Originally Posted by
huskergreg
I thought I'd bring this topic back to life as I am trying to decide whether it's worth it to get the new Hyatt credit card. I currently use a card that pays me back 1 cent per dollar spent in cash. I'm trying to judge the value of the points I'd get with the Hyatt card vs. the cash I get now, and whether it offsets the $75 annual fee.
It all depends on how you'll use the points and how much 3x spend vs. 1x spend you'll have. Generally I've found that the redemption value of a point is about 1.5 to 1.6 cents for hotel stay usage as I use them domestically. So that means normal spending works out to between 1.5% and 1.6% effective cash back, and spend at Hyatts is ~4.5% return.
By that metric it takes $15,000 of spend for the excess 0.5% return of the Hyatt card above a 1% cash-back card on non-Hyatt expenses to obtain enough points to cancel the $75 fee and end up with zero net return. So unless there's a significant retention bonus, you'd certainly be better off cancelling the card after the first year and instead getting $150 cash back on the same spend from the generic 1% cash-back card. For year one, though, the two nights for the $75 fee is a no-brainer, especially if you're a Platinum or Diamond GP member.