I received a text from my Dad yesterday at 1:01 pm; he was upset that he missed out on purchasing Hyatt points for about a penny each during the Daily Getaways sale.
For those who are unfamiliar, there was a chance to buy these Hyatt packages:
- 24,000 Hyatt points for $260 (95 available); ~1.08 cents per point
- 30,000 Hyatt points for $330 (35 available); ~1.1 cents per point
- 40,000 Hyatt points for $415 (15 available); ~1.04 cents per point
- 72,000 Hyatt points for $775 (15 available); Â ~1.08 cents per point
Many other readers and travel friends were bummed that they didn’t get in on it, but I purposely sat this one out. Call me crazy, but I didn’t really get the hype.
To be honest, I didn’t see this as a deal at all.
My dad and I went back and forth via email as he was trying to convince me that it was “worth it” to buy the points.
Sure, his logic made sense, and it did bring the cost of the rooms down, but I shot him back with even better options.
In my honest opinion, unless you have an immediate *high-value* usage for the points (at a very expensive Hyatt property), it’s not worth it to buy points… ever.
Here’s an example my dad provided me in his first email:
2 nights here would cost $540. With the promotion, you can buy the 24,000 points you need for $260, which is a savings of $280.
And then he does the same thing with this example:
2 nights here would cost $490, but if I bought the daily getaways package, I’d be paying $260.
It’s no doubt that at first glance his two examples prove to provide significant savings, but let’s think outside the box for a minute.
Take a look at the Hyatt award chart below. The two examples he presented me are category 3 properties.
Without much thinking, I quickly replied:
Why buy the points if you can get one of the free nights by using an annual free night certificate from the Hyatt Credit Card? That card comes with a free night at any category 1-4 hotel after you pay the $75 annual fee. And then for the 2nd night, wouldn’t it be cheaper to just go to Staples and manufacture spend at the cost of $6.95 per 1,000 points, for a total of $83.40 for the second night?”
Sure, you could pay the $260 from the daily getaways and still save money, but I’d rather pay $158.40 using my logic.
Now if someone who is buying the points was planning to use them [in the very near future] at high-end aspirational properties such as the Park Hyatt Tokyo, Park Hyatt Maldives, Hyatt Zilara Cancun, or another hotel of that caliber, then sure, it does make sense. But for the average person who just wanted to “pad their Hyatt accounts”, be glad you missed out.
For those who are reading and wondering if I ever buy points, the answer in short is almost always NO.
Here’s why:
- I don’t need them. To be more specific, I already have a healthy amount of hotel points/free night certificates that I need to use.
- I earn and burn. I am the opposite of a hoarder. In general, I hate “stuffâ€, and I have the same behavior with my points. Yes, I like to have enough in my reserves for emergencies and last-minute fun, but I tend to “earn and burnâ€. I don’t ever like to sit on large amounts of points and miles because of my next point…
- Devaluations. We’re seeing program devaluations left and right. In fact, we’ve seen more this year than in years prior. I’d bet my bottom dollar that this trend is here to stay.
- Peer pressure is bad. Bloggers (and other enthusiasts) often hype up deals for various reasons. While one deal might be good for one person, it may be a waste to another. Just because the majority of people are getting in on a deal doesn’t mean I have to. It’ll be ok… really.
- It’s not the end of the world. Some people get really bummed when they miss out on a sweet deal (I have too), but guess what? There will be more opportunities, I promise.
Anyway, I would love to hear other thoughts, including from those who were lucky enough to get the points that sold out in under a minute. How do you plan to use them?
I skipped the Hyatt deal as well. The only points offer I bought from daily getaways thus far is the Choice points the week before because I have a planned Scandinavia trip coming up this summer.
I understand the earn/burn strategy but at the same time, after you burn those points, it will take a longer time to earn the required number of points for an award after a devaluation (presuming no 50k/100k intro cc bonuses offered.) Planning a trip 1-2 years in advance and having that goal in mind to devise a miles/points earning strategy makes more sense to me than earn/burn.
