I go on my girls’ trips with my daughters to be able to upgrade to a suite with these and be able to have that room.

Another, uh, thing that’s people don’t really know about, it’s not a published benefit, but it’s something that we really love. I never use this because I’m always taking all those points and turning them into Hyatt points right away. But it’s called a Points Advance booking. So let’s say I used all my points for my travel, say mid-year in Hyatt, but I know I’m going to earn some. I can still go ahead and book a Hyatt room with what’s called a points advance booking. And then I just have to have those points in my account before I stay there. So that’s really unusual. So then you’re not waiting until the until, you know, for a very popular place and you don’t have the points and you can’t book it. Yes, a Globalist you can. And so that is really a great, you know, aspect. I love that.

Free parking on award stays. Oh my goodness, that saves so much money. So many times it’s $45, $55 a night to park, usually valet parking I get. I love this part about being a Globalist. And then, you know, you don’t have to pay resort fees, love that. 4 PM checkout based on availability. Tons of times I’ve gotten 4:00, even 5:00 checkout times. And that has been great when I have a late airport flight leaving. I’ve used that over and over again. And I love that I get that and they don’t even, you know, I don’t have to call them. They just say, would you like your 4:00 checkout reward on your last day? You know, I’m just it’s just offered to me. Love it. Love Globalist. Hyatt Globalist is the best. It is a status I cannot do without. And it isn’t something that works for everybody. If you don’t travel as much as us, it’s not going to be worth it. But if you travel a lot and you get it, you never want to go back. It is amazing. Best status ever.

Alex: I think so too with, well, one thing really quickly is just with the points advanced bookings, if you’re wondering how to do those, you will need to chat with Hyatt or you can do it through Twitter. It’s not something, like they have to do it for you. Also, I think the reason why this status is so good too is because it’s not a status that everybody and their dog has. Like, anyone can open the Hilton Aspire card and have Hilton Diamond. And I feel like if everybody has it, it doesn’t make it quite as special because you’re competing with so many more people for those room upgrades and all of that.

Hyatt is harder, or Hyatt Globalist status is a harder status to earn, but I think that makes it a better status. And one thing, I don’t know if we mentioned how to earn it, but you have to earn 60 elite nights with Hyatt. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be, you know, a head in a Hyatt bed, 60 nights. You can earn a lot of those nights through spend, through holding the Hyatt personal card, that kind of stuff as well. But yeah, I agree with you on, I think it’s an amazing status. The benefit of getting more than just two adults, two people free breakfast is so nice, especially for our family.

Jess: Right. All right, so next up, I’m going to be covering milestone rewards. And this is, I’m going to kind of go through it quickly because this is honestly something that’s easier to look at on the Hyatt website. They have a whole chart of all the rewards. But like Alex was saying, these are kind of Hyatt’s ways to reward you without you necessarily having to earn status. And so it’s basically like for every 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and so on nights you hit, and like Alex said, those don’t have to be heads on bed. Those can be from the spend you’re putting on your Hyatt cards. With the personal card, you earn five elite nights just for holding the card. All that counts towards these milestone rewards.

So at 20 nights, you’re going to have a choice. This is something that’s changed. It used to be that at 20 nights, you got two club access awards. That is still one of the options, but I think they realized, okay, if someone already has globalist status, and the next year they hit 20 nights, they don’t really need club access awards because they already have club access with their globalist status. And so, let’s give people options. So I think this was actually a really positive change that they made to their loyalty program.

So now you have options. You can choose the two club access awards, $25 find experience credit, AA preferred seat coupons. I personally would never choose any of the AA options that they give, but that’s sort of a new feature. Or the 2k next stay award. That basically says if you select that one, the next time you stay at a few different brands, I think it’s Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and one other one that I’m not remembering the name of, you basically just earn 2,000 Hyatt points after your stay. And that could be, it could be an award stay, it doesn’t have to be a cash stay. I personally always choose the 2k next stay award for that one. What do y’all choose?

Pam: I do too.

Alex: I do the same.

