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Well, that didn’t take long.
Bilt is moving its World of Hyatt transfer ratio from 1:1 to 4:3, effective January 1, 2027. Four Bilt points will get you three Hyatt points.
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Back on June 10th, when I wrote up the Chase Sapphire Preferred refresh and the Hyatt devaluation buried inside it, I noted that it “would leave only Bilt as an option to transfer to Hyatt 1:1 without a high annual fee card.”
Well… yeah, it won’t.
In this article
The New Bilt / Hyatt Math
100,000 Bilt Points will et you 75,000 Hyatt points instead of 100,000.
The same math I did when Chase did this applies here.
Remember that Category 8 at top peak that went from 45,000 points to 75,000 in this year’s chart changes? Booking that night used to cost you 75,000 Bilt points. From January it’s 100,000.
You’ve got until December 31st at 1:1. Plenty of time to gameplay if you have a large Bilt balance.
I’m not saying to speculatively transfer and I’m not saying not to. If you are a Hyatt diehard, it may make sense.
But Hyatt points can’t come back out, and Bilt transfers to Alaska, Amtrak, Avios, Virgin and the rest at 1:1 for now.
Chase Did This First, Back in June
Six improvements to the Sapphire Preferred, no annual fee increase, and then the Hyatt bomb which is varies based on the card you have.
If you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, legacy Ink Plus, or Corporate Flex and you don’t have a Reserve level card in your mix, you’re at 4:3. Keep a Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ in there and everything still transfers at 1:1.
If you had applied for any Chase Ultimate rewards card before June 15, 2026, then it hit you at the end of last night and now this hours later….
The Transfer Partner Matrix still has where every program stands.
So Why Is This Happening? I Think It’s Hyatt.
In June I wondered aloud whether Hyatt had actually negotiated a higher price per point, and said I didn’t recall seeing a contract renewal. Well. Bilt doing the exact same thing six months later sure seems like I have my answer.
Chase and Bilt aren’t coordinating anything. Two programs with nothing to do with each other make the identical change to the identical partner within a few months, and leave every other hotel partner alone? It’s not them….
Transfer partners buy points from the hotel program at a negotiated rate. When that rate goes up, the bank either eats it or passes it along in the ratio. It’s an easy way for Hyatt to charge more without touching the award chart and without a single “Hyatt devalues” headline. The assumption is that is why the transfer rations have changed with both Emirates and Cathay Pacific over at Amex, for example.
And it’s not like Hyatt has been shy about their award chart either. Two devaluations in the first half of this year alone: First the expansion from three to five award levels and then the annual category shifts. Now the cost of getting points into the program goes up on top of that.
Hyatt wants less points transfers. They clearly see it as hurting their program economics.
To be clear, that’s my interpretation only.
Transfer Bonus?
Hah. No. Hyatt has always been one of the most expensive points for a program to buy, so I would 99.9999999999999999% say no transfer bonus is coming before then.
What’s Left at 1:1
The two Chase Reserve cards, at $795.
Or you skip transferring and earn Hyatt points directly on the World of Hyatt Credit Card or the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card, which also give you Elite Qualifying Nights, but earn less per dollar in many categories. Keep in mind that neither earns more than 2X outside of Hyatt, so you’re giving up points to do so.
My Take
It hurts. But Bilt has such a range of valuable partners now, including the new Amtrak Guest Rewards partnership, that I don’t think this ultimately changes what a Bilt point is worth by all that much. And I already probably have undervalued them for a while now.
What it changes is what Bilt is for. It’s an Alaska, Amtrak and the other less common currencies now.
On the Chase side, I’d already transferred 90% of my Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt, so I’ve got a while before I have to decide whether a Reserve is worth it to me.
Hyatt’s own devaluation matters here too. I expect it gets worse as they shift more hotels to more peak dates more often over the next few years. That’s my expectation, to be clear, not anything Hyatt has said.
Links to Apply
We have all three cards on Your Best Credit Cards:
The Bilt Palladium has an offer to earn 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months + $300 of Bilt Cash. Subject to approval.
Thoughts?
Are you sitting on Bilt points earmarked for Hyatt? And after two Hyatt devaluations and two transfer ratio cuts in a single year, is Hyatt still the reason you’re holding these points?
Full details on the cards and the program are in the complete guide to Bilt Rewards and the Bilt credit cards at Your Best Credit Cards.
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