Guest post by Summer Hall

Do you want to use your points for an all-inclusive vacation? Be sure to read this guest post by Summer Hall at Summer is Joy about how to get the most value out of your Hyatt points when booking an all-inclusive Hyatt resort! For more information on how to find availability and book all inclusive resorts for a family of 4+, be sure to also check out this blog post.

All-Inclusive Vacations

Is an all-inclusive vacation on your bucket list? I can’t think of anything much better than lying by a pool with a (free) frozen drink in hand, feeling a tropical breeze while I plan what I will order for my next (included) meal. I like all things free and included, and using credit card points to make an all-inclusive resort stay free seems like the best use of points ever to me, especially if we’re talking about using Hyatt points.

In 2022, my family spent six nights at Hyatt Ziva Cancun in Mexico, and all three of our rooms were covered using Hyatt points transferred from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. It was the first time we had ever done an all-inclusive resort, and it ruined us for all future vacations! We have never stopped talking about what an amazing time that was, and I have been looking for the best way to recreate that wonderful trip ever since.

When it comes to hotel programs, Hyatt is my favorite for earning points because the redemption rates are so reasonable and can provide such great value. They have a fixed award chart with off-peak, standard, and peak pricing so you can easily plan how many points you need to redeem a free stay. It’s common to see people getting double or triple the cash value of their points when redeeming at certain properties, but how much value should you expect to get at an all-inclusive?

Hyatt has been growing its collection of all-inclusive resorts to over 90 different properties, and they even have a separate award chart just for all-inclusive resorts that range from Category A to Category F. With so many options requiring a ton of points, it helps to have an idea of where your points will stretch the furthest.

We enjoyed our time at Hyatt Ziva Cancun enough to be happy with just repeating it, but the points required for the rooms have doubled since we stayed there, while the cash prices remain the same. Add to that the fact that there are frequent sales of 15-25% off rooms which are never reflected on the points side of things, and my points are now worth less than half of what they were in 2022. So I wanted to know, where else could I go for my next all-inclusive that would give me the highest value for my points?

Calculating Cents Per Point

To find out which Hyatt All-Inclusive resorts give you the most value for your points, you have to understand cents per point, which is how we're calculating the value of the redemption here. It works like this: if a hotel night costs $100 to book with cash and 10,000 points to book for free, then the redemption is worth 1 cent per point. The formula is simple: cash price divided by the number of points required to book equals the dollar value of the points. If a $100 room costs only 5,000 points, then $100/5,000 = 0.02, which means that redemption is worth 2 cents per point. The higher the number, the more your points will stretch to cover more luxurious stays, longer stays, or multiple trips.

It's not hard to find Hyatt hotels that will give you 2 cents per point, so much so that many Hyatt fans make it a goal to always get at least that much when redeeming their points. This wisdom is so common that it might make you assume that any resort you book will give you that much redemption value, but it's much less likely to be the case at all-inclusive Hyatts. Less than a third of them have an average redemption value of 2 cents or higher, and I only learned this when I decided to sit down and research all of them.

At first, I started this process by looking up a resort on Hyatt.com and entering different dates, seeing if a free night was available, and comparing it to the cash price. Then I realized someone had already done the hard part for me. MaxMyPoint.com displays the cents per point for every resort they collect data on. It's a wonderful tool for finding award availability at hotels, especially ones like Hyatt that don't have a way to search for multiple dates at a glance. This made it much easier to gather the info I needed to rank every resort by redemption rate.

Some resorts don’t have enough data to make the list, but out of the 77 that do, here are the top resorts that approach or surpass 2 cents per point for an average redemption. You can find the complete list of all resorts here. I only excluded Alua Resorts since that mostly European brand doesn't operate like a true "all-inclusive."

Rankings based on best cent per point:

From this list, we can make a few helpful observations: all but two of these top resorts fall under either the Secrets or Dreams brand, which Hyatt bought in 2021. Secrets Resorts are Adults-Only, while Dreams Resorts are family-friendly. In fact, only seven of the top resorts are family-friendly, which means you're much more likely to be able to stretch your points if you're looking for an adult-only vacation. What I find most interesting is none of the Hyatt Ziva or Hyatt Zilara resorts make the list, which is unfortunate since those properties are so well-loved.

