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January 12, 2025: Hyatt and Chase offer two credit cards for World of Hyatt members.
In this complete guide, we compare all of the benefits, rewards, and features of the Hyatt credit cards side-by side so that you can find the best card for you.
In this article…
Hyatt cards compared: Benefits, earnings and perks
In this section, we’ve put together several tables that you can use to compare the benefits and perks of all of the Hyatt credit cards side-by-side.
Hyatt hotel benefits compared
The strongest case for picking up a Hyatt credit card is the benefits you’ll get when staying at Hyatt hotels.
Having either card will get you base-level Discoverist status as long as you hold the card. Both cards award tier-qualifying nights for spending and The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers both an annual free night certificate and the opportunity to earn up to one additional certificate each year with spending.
Here are the Hyatt-specific benefits on the World of Hyatt credit cards.
| World of Hyatt Credit Card | World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee: $95 | Annual fee: $199 | |
| Elite status: Complimentary | Discoverist | Discoverist status for you and up to 5 employees |
| Elite status: Annual tier-qualifying nights | 5 tier qualifying nights | – |
| Elite status: Earning tier-qualifying nights | Earn 2 tier-qualifying night credits for each $5,000 spent on the card. | Earn 5 tier-qualifying night credits for every $10,000 you spend in a calendar year. |
| Free night: Complimentary | Receive one free category 1-4 certificate each year after your cardmember anniversary. | – |
| Free night: Earned | Earn an additional Category 1-4 certificate after spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year. | – |
| Hyatt statement credits | – | Up to $100: Spend $50 or more at any Hyatt property and earn a $50 credit up to two times each cardmember anniversary year. |
| 10% redemption bonus | – | Spend $50,000 in a calendar year and receive 10% of the points you redeem back for the rest of the year on up to 200,000 points redeemed. |
A quick note on Hyatt Leverage membership. You’ll see this advertised as a benefit of the business credit card, and many sites list that as a benefit of the card. We don’t list that in our table because the benefit is available to anyone with a small business, regardless of whether you hold a credit card.
Rewards for spending compared
All of the Hyatt credit cards earn World of Hyatt bonus points. The points you earn from credit cards are points that can be redeemed toward stays. The points you earn are not the “base points” you need for status.
The Hyatt credit cards are a good choice to use to pay for your Hyatt hotel stays. But like most hotel and airline credit cards, they offer relatively poor rewards value for purchases other than Hyatt stays. Consider a cash back credit card to earn better rewards on non-Hyatt spending. Better yet, look at card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® to earn points that can be easily redeemed for cash or transferred to Hyatt.
Here’s what each Hyatt credit card earns for Hyatt stays and in its other bonus categories.
| World of Hyatt Credit Card | World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee: $95 | Annual fee: $199 | |
| Hyatt stays | 4x | 4x |
| Airline tickets purchased directly from airlines | 2x | (Up to 2x) |
| Dining | 2x | (Up to 2x) |
| Fitness club and gym memberships | 2x | 2x |
| Restaurants | 2x | (Up to 2x) |
| Local transit and commuting | 2x | (Up to 2x) |
| Top three eligible categories each quarter | – | 2x |
| Other purchases | 1x | 1x |
The eligible categories for the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card include: Dining, Shipping, Airline tickets when purchased directly with the airline, Local transit & commuting, Social media & search engine advertising, Car rental agencies, Gas stations, Internet, cable & phone services.
Expand for more details on the categories
Airline tickets purchased directly with the airline: Only purchases for airline tickets made directly with the airline will qualify. Other air travel-related purchases will not qualify; for example, in-flight purchases, the purchasing of airline miles or points, non-ticket purchases made within the airport, and airline tickets purchased through travel agencies, discount travel sites, vacation clubs, tour operators, or tickets booked as part of a travel package offered by non-airline merchants.
Dining/Restaurants: This category’s merchants’ primary business is sit-down or eat-in dining, including fast food restaurants and fine dining establishments. Merchants that sell food and drinks located within facilities such as sports stadiums, hotels and casinos, theme parks, grocery and department stores will not be included in this category unless the merchant has set up such purchases to be classified in a restaurant category. Bakeries, caterers, meal kit delivery services, and gift card merchants are not included in the category. Delivery and takeout services will be included if they classify as a restaurant merchant.
