Budget Traveling with World of Hyatt

Hyatt, Chase and American combos for cheaper travel

Did you know that Chase Ultimate Rewards are probably the best currency over all to gather if you want to travel the world for “almost free?”

If you’ve followed me for a while, you probably know that I lean heavily towards American Airlines Aadvantage miles as my travel currency of choice. That’s because American, hands-down, offers the best deals to Europe with Aadvantage miles, and Europe is where I take all of our Big Story Living journeys.

But not too long ago, I had a friend ask me what to do with their 250,000+ Chase Ultimate Reward Points. They had been gathering them, but had no idea what to do next.

As it turns out, Chase Ultimate Rewards are my second favorite travel currency, and I had a lot to say.

So…without rattling on and on here about all the reasons you should be gathering Chase Ultimate Rewards for worldwide travel, I thought I’d take a minute to share just one massive tip that could change your ability to travel for “almost free” right away.

This time, let’s talk about World of Hyatt (the best hotel partner of Chase IMO).

World of Hyatt Tip

To make the most out of whatever travel points or miles you may have, I’ve always suggested looking the world over for the best deals on airlines or hotels and then letting the deal guide your itinerary. That’s why Big Story Living travels to Europe in November and March each year. It’s off-peak season, and flights are easily found at 45,000 miles round trip or less. That always means that one AA credit card bonus easily gets us to Europe for “almost free” with lots of points to spare for another holiday in the future.

The same can be said of World of Hyatt points, and here’s the tip I gave my friend on how to get the most out of their Chase Ultimate Rewards and travel for “almost free.”

There are multiple ways that you could have World of Hyatt points. Here are a few.

• World of Hyatt personal credit card bonus

• World of Hyatt business credit card bonus

• Chase Ultimate Rewards that you transfer to World of Hyatt

• American Airlines Aadvantage miles that you transfer to World of Hyatt

For our purposes, like my friends, let’s say you already have a bank of 250,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, and you want to travel to France for Spring Break 2025.

The mileage for flying from Denver to Paris in March on every airline is outrageous because of Spring Break bumps, but there are a few deals that can still be found for paying cash round trip. Because of this, my friend opted to pay cash for two round trip tickets from DEN-CDG on American Airlines for a total of $963. That’s definitely not free. But it’s not terrible for two people.

They plan to travel March 20-March 28, and wanted to spend at least four nights in Paris. For the other nights, they were wide open to the possibilities.

Enter Chase Ultimate Rewards and World of Hyatt.

If you go to the World of Hyatt site now, you will notice in your search that each hotel is labeled a certain tier. And points for tier 1 hotels are CHEAP! My husband and I stayed for four nights in Prague last March for 5,000 points per night and the hotel was phenominal. Tier 1 does not in any way mean bad.

Anyway, to help my friend, I went to the Hyatt site and searched tier 1 hotels in France. Only a few popped up, but that’s all they needed.

As it turned out, there were a few hotels in Paris for 6,500 Hyatt points, and one brand new hotel in a city we had never heard of called Rouen, France, for 3,500 points per night.

As it turns out, Rouen is only a short train ride away from Paris in Normandy. It’s a place they may have never considered exploring, but why not!? Google it and you’ll see. It’s lovely, and offers access to day trips to places like Brussels or Antwerp, if they like. This is what I mean by letting the deals guide your itinerary.

So…quickly the itinerary was set.

• Denver to Paris round trip - $963

• 3 nights in Paris at Hyatt Place - 6,500 points x 3 =19,500 points = FREE

• 3 nights in Rouen at Hyatt Place - 3,500 points x 3 = 10,500 points = FREE

• 1 night in Paris at Hyatt Place - 6,500 points = FREE

And remember all those Chase Ultimate Rewards points?

All they had to do next was:

• create a free Hyatt account

• transfer only 36,500 of those 250,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points from Chase to Hyatt. The transfer happened immediately.

• Book their World of Hyatt stays for Paris and Rouen.

  In no time they were booked for a Spring Break adventure for two…airfare, lodging and free French breakfast daily for only $963!

In Summary

• Let the points and miles lead your itinerary.

• Chase Ultimate Rewards are worth gold when you transfer them to World of Hyatt and choose tier 1 or 2 hotel stays.

• If you are trying to decide on your next or FIRST travel credit card, and Europe isn’t the only place you want to travel, start with Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase INK business (almost anyone can get a business card).

• Couple that with a World of Hyatt personal or business card and start traveling the world for “almost free.” There’s a great deal on World of Hyatt personal cards right now, too.

• American Airlines is also a new partner of World of Hyatt, and your American miles and Hyatt points can transfer back and forth with each other 1:1

Deep Dive

Do you ever wish that you could use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to purchase an American Airlines flight? I do. But Chase and American aren’t transfer partners.

Well…with American and Hyatt’s new partnership, now you can!

If there is an American flight you really want to purchase for 19,000 miles with points during off-peak season, for example, all you have to do now is this…

Transfer 19,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt. Then transfer those same 19,000 Hyatt points to American, and Voila! It’s now possible!

Happy Travels,

Amy