Hyatt has finally added the ability to book points+cash rooms online.
Point+Cash are pretty sweet deals as Hyatt considers them to be paid stays. That means you earn stay credit and points for your stay and it means that diamond members can use suite upgrades on points+cash rates.
Hyatt doesn’t have a comprehensive award chart, so I made one:
| Hotel Category | Standard Room Award | Suite Night Award | Points+Cash Standard Room Award | Cost of points saved with P+C Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5K | 8K | 2.5K+$50 | 2 cents/point |
| 2 | 8K | 13K | 4K+$55 | 1.38 cents/point |
| 3 | 12K | 20K | 6K+$75 | 1.25 cents/point |
| 4 | 15K | 24K | 7.5K+$100 | 1.33 cents/point |
| 5 | 20K | 32K | 10K+$125 | 1.25 cents/point |
| 6 | 25K | 40K | 12.5K+$150 | 1.2 cents/point |
| 7 | 30K | 48K | 15K+$300 | 2 cents/point |
There are a few caveats. You will owe taxes on the cash portion of the points+cash rates, though you’ll also earn points on the cash portion in addition to stay credit. I can’t enter that part of the equation into the chart as the tax and point earning rates will vary between each hotel
You’ll also pay resort fees on points+cash rates, while straight point awards don’t pay resort fees with Hyatt.
The biggest difference though is that points availability isn’t capacity controlled while points+cash availability is heavily capacity controlled.
In the past that meant having to call and fish for valid dates. If you ask for a 5 night stay and only 2 of those nights had points+cash, the rep would just tell you that there was no points+cash space. I just had that exact scenario happen to me last week. It required calling several times to get a reservation stitched together with some award nights and some points+cash nights.
Luckily now it’s online, so no more phone calls!
Just search for your dates and then check the box as shown below to show Hyatt awards. If only the “redeem points” tab shows up then there are no points+cash awards available. If the points+cash tab is there then you’re good to go.
The same strategy applies, search for one night at a time and then search for all of your nights to find availability. Note that some hotels have a minimum stay requirement, so it may not show up for just one night.
It’s worth noting that you can also call a hotel directly to see if they’re willing to open up points+cash space for you.
Below is what points+cash will look like on Hyatt.com.
You’ll note that for foreign hotels, the amount listed in the chart above will be converted into the local currency. That can actually work to your advantage as a hotel like the category 6 Park Hyatt Vienna is 12.5K points plus 127EUR. Currently 127EUR is just $136, when really the rate should be $150. It just hasn’t been adjusted since the Euro depreciated against the dollar.
That means you’ll have to recalculate the cost of points saved when using points versus points+cash at foreign hotels as the cost of points saved will be lower than what is shown in the chart above when there’s a favorable exchange rate.
At the Park Hyatt Vienna you can use $600 for a paid stay, use 25K points for an award stay, or use 12.5K points+$136 with points+cash. The $136 saves 12.5K points from the regular award cost, so those saved points are only costing you 1.09 cents each, a fantastic value and an even better than the excellent 1.2 cent cost that domestic category 6 hotels have with points+cash as per the chart above.
Effectively a 25K award saved you $600 or a value of 2.4 cents per point. The 12.5K points+cash award saves you $464 cash (as you pay $136), a total value of 3.71 cents per point:
At the Hyatt Place Pittsburgh you can use $225 for a paid stay, use 12K points for an award stay, or use 6K points+$75 with points+cash. The cost of the 6K points saved with the points+cash award is $75 or 1.25 cents per point, as show in the chart above.
Effectively a 12K award saved you $225 or a value of 1.88 cents per point. The 6K points+cash award saves you $150 cash (as you pay $75), a total value of 2.5 cents per point:
You can transfer Chase points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. You can earn Chase points on cards like Chase Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus, and Ink Cash, though you or your spouse will need a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Plus to transfer the points to Hyatt.
do they have one bedroom suites in Orlando?
@Dan
Regular points reservations are not capacity controlled? Meaning I can book a room with points as longs as there are rooms for sale? I just spoke to a rep who told me there are no points rooms available for the dates I want. Please advise. thanks!
Any deals in Israel ?
I just discovered that Hyatt allows Gold Passport members to transfer points between themselves for the purposes of completing a reservation. The process is somewhat slow: you have to hand-complete a form and then fax or email it to Hyatt with the signatures of both parties. I was told the turn-around time is less than 72 hours.
This is a great alternative to UR transfers which are limited to spouses or domestic partners.
Info here: http://www.hyatt.com/gp/en/awards/combine_transfer.jsp
Will this apply to Ziva and Zilara locations as well?
Until now you couldn’t book those with points online.
Ziva/Zilara@Ziva/Zilara:
No- still have to all and not allowed to do cash and points there.