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Does transferring my UR points to Hyatt get me more value than the 20% bump by just booking with Hyatt through their travel portal?

Does transferring my UR points to Hyatt get me more value than the 20% bump by just booking with Hyatt through their travel portal?

One night at Hyatt Place usually costs about 8,000 UR points, with a market value of $200+.

It won't usually be "cheaper" in cash price than a cheap hotel will be, it's more like you'd be getting a $200+ a night hotel for UR points only worth $100 if taken as cash. If that's worth it to you or not is your call.

You'd need to check Hyatts website for the specific place you want to go (and what dates you want to go- as that impacts pricing too) to see what it costs in points vs cash to judge.

I've seen some Hyatt bookings where you get WELL north of 2 cents a point, and some where you're more in the 1.4-1.8 cent range.

So how and when does one transfer points for hotels?
Like you keep UR points and when you have an upcoming hotel stay then you go and check on Hyatt and other hotel chains what would a hotel room there cost in terms of UR points?

Or do you guys generally transfer the points and then think later?
Is there an easy way to check which hotels can you transfer to, to get the best value?

Mostly, yes... you'd check what Hyatt costs in Hyatt points (and in cash) to see if it's worth it- UR is easy because it generally transfers 1:1 to programs...





There are other Hotel partners besides Hyatt for Chase- but since those are also 1:1, and their points generally much less valuable, it's rarely a worthwhile use of points compared to using them for airfare or Hyatt hotels.... IIRC it's IHG and Marriott (which lets you get SPG points in theory since Marriott points become SPG points at a 3:1 ratio- but that ratio is pretty awful if using UR)

Not really, If you are elite gold(marriott) or platinum(IHG) free Happy hour(5pm to 10pm) in Hotel lounge and free breakfast worldwide. better than Hyatt .

Uh... no.

You completely failed to understand the post you are replying to. It had literally nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the hotel or the perks you might get from status there.

It had to do with transferring UR points.

Since all UR transfers are 1:1, and UR points are worth a lot more money than Marriott or IHG points are, transferring to those hotels is a terrible use of points. Hyatt on the other hand each individual point is worth a lot more toward your room rate, so 1:1 can get you decent value with that transfer.

Because that's how math works.

(and PS- I've got both of the statuses you mention- that doesn't change the math, it just means if I book at either chain I don't do it by transferring UR points to their programs)

UR add 12% or more tax charge when use UR points for hotels, I transferred 70% my UR to marriott and IHG always can find 4 star or above on my worldwide multi- city itinerary(Hyatt very very limited). Use AA, AMEX and Alasks points for airline tickets.

You are, again, totally failing to understand what is actually being said.

Or, apparently, how math works.

You have wasted a ton of money transferring points to Marriott and IHG by not understanding how any of this works, but if you didn't get it the first 2 times you're clearly not going to get it a third time.


But in hopes someone else might get it, here's some math.


IHG points are worth roughly 0.5-0.6 cents a point, compared to the cash price.

UR points are worth 1.5 cents if directly redeemed for hotel bookings on the UR portal with a CSR.

You are trading a point worth 1.5 cents for a point worth 0.5 cents, roughly.

So you're wasting roughly 2 out of every 3 points you transfer to IHG every time you transfer UR that way.

Math.


BTW UR isn't "adding" 12% tax- it's adding whatever the actual tax in the area is, because using the portal is essentially a cash booking- even accounting for that you're STILL getting a ton less value your way.

1.5 minus 12% is still 1.32. More than double the value for the points you are getting by transferring to IHG. (not to mention, since it's treated as a cash booking, you will EARN points for the stay from the loyalty program itself- which you don't get if transferring to them and booking reward nights)

You're throwing a ton of value down the toilet with your method. (even if you only have a lesser Chase card that only gives 1.25 cents in the portal the math is still the same, you're just losing a bit less money that way, but still losing money).


Marriott points- same thing- though they're worth nearer 0.9-1 cent a point, so you're "only" losing about 1 out of every 3 points you transfer compared to using the portal.


Hyatt on the other hand points are typically worth more than 1.5 cents a point....which is why they are the only hotel chain worth transferring UR to

Because 1.8 is a larger number than 1.5.

Because again, that's how math works


None of that speaks, at all, to which hotel chain is the best one for you to stay in for any given trips.

It just speaks to what method is going to offer the best value out of your UR for booking with any of them.

For Hyatt- it's point transfers (and you'll get more value per point than any other chain, again, because math).

For IHG and Marriot the portal offers higher value than transfers (much higher typically, on the order of 50-100% higher, even with tax) because IHG and Marriot points are worth less than 1 cent per point and all transfers are 1:1.... and hell UR is worth 1 cent a point as cash.

