End Of The Year Hyatt Credit Card Elite Night Questions Answered
One of the biggest questions we got at the end of 2022 was, how do Hyatt credit card elite nights post at the end of the year? Does it work like Southwest cards from Chase, where the points count on the statement where they post? So December spend counts towards the next year if the points post on the January statement. Or, is it based on when the spend is completed on your World of Hyatt credit card? So anything spent in December counts towards the current year. Also, when does the spend reset on your World of Hyatt card or World of Hyatt Business card? I got all of your end of the year Hyatt credit card elite night questions answered. The answers came straight from the source too!
Update 12/7/23: A reminder to be aware of these nuances if chasing World of Hyatt status before the end of the year.
World of Hyatt Credit Card Elite Nights
You may be wondering what I am talking and why this matters, let me explain. The World of Hyatt credit card and World of Hyatt Business card give you an option to earn elite night credits via spend. This is a nice way to round out your hotel stays in case you are just short of a status level you want, or that next shiny milestone reward. The cards work a bit differently when earning elite nights so I'll break each one down.
World of Hyatt Credit Card (Personal Card)
- Receive 5 elite night credits each year just for holding the card.
- Earn 2 elite night credits every time you spend $5,000 on your card.
World of Hyatt Business Card
- The card does not come with any automatic elite night credits.
- Earn 5 elite night credits every time you spend $10,000 in a calendar year.
While the World of Hyatt Business card has a higher threshold for earning elite night credits ($10K vs $5K), it gives you a better bang for your buck. If you have both cards I would spend $15,000 on the personal card first. That would get you 6 elite night credits and a category 1-4 free night certificate. Then I would move all remaining spend for the year on the World of Hyatt Business card until I hit the amount of elite nights I needed for my status goals.
How Do Hyatt Elite Nights Work At The End Of The Year?
Now that we know how the cards earn elite night credits, how does it work at the end of the year? I reached out to my Hyatt contact with these questions. She, in turn, went to her counterpart at Chase and got me the accurate answers. I'll share my initial questions and include their responses.
Q. If you spend $5,000 on your card after the statement period in December (or $10K on the business card) will the 2 elite night credits etc. post in 2022 or would they post in 2023 when the January statement cuts? I know that they normally hit the account after the statement period and not when the spend is completed, but wasn't sure how it worked end of the year with people pushing for status.
Spend is credited to the year in which the transaction occurred, not when an account cycles. (i.e. statement date. So, If a customer makes a purchase in Dec 2022 and as a result meets the $5K (or $10K for business card) spend threshold then the night credits will be credited by Hyatt to calendar year 2022.
Q. Does the $5,000 (or $10K) to earn the elite night credits reset each calendar year to zero on Jan 1 or is a rolling total throughout the card's lifetime? So if you had spend $3,000 in December you would only need to spend $2,000 in January to get the 2 elite night credits to kick off 2023 etc.?
The example above is correct for consumer card as spend rolls over. This does not apply to business card. Business card spend in tracked on calendar year basis and resets to $0 every Jan 1. No rollover.
ToP Thoughts
There you have it, when it comes to the Hyatt credit card portfolio the date of the purchase reigns supreme. It is also good to be aware that the spending resets work differently between the World of Hyatt credit card and the World of Hyatt Business card. The personal card is a continously rolling total while the business card resets on January first each year.
While I kind of wish the personal card reset at the beginning of the year for simplicities sake, it does offer some opportunity. You could spend up to just under the next $5,000 mark on your card at the end of the year. You could then finish the $5,000 spend to trigger the elite nights at the beginning of the next year. This would kick off the near year with a quick couple of elite night credits. That assumes you didn't need them in the previous year of course.
Hopefully this answers your end of the year Hyatt credit card elite night questions.
