Chase Hyatt Credit Card Rocks

One of the best cards from Chase that I have yet to write about is the Hyatt Credit Card.  Over the last couple of years, I've become a big Hyatt fan after awesome stays at the Park Hyatt in Istanbul and Andaz Fifth Avenue in NYC.

Two free nights - for $1,000 in spend and no annual fee

The card offers two free nights at any Hyatt in the world (all brands) after spending $1,000 on the card.  The annual fee is $75 but that's waived for the first year.  If you are planning a honeymoon or a special trip of any sort, you should get this card.  You can redeem your nights for the Park Hyatt in the Maldives, Paris, Tokyo, NYC, etc...those properties can go for $500 - $1,000 per night so you're getting a ton of value for a very low spend threshold.

Beyond that, the card offers (for the $75 annual fee) a free night in a category 1 - 4 property.  There are some pretty great hotels on the list but we had been unable to use the certificate (which expires at the end of the calendar year) which I was kind of bummed about.

A few days ago we changed our outbound flight for our trip to Asia.  It's Christmas night so hotels are real cheap.  All Starwood properties (Westin, Le Meridien, W, Palace) with the exception of the St. Regis were under $160/night.  That is phenomenal for San Francisco.  But I remembered I had an expiring Hyatt certificate and checked to see if there were any category four hotels in the city.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco is a category four and I was able to use my certificate without an issue.  I'll have a future post on how easy it is to redeem the free anniversary night.  For some reason, paid rates were a lot more expensive than other (arguably nicer) hotels in the city.  We did some searching and found out that the property has a massive Christmas display in the lobby atrium.  In fact, the hotel has make the Travel and Leisure "best hotels for Christmas" list! 

The anniversary night really worked out.  Clearly a nice return on the $75 annual fee to end up with a $200+ hotel night.  Thanks Hyatt and Chase for making our Christmas.  We are pumped!