So you are you are literally throwing away money doing transfers to them from UR, since you'd come out ahead simply booking the hotel on your CSR or CSP (at 3x or 2x for travel) and then paying for the room using UR as a statement credit at 1 cent a point.... (and another 25-50% ahead of that using the portal)

Just booked TEN Marriott category II(4 star) hotels 10000/per night refundable (cash price $115 plus tax or Chase portal 920 points plus tax non refundable or 10250 points plus tax. refundable).

totally understand your theory math

BUT most people just need CAT II or Cat III not CAT 4,5.

Hard core SDers should learn how to play and rebalance points for paying Chase CC and Amer CC.

So how and when does one transfer points for hotels?
Like you keep UR points and when you have an upcoming hotel stay then you go and check on Hyatt and other hotel chains what would a hotel room there cost in terms of UR points?
Or do you guys generally transfer the points and then think later?
Is there an easy way to check which hotels can you transfer to, to get the best value?

Tax and fee $20-22 per night

>18.4 did you even know no Tax and fee on 10000/per night.

Still have 25% points on my chase portal ready to book CAT 4,5 .

Rotate to apply chase ink business cards and CSP (cancel second year) every 25 months.

"You keep throwing money down the drain and not even realizing it "when you pay $95 or $350 annual fee.

You told us it was 12% previously.

I know you're really bad at math, but 12% of $115 is not $20-22.




Of course I did. It's why I explicitly mention the tax in my post, and even used the rate you previously gave us for the tax (which you're now jacking up to almost double for no apparent reason)

And then I pointed out that even after paying it you come out ahead of how you used your points.

And showed you the math proving it.




Ah, well that's your first problem. Should be getting 50% on points via the portal with a CSR instead of the inferior chase 25% cards you're using.

Though as I just showed you even with those cards you're coming out behind your way by not earning on your bookings.





So first- the only Chase business card you can get any more that allows point transfers is the CIBP.

Which doesn't have any offer where you don't pay the $95 annual fee.

Second- What card do you think has a $350 annual fee?

The CSR- the one you should actually have if you travel and use UR significantly- is $450.

But really it's not.

(warning- more math coming, that you'll still find some way to not understand I'm sure)

$450 annual fee.
$300 travel credit.

So now it's really only $150 a year.
And you get a GE/TSA $100 credit you'd use every 5 years- $100/5=$20

So now it's only really a $130 annual fee.

Which is only $35 more than the CIBP is each year (or the CSP is if you keep it past year 1).

For that $35 you get:

Free roadside assistance

Free access to over 1000 airport lounges (with free food and drink- a perk you were recently playing up regarding hotels)- plus free unlimited guests to take with you.

Much higher end travel and purchase insurance than lesser chase cards

And, most relevantly- 50% bonus for UR points via the portal.



So just on your ONE recent 100,000 point redemption, let's see the math there shall we?

YOUR method:

You booked ten hotel rooms at 10k a night. 100k points. And you transfered UR 1:1 to do it.

Room was $115 cash price.


So it cost you 100,000 UR to book $1150 worth of hotel rooms.

You earned 0 points of any kind for the booking, and got 1.15 cents per point in value.


Using a CSR card via the portal:

We do a bit of backward engineering here- you told us the same rooms cost 10250 points per room/night with your 25% card. That means they "really" cost $128.12.

This also contradicts your claim the rooms were $115 cash price of course... but moving on...

Since you get 1.5 cents a point with a CSR, it now only costs you 8541 UR points to book that room.

That's 1459 points less. Per room, so times 10.

14,590 UR points extra in your pocket compared to your transfer method.

(if it was ACTUALLY $115/nt you'd be saving even more, another ~7000 UR over 10 nights)

Plus you get 10x hotel points for the booking- so that's 1281 more Marriott points per room...plus 25% bonus for being gold, so 1601 points per room/night... times 10 per room/night, that's 16,010 Marriott points you missed out on earning.

Now, the tax SHOULD be $15.37 cents based on your claim it's 12%.

Which would be $153.70 for 10 nights.


Anybody here (other than the guy who can't do math) think it's a bad idea to pay $153.70 to gain:

16010 Marriott points
AND
14,590 Chase UR points?

Hell the Chase points alone are worth $145.90 in cash and worth $218.85 used via the portal with a CSR... and that's before you figure the value of the Marriott points (which would be roughly another $150 in value).... so you "saved" about 150 bucks in taxes to cost yourself between $300-$420 in points.

Yikes.


Hell- the profit over your method from this one booking alone would've covered not just the taxes, but also the "extra" of the CSR annual fee in its entirety- even if you put no value at all on the free lounge access, free roadside, etc... and you'd be way ahead on every additional booking of course.


Even if we now pretend it's "really" more than you originally claimed for taxes, $20/nt, that's still paying $200 cash for at least $300-450 worth of points.



You wasted a ton of value here- and keep missing out on a lot of other nice travel perks like airport lounges too- and you're apparently dead set on continuing to do so.