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Whilst I was disconnected from the internet for a week – I’ll leave you to decide whether I was sent to “rehab” to try to cure me of an unhealthy obsession with miles and points – World of Hyatt e-mailed me with details of their latest promotion. Members who buy more than 10,000 points will receive a 40% bonus. The promotion runs until 9 August, 2017.

Points usually cost $24 per 1,000, so this 40% bonus brings your cost down to $17.14 per 1,000. (roughly 1.3p per point) The annual maximum that each member can buy per year is 55,000 points, which would become 77,000 points thanks to the bonus.

To buy points, you should click on this link and provide your account details.

This year’s change from “Hyatt Gold Passport” to “World of Hyatt” has been received quite negatively, especially by members enjoying elite status. But I believe that the programme still provides interesting value, and not just to those Diamonds / Globalists who receive free breakfast and four free suite upgrades per year. So, does it make sense to buy Hyatt points for 1.3p each?

Considering that the InsideFlyer UK valuation of a Hyatt point is 1.5p, this promotion would appear to be a bargain. And here’s why…

World of Hyatt has seven award categories. You can investigate which hotels belong to which category by clicking here. However, unlike other hotel chains Categories 1 and 2 contain some excellent hotels, not just the low service, out-of-the-way dregs…

£65 is likely to be a reasonable bargain for a Category 1 hotel, whilst there are Category 7 hotels where £390 is also a bargain.

For example, I chose a truly random midweek date for a full service Hyatt Regency Category 1 hotel near Washington DC’s Dulles airport. Here’s what I found…

Since the standard room is available using points, I know I would rather buy points today and pay £65, rather than pay the US Dollar equivalent of £127.

At the high end, many bloggers rush to upload photos of some paradise in the Maldives. Hyatt’s equivalent is actually only a Category 6 hotel, but everybody who has seen “Lost in Translation” knows about the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Again, on a random date offering award availability…

I don’t regularly pay £600+ room rates out of my own pocket. But when I stayed at this hotel, I happily used 30,000 points that cost me £390…

Outside of Categories 1 and 7, World of Hyatt’s Points + Cash award is one of my favorite travel hacks. Besides the fact that you are effectively “buying points” for much less than 1.3p, even when including taxes, Hyatt’s Points + Cash awards are treated exactly the same as paid stays, which means that:

• These stays / nights qualify for elite status purposes (full award nights do not).
• These stays / nights qualify for any Hyatt promotions, such as the recently-ended double points promotion or the more lucrative promotions than ran during 2015 and 2016.
• You earn additional points (5 per USD, with a 30% bonus for Globalist members) on the cash portion

Of course, not every Hyatt hotel turns into a bargain when buying points during a promotional period. But many do, and in order to take advantage of “Points + Cash” it’s quite helpful to have a stash of Hyatt points on hand. Unfortunately Europeans do not have access to points via credit cards, etc. so your only option is to stay frequently with Hyatt or to simply buy those points. There’s no better time to buy them than now, as 40% is the highest bonus I have ever seen…