The Hyatt program is pretty nice. We earn the 60 qualifying nights from a combination of free and paid night stays, as well as credit card spend (2nts for $5K), plus 5 nights/yr for having the card. Our rule #1 though is to pay the card in full each month. btw, 3,500 points/night is Category 1 (off-peak). I've only gotten that rate on one reservation (ever). It's somewhat rare. The Standard Cat 1 rate is 5,000 points/night (which is still outstanding compared to Hilton or Marriott).
@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel Definitely...not AirB &B -its already tiring enough logistically traveling! Travel in luxury is always a preference - impressed with your game plans.
We have had a Hyatt card for years and Love love love it even though we are not Globalist. Our first offer was 2 nights at ANY Hyatt. We both had cards and were able to spend 4 nights at Park Hyatt Manhattan. It was fabulous. The only tiny negative is that Hyatt keeps upgrading hotels to level 5 so you lose those free night hotels. Great great great card. BTW My son went one year to high school in Kyoto
The worst was when they added Cat8 without any hope of a cert, but at least now there is a way if you're traveling a lot! Japan won out in the category changes this year plus a couple new great hotels opened. Park Hyatt Manhattan was also our first PH experience.
Once you have status with one brand you can play off the others to status match faster. For example we are Hilton Diamond from our Aspire card, so once we had the WOH Hyatt card we called and asked if they would match our Hilton status. They gave us a challenge of staying just 20 nights instead of the 60 to then be granted globalist status. A couple of planned weekend breaks and stays at Hyatt Houses and bingo Globalist. All points are not created equal either so I don’t think it’s fair to compare like for like with a Hilton and Hyatt as earning is so different. We don’t have an issue spending Hilton points and usually redeem at higher end properties. We are staying 16 nights in the Maldives for Christmas in an overwater bungalow for 110k points a night. Total cash value is over $34k for the stay.
Hilton points is 30K to 90K or more. Hyatt 3K to 25K or more. It doesn’t mean Hyatt is cheaper it’s just a different currency. We use all 4 for different reasons. Hyatt, Hilton, IHG and Marriott. Stayed in the Maldives for 125K a night. Total saving $36K. Stayed in Al Maha in Dubai for 350K Marriott saving $10K. Staying in Grand Hyatt Denver for 33K for 3 nights saving g $1300. It’s all relative with what you want to do. Aspirational stays are important to me. Just spent 5.5 Million points this year and have 10M still to spend. Will continue to accumulate points across all 4 hotel brands and spend them as appropriate
Hello, your generous information is gold! 😊 If you find time will you explain the visa process? Are you re-applying every 30 -60 days while traveling? Do you re-apply for every country ? My husband and I appreciate the two of you introducing us to this exciting lifestyle …we are looking forward to the day we can start trying this out!!
I too am working towards Hyatt status. I need to do a quick 1 nt here in the U.S. to get me to the 20 nights milestone and take the 2 club access award so I can use the club at an upcoming Hyatt Regency overseas. I need to have that before I make my resv and then I’ll have club access for my four night stay.
Booking for the new Caption by Hyatt in Osaka just opened so a brand new category 1 Hyatt with a few 3500 pt nights if you search. The number of points I earned back from promotions last year was wild. Mostly lived in Hyatt's after our lease ended and before we executed our international move in the fall. Assuming you're doing Hyatt Place in Kyoto its a good location with a decent breakfast. We're looking forward to PH Tokyo reopening after the renovation. The first week long SUA award we ever used was Tokyo so we're excited to see the changes because the suite was worth the point splurge.
When I traveled for business, I would save my points for personal use. I loved it! Unfortunately, that has been awhile and I don’t travel anymore for work. Atleast not yet.
@@dotted8- Thank you SO MUCH! I didn't notice the double night promotion for Thompson in the app. I have an upcoming 3 night stay at a Thompson hotel next month so I immediately registered. Your tip will earn me an additional 3 qualifying nights this year!!!!!
I love you guys and it's so cool that you're doing what you love. But are you really retired? Seems like you're self-employed running a travel business that's very profitable. Again, I'm a fan and have watched soo many of your vids because I totally want to do it as well. But I need to prepare myself that I'd still be applying for credit cards to get new sign up bonuses as well as running at least 1 travel channel.
