All the major hotel programs have different rules and restrictions that can get confusing. This is especially true of one of the most underrated perks: combining points with another person to book free hotel nights.
Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy's online points transfer feature makes this incredibly easy, but what about World of Hyatt?
Hyatt is arguably the most valuable hotel rewards program out there, but is it possible to pool or transfer Hyatt points? The short answer is yes, but it's not exactly easy.
We'll go through the ins and outs of what you need to know when combining your hard-earned World of Hyatt points with other program members.
Read next: When You Should (& Shouldn't) Transfer Points to Book Hotels
How to Transfer Hyatt Points Between Accounts
While you can transfer Hyatt points to other program members, Hyatt makes you jump through a few hoops to do so. Most importantly, you can't transfer Hyatt points directly from your online account.
Instead, if you want to transfer your points to another World of Hyatt member, you have to fill out the PDF form at this link with information from both the transferring account and the recipient account.
You can also find it by going to the “Loyalty Program” tab on the World of Hyatt homepage and selecting “Earn” from the drop-down menu.
Scroll down to “Purchase Bonus Points” and click “See Details.” Don't worry, you don't need to buy any points to make a transfer.
Then, scroll down to the “Share your points or eligible awards” section and click “Download Point Combining Request form”.
Hyatt does not require that you are related to the person you are transferring to, nor do you need to share the same address. That means you can transfer your points to anybody with a World of Hyatt account.
One important note: The information on the form must match the information in both members' World of Hyatt accounts exactly. If something is amiss with an address, phone number, or any other details, Hyatt will not process the transfer, and you'll have to start the process over.
Once you have completed the form, it can either be mailed in or scanned and emailed to World of Hyatt's customer service team. In our experience, email is the way to go as the turnaround time for the transfer will be much quicker and you don't have to worry about it getting lost in the mail. Simply email the completed form to [email protected] and let them know you would like to transfer points to the other member.
Once Hyatt receives the request they should process the information and complete the transfer within 2-4 weeks (or sooner). In our experience, this has taken about a week to complete.
A few other restrictions to be aware of when making a points transfer with Hyatt:
- Members can combine their points with another program member once every 30 days. Even if you want to transfer points to a different member, you'll need to wait at least 30 days before doing so.
- The same is true if you are accepting points from another member: You must wait 30 days from the last inbound Hyatt points transfer.
- There is no limit to the number of points you can transfer.
- There is no limit on the number of times you can complete a points transfer.
When Should You Transfer Your Hyatt Points?
Just because you can transfer your points between Hyatt accounts doesn't mean you should. However, there are a few situations where it absolutely makes sense.
Booking a Longer Award Stay
Perhaps the most obvious reason to combine Hyatt points is to book a longer award stay than you might otherwise be able to afford on your own. If two members each had 50,000 World of Hyatt points, combining them into one account will allow them to book a longer award stay without having separate reservations. This will ultimately remove complications.
Taking Advantage of Elite Status
Are you traveling with a friend or relative who has Hyatt's top-tier Globalist status? If so, booking the room in their name will get you added perks like free breakfast, waived parking fees on award stays, and a much better shot at an upgrade. Giving them the points needed to book the stay will ultimately lead to a better experience for you.
Reset Your Points Expiration Date
If you don't have any account activity for 24 straight months in your World of Hyatt account, any points you have will expire and be forfeited. By transferring a small amount of Hyatt points to another member, you will reset the clock on your expiration date and avoid forfeiting your entire balance.
Though, Hyatt is a transfer partner of both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards, transferring points from either of those programs will be a much easier option if you have those points at your disposal.
See our master list of credit card transfer partners!
How to Earn World of Hyatt Points
You don’t need to be a road warrior to rack up Hyatt points, though; it certainly wouldn't hurt.
There are a few different credit cards that make earning Hyatt points relatively simple and straightforward.
First, you can earn World of Hyatt points by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to your Hyatt account. Because Hyatt is one of the airline and hotel transfer partners of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points into your World of Hyatt account. But exactly how many points you'll need depends on which card (or cards) you hold …
If you've got Chase's flagship *chase sapphire reserve* or the *Sapphire Reserve for Business*, you'll get a clean 1:1 ratio – 1,000 Chase points gets you 1,000 Hyatt points. Meanwhile, Chase added insult to injury by moving Hyatt transfers to a new 4:3 ratio for those with the *chase sapphire preferred* and the *chase ink preferred*.
And if you don’t (yet) have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, they can be earned from a number of personal and business credit cards. Our favorite place to start is the *chase sapphire preferred*.
Current welcome offer bonus: bonus_miles_full
This card also has an annual fee of annual_fees which is not waived in the first year of card membership.
Learn more about the *csp*.
Then there's the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
The card has a $95 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year of card membership. But starting in year two, it offers an annual free night certificate to be used at any Hyatt category 1-4 property. Unfortunately, Park Hyatt Dubai is not eligible for the free night certificate. Still, it’s reason enough to justify the annual fee.
Learn more about *world of hyatt card*.
Last but not least, Bilt Rewards, a program that allows renters to earn points on their rent payments without paying additional transaction fees is also a Hyatt transfer partner. This is another great way to earn Hyatt points.
Not only does the Bilt Mastercard® allow you to earn 1 point per $1 on rent payments (up to 100,000 points per calendar year), but you'll also earn 3x points on dining purchases, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on all other purchases, so long as you have at least five transactions per statement period.
All information about the Bilt Mastercard was collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Bottom Line
If you and a family member, significant other, or friend have Hyatt points in different accounts, consolidating them into one single account make a lot of sense. Unfortunately, Hyatt doesn't make this process quite as straightforward as other hotel chains, but if you follow the steps outlined here, you shouldn't have much trouble at all.
Lead photo courtesy of the Park Hyatt Melbourne
Is there a maximum number of points you can request at one time? I need to book two rooms for a friend over a two week period…that adds up to a lot of points, 312K to be exact. Well, MHC says it needs to be reviewed by Hyatt before she can process the transfer….well see
There shouldn’t be a limit on the number of points you can transfer. You just can only transfer points once every 30 days, so make sure you send them all at once.