by Daniel | Last Updated August 22nd, 2021
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In this video, I am going to review the World of Hyatt credit card and see what benefits and user perks it has and then decide if it is worth it.
The World of Hyatt credit card is one of the best hotel rewards cards available now and offers a generous sign-up bonus.
Annual Fee
So to begin with the World of Hyatt credit card has an annual fee of $95, which in terms of credit card fees, is not too bad.
Next, let’s have a look at what sign-up bonus you can receive and how much you actually need to spend to receive it.
Sign Up Bonus
The World of Hyatt credit card has a two-tiered sign-up bonus that in full is worth 60,000 bonus points, and with points being worth approximately 1.8 cents per point, this makes 60,000 points worth about $1,080.
And to receive the first 30,000 points you will need to spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening the account and to earn the second 30,000 points you will actually need to spend $15,000 within the first 6 months of opening the account.
Basically how this works is that Hyatt will give you 2 points per dollar on purchases that usually only give you 1 point per dollar up to a total of $15,000 (which equals 30,000 points), and this will revert back to 1 point per dollar once you have spent either $15,000 or 6 months has passed since you first signed up, whichever comes first.
So if you just happen to spend a fair amount on your credit card this will be no problem, but realistically it is quite a lot to spend just to receive 30,000 points.
Earning Points
Now when it comes to earning points with this card it has some pretty decent points earning potential.
So first of all you can earn up to 9x points for bookings that are made at Hyatt hotels, any participating small luxury hotels of the world, Participating Exhale Spa locations, and eligible Lindblad Expeditions.
So just these options here offer a huge potential to earn a lot of points.
And for the following sections, you will earn 2x points:
Restaurants, flights that are booked directly with the airline, fitness clubs and gym memberships, local transit, mass transit, taxis tolls, and ride-sharing services.
And finally, as I mentioned before all other purchases will receive 2x point up to a total of $15,000 spent or within this first 6 months of opening the account.
After this, these purchases will revert back to 1 point per dollar spent.
So this card really does have a very good points earning structure, and if you travel a fair amount and stay at Hyatt hotels, you will be able to earn a lot of points.
Benefits and User Perks
So now let’s take a look at what this card offers in terms of benefits.
To begin with, you will receive 1 free night at a category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort on the anniversary of your card membership (which is basically after 1 year), And in some cases, just this alone can be worth as much as the annual fee of the card.
And on top of this, if you are able to spend $15,000 within a calendar year you will receive an additional night free.
So just this benefit can easily cover the annual fee.
Next up you will automatically receive Hyatt elite status, as a Discoverist Member.
There are currently five different status levels with Hyatt: Member, Discoverist, Explorist, Globalist, and Lifetime Globalist.
So with the Discoverist membership, you will receive a few perks such as 10% bonus points for eligible spend at Hyatt, Premium in-room internet, and 2 pm late check-out upon request where available.
So nothing amazing with the Discoverist membership, but if you do ever manage to reach 1 million base points on your card you will get the Lifetime Globalist membership, and with this, you can expect to receive 4 suite night awards each year, 30% points bonus for eligible spend at Hyatt, club lounge access, free breakfast, 4 pm checkout, guaranteed room availability when booked at least 48 hours in advance and waived resort fees.
Along with this, the Lifetime Globalist membership also gives you the ability to earn even more benefits.
Once you reach 50 qualifying nights at a Hyatt hotel you will get 2 more suite upgrade awards.
And at 60 qualifying nights (or 100,000 base points) you will receive another 2 suite upgrade awards and a category 1-7 certificate.
The category 1-7 certificate can be redeemed at top-tier properties such as the Park Hyatt New York and can be worth up to $1,000 in value.
So obviously this is something that not everybody will be able to achieve as it requires a large amount of money to be spent on your card and approximately 2 months of stay at a Hyatt hotel within a 12 month period.
Insurance-related benefits
And finally, let’s take a look at what insurance-related benefits this card comes with.
First of all, you will receive purchase protection on new purchases for up to 120 days which covers damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.
You also receive extended warranty protection of one extra year on US manufacturers warranties that are 3 years or less.
There is also fraud protection that provides you with Zero Liability Protection against unauthorized purchases on your world of Hyatt card.
Next up you also receive a fair amount of travel protection.
To begin with, you will receive Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption Insurance which can reimburse you up to $5,000 per trip if your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, or other covered situations.
You also get Trip Delay Reimbursement which covers up to $500 per ticket if your travel is delayed by more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, and this covers expenses such as eats and lodging.
Next up is Lost Luggage Reimbursement which covers up to $3,000 per passenger for you or an immediate family member if your luggage is damaged or lost by the carrier.
You also receive Baggage Delay Insurance which provides up to $100 per day for up to 5 days for baggage that is delayed by the carrier for more than 6 hours, and this covers expenses such as toiletries and clothing.
There is Travel Accident Insurance which covers up to $500,000 in the case of accidental death or dismemberment, as long as the trip is paid for with your card.
And finally, you will receive Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, basically, you will be able to decline the rental company’s collision insurance if you pay with your card, and this will provide coverage of theft and collision damage of the rental car.
So as you can see there are a lot of different insurance-related benefits that come with this card that are very useful not only if you travel a lot but also just for everyday spending.
Final thoughts
So in my opinion, this is a good card that offers more than enough benefits to offset the annual fee of $95 and then some.
It is especially good if you tend to stay at Hyatt hotels more often than anywhere else when you travel as that is where most of its benefits are.
Another card that competes with this card and actually offers more value is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
It has the same $95 annual fee but is currently offering 100,000 membership reward points after you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of opening an account, and these points themself are worth up to $1250 dollars.
Also, these points can actually be transferred directly to the World of Hyatt if you want at a rate of 1:1.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card also offers a lot of ways to earn a lot of points.