Mattress Running Hyatt Status

There is something I have been kicking around a bit since I first wrote about the upcoming Hyatt Bonus Journey promotion. I have been wondering, does it make sense to mattress run this promotion? I have done some quick calculations on the back of a napkin and it seems plausible at first glance, but it needs to be fleshed out some. I plan on answering this question once and for all, is it worth mattress running Hyatt status with the upcoming Journeys promotion?

Details Of The Promotion

In case you missed the breakdown of the promotion here are the two areas I wanted to focus on:

World of Hyatt members can earn 3,000 Bonus Points for every two eligible nights, on up to 30 nights, starting with their second stay. You must register first and it is for stays completed between March 20, 2023 and May 26, 2023. That is a maximum of 45,000 points back if you stayed in a hotel for 30 nights during the promotional period.

It is possible to get a few extra points if you are a World of Hyatt credit card or World of Hyatt Business credit card. Cardmembers can earn an additional 500 Bonus Points when eligible stay nights are at participating hotels in

• Atlanta
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Denver
• Hong Kong
• London
• New York
• Paris
• Tokyo
• Washington, D.C.

This bonus offer starts with cardmember’s first stay in the promotion period, not the second stay like above.

If you want see more detail on the offer be sure to check out our full article on it.

Crunching The Numbers

Okay so let's get to the good stuff, crunching these numbers! We will take a look at breaking down this offer and what it would cost to max it out and earn 30 elite night credits.

Bonus Journeys Breakdown

First up we will look at the cost for earning 30 elite night credits during this promotion. It would really take 31 nights because of the terms saying the first night doesn't count during the promotion. We will also assume that this is done at a category one Hyatt hotel. I am not going to mess with peak and off peak pricing because most of the nights will be standard. Plus, I think the peak and non peak will likely offset each other. After a quick search I couldn't find anywhere that had a ton of off peak pricing during the promotion anyway. So we will go with 5,000 points a night as the cost for the rooms.

• 31 nights x 5,000 Hyatt points = 155,000 points
• 3,000 Hyatt points x 15 promo payouts = 45,000 points
• Net cost = 110,000 points

It would cost 110,000 points to maximize the promo. That could be looked at as $22,000 in spend on the Chase Ink Cash in the 5x earning categories since you could transfer the Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt at a 1 to 1 rate. We'll also include the opportunity cost of $440. That is the amount you could have earned on that spend if you put that $22,000 on a 2% back card.

Total Cost: 110,000 points & $440 in opportunity cost

Mattress Running Hyatt Status: What About The Credit Card Promo?

My buddy Dave said he did find a few category 1 hotels in the Chicago area that he thinks would trigger the cardholder bonus portion of the promo. If you could do all 31 nights at a category 1 hotel that works for the cardholder portion of the promo that would reduce the cost by 15,500 World of Hyatt points. Which would drop the cost to 94,500 points and $18,900 in spend on your Chase Ink Cash.

Total Cost: 94,500 points and $378 in opportunity cost

Spending On World of Hyatt Card

Now let's take a look at the cost for the two cards, starting with the World of Hyatt credit card. This card earns 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 in spend. That means that this would require $75,000 in spend to reach the same 30 elite nights (30 elite nights / 2 = 15 x $5,000)

Let's assume the $75,000 in spend comes with a half a percent of acquisition cost. Some will likely have no cost / fees and other purchases might so I settled in the middle. That would amount to a cost of $375 for acquisition and then an additional $1,500 in opportunity cost ($75,000 in spend x 2%).

That is a hefty bill for sure, but we aren't quite done yet. You would be earning points for this spend as well, at least 1 point per dollar. So let's put 75,000 World of Hyatt points on the ledger offsetting some of these costs.

Total Cost: $1875 in acquisition & opportunity cost – 75,000 World of Hyatt points

Spending On World of Hyatt Business Card

If you have a World of Hyatt Business credit card then the cost will look a little bit different. With this card you earn 5 elite night credits for every $10,000 in spend. That means you would only need to put $60,000 in spend on this card (30 elite nights / 5 = 6 X $10,000). That would carry an acquisition cost of $300 and an opportunity cost of $1,200. You would earn a minimum of 60,000 World of Hyatt points to offset those costs.

Total Cost: $1,500 in acquisition & opportunity cost – 60,000 World of Hyatt points

Adding The Points Back In & Finally Tallies

So now we have some ballpark figures for earning 30 elite nights in a variety of ways, but what do we do with these points values? I value Ultimate Rewards and Hyatt points about the same. The edge would go to Ultimate Rewards because of their flexibility. Because of that flexibility you are able to cherry pick redemptions across their partners. But, Hyatt is their most valuable partner for many and the partner I transfer to the majority of the time. To make it easy let's say that both points are worth 1.5 cents each. Now we need to add those values back in to get a total cost of everything.

Mattress Running Hyatt Status – Total Cost

• Bonus Journeys Cost (No Cardmember Discount) = $2,090
  • 110,000 points x $0.015 = $1,650 + $440 opportunity cost (OC)
• Bonus Journeys Cost (With Cardmember Discount) = $1,795.50
  • 94,500 points x $0.015 = $1417.50 + $378 OC
• Spend On World of Hyatt Card = $750
  • $1875 – (75,000 points x $0.015)
• Spend On World of Hyatt Business Card = $600
  • $1,500 – (60,000 points x $0.015)

Other Considerations

Earning the elite nights via credit card spend is the best option here, and it isn't really close. The only consideration that would change this is if you would prefer to do way less spend on your credit card and go the 5x earning route or if you have a stash of Hyatt points to burn and can't ramp up spending to those amounts. At that point you need to ask yourself if burning that many points is worth it. Are you getting $2000+ in value back from the status level you are chasing? Probably not, at least if you break down the value realistically ($40 per person breakfasts are not a real cost).

You could do a mix and match approach. Maybe burn a few points at a hotel nearby to pad your elite night balance and take the kids swimming at a discount etc. And if you have both World of Hyatt cards be sure to put the first $15K in spend each year on the World of Hyatt credit card for the free night cert and then switch to the World of Hyatt Business credit card for the better elite night earning.

You may also be able to find cheap cash rates somewhere that makes it worth it. Some have even worked out deals in the past with local hotels to lock in a super low rate knowing they wouldn't actually use the room etc. Sometimes social engineering goes a long ways. Finding cheap weekday stays in Vegas is another such option if you frequent there or are near by etc.

Mattress Running Hyatt Status: ToP Thoughts

I really thought the numbers would be a bit closer before I started crunching these numbers. If there was a double elite night promo attached then that would change things, like they had in 2021. That is about the only time mattress running makes sense from a cost / value proposition. Other than that it is only useful to top off your account for the next milestone or elite status level.