Originally Posted by
treepuppy
Hi, I'm new to Hyatt entirely. I don't even think I've ever stayed at a Hyatt. But I do need to travel often.. and I saw some interesting cities on their Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 rewards chart. I have 65k Chase UR points. The original plan was to transfer them to United. But with everything that's happened with the pandemic and United putting in place partner dynamic reward pricing a few weeks ago.. I'm thinking Hyatt might be a better option? 65k would be like 13 nights at a Cat 1. hotel.. that seems like pretty good value no? So in my mind, I'm thinking that would be the best place to transfer my UR points since I'll be downgrading the Sapphire card and won't have any way to transfer the points out in the near future. Do you guys agree that Hyatt is a good choice in this case? Just wanted to ask some feedback before proceeding. Thanks! Also, I don't have any specific dates for Hyatt in mind, but I think the points don't expire?
You're going to be hard-pressed to find anybody in the points/miles game to recommend speculatively transferring UR/MR/TYP, without a specific redemption in mind. WOH points are generally the most valuable among the big hotel programs (though they have the smallest footprint) but without specific redemptions in mind you're potentially getting poor value and you don't want to lock yourself in to staying at the cheapest possible hotel properties, even if you have status. I would hold onto the UR for now, given the global travel situation, since at the very east you can redeem them for cash or @1.5x through the Chase portal if there's a major devaluation. I personally only consider transferring to airlines for travel in business/first class. I get much more value that way and that leaves my lodging flexible, I can book via Hilton/Marriott to leverage my status and awards, search for the best deals on an OTA, or book Airbnb/VRBO.
EDIT: I second those who recommend the Hyatt card. If I wasn't already big into Hilton through my job I'd probably have it in my wallet.