The World of Hyatt card offers a free night each year, and it could be worth it for this benefit alone

• If you frequently stay at Hyatt hotels, the World of Hyatt Credit Card is a great way to elevate your status and accelerate your rewards.
• It earns 4 points per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels, 2 points per dollar spent in select categories, and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else.
• You'll also earn a free night certificate valid at Category 1-4 properties every year on your account anniversary.
• The World of Hyatt card also provides some helpful protections, including trip cancellation and interruption reimbursement, baggage delay coverage, insurance against damaged or lost luggage, and purchase protection.
• If you're less of a Hyatt loyalist but want to book a Hyatt award stay, don't forget that you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, so a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve could also make sense.
• Read more personal finance coverage.

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Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which will far outweigh the value of any points or miles. It's important to practice financial discipline when using credit cards by paying your balances in full each month, making payments on time, and only spending what you can afford to pay back.

World of Hyatt card details

Annual fee: $95

Sign-up bonus: 25,000 points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months, and another 25,000 points when you spend $6,000 total within six months of account opening

Points earning: 4 points per dollar spent at Hyatt; 2 points per dollar spent on restaurants, airline tickets, commuting, and gym memberships; 1 point everywhere else

Foreign transaction fee: None

Sign-up bonus

You can earn up to 50,000 points by signing up for the World of Hyatt card, with two tiers to the sign-up bonus. Earn 25,000 bonus points after you make $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of opening the account, and earn an additional 25,000 bonus points after $6,000 in total purchases within six months of opening the account.

Other hotel credit cards, like the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, offer significantly higher welcome bonuses. The Aspire card is currently offering 150,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months, compared to up to 50,000 points on the World of Hyatt card. However, it's important to remember that not all points are created equal.

Travel website The Points Guy values World of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents apiece, compared to just 0.6 cents per Hilton point. These valuations are based on the hotel programs' unique award charts and are essentially a measure of how far each hotel point will get you in booking a free stay. So using these valuations, the World of Hyatt card's full 50,000-point bonus would be worth $850, while the Hilton Aspire's 150,000-point bonus would be worth $900.

Points earning

With the World of Hyatt card, you'll earn 4 points per dollar spent on purchases at all Hyatt hotels; 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants, on airline tickets purchased directly from the airline, local transit and commuting, and fitness club and gym memberships; and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else.

It's nice that the card earns you bonus points for more than just Hyatt purchases - this could be a good card to charge your monthly gym membership to, and if you don't have another credit card that earns bonus rewards on dining, the 2x points at restaurants could be a good way to earn Hyatt points quickly.

Annual fee and other charges

The World of Hyatt has a $95 annual fee, which is on par with other non-premium hotel co-branded credit cards like the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card. It's not hard to justify paying $95 a year if you can take advantage of the card's benefits like the annual free night.

There are no foreign transaction fees - that means using this card is a great way to avoid extra charges when traveling abroad.

Free nights at Hyatt hotels

Every year after your cardmember anniversary, you'll receive a free night award valid at Category 1-4 Hyatt properties anywhere in the world.

This benefit alone is worth more than the annual fee for most people, since if you maximize it by staying at a Category 4 Hyatt property like the Andaz San Diego or the Grand Hyatt Berlin you're likely getting more than $95 in value. And if you spend $15,000 on the card in an account year, you'll earn another free night (valid at the same categories).

World of Hyatt elite status

As long as you have the World of Hyatt card, you'll maintain automatic Discoverist status in the World of Hyatt program, which includes the following benefits:

• 10% bonus on points earned from stays at Hyatt properties
• Complimentary premium internet and bottle of water
• Priority check-in
• Late checkout (until 2:00pm), subject to availability
• Automatic Pearl status in the M Life Rewards program
• Earn one World of Hyatt point for every dollar spent on American Airlines flights

Hyatt Discoverist status isn't a very high tier in the World of Hyatt program - you'll get the most benefits as a top-tier Globalist member - but it's nice that you get some level of status just for holding the card.