Jess: All right, TMS agrees on the 20-night milestone reward. At 30 nights, you get a Category 1 to 4 free night award. Everyone gets that. And then you get another choice of the 2k next day award, the two club access awards, the $25 Find Experience credit, or the AA coupons. Again, I choose the 2k next day. You could choose the club access awards and gift them. Those are giftable now. The problem I find is there are so many Hyatt properties that don’t have club lounges. And so, not every high, you can, like there’s a very small subset of Hyatt properties that you can even redeem these awards at. So I just find them difficult to use. I would rather just do the 2k next day award.

Alex: I’m just like, if I, and it’s even hard to gift them because like you said, a lot of times people don’t know where they can use them. And I’m like, are you going to Grand Hyatt Kauai or Hyatt Regency Maui? Then you can have them. Because those are two properties that do have clubs that are incredible uses of those because food is so expensive there. But other than that, it’s kind of like, I don’t know, it’s kind of a lot of work sometimes to figure that out.

Jess: And then at 40 nights, you get a Guest of Honor award. This is one of my favorite milestone rewards that they give. This used to be a Globalist perk. Now they have moved it to a milestone reward. So at 40 nights, you get one. What that says is basically, it gives you, you can actually use it yourself. So hot tip. If you hit 40 nights and get a Guest of Honor award, but you do not otherwise have Hyatt status, you can use it on yourself. But you can also gift it to someone else. That gives the receiver all the Globalist benefits.

And so you or whoever you give it to is going to get free parking on award stays, the free breakfast benefit for two adults and two kids, the potential room upgrades at check in based on availability, the 4 PM late checkout. So that person is going to get all the benefits that a globalist would get. So I think that award is incredibly valuable. You also get, again, a choice of 5,000 points, one suite upgrade award, $150 find experiences credit, or an AA coupon that we’re not going to talk about.

Alex: What I like doing with the Guest of Honor awards too, and I think you’ve done this as well, Jess, is I will gift them to Mitch if we’re traveling as a family and we have to book two rooms, so I can guarantee the other room has, you know, the opportunity to get a room upgrade or everybody in that room will get free breakfast as well. And so I think that’s a nice option too for people who have to book two rooms.

Pam: What do you guys pick for the optional award there?

Jess: I picked the suite upgrade award.

Alex: Yeah, I do the suite upgrade award too, unless I have more than I need, and then I will choose the 5k points. I think I chose the 5k once because sometimes, sometimes the suite upgrade awards can be a little hard to use if you don’t book super far in advance. And even if you do book far in advance, sometimes I’ve had, there are just certain properties where they’re really hard to use, like the Andaz Maui, the Andaz Papagayo, it’s hard to get the suites there at those like really, they just go really quick. And Andaz Maui doesn’t have very many standard suites. So they can be a little hard to use sometimes, hard to use if you’re wanting to stay at one of those places. Great luck using them though at like the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. That’s that was a really good use because the suites there are really big. So there’s a lot of, I mean, for a family, they can come in really, really clutch. I just think some properties are harder to use them at than others.

Pam: Yeah, that’s I can’t get enough suite upgrade awards. So if that’s a choice, that’s what I’m going to pick every time. And I’ve had really good luck especially in Europe in, um, or, you know, out of the country. That’s where I usually end up using it using them.

Jess: The thing I like about suite upgrade awards is a lot of times standard rooms will sleep two. But then if you apply a suite upgrade award, you can sleep three or four. You know, and so, especially if you’re traveling with more than two people, sometimes it can mean a difference between being able to do a redemption and not, you know.

Alex: Yeah. And we actually have used those a lot for our girls’ trips, like with my mom and my sisters. Like when we went to the Hyatt Regency Lisbon, I used one there, which allowed us to get, because there are six of us. No, there’s five of us. We’re able to book, you know, three in a room, just like you said. And then when we go to Morocco this fall, I used two of them for two of our stays there. And I know, I think my mom used two as well because we have to get two rooms regardless, but. So it does work out really nice for traveling in Europe to be able to get three people in a room. It doesn’t always work. Like we tried to do that at the Thompson Madrid and they, the standard suite still only sleep two. So you’re going to run into that a little bit, but it can work out really nice. We’d like pretty much use them all the time when the three of us travel together when the suites will sleep three.

Pam: Well, what I love is, you know, like I said before under Globalist, if there’s a suite available, you can get one. I like knowing ahead of time. I don’t have to check and see if there is. I know I’m going to be in a suite. That is peace of mind for me.