Fitness club and gym memberships: Merchants in this category include health clubs, exercise, or athletic facilities requiring membership and offering access to services related to physical fitness, such as fitness clubs, fitness centers, fitness studios, gyms, aerobics, cardio fitness and other services such as yoga and cross fit training. Merchants that specialize in offering personalized or therapeutic services such as massage therapy, dietary and weight management counseling and personal training are not included in this category. In addition, some merchants that sell a wide variety of general goods, which may include fitness or athletic apparel, sporting goods, dietary food, health food or similar supplements are not included in this category. Also, certain lodging, hotel, motel, resort and central reservation services offering access to third party facilities that include fitness clubs or gyms are not included in this category unless they classify as a fitness club or gym membership merchant.
Local transit and commuting: Merchants in this category include operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, rideshare, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. Merchants that provide transportation and related services are not included in this category; for example, airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, vacation clubs, tour operators, bike or scooter rentals and car sharing.
Travel benefits compared
The World of Hyatt credit card offers a relatively decent suite of travel insurance benefits which make it a reasonable option to use for your airline and other common carrier purchases. In contrast, the business variant of the card doesn’t offer a robust set of benefits.
In most cases, you’ll get better rewards and benefits by putting your non-hotel travel purchases on a travel credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Capital One Venture X.
Here are the travel benefits of the Hyatt credit cards:
| World of Hyatt Credit Card | World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee: $95 | Annual fee: $199 | |
| Auto rental coverage | Up to $60,000. Secondary within the U.S.; primary outside of the U.S. Rentals up to 31 days. | Up to $60,000. Primary when renting for business. |
| Baggage delay insurance | Up to $100/day for 5 days. Applies to delays over 6 hours. | – |
| Lost luggage reimbursement | Up to $3,000 per covered traveler per trip. | – |
| Roadside assistance | Pay-per-use pre-negotiated rates. Available in the U.S. and Canada. | |
| Travel accident insurance | Up to $100,000 of 24-hour accident insurance. Up to $500,000 of common carrier accident insurance. Applies to trips up to 30 days. | – |
| Travel and emergency assistance | 24-hour worldwide referral service. Cardmember is responsible for the cost of services provided. | 24-hour worldwide referral service. Cardmember is responsible for the cost of services provided. |
| Trip cancellation/ interruption insurance | Up to $5,000 per covered traveler. Up to $10,000 per trip for all travelers. Up to $20,000 per 12 month period per account. | Up to $1,500 per covered traveler. Up to $6,000 per trip for all travelers. |
| Trip delay reimbursement | Up to $500 per covered traveler per trip. Covers 12+ hour or overnight delays. | – |
Consumer and other benefits compared
Here are the other benefits offered on the World of Hyatt credit cards.
| World of Hyatt Credit Card | World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | |
|---|---|---|
Annual fee: $95 | Annual fee: $199 | |
| Extended warranty | One additional year. Applies to U.S. warranty coverage of three years or less. | |
| Purchase protection | Up to $500 per claim within 120 days of purchase. Limit of $50,000 for the life of the account. | Up to $10,000 per claim within 120 days of purchase. Limit of $50,000 for the life of the account. |
Sign up bonuses: Best new cardmember bonuses for Hyatt credit cards
Hyatt and Chase offer sign-up bonuses for new cardmembers. Here are the current bonuses available on the Hyatt credit cards.
For more on these bonuses, including our take on the current bonuses, eligibility requirements, and more, see our coverage of the best Hyatt credit card sign-up bonuses.
 The World of Hyatt Credit Card Annual fee: $95 | Sign-up bonus: Earn up to 65,000 Bonus Points: 35,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent. Offer ends 3/6/25. Learn how to apply. The best value for most people, thanks to its annual category 1-4 free night certificate. |
 World of Hyatt Business Credit Card Annual fee: annual_fees | Sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full Learn more and apply. May be better for small business owners who stay at Hyatt, can use the 15% discount from the Hyatt Leverage membership, and want to earn more elite nights for lots of spending. |
Which Hyatt credit card is best for you?
Most people will be better off with the World of Hyatt Credit Card. The card offers more value for less spending and has the lower annual fee. Of course, which Hyatt credit card is best for you will be based on your personal situation. Here are a few things to consider:
You want to earn free nights: The World of Hyatt credit card is probably better for you, since you will receive a free night certificate each year on your cardmember anniversary and earn an additional free night at $15,000 of spending during the year.