Nowadays, devaluations don’t really bother me or stress me out anymore since I’ve noticed that award availability becomes so much better after each devaluation. After the UA mileageplus devaluation last year (and the US airways switch to oneworld from star alliance roughly around the same time), I’ve found it has become easier to search for star alliance award flights on my preferred dates.
Your comment on buying the points from MS at Staples does not add up. You said that 12000 points will cost you $83.4 at $6.95 per 1000 points. But if you had used a 2% cash back card like Arrival or FIA Amex you would have earned $240 in cash back minus $83.4 in fees for a net cost of $156.6. By forgoing that you effectively bought the points at a rate of 1.3 cents per point. How is that any better than just buying it from Daily Getaways?
Well, I assume she means to MS at 5x at Staples, not 1x. That would mean only $49.67 in foregone cash back for the 12 $200 cards needed for just over 12,000 UR pts plus $83.40 in card fees plus at least the time cost and travel cost if any to unload, let’s say $25. So, about $158 per night by my reckoning, if you account for not having unlimited free nights from CCs.
So , while I disagreed with your cash back calculation, I don’t disagree with the conclusion that the Daily Getaways at $130 per night after CB is likely cheaper and easier than MSing at Staples.
Of course, I think there are probably cheaper ways than $130 to stay in those areas for a similar comfort level, like Priceline or AirBnB.
@varun You want to run the math in that again for me? I don’t see how it adds up. And I’m pretty sure you’ll always lose money manufacturing spend at staples without an ink.
@Mwwalk use ink to earn UR which you can xfer to Hyatt.
That was dumb on my part. You were basically saying that. For what you said, I agree. I really need to pick up an ink on my next go around.
You’re right. I did not consider 5x using the ink in my calculations. Even then, if you consider that you can use the Arrival to buy Simon GC at $7.90 for $1000 in spend and generate $22 in cashback, then the same $83.4 mentioned in the first case can be used for (83.4/7.9)*22=$232.25 in cashback. I would much rather invest $83.4 in fees to generate $232.25 in cashback than 12k Hyatt points.
12,000 points at staples = 12 * 200 visa gift cards
Using a 2% cash back card just gets you $48 (ignoring the fees)
Taking the fees into account ($83) and you end up losing money…
I paid $260 for 24,000 Hyatt points with the expectation that I will get $600 value out of those points on three hotel nights. I could probably get a comparable room for $100 per night on Priceline, but Hyatt points will provide free breakfast and probably a room upgrade to a preferred view as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member.
I buy points for the long haul. I bought Wyndham points years ago and next month they will save me $500 on hotel rooms for points I purchased for $200. I sat on Choice Privileges points for a couple of years before redeeming my $600 in points for $3,000 in hotel rooms last September in Norway.
And I did all my shopping in a couple of minutes on Daily Getaways rather than spending time buying and spending gift cards.
ditto (although they were all gone and I missed out, just like Angelina’s father).
In general, I agree with the rule: burn your points, and don’t wait for a devaluation. However, in this case, they were just too cheap to pass up.
With points + cash, those Hyatt points are the best deal going, by far. Why do you think they sell out so fast every year?
Priceline is a great tool, but it is not _always_ the greatest deal.
I thought about this deal, but decided to skip it as well. If I had a trip coming up with a convenient Hyatt property it might have been worth it taking into account the 20% point rebate since I signed up for the Hyatt credit card promotion recently…
This is an easy one I stock up on points each year. Aruba in the middle of winter lowest room usually cost around 700+ a night with taxes and fees.. or 25K points.. Love this sale!
Yeah, missed out too :p …but based on my plans would’ve only saved me about $75. Govt Rate at Hyatt Kauai vs P&C Hyatt Kauai for three nights.
I’m kicking myself a little for buying points awhile back with planned PH Maldives: now considering Conrad instead. I’ll still make good use of them either way… but definitely don’t think I’m going to get as much value as I hoped. At least I bought them during 30% bonus promos.