Jess: All right, and then at 50 nights, you’re going to get a choice of 5,000 points, two suite upgrade awards, the fine credit or the AA coupon. I’m going to pick the two sweet awards. I assume Pam’s picking the two sweet awards.

Pam: 100%.

Jess: And then 60 nights is when you hit Globalist. Now, this does go on at 70, 80. I’m not going to go through every single 10. 60 is the big one that if you’re trying to get Globalist status, that’s what you’re looking to hit. You are going to get an additional two Guest of Honor awards, a Category 1 to 7 free night certificate. So those are super valuable because you can use them up to a Category 7, two suite upgrade awards, and access to My Hyatt Concierge. Now, I feel like My Hyatt Concierge is not as valuable anymore. Now that you can redeem your suite upgrade awards and your Guest of Honor on the app before you used to have to either call to do that or ask your concierge to do that. So I have not actually spoken to My Hyatt Concierge in a long time, but I think that they can be really helpful if you have an issue at a property.

Pam: Yeah, mine was very helpful when I went to a property, I wasn’t really happy with the property and hoping to get points back. And she helped facilitate that. So that was the first time I’d, you know, talked to her.

Jess: So they’re kind of nice to have, but I wouldn’t say that’s like the main reason any of us go for Globalist status. And then, like Alex said, you can gift those, you can gift the Guest of Honor awards now, you can gift the suite upgrade awards. And so that has been really nice to do for our friends or our spouses that we’re traveling with. You can only gift it once though. So if I send Alex a suite upgrade award, it’s done. She cannot, she has to redeem it or she loses it. She cannot send it back to me, she cannot send it to Pam. And so just make sure before you gift any of these awards or free nights.

Alex: Which we actually did. Do you remember when that happened?

Jess: Yes.

Alex: So I, but it all works out! I used a suite upgrade award for a stay that the three of us have later this summer. And then, Jess, we needed to, we were trying to book the Park Hyatt Cabo that’s opening this fall, I want to say. Anyway, we looked online and they had standard suites available. And then we went to go apply the sweet upgrade award. And I was like, oh, I don’t have any. Like I’d already used them all, and I hadn’t, I’ve since earned some. Now I’m like, you know, earning them back, but I didn’t have any at the at that moment. So just was like, oh, I have one I can send you. Then when I went to go use it and Hyatt was like, oh, actually you can’t apply suite upgrade awards to. And it was something weird, like they wouldn’t let us apply. It was it was really, really, really odd. So now Jess’s suite upgrade award is stuck with me. But it works out because I used mine for our stay. So I’m like, I’ll just, we’ll figure out a way to use it.

Jess: That happened with Megan before too. I meant to send her a club access award, and I accidentally sent her a suite upgrade award. And then she texted me and was like, “Oh my gosh, I think you sent the wrong thing.” And I was like, “Well, enjoy your suite, Megan, because I can’t get it back.” Wow.

Alex: Yeah. You know, what I think is kind of funny at, so I think it was at 40 nights one time I took the 5,000 points instead of the suite upgrade award because I was like, oh, I know I’m going to get two when I hit 50 nights and another two when I hit 60, and I don’t need five. But I think it’s funny how at 50 nights you have the choice of 5,000 points or two suite upgrade awards. But at 40 nights, it’s 5,000 points or one suite upgrade award. I’m like, can we bump that up to 10,000 points since it’s two suite upgrade awards? Anyways.

Jess: Now you’re making me check because I’m like, is that right?

Alex: No, it is. I’ve thought that before. And I’ve been like, huh, why don’t they bump the other choices up? You know, and it’s still the $150 find credit. They don’t bump that up. Yeah, no, it’s 5,000 at both.

Jess: So that’s interesting.

Alex: Yeah. So, another a couple other just random nice perks that they offer with Hyatt is you can combine points with any other Hyatt member. You just have to fill out a Hyatt points combining form. So you can find like, I would just Google that, Hyatt points combining form. You fill that out, you and the person you’re wanting to transfer your points to. You email it to Hyatt and they will transfer those points to you.

