October 24, 2024: With the current welcome bonus on the World of Hyatt credit card offering 5 category 1-4 free night certificates, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the data on how I used my Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificates in the past. The results surprised me, in a good way.
If you search google for the value of a Hyatt Category 1-4 night, you’ll find some crazy valuations, often based on the assumption that you’re going to redeem them for a stay at a hotel like the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort or the Andaz Mexico City Condesa. That doesn’t realistically represent how most people (myself included) will use Hyatt free night certificates. Here’s my take.
My view: Certificates are worth the cash you would otherwise spend.
It can be fun to use miles or points to fly in business class or stay in a luxury hotel, but being realistic about how much value you get requires comparing your redemption not against the cash price of the hotel stay, but against what you would otherwise pay in cash.
Realistically, I’m not going to pay nearly $400 to stay in an airport hotel when there’s a Courtyard by Marriott that’s equally convenient and I’m not going to pay $8,000 to fly to Europe in business class, especially when there’s a $600 coach airfare available.
That said, whenever I’m valuing miles, points, certificates, or benefits I try to be conscious of both how I actually use them and how much cash I would otherwise spend. And I like to use the data on past redemptions to come up with my valuations so that I’m not dreaming up theoretical redemptions that I might make. (Realistically, how I’m using certificates is much more boring that I’d like to pretend.)
How I used my certs: The data on my last Hyatt Category 1-4 certificate redemptions
Here are my most recent uses of my Hyatt Category 1-4 night certificates. In the table, I’ve included both the cash price of the Hyatt hotel night that I used the certificate for and the price of the next best alternative when I would have stayed in a different hotel if I didn’t have a certificate.
| Cash price of night | Price of next-best alternative | |
|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk Went to San Antonio for a conference. Stayed near the conference, but conference hotel was booked. | $279 | – |
| Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center Went to Portland for a conference. This was the conference hotel. | $210 | – |
| Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport Needed to stay near the airport for one night. Would not have paid the cash rate at this hotel. | $370 | $160 |
Why include the price of the next-best alternative?
By pricing the next best alternative, I stay realistic about the value I am getting, as I’m valuing the certificates near what I am willing to pay for the same or similar service in cash.
Generally this will result in lower valuations but in my view that is good because the point is to use the valuations as a tool to help me make better decisions about whether to keep credit cards or put spending on them in order to earn certificates.
My Hyatt certificate value: $216.
Given my last several redemptions, I got $216 of real value on average out of my certificates. And that’s by using certificates to pay for stays I would have otherwise paid for in cash.
My takeaways: Hyatt certificates are a great deal for me
The first takeaway from this is that, for me, the World of Hyatt Credit Card is well worth it. Paying $95/year for a certificate that displaces $216 in cash is a good deal. When I’m paying that annual fee, I’m making a bet that I’ll be able to get more than $95 of value out of the card’s category 1-4 certificate, and that bet has paid off handsomely.
The second takeaway from my analysis is that it’s probably worth it to spend $15,000 on the World of Hyatt Credit Card each year. You get an additional free night certificate when you spend this much on a World of Hyatt consumer credit card (plus you’ll earn at least 15,000 Hyatt points and 6 elite nights from the spending). While I generally prefer to earn 2% cash back to 1 Hyatt point per dollar, the total value I’ll get from the additional free night certificate, plus the Hyatt points will be well in excess of the $300 I’d get on a 2% cash back credit card.
Bottom line: Hyatt certificates can be a great value, but value them based on your usage patterns
How you value Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificates should be based on your usage patterns and how much cash you would otherwise spend when you use the certificates. For me, Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificates are well wroth it.