The World of Hyatt card also helps you climb towards higher levels of elite status, providing 5 qualifying nights every year just for having the card, plus an additional 2 elite nights for every $5,000 you spend on the card. There's no limit to the number of elite nights you can earn from the card.

Other travel benefits

If you book travel using this card and your trip is canceled or cut short due to unforeseen situations like illness or bad weather, the included trip cancellation/interruption insurance will reimburse you up to $5,000 for prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses that you're not able to use. You'll get better trip protections with other cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but it's nice that the World of Hyatt card offers some level of coverage.

The World of Hyatt card also protects your luggage: If your bags are delayed over six hours, you'll be reimbursed for necessities (up to $100 a day for five days), and if your bags are damaged or lost you're covered for up to $3,000 per passenger.

Redeeming your World of Hyatt points

World of Hyatt points and free night awards are easy to redeem for free hotel stays through Hyatt.com. On the website, you can easily search for a hotel in cities around the world.

Free nights start at just 5,000 points for standard rooms; Regency Club and Grand Club rooms, which give you access to hotel lounges, start at 7,000 points per night, and suites start at 8,000 points per night.

You can stretch your points further with Points + Cash rates, which allow you to pay 50% of the points rate plus 50% of the standard cash rate.

You can also redeem your World of Hyatt points for room upgrades on paid rates (3,000 points for club lounge access; 6,000 points for a standard suite; or 9,000 points for a premium suite), and to book nights at Ziva and Zilara all-inclusive resorts for 20,000 to 25,000 points per night.

So with the World of Hyatt card's sign-up bonus of up to 50,000 points, you could book as many as two nights at an all-inclusive, or you could stretch your points and get 10 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt like a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House.

Purchase protection

Your purchases will be covered against damage or theft for 120 days, up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per account.

How the World of Hyatt card stacks up to other rewards credit cards

When it comes to hotel credit cards across different brands and chains, it's hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons because each loyalty program is so different.

Hyatt is one of the smaller global hotel chain, with around 850 properties compared to more than 5,700 hotels under the Marriott umbrella. So with Hyatt, you aren't necessarily as likely to find a hotel no matter where you're traveling, but you'll find plenty of high-end options in destinations like Paris and Tokyo.

If you know that you want to book Hyatt award stays, you have some options for earning Hyatt points beyond the World of Hyatt card. That's because World of Hyatt is a transfer partner of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, so if you have a card that earns Chase points, you can move those points over to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.

Like the World of Hyatt card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has a $95 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. It earns 2x points on travel and dining, and includes strong travel protections such as primary car rental insurance. It's currently offering a 60,000-point sign-up bonus to new cardholders who spend $4,000 in the first three months - you could transfer those 60,000 points to Hyatt and book two nights at a top-tier Category 7 hotel or 12 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt.

There's also the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which has a $450 annual fee but offers up to a $300 annual travel credit and earns 3x points on travel and dining (excluding on purchases that count toward the $300 travel credit). The Reserve is offering a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months.

If you're a small business owner or have a side gig, you could also consider the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, which has a $95 annual fee and offers new cardholders 80,000 Chase points when they spend $5,000 in the first three months. This card earns 3x Ultimate Rewards points on the first $150,000 you spend across travel and select business categories each account year, so it can be easy to rack up rewards depending on where you spend money.

Bottom line

The World of Hyatt card is worth considering if you want to earn free nights at Hyatt hotels and resorts, both through the bonus points you can earn through the sign-up bonus and everyday spending, and with the annual free night benefit. It's also helpful for frequent travelers who want to accelerate their path toward Hyatt elite status, since you get automatic Hyatt Discoverist status and can spend your way to additional qualifying nights to reach a higher level.

If you're less interested in Hyatt status, you could also consider a Chase card like the Sapphire Preferred that earns Ultimate Rewards points, since you can transfer these points to Hyatt to book award stays.

That said, I've personally had the Hyatt card for many years, and I'm happy to keep it because the annual free night award alone more than makes up for the annual fee.

Click here to learn more about the World of Hyatt card.

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