It’s rare to see Hyatt offer any sort of promotions on buying gift cards, so there’s a noteworthy promotion that’s now live. I wrote about how this would be happening a few days ago, but this is a reminder now that the promotion is up.
Buy Hyatt Gift Cards For 10% Off
Hyatt is offering 10% off purchased gift cards from November 29 through December 2, 2019, and from December 20 through December 23, 2019.
To take advantage of this promotion you have to use promotion code WINTER19 when you purchase gift cards (and you’ll want to make sure that you actually see the discount reflected at check-out).
Now that the promotion is available I tested this out, and it does in fact seem to work.
If you’re considering taking advantage of this promotion, there are some important terms to be aware of:
- Hyatt gift cards can only be redeemed at participating Hyatt properties in North America, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America, and South America
- You can buy gift cards in increments between $25 and $2,000, and you can buy no more than $10,000 worth of gift cards per day
- Hyatt gift cards don’t expire
- Gift cards are transferable to friends, family members, etc.
- You can’t use gift cards for pre-paid reservations, but rather can only use them to settle a balance at check-out
- You earn points as usual and receive benefits for the stays where you use gift cards (after all, you’re only redeeming these at check-out when settling payment)
Should You Buy Hyatt Gift Cards For 10% Off?
I’m a Hyatt loyalist, so naturally I’m asking myself whether this is worth it or not. The upside to this promotion is obvious — you can save 10%, and that’s awesome.
But what are the downsides?
On the most basic level, there’s always some risk associated with gift card theft.
Furthermore, purchasing gift cards doesn’t count as a Hyatt purchase since this is processed by a third party:
- Usually when I pay at a Hyatt I use the World Of Hyatt Credit Card, which offers 4x World of Hyatt points per dollar spent (I value that at a 6% return)
- For this purchase I’d instead use the Citi® Double Cash Card, which offers 2x ThankYou points per dollar spent (I value that at a 3.4% return)
So there’s a 2.6% “spread” right there.
The one other downside is that if you’re using a gift card at an eligible property outside the US, there’s a chance that there may be a bit of a buffer on the exchange rate, as they might not use the exact correct exchange rate. Hopefully that’s not the case, but it also wouldn’t surprise me.
Bottom Line
It’s now possible to buy Hyatt gift cards for 10% off, which is the first time in a while we’ve seen a promotion like this. I’m tempted to take advantage of this, but realistically the upside is only so much when you factor in the (mild) risk and the difference in credit card points you earn.
I think I’ll still buy some, but I don’t necessarily think this is as much of a no brainer as it appears at first glance (if these coded as Hyatt purchases then I’d say it would be more of a no brainer).
If anyone does by Hyatt gift cards, please confirm how these purchases code, just to be sure that it doesn’t actually code as a Hyatt/hotel purchase.
Do you plan on buying Hyatt gift cards for 10% off?
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