How I use my World of Hyatt card for free nights, status boosts

The World of Hyatt loyalty program and its corresponding The World of Hyatt Credit Card from Chase are my favorite pair when it comes to hotel credit cards.

While there are many great hotel rewards cards out there, the Hyatt card is at the top of my list for two big reasons. First, with the World of Hyatt card, it’s easy to earn multiple free nights every year at Hyatt properties worldwide. Second, the card’s benefits make it possible for me to earn Hyatt “Globalist” elite status year after year.

See related: 6 ways to get a free hotel stay

Earn five or more free nights a year

Every year my Hyatt credit card helps me earn at least five free nights at pretty great hotels like the Park Hyatt New York, the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, the all-inclusive Miraval spa in Tucson, Arizona, or the Olive 8 Seattle, a closer-to-home favorite.

With the World of Hyatt Credit Card, you earn a free night certificate for any category 1-4 property every year on your card anniversary. You also earn an additional free night for the same category level every calendar year when you spend $15,000 on your card. And a single one of these stays easily covers the cost of the $95 annual fee.

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If you’re new to the World of Hyatt rewards card, you can earn up to 60,000 points as your introductory bonus. You’ll get 30,000 World of Hyatt points when you spend $3,000 in the first three months. On top of that, you can score up to 30,000 more bonus points by earning 2 points per dollar on purchases that typically earn 1 point per dollar, on up to $15,000 in spending during your first six months.

For new cardholders, these bonus points are enough for 12 free nights at the lowest category Hyatt Place hotel or two free nights at some of the world’s nicest and most expensive Hyatts – like the Alila Ventana Big Sur or the Park Hyatt Maldives, both of which have rack rates starting at $800 a night in the low seasons.

On top of these free nights for sign-up bonuses, card anniversaries and spending thresholds, the World of Hyatt program has a program to gift you free night certificates for trying different hotel brands within its portfolio. Each time you stay at five different Hyatt hotel brands for the first time, World of Hyatt gives you another category 1-4 free night certificate. With 20 brands in the property group, that’s four more free nights to unlock as a member.

And of course, the more nights you stay at Hyatt hotels each year, the more opportunities you have to earn free night certificates that come as you achieve elite status milestones. If you stay 30 nights in one year, you’ll get another category 1-4 free night award. Stay 40 nights in one year, and you can choose 5,000 bonus points or a $100 Hyatt gift card (enough to cover another Category 1 free night).

After 50 nights, you’ll earn two confirmed suite upgrade awards, then again after 60. Plus, at 60 nights, you’ll earn a certificate for a free night at any hotel up to a category 7. And all of these free nights you’re earning and using count toward your elite status to help you make it to more of those milestones!

See related: The hidden costs of free hotel award nights

Level up your elite status by spending

Even for those who don’t stay at Hyatt hotels very often, the World of Hyatt credit card from Chase gives complimentary Discoverist elite status to cardholders.

Discoverist status gets you 2 p.m. checkout and a few other benefits. But if you’re like me and want to upgrade to Hyatt’s Globalist status to take advantage of the greater benefits of every stay (like free breakfast, 4 p.m. checkout, suite upgrades and no resort fees), you’ll have to unlock 60 night credits a year to achieve this level.

Unless you’re a big road warrior, achieving 60 – or even 30 – qualifying nights toward elite status requires spending a lot of time in hotels in a calendar year, but this is another big place where the World of Hyatt Credit Card comes in handy.

As a cardholder, I start each year with the gift of five elite qualifying night credits without even staying in a hotel. Plus, every time I spend $5,000 on my card, Hyatt credits me with two more elite night credits. Since I’m spending a minimum of at least $15,000 on the card each calendar year to secure my free night certificate, that’s a minimum of another six elite night credits each year.

Add all of those to the five qualifying nights I’ll also earn from my free stays, and that’s 16 nights toward my status without paying for any hotel rooms – halfway to 2021 Globalist status!

See related: What to do if you haven’t traveled in a while and your points are expiring

Bottom line

The World of Hyatt Credit Card has tons of great benefits to help cardholders earn free nights, level up status and take advantage of lots of great hotel and reward amenities. If you’ve never had Hyatt Globalist status before, 2021 is probably the easiest year there will ever be to earn it, and the World of Hyatt credit card will certainly help you get a head start on your earning.