Aeroplan Miles For Hyatt
The news is everywhere this week: you can now use Aeroplan Miles for Hyatt! Think of the possibilities we have now. You can now use SIX currencies for Hyatt stays, right? American Express, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Rove and Marriott. What an improvement over the two currencies (Bilt and Chase) we had until this week. Right? RIGHT?! Well, not quite so fast. Despite what you're seeing and hearing all over the internet, there's not a lot of value in using Aeroplan Miles for Hyatt, with some notable exceptions. We outline this below.
Using Transferrable Currencies
If you're ever wondering what points and miles transfer to what program, be sure to bookmark the ToP Partner Transfer Tool. It is updated daily with all transfer partners, bonuses, what airlines you can book with what program, and will even help you calculate how many points to transfer.
Transferring Points to Hyatt
World of Hyatt is about as stingy with transfer partners as any loyalty program in the world. That is part of the reason its points are so highly coveted. The other reason is the outstanding value from the program, even after the recent devaluation.
Historically, you could transfer only the following currencies to Hyatt:
- Bilt Rewards (1 to 1)
- Chase Ultimate Rewards (1 to 1, but some changes are coming)
Transferring Points to Aeroplan
Aeroplan is one of the best airline loyalty programs in the world. The possibilities with this program are almost endless. Check out this trip for inspiration!
Historically, you could transfer the following currencies to Aeroplan:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Capital One Miles
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Rove
- Marriott Bonvoy
All of a sudden, it appears you can now transfer those SIX different points and miles to Aeroplan and then use Aeroplan Miles for Hyatt. But if it were that easy, the award travel corner of the internet would have already melted. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
The New Aeroplan and Hyatt Collaboration
If you missed the annoucement, we covered it earlier HERE. There are a few nice perks for elite members of each program. However, there is little value for those without elite status in either or both of the programs. Reminder: you can get elite status with Hyatt via the World of Hyatt personal or business card. Likewise, you earn Aeroplan status with an Aeroplan card. As there is a lot to digest, let's start with what provides little to no value.
Don't Convert Hyatt Points to Aeroplan Miles
We feel this is self-explanatory, but want to reitierate it. If you choose to transfer Hyatt points to Aeroplan, you covert 2 Hyatt points to 1 Aeroplan Mile. It is very difficult to justify that value proposition in almost any scenario, especially since there are six other transfer partners for Aeroplan.
Skip Earning Aeroplan Points on Hyatt Stays
Again, this sounds promising at first glance. However, if you decide to earn 500 Aeroplan miles per eligible Hyatt stay, you do this in lieu of earning Hyatt points. Since you earn 5X Hyatt points per dollar, this is almost always a bad value, even if you believe Aeroplan Miles and Hyatt points are of equal value.
Aeroplan Elite Members Should Not Convert Miles to Hyatt Points
This one is a repeat of the first “don't” above. If you're an Aeroplan elite member, there are very few use cases where converting 2 Aeroplan miles to 1 Hyatt point makes sense. That is true even when there are transfer bonuses. Of note: the last Amex transfer bonus to Aeroplan was many years ago and most bonuses are 25% or less. Even at 25% bonuses, you're getting 1.25 Aeroplan miles per transferrable point and then only 0.75 Hyatt points. This is a bad deal for basically all currencies, especially given the lack of a recent Amex bonus.
So what is left? The option for Free Night Award certificates.
Aeroplan Miles For Free Night Award Certificates
One of the few highlights of the new collaboration is using Aeroplan miles for Hyatt Free Night Award certificates. Again, even in this “it might work for you” scenario, it is not a slam-dunk. Let's take a look.
Option to Convert Miles to Certificates
All Aeroplan members, not just elites, can convert their Aeroplan miles to Hyatt Free Night Award certificates. Currently, you can convert:
- 25,000 Aeroplan miles for a Hyatt Category 1-4 Award
- 75,000 Aeroplan miles for a Hyatt Category 1-7 Award
Without knowing more, we can't decide if this is a good opportunity or not. Therefore, we'll dive deeper.
The Free Night Award Certificate Option
2026 Free Night Award Redemption Levels
After the 2026 devaluation, there are now 5 different tiers of award nights within each Category.
For a Category 4*, the tier costs are as follows:
- Lowest – 12,000 points
- Low – 15,000 points
- Moderate – 20,000 points
- Upper – 22,500 points
- Top – 25,000 points points
*A Category 3 maxes out at 20,000 points, so value a max Category 3 like a Category 4 Moderate night.
For a Category 7*, the tier costs are as follows:
- Lowest – 25,000 points
- Low – 30,000 points
- Moderate – 35,000 points
- Upper – 45,000 points
- Top – 55,000 points
*A Category 6 maxes out at 40,000 points, so value a max Category 6 between a Category 7 Moderate and Upper night.
Value in Converting Miles to Free Night Award Certificates
Category 1-4 Free Night Award
On its face, if you are booking a Category 4 hotel that is at Top cost, you are exchanging 25,000 (or 60,000 Marriott) points from any of the Aeroplan transfer partners for a 25,000 point certificate stay. That is excellent!!! Likewise, for a Category 4 at Moderate and Upper Costs, you're exchanging for 25,000 (60,000 Marriott) to 20,000 and 22,500, respectively. For the five non-hotel transfer partners of Aeroplan, that represents a transfer ratio of 11 to 9 or 11 to 10, respectively. Again, depending on your points balances, you are likely okay with either of those options! This would never make sense for Bilt or Chase transfers, but for everything else, probably so.
Category 1-7 Free Night Award
Just from the numbers above, you see that the math is harder to justify for this certificate. Even for a Top night certificate, you're in a 3 to 2 transfer rate (even worse for Marriott transfers). With a hypothetical 25% transfer bonus to Aeroplan, the conversion would still be 60,000 points transferred for a Hyatt certificate worth a max of 55,000 points. You'll need to justify the math yourself to confirm if it works or not. For most, absent an award night with a Category 6 Top price AND a 25%+ bonus, the math doesn't make much sense.
The Wild Card
Just when your brain had already melted from doing math, we're here to throw in the wildcard on value. Call it the wild (Aeroplan) card. For Aeroplan cardholders, you get a 10% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan, up to a 50,000 point bonus each year. We've written how this is one of the greatest perks on any co-branded card. You can immediately save precious Chase Ultimate Rewards on certain stays by transferring to Aeroplan rather than Hyatt. In our Category 4 Top night example above, an Aeroplan cardholder could transfer 23,000 Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan and receive 25,300 Aeroplan miles. Once you convert 25,000 Aeroplan miles for a Free Night Award certificate, you've saved 2,000 Ultimate Rewards over a direct transfer to Hyatt. Throw in a transfer bonus and the math makes more sense!
Aeroplan Miles For Hyatt: ToP Thoughts
This is one of those developments where you oscillate back and forth on whether or not there is value. Ultimately, there are glimmers of gold in using Aeroplan miles for Hyatt stays. However, it is in extremely limited circumstances involving Free Night Award certificates and using those for absolute maximum value. Otherwise, most other parts of this new collaboration between Aeroplan and World of Hyatt should be ignored.
What's your thoughts? Do you see value here? Come over to our Facebook group and let us know.
