Easy Travel Points for Busy People
Easy Hotel Strategy: Focus on Hyatt Hotels
There are a lot of hotel chains out there and they all have their own loyalty programs. Focusing in on one program helps limit the number of choices you have to make and helps you save time and energy when researching and booking.
We've singled out Hyatt as the top program for families to focus on because the program is easy to use, easy to earn points with, and has some great family friendly benefits.
There are a few caveats, of course! If you want to take your family to Europe, Hyatt is not a great option as it has very few hotels that will sleep even 3, let alone 4–6.
Hyatt's award chart is changing
Starting May 2026, Hyatt is moving from three pricing tiers (off-peak, standard, peak) to five tiers (lowest, low, moderate, upper, top). Hyatt will still publish an award chart and keep its 8 categories, so point prices will remain predictable within a range — but peak-time luxury stays may cost more, while some Category 1–3 stays at low-demand times can actually cost fewer points.
Some Chase cards now transfer to Hyatt at 4:3
If your Chase points are on a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or a Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card, they transfer to Hyatt at a 4:3 rate. That means you get three-quarters of the points you transfer: 100,000 Chase points = 75,000 Hyatt points. Points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ still transfer 1:1: 100,000 Chase points = 100,000 Hyatt points. The core strategy in this lesson still holds: even at 4:3, Hyatt is a good value, especially for families at Hyatt Place properties.
8 Reasons We Love Hyatt
Easy to Earn the Points
You can earn Hyatt points from a Hyatt credit card. There are two — a business and personal version. These cards don't have huge sign up bonuses, though.
The best way to earn Hyatt points is by transferring credit card points. There are now two credit card currencies that transfer to Hyatt: Chase Ultimate Rewards, which we talk a lot about in this course, and Bilt Rewards.
How many Hyatt points you end up with depends on which Chase card your points are on:
The 4:3 rate means you get three-quarters of the points you transfer. It adds a layer of math, but it's still a decent value — and later in this lesson we'll talk about when it's worth getting a Sapphire Reserve card to transfer at 1:1.
Credit cards that earn Hyatt points or points you can transfer to Hyatt
Though World of Hyatt does offer both a personal and business card, the best way to accumulate a lot of Hyatt points is by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Chase Ultimate Rewards can be earned on Chase Ink, Sapphire, and Freedom cards. Hyatt redemptions start as low as 3,500 points for a Category 1 hotel during low-demand times.
Chase also has referral bonuses on all the Ultimate Rewards earning cards! Especially in a two-person household, referring back and forth on Chase cards gives you a lot of opportunity to earn a lot of Chase points.
If you want to earn a lot of Hyatt points, you will want to start with a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Then you can refer your spouse or partner to the same card. Follow our Three Year Plan and you'll earn a lot of points you can transfer to Hyatt!
Hotel Rooms That Sleep 6
Most Hyatt Place hotels in the US sleep 6 people! They also have free breakfast which makes this a great option for families. You can even find them in beach locations (like Waikiki or Florida), ski destinations like Keystone, and by national parks (like Arches in Moab).
Hyatt House hotels don't always sleep 6 but will have a kitchen in most rooms as well as free breakfast.
No Resort Fees When You Book With Points
Resort fees are getting a little crazy at some hotel chains — they can be $50 or $75 a day. If it's supposed to be free, I want it to be free. With Hyatt, when you book with points, there are zero resort fees, so it's truly a free stay.
Great Amenities
Beautiful beaches, pools, water slides, cultural classes, fitness classes. Many Hyatt resorts offer great family amenities! The resort properties are going to get you more amenities, but they're also going to cost you more.
All-Inclusive Options
A lot of families like being able to book into an all-inclusive with Hyatt points, and then it's a truly free vacation. All-inclusives tend to cost more points, especially the nicer ones, but it's a nice option to be able to fold all of your food and drinks into the experience.
Hyatt Quality
Booking hotels on a budget can be iffy. The pictures may look good, but when you get there the furniture is over worn, there is hair in the shower, and the room smells mildewy. Generally we find Hyatt to have pretty standard quality across its brands. And the best part is you're getting great quality for FREE with points.
Hyatt has a smaller footprint than other chains — there aren't as many Hyatts in the world as there are IHG or Marriott hotels — but we find the quality pretty consistent. We generally don't even check reviews before we book a Hyatt. We've never really had a bad experience, and when something wasn't right, I wrote a little message and we usually got some free points out of it. Their customer service is good and pretty responsive.
Availability
Unlike other hotel chains, there is not a cap on the number of award rooms available with Hyatt. Their policy is that "World of Hyatt Standard-Room Free Night Awards are available when hotels have standard rooms available at the Standard Rate." So if there are standard rooms available for your dates, you will be able to book those rooms with points.
If you can plan a year or 13 months out, it's pretty consistently easy to get the room you want. We don't like to plan that far in advance, and we still find pretty good availability closer in as well.
Solid Value
We are always looking to get good value with our points. You could go through Chase Travel℠ or the Capital One portal to book with points and cover travel purchases and this is a very easy option. But booking Hyatt hotels with points directly through Hyatt (using Ultimate Rewards transferred to World of Hyatt) is a way to very easily increase the value you are getting — even at the 4:3 rate.
Here's an example. The Hyatt Regency Maui is a really popular hotel to book with points. At peak season (summer, spring break, or Christmas break), it's 30,000 points a night, so two nights is 60,000 Hyatt points. People paying cash are paying close to $1,500 for those same two nights — and so much of that comes from occupancy tax, resort fees, and resort fee tax. When you book with points, you don't pay any of that.
To get 60,000 Hyatt points:
- With a Chase Sapphire Preferred® (4:3), you'd transfer 80,000 Chase points.
- With a Chase Sapphire Reserve® (1:1), you'd transfer 60,000 Chase points.
Transfer 100,000 Chase points from a Sapphire Preferred and you'd have 75,000 Hyatt points — enough for those two nights in Maui with 15,000 points left over. This is a high-end option; there are other Hyatts you can book for as low as 5,000 points per night, so even with the reduced ratio, those points go a long way.
When It's Worth Getting a Sapphire Reserve
If Hyatt becomes a strategy you like, it's going to be worth it to strategically upgrade to or apply for a Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ so your points transfer at 1:1 instead of 4:3.
You won't have to keep the card forever. Time it with when you can also earn a welcome offer, because that first year is when you get a huge welcome offer. It is more work to have a high annual fee card, because you have to make sure you're using the credits to offset the fee. But if you can use the credits and make some Hyatt transfers during that time, it's worth it.
You can be strategic about saving up points across a household, transferring them to Hyatt while someone has the Sapphire Reserve, and then switching it out later. If Hyatt is a strategy you love, it's worth holding one of those higher fee cards at least every other year, or as often as you need to, to transfer your points.
With Hyatt's May 2026 pricing changes and the 4:3 transfer rate on some Chase cards, it's more important than ever to compare the current Hyatt point cost against the cash rate before transferring your Chase points. When the math works out, the value is still exceptional — and Hyatt remains one of the easiest and most family-friendly hotel programs to focus on.
