🏨 How to get maximum value from hotel points

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 53 seconds

Good morning from Bangkok, a city that can only be described as… moist. Very moist.

Now that I’ve grossed you out by saying MOIST three times, here’s what we’ve got on deck:

• 🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move: My secret for getting 3-4 cents per point in value

• 🏨 Hyatt now lets you gift awards to other members

🏃🏼‍♂️ Mike on the Move: My secret for getting 3-4 cents per point in value

Time for a quick update on how I’m using miles and points to hack my way around Asia.

As I mentioned, I am now in Bangkok, the city of angels. And no, I’m not kidding - locals actually call it the city of angels. So look out, Los Angeles.

I was lucky enough to fly here on Thai Airways the other day in their luxurious business-class cabin:

But this was part of a multi-leg flight that I booked from Beijing to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Since Aeroplan lets you add a stopover for 5,000 points, I was able to book both flights in business class and spend six days in Bangkok for a total of 50,000 Aeroplan points.

I tried to get a screenshot of the aforementioned booking, but Air Canada’s website is trash and nonfunctional (as usual). So I couldn’t.

Anyway, for nine hours in lie-flat beds, I was happy with myself. 😎

But I want to talk to you about something more important today… People often ask me a question along the lines of:

So today, I wanted to talk to you about a big theme of my current trip: Milking my World of Hyatt points to regularly get over three or four cents per point in value.

I’ll start with a fresh example of the hotel I’m at right now: The Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit.

It’s a stunning, top-notch, 5-star hotel in the best neighborhood in Bangkok.

It has a rooftop bar with panoramic views, a club lounge for Globalists, and the best amenities in the biz.

So obviously, it cost me a fortune, right…?

Well, actually, this is only a Hyatt Category TWO hotel, so it can cost as few as 6,500 points per night.

On my particular nights here, it was priced at 8,000 points per night.

Still, with a cash cost of $257 after taxes, I’m getting 3.2 cents per point here. Even if we throw the valuation aside, staying in a top-notch luxury hotel for 8,000 points per night is just a steal.

But this illustrates a point that I think a lot of people overlook:

Hyatt’s lower-category hotels offer significantly more value for your points than higher-category hotels the VAST majority of the time.

Piggybacking off of the example I just gave, let’s look at the Park Hyatt Bangkok, the most premium Hyatt brand.

On the same night as my previous example, this hotel costs $376 after tax or 25,000 points per night.

In this case, you’re getting 1.5 cents per point - less than half the value of the other hotel, which, by the way, is also a 5-star hotel… You’re also spending more than three times the amount of points.

But I’m not going to stop there because I have multiple Hyatt Category 1 and 2 hotels booked that further illustrate this point.

For example, next week, I’ll be in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Despite most people never having heard of this place, they have multiple 5-star, Category 1 Hyatt properties.

One of them, the Alila Solo, costs about $127 per night.

But as a Category 1, this hotel often only costs 3,500 points per night. In this case, you’re getting 3.6 cents per point. From a 5-star hotel. That’s only a Category 1 property.

From here, I’m heading to Bali to begin the “Eat, Pray, Love” portion of my trip. Here I’ll be staying at another 5-star luxury property: the Alila Ubud.

As a Category 2 hotel, I’m spending 8,000 points per night on a property that otherwise costs $288 per night after taxes.

That means that, again, I’m getting 3.6 cents per point in value.

Continuing on the “Eat, Pray, Love” trend, let’s head to India, which is a GOLD MINE for Hyatt hotels…

For example, I’ve booked two nights at the Park Hyatt in Hyderabad. Despite being Hyatt’s most luxurious brand, this is only a Category TWO hotel.

After taxes, this hotel costs $239 per night, but only 8,000 points, yielding three cents per point.

I’ll also be in Chennai, staying at the world’s only Category 1 PARK HYATT. That’s right, Hyatt’s most premium brand is in the lowest possible category.

Although it can cost as few as 3,500 points per night, my stay costs 5,000 points per night.

With a cash cost of $221 per night (after tax), this hotel is giving me 4.4 cents per point. 🤯

And to be clear, this principle works across the board. These are just a handful of examples of my personal travel over the next two weeks.

But how in the HELL do you even get Hyatt points…?

Thankfully, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards Points or Bilt Rewards to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. 

So if you sign up for a credit card like the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]] and get the 60,000-points welcome offer, you could book as many as 17 nights at lower-tier Hyatt hotels…

So here’s the bottom line:

By making use of Hyatt’s award chart, you can stay in luxury properties and get extreme value from your points, all while not spending that many points in the first place.

This is one of the ways that I personally stretch my points to cover LOTS of travel while still staying in nice places.

🏨 Hyatt now lets you gift awards to other members

The first section today was a LOT of Hyatt content… so I decided to lean into it. 

Here’s one more update on the Hyatt front.

As if we needed more reasons to love this hotel program, Hyatt has now made it possible to gift various awards to other members.

Oh, and you don’t even need to call them to do it. You can just do it yourself online.

Here’s how this works:

Simply log into your World of Hyatt account online and go to “My Awards.”

You’ll see a page like this that shows all of your available awards, such as Free Night Awards, Guest of Honor Awards, Suite Upgrades, and Club Access Awards. 👇

If you click the little dots to the right of a given award, you’ll see the option to “Gift Your Award.”

On the popup, you simply need to enter a member’s name and World of Hyatt number, and they’ll be instantly gifted the award!

The only award that isn’t currently possible to gift is the “2k Next Stay” award, which is a new addition to Hyatt’s milestone program (which I described more in this newsletter).

I think this is a huge improvement to the program. There are plenty of scenarios where gifting these awards could really come in handy.

For example, Club Access Awards are useless to me. As a Globalist member, I already get club access. Now, however, I can give these awards to my friends who otherwise might not get club access.

Anyway… Way to go, Hyatt. We love you. ❤️

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That’s all for today, friends! Hyatt is truly the king of hotel loyalty programs, and I hope today’s newsletter helps showcase a few of the reasons why.

Take care and see you tomorrow ❤️

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