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Buying miles and points is never ideal. There are dozens and dozens of travel credit cards that can help you to earn these points for free, just by making purchases that you’d normally make.
But the points stash can get a little sparse – especially if you’re traveling a lot! In certain situations, it does make sense to purchase points. Hyatt points are far and away the most valuable hotel points in the free travel game. Read our post on the best use of Hyatt points for proof of that. You can only buy 55,000 points per calendar year for yourself (though there’s a trick around this), and they’re never astoundingly cheap.
I’ll help you understand when it makes sense to buy Hyatt points.
Steps on how to buy Hyatt points
Step 1. Go to Hyatt’s Buy Points page
Head to Hyatt’s points purchase page. Here, you can choose to buy points for yourself or gift points to someone else. If you’re buying for yourself, select “Purchase Bonus Points.”
Step 2. Choose the number of points you want to buy
You are now on Points.com, the vendor that Hyatt has authorized to sell its points. You can choose between 1,000 and 55,000 points (in increments of 1,000 points). When there are no active sales, expect to pay 2.4 cents per Hyatt point.
You can only buy 55,000 points per year, unless there’s a promotion stipulating otherwise.
Step 3. Sign in to your Hyatt account
If you haven’t already, you’ll need to enter your Hyatt membership number. That way Points.com knows where to deposit the rewards. Note that you do not have to enter your password.
Step 4. Enter your payment method
Hyatt accepts all major credit cards. After you enter your info and click “Purchase bonus points,” you’re finished!
At what value do we recommend buying Hyatt points?
In short, we don’t recommend buying Hyatt points unless they cost under 1.5 cents per point.
This is because we estimate to be an average of 1.5 cents each, though they can be worth much more (or less!) depending on how you use them. We don’t normally recommend buying Hyatt points, simply because they usually cost more than 1.5 cents (they’re normally 2.4 cents each).
Is purchasing points during a promotion a good deal?
Again, as long as you’re getting more value for your points than you spent, it’s a good deal.
If you know which hotel you want to book, and you know you’ll receive a value greater than your purchase price, it can be a great strategy! For example, I’m staying at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek this February. My room costs 30,000 Hyatt points per night. However, the room sells for $900 per night. Currently (with no sale), I could buy 30,000 Hyatt points for $720 and reserve my room at a $180 discount.
The one thing to note is that you won’t earn Hyatt points when you reserve your room with points. So if the discount isn’t stark, it may be better to pay with cash and earn Hyatt points.
Does purchasing points with a co-branded credit card earn you double points?
Definitely not. In fact, most points purchases won’t even count as travel, so no category bonus will even be triggered.
See, a lot of loyalty programs don’t actually sell you points themselves. They sell their rewards through Points.com, which is a third-party website that will code as a plain old generic merchant.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a best card to use with Points.com, though! If you’re trying to earn a new credit card welcome bonus, you should use that card to quickly meet minimum spending. Or, you could use a card with an abnormally high earning rate on non-bonused spending, such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the Citi® Double Cash Card.
The information for the Citi Double Cash Card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Best credit card to earn Hyatt points
World of Hyatt Credit Card
The World of Hyatt Card comes with up to 60,000 Hyatt points after meeting tiered spending requirements:
- 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
- Up to 30,000 more Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spend on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 in the first six months of account opening.
Because we estimate Hyatt points to be worth 1.5 cents each, this full bonus is worth $750 in Hyatt stays.
I don’t have this card, but my husband does. He uses it exclusively when we visit Hyatt hotels, because it gives him an extra 4 points per dollar for Hyatt spending. And he keeps it year after year because it comes with a free night at a Hyatt hotel after your cardmember anniversary (worth up to 15,000 points).
You can read our full Hyatt Credit Card review for everything you need to know. Highly recommended card.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card comes with 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
You can transfer Chase points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers are instantaneous. So earning 80,000 Chase points is just as good as earning 80,000 Hyatt points! And because we estimate Hyatt points value to be 1.5 cents on average, you should have no problem squeezing $1,200 in Hyatt stays from this Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus.
The card earns 3 Chase points per dollar on dining and 2 Chase points per dollar on travel. It’s a card we keep year after year because its travel insurance is so fantastic! You can read our Chase Sapphire Preferred review for all the details.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Again, you can instantly transfer these points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. By transferring this bonus to Hyatt, we estimate you’ll get $750 in Hyatt stays.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is one of the best (perhaps THE best) premium travel credit cards on the market. It comes with access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, an annual $300 travel credit, and much more. Read our Chase Sapphire Reserve review to learn how to wield this card like a pro.
FAQ about buying Hyatt points
Where is the best place to buy Hyatt points?
There’s only one place to buy Hyatt points: Points.com. There’s no shopping around for the best deal. However, Hyatt does have intermittent sales that almost have convinced me to buy in the past.
Can Hyatt points be purchased as a gift?
Yep! You can buy Hyatt points for someone else by visiting this page. Rates are identical to those charged for purchasing points for yourself – and you’re still capped at 55,000 points per night.
However, Hyatt members can share points with each other for free once every 30 days. You can purchase points for someone else and then transfer them into your own account to effectively circumvent the annual 55,000-point purchase limit.
Should you buy Hyatt points to benefit from the 5th free night?
You know how Marriott and Hilton have that fantastic 5th-night free policy? Basically, if you stay at least five award nights during a single stay, you’ll get the fifth one for zero points. Read our 5th-night free guide to learn more about that. Even IHG offers the 4th award night free!
Well, Hyatt doesn’t. It’s one of the worst parts of the loyalty program – there’s zero incentive to book an extended stay with them. Therefore, your purchase of Hyatt points should in no way hinge on a complimentary award night for a certain stay duration.
Hyatt points do go much further than any other hotel program, however. The Hyatt award chart places Hyatt hotels between 5,000 and 40,000 points (though the vast majority of hotels don’t breach 30,000 points).
Do Hyatt points expire?
Hyatt points expire after 24 months of account inactivity. In other words, if you haven’t earned or redeemed miles in the past two years, you’ll lose your Hyatt points. There are plenty of ways to avoid this, though, like swiping a Hyatt credit card for a stick of gum, transferring Chase points to Hyatt, and yes, buying Hyatt points!
Bottom line
Hyatt points are by far the most valuable hotel points you can earn. And while they’re pretty easy to accrue, seeing that they’re Chase transfer partners, you may find yourself low on points and needing just a few thousand to book an award stay.
Or, in rare situations, you may decide to buy all the points you need for an award stay, because the cash prices are so ridiculously high! In this case, keep in mind that you should never buy Hyatt points unless the redemption value is greater than your purchase value. Keep an eye out for good deals – and bookmark our Hyatt promotion page to see if there are any Hyatt points discounts or anything of the like. And read our post on how to use Hyatt points if you’re new to the program.