You want a card with good travel insurance benefits: The World of Hyatt credit card has the better suite of travel insurance benefits.
Hyatt leverage membership is available to anyone: You might be tempted to get the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card for the (up to) 15% discount off standard rates offered by Hyatt Leverage membership. Chase and Hyatt marketing material (and many sites covering credit cards) list this as a benefit of the business credit card. But anyone with a business can get a Hyatt Leverage membership at no cost, even without a credit card.
World of Hyatt Credit Card: How to maximize benefits
If you have the World of Hyatt credit card, you’ll hit the card’s “sweet spot” when you spend $15,000 on the card, since you’ll earn a free night certificate after spending this much in a calendar year. (At $15,000 of spending you’ll also get a total of 11 elite nights for the year.)
Try to weight your spending toward the bonus categories. If you’re going to put more than $15,000 of spending on the card, be aware that you could likely be earning better rewards in almost every spending category other than Hyatt stays with another card.
If you want to earn Hyatt points, consider using one of the cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards® ecosystem. You’ll find card that earn more points per dollar of spending—meaning you’ll earn more points faster—and your points have additional option value. Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for cash back, transferred to Hyatt, or used for a variety of other travel rewards and transfer partners.
Here’s what you need to do to maximize the value of the World of Hyatt credit card:
- Use your card for all of your Hyatt stays. Earning 4x Hyatt points on all of your Hyatt stays beats the amount of rewards you’re likely to earn from other cards.
- Be sure to use your Category 1-4 certificate. Free night certificates can be an easy win, but free nights that go unused are worth nothing. The free night certificate expires a year after it is issued.
- Earn an additional free night certificate with $15,000 of spending in a year. After $15,000 of spending, shift your non-Hyatt spending to other cards to maximize rewards.
- Consider other cards for non-Hyatt spending. Cash back cards and cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® will be more rewarding for most non-Hyatt spending.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: How to maximize benefits
The key to maximizing the value of the Hyatt Business credit card is to use the card exclusively for your Hyatt spending and nothing else.
If you are going to use the card for non-Hyatt spending, try to pick three of the card’s eligible categories every quarter and stick with them. You can do much better than earning 1x Hyatt points on general purchases even with a no-annual-fee 2% cash back card.
In our view, it’s not worth it to spend on the card toward elite status—if you want to do that, consider the personal variant of the card, the World of Hyatt Credit Card, instead. With the personal card, you’ll get five tier-qualifying nights just for having the card and two for every $5,000 you spend. You won’t earn more total elite nights on the business card until after you’ve spent $60,000 on the card in a calendar year.
Here’s what you need to do to maximize the value of the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card:
- Use your card for all of your Hyatt stays. Earning 4x Hyatt points on all of your Hyatt stays beats the amount of rewards you’re likely to earn from other cards.
- Consider other cards for non-Hyatt spending. Cash back cards and cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® will be more rewarding for most non-Hyatt spending.
Our take: How we use the Hyatt credit cards
For me, the World of Hyatt Credit Card is an easy win. That’s the card I have and am happy to pay the annual fee for.
I’m typically able to use the category 1-4 certificate I get with The World of Hyatt Credit Card for a hotel that I’d otherwise spend north of $200/night on. The last two years, I’ve used it for a night at a hotel during a conference and that’s my plan for 2025. For me, this certificate offers more than enough value to justify keeping the personal Hyatt card.
When it comes to spending on the card, I target spending exactly (or just over) $15,000 during the calendar year to hit the card’s sweet spot. Here’s how the math works out for me.
Here’s what I get:
- Two category 1-4 certificates (that I get $200+ value out of each year)
- At least 15,000 World of Hyatt points. (In practice, I earn about twice this much because I use the card almost exclusively in its bonus categories.)
- A total of 11 elite qualifying nights.
And here’s what it costs me:
- The card’s annual fee ($95)
- Opportunity cost of cash back rewards on $15,000 of spending. ($300)
Bottom line: The World of Hyatt Credit Card is the best choice for most
Ultimately, the The World of Hyatt Credit Card is the best choice for most people who stay at least occasionally at Hyatt hotels. If you can use the card’s annual category 1-4 free night certificate, you’re likely to get easily get value in excess of the card’s annual fee.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
