Previously, I wrote about the global distribution of Hilton 5,000-point hotels and 10,000-point hotels. Although the format was nothing groundbreaking, it was paired with stackable deals, and quite a few readers were interested in this kind of low-key article. I’m planning to write up the distribution of Hyatt 5,000-point hotels and IHG 10,000-point hotels as well, and update them regularly. This post is here to organize Hyatt’s global 5,000-point hotels. The data is compiled from Hyatt’s search site. Hyatt award redemptions follow categories strictly, based on Standard Rooms:

  • Cat-1: 5,000/night
  • Cat-2: 8,000/night
  • Cat-3: 12,000/night
  • Cat-4: 15,000/night
  • Cat-5: 20,000/night
  • Cat-6: 25,000/night
  • Cat-7: 30,000/night
  • Cat-8: 40,000/night

Considering that the welcome bonus on a Chase World of Hyatt card is usually 40,000-50,000 points, and Hyatt does not offer a fifth-night-free-style benefit for award stays, redeeming at 5,000 points per night can get you about 8 to 10 nights. And quite a few of these hotels are Hyatt House or Hyatt Place properties, both of which include breakfast, making them very convenient for travel. Hyatt hotels are generally of pretty high quality as well. I personally really like Hyatt properties, but I no longer have the Chase Hyatt co-branded card (Chase killed it for me), and I’m not a Globalist either, which is a real pity. There are a lot of hotels in this post, so if you’re only interested in stackable deals, just scroll down to the end and take a look.

A generous Hyatt will usually notify you before a Cat change, but final redemption is still based on the official website.

Global distribution of Hyatt Cat 1 hotels. Note: this map may omit a few hotels. [Photo credit: Travelisfree (Updated: March 19, 2019)]

Distribution in the Americas

United States, including Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, and Hyatt House

Hyatt Cat-1 hotel distribution【Photo credit: Travelisfree (Updated: March 19, 2019)】

Canada

Mexico, 10 properties

Nicaragua, 1 property

Panama, 1 property

Costa Rica, 1 property

Honduras, 2 properties

Brazil, 2 properties

Colombia, 1 property

Asia

China, 34 properties, including Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, and Hyatt HouseShanghai, 6 properties:

Shenzhen, 4 properties:

Chengdu, 2 properties:

Yinchuan, 2 properties:

Chongqing, 2 properties:

Other cities:

Distribution of Hyatt Cat-1 hotels in China; note: some hotels overlap【Photo credit: Travelisfree (Updated: March 19, 2019)】

India, 23 hotels, covering six brands: Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt, and Park Hyatt

Hyatt Cat-1 hotel distribution in India, note: some hotels overlap [Photo credit: Travelisfree (Updated: March 19, 2019)]

Nepal, 1 property

Tajikistan, 1 property

Indonesia, 3 properties, including 2 newly opened Alilas

Malaysia, 3 properties, including 1 newly opened Alila

Thailand, 2 properties

Other regions

Armenia

Russia

Serbia

Turkey

Egypt

United Arab Emirates

Stackable offers

Hyatt does not have another points program's 4th night free redemption, but fortunately Hyatt's promotions are usually friendly to points stays. They can also be stacked. Let's take a look at which offers in Q3 and Q4 of 2019 can be combined with 5,000-point rooms:

Public Offer

1.1 Promotion 1: 500 Reasons to Stay Somewhere New, stay at participating new hotels and earn an extra 500 points per stay (seems to be updated monthly). No registration required, and award stays can trigger the bonus. In the August 2019 list, the Cat-1 hotels include the following:

1.2 Promotion 2: New Brands offer, earn an extra 2,000 points on your first stay at the four brands. No registration required, and award stays can trigger the bonus. The promotion runs through December 31, 2019. In the Cat-1 category, only three Alila properties in Indonesia and Malaysia currently qualify:

1.3 Promotion 3: New App offer, book hotels using Hyatt's new app and earn an extra 500 points per stay. No registration required; you need to book through the new app. FlyerTalk DPs show that award stays can trigger the bonus. Promotion period: August 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019.

More hotel program offers: please go here (click me)

Targeted offers

  • Points-back-2019, Get 10% of your redeemed points back, only for Chase World of Hyatt co-branded cardholders! Registration required. Promotion period: July 1, 2019 to September 2, 2019. For a Cat-1 redemption, you can get 500 points back for one night. Hyatt often has offers targeted at cardholders [the author is already crying at the keyboard]
  • Other targeted offers, such as the one I received, Earn 2,000 Bonus Points on Your First Hyatt Centric Stay, no registration required, valid through September 30, 2019. However, the only Cat-1 Hyatt Centric properties are in India...

Combine with Hyatt's 5-Brand free night promotion

This one doesn’t require registration either. For every 5 Brands you stay at, you’ll get one Free Night Certificate (Cat 1-4) FN, and for every additional 5 you’ll get another FN. You can spend 25,000 on one trip to India and complete stays at five flavors of Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Place, Grand Hyatt, and Park Hyatt (5 of 6), and snag another FN on top of that. If you also factor in the other stacking offers mentioned earlier... you’ll end up using even fewer points. Of course, that assumes your flights are free and you like curry flavor..

Combine with the Hyatt points sale

If your Hyatt points are running low, besides earning them through stays, transferring Chase UR points, or opening a Chase World of Hyatt card and other traditional methods, you can also buy them. Hyatt often runs a pretty generous points sale. The current 40% bonus offer has already been around for a while, and this round runs through August 27, 2019 (my guess is it’ll be extended again soon). Without stacking anything else, the cost comes out to about 1.71c/p, slightly below Hyatt points’ valuation. Points purchases are processed through Points.com: Points purchase link (don’t buy directly—go through a rebate site! See below)

Other hotel points sales: click here to check them out

How to maximize points purchases:

Book with cash directly

Considering that the lowest-tier award nights usually aren’t too expensive, and Hyatt is relatively high quality among the major hotel groups, if you want to stay somewhere nicer but still save a bit of money, booking a Hyatt Cat-1 with cash from time to time is also a good option. I’ve already checked the links one by one; if there’s a hotel on your own travel route, you can go directly through the links in the article to book.

Conclusion

Hyatt points are very valuable, so using them carefully is perfectly fine (mainly because we’re broke...). The above promotions also work well for upscale suites and higher-category redemptions. Hyatt has always been one of the more generous hotel programs. Chase World of Hyatt is a particularly good card; only after losing it do you realize how good it is. The current sign-up bonus is 50,000 points. Combined with the many promotions above, that’s enough for more than a dozen Cat-1 nights. It also comes with one Cat 1-4 FN each year, making it well worth the annual fee. If you don’t have it yet and you’re still within Chase 5/24, I’d suggest jumping on it quickly. A 5,000-point room is also a good option for people slowly working toward World of Hyatt elite status. High rollers can do whatever they want..

This post may inevitably have some omissions. If you have any good additions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Related posts in this series