Looking forward to your newsletter! Do you mind including in it the names of the properties where you've stayed over the last six months or year? Would be nice to have them in one place for those of us planning to follow your footsteps.
Congratulations on what looks like an amazing stay. 😮😊 Talk about point hacking...😮👍💪 Do you do your research June through August, in November, in December, or throughout the year? Didn't you put a how you plan your year video? 🤔👍
This info is amazing but how on earth do you keep all the cards, their rewards and what you have earned straight? Do you use a spreadsheet of some sort? It seems like a lot of info to keep straight.
Wow, this Hyatt hotel looks really nice! I am planning my trip to Japan in September! Can you let me know what is the full name of this hotel? I am considering booking it! Thanks❤
I notice alot of banks are quick to close accounts and shut down cards. I wish they would contact people validate the charge before closing things down.
I enjoy watching your videos. I guess to dip my toe into something like this I would like to go to all 50 states and stay a month and explore. Can I use the same programs for that or does this only apply to like international travel?❤
Just signed up for your newsletter. Looking forward to receiving it. Quick question...is it worth getting these cards if my husband wants to travel mostly in the U.S.?
It is for the most part, for instance most of the hotel cards come with a free night, that is valuable considering the cost of hotels in the US right now. The Chase cards will still earn valuable points in dining and travel. The Amex cards have great statuses they give you.
Great information, think my wife is ready to at least head to Asia for a few months to check it out thanks to your channel. I have a question. When you said to have two of the same card. Did you mean two separate accounts or just two cards like my card and Wynns card but same account. Thanks. Keith
What about the Chase Sapphire Reserve card? Would that card alone enable you to work toward and attain Globalist status. Or are you better off also getting a Hyatt card? Thanks
You can transfer the UR points from the Reserve to Hyatt and book rooms with those points, but otherwise, no help with Globalist. So better to have the Hyatt card and, at the minimum, get the 5 elite nights per year and the Cat 1-4 free night certificate, and accumulate more Hyatt points from the paid stays.
We use the CSR and the Chase Hyatt card for earning Globalist status. On paid stays at Hyatt, use the Hyatt card for 9x points. Your free nights (certificates or points) at Hyatt brands also earn Qualifying nights. So when you use the CSR card for travel for 3x points and you transfer them to Hyatt, you'll get more free Hyatt stays (and qualifying nights towards status). It still takes a lot of activity to get to 60 qualifying nights. We were coming up short until we started paying our quarterly federal estimated income tax with our Chase Hyatt card to earn 2 qualifying nights for each $5k spend. That strategy is a last resort because you have to pay a 1.8% fee for the privilege ($90 for $5,000 spend). But it put us over the top.
Unfortunately, this only works for Americans. These credit cards require a SSN to apply. I have a US tax payer ID but that is not enough 😢. I’m Canadian but, because I travel all year, I am not considered a Canadian resident and therefore cannot apply for Canadian credit cards either.
In my experience, most Hyatts ask you to show your credit card upon check-in for security purposes (even if they have it on file). After that I usually don't have to show the card again, unless you have an extended stay of more than 14 days (or so). I never tried to use my credit card from an e-wallet for a hotel, so I can't comment on that - but good question.
Thank You for the answer... I would really like to know about the digital wallet as it would be nice to not have carry so many physical cards around all the time@@DaveM-FFB
They wouldn't let us do it when we lost our IHG card last month. So we had to pay for a week at an IHG with a Hyatt card. So that's why we both are planning to have a Hyatt and IHG card.
@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel thank you so much… I really wish they would start taking the digital wallet would make it so much easier… I want to start getting more cards just so not want to carry them all around with me… lol
Do you all churn cards or because you all get so many nights you don't need to get new cards with welcome offers? Hopefully that makes sense. Thank you for your time as always
You have to earn the 60 nights each year to maintain Globalist status. Unless you're traveling full time like Rob and Allie, it takes most people pretty much the whole year to earn the 60 nights. Once you earn the 60 you're a Globalist immediately, and also for the following calendar year.
