Should I Buy Hotel Points?

Hotels and airlines allow you to purchase points and miles that you can then redeem for stays and airfare. Sometimes they even have promotional periods where you get bonus points or discounts on top of the normally offered points or miles. However, is it a good value to buy these points and miles? Let’s break down an example below so you can apply this to all future similar situations.

Generally it is not a good idea to buy points without having a booking in mind and ready to go. Speculatively buying points is not recommended because points can (and have) devalue over time. The points you buy now for a future stay may not be worth the same when you’re ready to book. This becomes an issue when you thought you had enough points for a 7 night stay but it ends up being only good for a 5 night stay. Hyatt points are generally worth 1.4 cents per point (cpp).

As of the writing of this article on 10/09/2021, Hyatt Hotels is offering an additional 30% bonus points when purchasing points for future stays, offering good until 10/31/2021. With the current promo, the points comes out to about 1.84cpp.

Note: Hyatt Hotels only allows purchasing up to 55,000 points pre-bonus, per year, per account. Usually, booking with points can allow you to save more by not having to pay taxes and fees.

The 30% Bonus Points Promotion:

  • 1,000 Bonus Points for $24 (no bonus points)

  • 14,000 Bonus Points + 4,200 Bonus Bonus Points for $336

  • 28,000 Bonus Points + 8,400 Bonus Bonus Points for $672

  • 41,000 Bonus Points + 12,300 Bonus Bonus Points for $984

  • 55,000 Bonus Points + 16,500 Bonus Bonus Points for $1,320

*Formula for cents per point (cpp): Cash Price / Total Points = cpp

*Example: $336 / 14,000 + 4,800 = 1.84cpp

Example Scenario

Let’s say you want to book a two night stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. The cash price before taxes and fees is $933/night (between 11/21/21 to 11/23/21). After taxes and fees, the total for a two night stay comes to $2,295.11 in total if you want to book directly using cash. 

This resort can also be booked at 25,000 points per night. If you want to use points for two nights then you will need 50,000 Hyatt points total (25,000/night). If we do the math, ($2,295.11/50,000 points) we get about 4.59cpp when using Hyatt Points. This is an amazing redemption in my book as remembering that Hyatt points are generally valued at 1.4cpp.

Let’s say we want to buy the points during this promo and max out our annual Hyatt Points purchase by making a single purchase of 55,000 bonus points + 16,500 bonus bonus points at $1,320. This gives us 71,500 Hyatt points at 1.84cpp ($1,320 / 71,500 points).

Using this promo to purchase the points needed for two nights at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, it would cost me $1,320 and I would still have some left over. If I booked cash it would have cost me $2,295.11. That’s a savings of $975.11.

Bottom Line

Generally, buying points should only be considered if you’re planning to pay for a trip with “cash” to begin with. Instead of paying directly with cash, you may be able to save some money and buy the equivalent of the stay in points, thus saving you a little cash.

So what did we learn? Always do the math, see if it’s worth it for you. Have a stay in mind and ready to book. Note: You can combine Hyatt Points with other people in your household by contacting Hyatt.