Which Hyatt Credit Card Is Best?

Hyatt is one of, if not the most, beloved hotel brand among award travelers. There are plenty of reasons that Hyatt is so loved. Among these reasons are the good value award travelers are often able to find from their Hyatt points, the generous perks for elite status members, and the ability to earn Hyatt points from other transferable currencies. Hyatt's credit card portfolio is limited when compared to others such as Marriott or Hilton. Hyatt simply has one personal card and one business card, both of which are cobranded with Chase. If you are wanting a Hyatt credit card, you are likely wondering which is best for you. We will break down the differences between the two options and help you with deciding on which Hyatt credit card is best for you.

Which Hyatt Credit Card Should I Get?

Both cards could very well have a place in your wallet, especially for those award travelers that are interested in Hyatt Globalist elite status. If that is the case then you should get them over time, but in which order? The benefits you are hoping to get out of the card will likely determine what order you get them in. In order to make a comparison of the two cards, we will be breaking down the Hyatt cards in the following ways:

• Welcome offer
• Earning rate
• Benefits
• Annual fees

Doing this should help you decide which Hyatt card is best for you.

A Note on Business Eligibility

Since one of the Hyatt credit cards is a business card, I felt it was helpful to include a note on business cards and eligibility. If you are wondering if you are eligible for business cards, the answer is often “probably”. Many folks find that they are eligible through a side business. While there are plenty of reasons to qualify for business cards, I won't mention them all here. You can read all about it in more detail at the link above.

Hyatt Credit Card Welcome Offers

Here are the current welcome offers for both card (although these offers may change over time)

• World of Hyatt Credit Card
  • Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent.
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
  • Earn 60,000 Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
    • Earn an additional 15,000 points after spending $12,000 in the first 6 months

Which Hyatt Card Welcome Offer Is The Best?

The World of Hyatt Business Card is the clear winner in my eyes. Since the personal card has two tiers to earn the full bonus, you need to spend $15,000 to earn the same bonus, worth 60,000 points. The business card welcome offer requires only $5,000 in spend to earn the same amount of points. Essentially, you are earning a 12x per dollar multiplier on the initial spend with the business card, and only 4x with the personal card. Then when you throw in the fact of the newly increased offer with a shot at an additional 15,000 points and forget about it!

Credit Card Earning Rates

Let's take a look at the earning rates for each credit card to help us decide which Hyatt credit card is best for you.

• World of Hyatt Credit Card
  • 4x Hyatt purchases, including spas and restaurants at Hyatt properties
  • 2x in the following categories:
    • Restaurants
    • Gyms/fitness clubs
    • Local transit
    • Tolls
    • Airline tickets directly from airline
  • 1x on all other eligible purchases
    • (2x on up to $15,000 in spend during the welcome offer period).
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
  • 4x Hyatt purchases, including spas and restaurants at Hyatt properties
  • 2x on fitness and gym memberships
  • 2 bonus points in your ToP three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/24 and ToP two spend categories each quarter starting in 2025:
    • Restaurants
    • Local transit
    • Airline tickets purchased directly with the airline
    • Car rental agencies
    • Gas stations
    • Internet, cable and phone services
    • Social media and search engine advertising
    • Shipping
  • 1x on all other eligible purchases

Which Card Earning Rate Is Best?

Both have very similar earning rates with some slight differences. If you have the ability to do some serious spend in social media advertising or shipping then you could rack up quite the amount of points with the Business Credit Card through the 2 bonus points categories. Either way, since both Hyatt cards earn no higher than 2-3x there are probably better cards for most spend, such as a transferable point currency card with a 2x multiplier or higher. Where both of the Hyatt cards shine for earn rate is in the 4x on Hyatt purchases. That is when it makes sense to bust out your Hyatt card for everyday earning. Because both earn 4x I am calling this one a tie.

Card Benefits

Next up in our quest to decide which Hyatt credit card is best for you is the card benefits that each of these offer.

• World of Hyatt Credit Card
  • Category 1-4 anniversary certificate (after the first anniversary)
  • Earn an additional category 1-4 free night certificate after spending $15,000 each calendar year.
  • 5 elite night credits each year for holding the card
  • Earn an additional 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 in spend.
    • This is a rolling amount since day one of holding the card, it does not reset each year.
  • Discoverist status
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
  • Earn up to $100 in Hyatt statement credits per card anniversary year.
    • The credits come in two $50 increments per anniversary year.
  • Earn 5 elite qualifying night credits for every $10,000 spent in a calendar year on the Hyatt Business card.
    • Differing from the personal card, this is not a rolling amount and qualifying spend resets each year.
  • Get 10% of your redeemed points back when you spend at least $50,000 in a calendar year.
    • This is capped at 20,000 rebated points per calendar year
  • Discoverist status
  • Cardholders can gift Discoverist status to up to 5 employees.

Which Hyatt Credit Card Offers the Best Benefits?

This is where I really think the benefits of both cards compliment each other, however if I had to choose one I would vote for the World of Hyatt personal card. The personal card offers some exceptional value for it's annual fee each year between the anniversary free night certificate and the jumpstart on elite status with 5 elite night credits. That alone makes the card a long term keeper in my eyes. However, for those looking to spend towards status the business card offers more in that way. The Business card offers 5 elite nights for every $10,000 in spend while the personal only would earn 4 for the same spend. For those looking to obtain Hyatt Globalist status a good strategy would be to hold both cards, the personal for its jumpstart and the business to be able to spend towards status.

Annual Fees

The last stop on our quest to decide which card is best for you is the annual fee.

• World of Hyatt Credit Card
  • $95 annual fee, not waived for the first yer
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
  • $199 annual fee, not waived for the first year

Which Credit Card Has The Lowest Annual Fee?

If you are going for no or low annual fee, the Hyatt Personal Card clearly has the lower fee and saves you about $100. The business card by contrast has a higher fee, which they likely think is justified with the 2x $50 statement credits that card includes annually. Whether or not either of these cards are worth keeping past the first year will depend on how much value you are able to derive from the benefits. Since there is no downgrade option for either card, your option after year one is to keep the card or cancel it.

Which Hyatt Card Is Best: ToP Thoughts

So, which Hyatt credit card is best for you? Both of them! All jokes aside, the Hyatt cards are great cards with differing benefits. Hopefully reading this comparison makes your decisions a bit easier on deciding which card works best for you. The Hyatt business card is a fantastic card to spend towards Hyatt status, while the Hyatt personal card has a lower fee and perhaps more valuable perks.

Which Hyatt credit card are you picking? Let us know which one you choose over in the ToP Facebook Group.