World of Hyatt $15K Free Night Changes
I received a letter in the mail yesterday about my World of Hyatt credit card and the $15K free night change. Usually letters from credit card issuers only come with bad news but this is a change that I was actually happy to see. And with the new World of Hyatt $15K free night change there is a potential double dip mixed in there for extra measure.
Update 8/1/21:
I figured I should do a quick reminder / update on this since my annual fee posted a few weeks back. We talked about it on this week’s podcast episode but remember that this switches to calendar year, from cardmember year, starting January 1, 2022. Because of that I can earn an additional free night from now until the end of the year. But even bigger is to remember that you don’t have a full year from your anniversary date to do it. Any spending you do till the end of the year will be for nothing if you don’t hit the $15K amount since it will reset.
Reltated: (Date Announced) Legacy Hyatt Card Will Convert to World of Hyatt Visa
Changes to $15K Free Night
World of Hyatt cardholders have the opportunity to earn a category 1-4 free night after spending $15,000 in a cardmember year. This is on top of the anniversary night certificate they get for paying the $95 annual fee. I have done some creative things in the past to easily earn this extra free night. That is now changing with the new setup:
- From your account open anniversary in 2020 to your account anniversary in 2021 you can earn a free night per the normal terms.
- From your account anniversary in 2021 till December 31, 2021 you can earn an additional free night certificate after an additional $15,000 in spend.
- Starting on January 1, 2022 you will be able to earn a free night certificate after spending $15,000 each calendar year.
World of Hyatt and Chase are changing the earing calendar to a calendar year instead of cardmember year.
The Potential Double Dip
If you have been following along then you probably already see the potential double dip. In 2021 you could potentially earn 2 free night certificates. This will be more difficult for anyone that has their cardmember anniversary at the end of the year. But, for anyone that has it towards the middle of the year etc. you could earn one before your anniversary date in 2021 and then another one before 1/1/2022. After that, you will be able to earn one per calendar year going forward. That is a nice little perk of the system change.
Final Thoughts & Why I love This Change
Outside of the potential double dip next year I really like this change. I value simplicity a lot and this change offers it in spades. No longer will I have to remember when my anniversary date is and when my wife’s one is and then juggle back and forth between the two. Throw in the fact that many of us also have the Hilton Surpass card, and its free night is based on a calendar year, and it always got a little messy.
I will also say that Chase seems to have no idea what to do if you upgraded into the World of Hyatt card, which many people will be forced into soon. They can’t tell you if everything is based on the upgrade date or the original sign up date. And your anniversary night will post months after your annual fee bills because of it. This change gets everyone on the same page, including the Chase reps, which should avoid a big potential mess that was coming.
I will now have two World of Hyatt cards and one Surpass card all on the same calendar starting in 2022. That will make the process that much easier. I will earn one certificate and move onto the next throughout the year never second guessing if the clock has reset yet.
And it should go without saying if you are going for Globalist, this spend really helps as with $30,000 spend you’d also get 12 nights credit for spending that much (they award 2 nights for every $5k spend).
And this year you only need 50% of the usual so only 30 nights to get Globalist.
I’ve earned a couple of these $15K spend free nights over the years. The problem for me is that they are only valid for 6 months. That doesn’t always easily fit with my travel plans.
Oh no – I thought they were good for a full 1 year from issuance. Is the 6 month time frame def true because that certainly is an issue
They are good for 12 months. The ones earned from milestones are only good for 6 months.
Sorry – you’re right. I’m glad to see that the policy has changed. I did have trouble in the past with these and the 5-Brand Free Night Awards expiring in 6 months. It used to be that you could not use a Club Upgrade Award on one of these Free Nights. It would be great if that had changed, too.
$15k on this card seems like a lot to me. Would it be better to just put the spend on a CSR card and either redeem for 1.5 cents or transfer to Hyatt? It wouldn’t expire or be limited to cat 1-4 either.
$15k gets you a free night – and somewhere between 15-30k in points for the 15k spend. So it is def getting you at least 2 free nights at a Cat 4
Yeah people forget that the card earns points AND gets you a free night. It is essentially 2-3 points per dollar on $15k in spend if you use it at a cat 4. As long as you use the cert at a cat 2 or higher you come out ahead of a Freedom Unlimited – assuming all 1x earning spend
Got my WoH card in Feb 2021. I’ve spent over $15k.
Does this mean if I spend another $15k+, I’ll get two free nights?
Nope, this is more for legacy cardholders. You will be able to start spending towards the next free night on Jan 1st instead of having to wait till February though.
Not so great for me, my card anniversary date is December 30th… Oh well.
any idea how to check your anniversary? i applied for card on 12/29/19 but don’t remember if i was approved that day or if there was a delay.
You can send them a secure message and they should be able to tell you.
I got the WoH card on January 28, 2020. I hit the $15k free night certificate within a few months of having the card. Does this mean that between January 1 and January 28, I have a four week window to spend another $15k for a free night certificate, then another $15k after the anniversary date but before the end of the year?
You unfortunately don’t get anything really with the change since yours is so close to January 1st. You can earn a new one starting the 28th of 2021 and then it starts new again 1/1/22. So basically the new window opens a month earlier after next year for you but not much of a benefit really.
following
Why say double dip? If you need to spend 30000 to get two FNs, it is not double dip. Double dip means get 2 FNs after spending 15000.
Because normally you can only earn 1 over a 12 month period. This would allow you to earn 2.
Does the spend counter reset on your card anniversary or when you spend $15000? IE. if the anniversary is in October and you spend $20000 from January – October; does the counter for the 2nd free night start at $0 or $5000?
i think it resets and you start at 0. So you would need to do the full 15k from oct-dec. That’s why Mark said it would be difficult to get the 2nd night if you have an anniversary date late in the year
Yes it resets – you would start from 0 again.
Well I’m pretty sure I could get more than the value of a single 1-4 category stay when spending $15,000.
You also get 15-30k points, depending on your spending category.
It works out to around 3% in return on non bonus spend. That is pretty tough to beat unless you are working on a welcome offer. If you pair it up with one of their spending offers (like 5X right now) then you are not gonna beat it. Throw in the fact that it earns elite night credits and most people will find it worthwhile. But it isn’t for everyone that is for sure.
I have the old card – so I guess they are sending me a new card at the beginning of Jan (my anniversary date is June 1). I assume that once I get the new card, I have from that date until June 1 to spend $15k, but not entirely sure. But if it does allow that, then i have a good anniversary date to take advantage of the 2 nights next year. It is clear for existing WOH cardholders, but not clear on old cardholders who are being upgraded.