I mean, I, do I wish that you could just log onto your Hyatt account and click a few buttons and move your points? 100%. But this is it’s still nice that they even allow you to do it. Like IHG, you have to pay to transfer points unless you have like elite status or something like that. So that is nice. You can only send or receive points every 30 days, so that’s something to keep in mind. But it is, it is a nice option. It’s nice though because there’s no cap on the amount of points you can send. A lot of other hotels it’s like, you can send or receive 100,000 points. With Hyatt, you can do as many as you want, you just have to wait 30 days between sending and receiving. And I will say this is a nice option with having your concierge because you can send it to them and they can get it a lot done a lot faster, in my experience at least, than just sending it to Hyatt to take care of it for you. Sometimes when I have sent it to Hyatt, it could take like five days or longer.

Jess: Oh, I’ve had it take two weeks before, so.

Alex: Yeah, which is kind of frustrating if you’re trying to book and you don’t have a points advance or anything like that and you’re needing those points right away. So it’s really nice with the concierge that they can get it done in like in a matter of a couple days usually. Which reminds me, Jess, you need to, I’m supposed to send you points. You need to fill out the points combining form. I owe you points.

Jess: Alex owes me points, y’all.

Alex: I owe you points. Okay, and then the other nice option with Hyatt is they do have a family plan rate. So if you book a room with points, then at some properties, not everywhere. I feel like we see this, it works a little bit better, I think, internationally. You can get up to 50% off the second room off the cash rate of that second room for kids. So it definitely varies by property. You’ll want to reach out to Hyatt or that individual property. Sometimes the customer service people, like, are confused. I think it works best to work out to Hyatt. Like, I’ve done it through the chat and I’ll be like, can you tell me what the rate is for the family plan rate for this? And it also varies by hotel of what they consider a kid. Some it’s like, if you’re under 18, you’re a kid. Some it’s like, if you’re 12 and under, you’re a kid. And so that’s something to kind of keep in mind too. It’s not like super cut and dry.

Jess: Yeah, I agree. I’ve reached out, anytime I’ve inquired about it, I’ve did it on Twitter Messenger, and they seem pretty knowledgeable about it. Like they’ve always known what I’m talking about. So that’s a good option.

Alex: Yeah. And yeah, so like I said, you’re going to want to book the first room with points and then the second room is booked with cash. And just, you know, I feel like we hear a lot of people like in our Facebook group that are like, I asked about the family plan right and they don’t know what I’m talking about. Or they said that’s not a thing. And I’m like, well, we have to tell them like, it is not a thing at every property. If you call the Grand Hyatt Kauai and ask them for the family plan rate, they’re going to, they don’t have that at like a high.

Jess: And at the Grand Hyatt, at the Grand Hyatt, 50% off the cash rate is still going to be really expensive.

Alex: Yes, exactly.

Jess: So, yeah.

Alex: And so like, it’s just not a thing at some of these really popular properties where they’re already selling out. Like they, they’re not really looking to give you any discounts. So, but it can work really good. I know Jess, you did it at the Andaz Liverpool, right?

Jess: Yes, we did it there. I’ve done it at the Park Hyatt Washington DC.

Pam: You did the Vendome in Paris, which is really.

Jess: That wasn’t me. I wasn’t me. Somebody, maybe somebody did, but I would not have paid 50% of the Park Hyatt Paris cash rate.

Alex: Yeah, so it is a good option to look into. But yeah. I think I’ve heard people do it at the Baha Mar. They’ve done it there. So.

Pam: Anyway, you guys know, we talk about Hyatt ad nauseum. We are obsessed with Hyatt. We hope that this podcast helps you understand why we are so obsessed. The oversized value that we get from redemptions, the amazing benefits we get as globalists, and the ease of accumulating points through Chase make it a complete no-brainer for all of us. If you’d like to learn more about how you can increase your stash of Hyatt points, check out our ultimate guide to Hyatt. We’ll be linking it in the show notes.

Thanks so much for listening to Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad. Make sure to hit the subscribe or follow button from wherever you’re listening so you never miss an episode. Wanna start jet setting even faster? Follow the links in the show notes to learn about everything we discussed in today’s episode. And to stay connected and follow along, follow us on Instagram @TravelMomSquad. We can’t wait to see where in the world points and miles take you.