I was reading through my facebook feed and stumbled across a newbie in the miles and points game that was looking for places to stay in Costa Rica for little cash.
My first thought is always points – so I recommended the Chase Hyatt Visa credit card which is currently [August 2018] offering 60,000 Hyatt points after spending $6000 in six months. These 66,000 points could be used at the category 4 Andaz Papagayo which is an amazing resort on the beach in Costa Rica. And she mentions ‘we’ so her partner/spouse/friend could also sign up for it to make the stay 8 nights.
If she feels more comfortable with a $5000 spending requirement in a shorter period of time (3 months vs 6 months), she could also signup for the Chase Ink Preferred Business card which offers 80,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points after spending $5000 in three months. After meeting the spending requirement, she could then transfer those 85,000 Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt which would get her a 5 night stay.
The above Facebook post got my thinking why I love and continue to keep the Chase Hyatt Visa year after year even with it’s $95/year fee:
1. Sign-Up Bonus
60,000 points is even better than the previous two free nights at any Hyatt sign up bonus. Since the highest category Hyatt costs 30,000 per night – you are essentially getting at least two free nights at any Hyatt.
Or you can stretch the 60,000 points to twelve nights at a 5,000 point Category 1 Hyatt – there is much more flexibility with points instead of free night certificates.
Unfortunately when I signed up when the offer was for the free night certificates. But don’t feel bad for me, I used my two free nights at the Category 7 Park Hyatt New York which was going for $1267/night in December 2016. My wife used her two nights at the Park Hyatt Maldives which was close to $1500/night in January 2017.
With the current 60,000 point offer, you can get 4 nights at the Andaz Papagoya. When the FrequentMiler went this past Christmas, rooms were running almost $1500/night, and he paid 15,000 points only. So it is possible to get $6000 value ($1500 x 4) from this one credit card sign up bonus.
2. Annual Free Night Certificate
The Chase Hyatt Visa also comes with a free annual night at any Category 1-4. The Andaz Papagoya mentioned above is a category 4 so you can use the annual free night there if you wanted to. I usually use my free annual night at Dewey beach, where the Hyatt Place usually runs $500/night. The value I get out of the annual free night is well worth the card’s $95 annual fee.
Hyatt Place Dewey Beach
3. Promotions
The last reason I continue to keep the Chase Hyatt Visa is for the ongoing promotions which saved me some serious cash which easily covers the $95/year fee. A few of the more recent ones include:
- Currently cardmembers can receive back 10% points for stays in August & September 2018 (must register here)
- Earlier this year there was a $30 statement credit for spending $300 at grocery stores
- In the summer of 2017, if you registered for the promotion, you would receive 10% of your points back on stays between June 1st and September 5th. I was able to get back 12,900 points. Hyatt points are worth at least 1.5¢ each, so that’s like an extra $193.
- Also last summer there was a $20 statement credit when spending $50 at Whole Foods – it was easy enough to buy a $50 gift card to get $20 back.
Don’t have the Chase Hyatt Visa yet? What are you waiting for – APPLY NOW! (my referral link – thanks if you use)