World of Hyatt offering 15% pointsback on free night, F&B and spa redemptions

World of Hyatt has announced a new promotion for members looking to redeem points over the next few months. All redemptions made by 28 February 2021 will receive 15% pointsback. 

World of Hyatt 15% pointsback promotion

Members will first need to register via this link by 1 September 2020. Registered members will receive 15% pointsback on points redemptions made from 8 July 2020 to 28 February 2021.

This covers Free Night Awards, Points + Cash stays, room upgrades, dining and spa services, Exhale classes and spa therapies, FIND experiences and Lindblad excursions. For example, if you redeem a room award that costs 10,000 points, you’ll get 1,500 points credited back to your account. 

Remember that this is not a discount, it’s a rebate. In other words, you’ll need to have the required points upfront, as the pointsback only comes later. For example, you can’t redeem an award that costs 100,000 points if your balance is currently only 85,000. 

The pointsback will be credited within 6-8 weeks after the stay or experience is completed. If you registered after completing your stay or experience, the pointsback will be credited to your account within 6-8 weeks of registration. 

The maximum pointsback a member can receive under this promotion is 30,000 points. 

Free parking during points stays

Guests staying on free night and points + cash awards during the promotion period will receive free parking at hotels. This only applies at properties where parking can be charged to the guest room. 

In case you were wondering, guests at the Grand Hyatt already receive free parking anyway, and the Andaz Singapore does not offer parking in the first place. 

What can Hyatt members in Singapore do?

This promotion is great if your country has a sizable domestic travel industry. For us in Singapore, it’s…marginal.

World of Hyatt points can be redeemed at the following properties in Singapore:

• Andaz Singapore (Category 5)
• Grand Hyatt Singapore (Category 5)
• The Barracks Hotel (Category 6)
• The Outpost Hotel (Category 4)

Here’s how free night redemptions cost at each property (Hyatt is suspending the introduction of peak and off-peak pricing till 2021):

A 15% rebate may sound enticing, but I’m quite certain we’ll see some deep discount deals when staycations are allowed to resume, which will make redeeming points a marginal proposition at best. 

For example, here are some staycation rates we saw at these properties before the Circuit Breaker kicked in. 

World of Hyatt points should be valued at about 1.5 US cents each (2.1 Singapore cents), so the above redemptions are anemic at best (Barracks Hotel may look decent, but remember the staycation package comes with benefits that points stays won’t have, like room upgrades and late check-out). 

It might be a better idea to redeem points for dining & spa awards instead. The Grand Hyatt Singapore offers dining and spa awards, and the Andaz offers dining awards. You could get up to 1.81 US cents per point under this promotion. Just remember that you’ll need to consume your dining credit by 28 February 2021 latest to get your points rebate. 

UOB Visa Infinite cardholders may not find this worthwhile, however, as they can already enjoy 50% off dining at the Grand Hyatt for weekday lunch. Dining credits are not stackable with any other credit card promotions. 

Conclusion

Although this is a great promotion by Hyatt, it’ll be hard for Singapore member to take advantage of it. At best, you could look to cash out some Hyatt points for dining and spa credits, which could be very good value at the higher end. 

If you’re looking for staycations, it’s much better to wait for the deals we’ll no doubt see once staycations resume. I’m currently holding on to about 55,000 Hyatt points, but my plan is to use them for overseas hotel stays when that’s once again possible.