World of Hyatt and JP Morgan Chase unveiled the new Hyatt Credit Card today which was pretty much a surprise move, though the new product actually appears to be much better than the old one.
I tend to be extremely skeptical whenever an old product is discontinued and a new item moves in place since there are rarely any changes to the advantage of the customer, mostly they are negative.
In the case of the new World of Hyatt Visa Card however the new features appear to be pretty beneficial to cardholders compared to the current/previous card.
Let me dish out some sour grapes about this card right away by quoting Chase T&C for this card:
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Hyatt Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
This means you won’t be able to apply for a second card if you already have the current Hyatt credit card product. Chase offers an upgrade option to existing cards (just like they do with the IHG and Marriott cards) which come with a (mediocre) 2000 bonus point offer and you have to pay a $20 add on fee.
Here are the most important features of the new card:
- The annual fee of the card is now US$95 [previously $75] *new*
- Cardholder will receive Hyatt Discoverist Status
- Points earning capacity at Hyatt Hotels is now 4 points per US$ spent [previously 3X] *new*
- Every calendar year you will receive 5 Tier-Qualifying Night credits *new*
- Earn 2 additional World of Hyatt Tier-Qualifying Night credits for every $5,000 in Purchases *new*
- The Free annual Night Cat 1-4 remains plus the option to earn a second night for $15k spend *new*
For New Cardmembers who decide to apply for this card:
There is a current 60,000 points welcome offer which is a lot in Hyatt terms, it allows 2 nights in their highest category hotels such as the Park Hyatt Hotels in Tokyo, Sydney and New York.
But careful:
40,000 Bonus Points are awarded after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. The additional 20,000 Bonus Points will be credited to the account after you spend a total of $6,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening.
So to get the full 60,000 Hyatt points the total minimum spend on this offer is $6,000 which is very high.
Here the entire overview of earning opportunities with the new World of Hyatt Visa Signature Card:
The feature of receiving 2 additional qualifying nights per US$5,000 in spend is very attractive for big spenders as there is no limit to this. With a very heavy spend one could even get all the way to Globalist status though that would require $125,000 for 50 Nights plus the 5 credits from the card. However since January 1st Hyatt also counts award stays as qualifying so that would help and I don’t assume someone would get this card without ever staying at Hyatt in the first place.
The essence being: Even for a somewhat ‘normal’ spending pattern It definitely helps a lot on the way up to Globalist.
Furthermore the additional Category 1-4 free night once you spend $15,000 is a nice extra perk. Depending on how many credit cards someone has (in terms of spend distribution) it could be possible to catch this extra award with regular annual spend.
The card has so far not been subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule (Chase has a range of cards where you won’t be approved if you opened more than 5 new accounts across the board within the last 24 months) and since I didn’t read anything to the contrary in the T&C I just assume this won’t be the case with the new card either. [Effective November 2018 Chase has moved this and other cards into their 5/24 restriction].
Conclusion
I’ve been using the Hyatt Chase Visa for the past few years as my main credit card as Hyatt is my primary hotel chain. I was already somewhat satisfied with the card but these new changes will make it one of the strongest products out there and I can’t wait until Chase offers the upgrade feature to existing card holders as well.
I rarely get excited over credit cards and only write about them if there are firm travel features attached to the card. I am a big fan of hotel credit cards because the annual fee is usually low and you get a free annual night with most of these cards that more than offset what you pay for the card.
The only drawback for new applicants would be the relatively high minimum spend of US$6000 to earn the full bonus. You do have 6 months for that though (3k within 3 months x 2).
