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Chase Hyatt Credit Cards
Hyatt, via co-brand partner Chase, offers two versions of its World of Hyatt credit cards.
The first has been around for many years and is the personal version – the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
The second launched just last year for small business owners and is called the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card.
While there are many similarities, the differences are far greater than many other co-brand business counterparts to personal credit cards, so I thought it would be helpful to make a grid of the primary features of each to help you best decide which is the right card for you.
Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card vs. Chase World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
| World of Hyatt Credit Card (Consumer Version) | World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $95 | $195 |
| Annual Fee Waived Year 1? | No | No |
| Bonus Offer | 30,000 bonus World of Hyatt points when you spend $3,000 within 3 months. Then get an additional 1 bonus point per dollar on your first $15,000 in spend in categories that don't otherwise earn bonus points within 6 months. | 60,000 bonus World of Hyatt points when you spend $5,000 within 3 months. |
| Annual Free Night Award? | Yes, Valid at Category 1-4 hotels; earned at each renewal. | No |
| Ability to Earn a Second Free Night Certificate | Yes, with $15,000 in spend you'll get a second Category 1-4 Free Night Award | N/A |
| Annual Elite Nights Earned | 5 each calendar year plus 2 for every $5,000 spent. | None automatically, but 5 for every $10,000 spent. |
| Earn Rate at Hyatt Hotels | 4X | 4X |
| Bonus Categories that earn 2X | Restaurants, airline tickets purchased directly, local transit and commuting, and fitness club and gym memberships. (You can earn 2X on all categories every month with no cap) | Fitness club and gym memberships always earn 2X points per dollar. Then you earn 2 points per dollar on 2 of the following 8 categories each month based on which you spend the most on: dining; airline tickets purchased directly with the airline; car rental agencies; local transit and commuting; gas stations; internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping. |
| Automatic Status Granted | Discoverist | Discoverist |
| Save $50 on each of up to two Hyatt stays per year | No | Yes. Earn a $50 statement credit per qualifying Hyatt purchases (folio charges) up to 2 times each anniversary year. |
| Discoverist Status Gifts | No | Gift Discoverist status to up to 5 people |
| 10% Rebate on Award Nights | No | Once you spend $50,000 in a calendar year, you will get 10% of all redemptions refunded (up to 20,000 points rebated annually) through the end of the year. |
| Hyatt Leverage Access (Business Preferred Rate Program) | No | Yes. You get access to preferred business rates via the Leverage program by holding this card without minimum employee stay requirements. |
| Car Rental Collision / Damage Waiver Protection | Secondary | Primary if the rental is for business purposes |
| Foreign Transaction Fees | None | None |
Let’s run through some of the key features and benefits that I’ve outlined in the table above and then I’ll give my “which one should you get?” take at the end.
Bonus Offer
The bonus offer is clearly stronger on the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card with 60,000 points on offer for $5,000 in spend in 3 months. The World of Hyatt Credit Card offer of 30,000 points for $3,000 in spend in 3 month plus an additional 1 bonus point per dollar on your first $15,000 in spend in categories that don’t otherwise earn bonus points within 6 months is just basically 30,000 – 60,000 points but with $18,000 needing to be spent within 6 months to get the full bonus.
Elite Nights (Tier qualifying night credits)
If you don’t spend a lot on the card in a year, you’d probably come out ahead on the consumer World of Hyatt Credit Card for the 5 included nights. But if you can spend big through your business, the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card has the better earn rate for spend. This could actually be a very compelling reason to hold both cards – earn the 5 automatic nights from the consumer card and then the better earn on spend from the business card.
Annual Free Night Award vs. $50 Credits
I love that the consumer card comes with an annual free night certificate for the annual fee of $95. With the business cards, you would get $100 effectively knocked off the annual fee by using both $50 folio credits, but that just gets you to the same $95 as the consumer card – without the annual free night.
Plus $15,000 in spend on the consumer card gets you a second free night! For this reason I make sure to put $15,000 annually on the card as the math works with that free night used wisely.
That’s two free nights a year!
Bonus Point Earning Categories
The consumer card gives 2X on restaurants, airline tickets purchased directly, local transit and commuting, and fitness club and gym memberships. (You can earn 2X on all categories every month with no cap).
The business version gives you more categories, technically, with categories that include dining; airline tickets purchased directly with the airline; car rental agencies; local transit and commuting; gas stations; internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping – but only on 2 of the 8 categories each month.
Further, both cards max at 2X except Hyatt purchases that earn a sweet 4X. I’d frankly rather put my other spend on cards that earn 3-5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer 1:1 to Hyatt, on these categories, unless my sole goal is to earn Globalist via elite night spend threshold bonuses.
So, I don’t really declare either card a strong winner here. although if you are going for elite night spend bonuses and can put significant spend on one of the business card categories, that’s not a bad option.
Other Benefits of the World of Hyatt Credit Cards
Both cards confer bottom tier Discoverist elite status. It’s cool that you can gift it with the business card, but you also don’t really get all that much from Discoverist elite status (10% bonus earn on Hyatt stays, bottled water, potential for 2pm checkout, premium internet and a possible upgrade to a better room within your booked room category).
The $50 off each of two Hyatt stays of $50 or more with the World of Hyatt Business Credit Cardis nice, but only offsets the additional $100 annual fee.
Hyatt Leverage with the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: I do get some decent rates with my Hyatt Leverage program, so it’s a plus. Not sure how much to value that perk at.
Primary Car Rental CDW with World of Hyatt Business Credit Card on business rentals. Nice, but the no-annual fee Chase Ink credit cards also offer this.
And lastly, the 10% Rebate on Award Nights with the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card. (Once you spend $50,000 in a calendar year, you will get 10% of all redemptions refunded, up to 20,000 points rebated annually, through the end of the year.)
This is a cool feature, but it really puts it on you to hit that spend early in the year to have the most time to redeem 200,000 points and get 20,000 back. I think if you either got 1 full year from when you hit the spend to redeem and./or had a cap higher than 20,000 points rebated, I’d put more value on this perk.
Value of World of Hyatt Points
I generally consider Hyatt points to be the most valuable hotel points you can accrue. MilesTalk gives them an average value of 1.6 cents, which is very hard to not beat. I personally won’t redeem for less than 2 cents a point and often find sweet spots to redeem for near 10 cents a point, such as Ventana Big Sur.
It’s also a nice benefit that when you book an award room with points, you never pay any resort or destination fees.
You can spend them not just at Hyatt branded hotels, but also at SLH (Small Luxury Hotels) properties and a growing number of all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean.
Bottom Line
I truly can’t say that either card is “better” than the other. If you spend a ton, it’s valuable to be able to get to Globalist status (my favorite top tier status) from spend. For someone with lesser spend, the consumer card (outside of the signup bonus) probably offers a bit better value for the annual fee due to the annual free night and opportunity to earn a second. Or, if it works well for you as a true Hyatt loyalist, you can consider holding both.
You can also read my in-depth review of the World of Hyatt Business Card.
How to Apply for Chase Hyatt Credit Cards
You can learn how to apply here for the World of Hyatt Credit Card or World of Hyatt Business Credit Card.
Get Hyatt Bonus Points: Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening, plus an additional 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in you first 6 months on purchases that would normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent. | How to apply for this offer.
Questions?
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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
