The Chase Hyatt Visa has been around for a long time. Historically, the sign-up bonus has been two free nights after $2,000 spent in three months.
They’ve periodically targeted people for sign-up bonuses in the form of points rather than free nights. This can sometimes be a good thing, though not the case with the latest targeted offer.
My brother received a targeted offer via email for a Chase Hyatt Visa and it has got to be the worst offer yet: 40,000 points after $2,000 spent within 3 months.
Last year the Chase Hyatt Visa offered 50,000 bonus points after $1,000 spent within 3 months. At the time, I argued that this was actually better than the two free nights because it provided more flexibility. The bonus could be stretched out across lower-category hotels and Points + Cash stays.
I also argued that since there were only seven hotels at the time, getting enough points for just two nights at a Category 6 hotel wouldn’t be so bad.
This sign-up bonus is enough for two free nights at a Category 5 Hyatt hotel, which features nice enough properties but if you want to book a Category 6 or higher, you’ll have to opt for Points + Cash.
There’s still the option to redeem points for lower category hotels. But the bonus is less than what was previously offered. Besides, there are Ultimate Rewards credit cards with higher sign-up bonuses that 40,000 points, which can be transferred to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.
It would be nice if Chase at least matched the targeted sign-up bonus for the Hyatt Visa to the Sapphire Preferred, which is currently offering 50,000 points after $4,000 spent in 3 months.
Never mind that the Sapphire Reserve offers twice that for the same amount of spend. It’s almost insulting that Chase would “target” people for a sign-up bonus that’s worse than the publicly available offer.
Anyway, consider this a public service announcement for the newbies and a rant for those who know better. A targeted 40,000 point sign-up bonus for the Chase Hyatt Visa isn’t worth getting. In fact, it’s not even comparable to the two free unrestricted nights that are part of the publicly available offer.
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