Because these numbers are averages you may find that the redemption for your specific trip is a little higher or lower. It's great when it's higher but always do the math just to be sure that you're getting the value you want.

Properties to Avoid Booking with Hyatt Points

I would never tell someone not to book a resort that they want to go to just because it’s a “bad” redemption, but I would tell them to look into booking it another way. These properties have the lowest redemption rates on the list, and as such are probably better booked through the Chase Travel℠ Portal.

No Availability?

What if the resort you want to stay at isn’t available to book on points? More than a few of these properties are very difficult to book. If you’re running into that problem, try setting up an alert on MaxMyPoint.com. You’ll need to create an account to do so, but a basic alert is free to create. It’s also a good idea to search for dates as far in advance as the calendar will let you, and search frequently so that you can be one of the first to snag a room as soon as it becomes available. Failing all else, you may also find that a certain date is unavailable with Hyatt points but there are plenty of rooms in the travel portal, in which case you get to decide if redeeming points against the cash rate is worth it to you.

Other Ways to Book All-Inclusive Hyatts

You may find yourself wanting to book a particular resort even though its redemption rate puts it at the bottom of this list. If that’s the case there are other strategies for potentially stretching your points further. Remember that if you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can book hotels in the Chase travel portal for 1.25 cents per point. The rates you’ll see in the travel portal are a little higher than the ones you have access to as a World of Hyatt member booking directly on Hyatt.com. But when looking at a property that’s an especially low value, getting 1.25 cents on a slightly higher rate can still mean you ultimately spend fewer points. It's not common, but Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall is one example of this, where a Hyatt redemption rate of 1 cent per point could be easily beaten by booking in the travel portal for 1.25 cents per point. So always remember to compare redemption rates before you transfer your Chase points to Hyatt, if only so that you can be certain of which method is getting you the best redemption.

A second option that will apply to just a few of these resorts, namely some of the Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara properties, is booking through a Real Club Membership. I have yet to try this one out for myself, but it’s very intriguing. Joining this Facebook group will allow you to get all the info you need from Real Club Members on how they can use their Membership to save you 30% or more on certain all-inclusive resorts. Given how much some of Hyatt’s all-inclusives have increased in points, some points & miles fans have turned to booking their favorite resorts this way as a solution!

Cards to Open to Earn Hyatt Points

The fastest way to earn Hyatt points for these stays is through credit card sign-up bonuses. Chase offers two co-branded cards: the World of Hyatt Credit Card and the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card. Both are great options if you know you're definitely going to stay at a Hyatt. But if you want more options and even more flexibility, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the perfect choice that can be transferred to Hyatt. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card all allow you to transfer the points you earn to Hyatt. And if you have any other card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can combine those points with these transfer-capable cards to make your Hyatt balance even bigger. If you have a spouse or travel partner you can refer to these cards, your points-earning potential doubles, meaning any of Hyatt's all-inclusive resorts truly are within reach.

Here is a list of all of the credit cards that earn points for Hyatt!

The Bottom Line

You should use your points however you want because it’s YOUR vacation! Maybe you have your heart set on a certain all-inclusive resort because you’ve been there before and you just want to take your family back. Knowing the average redemption value for that resort can help you strategize on the best way to get there, whether that’s booking with Hyatt points or through a travel portal. Most of the time you’re still going to be better off booking with Hyatt points, but for resorts that are right on the line, you’ll definitely want to compare. On the other hand, if you just want to stay at a resort that’s going to offer the highest cent per point, now you have a list you can easily reference to get you started planning. Now that I have the answer to my question, I’m looking into taking a trip to Secrets Tides Punta Cana! As a bonus tip, I always look to see if a resort has a Facebook group when I’m planning a trip there to help me know the best tips and must-dos before I even arrive. Wherever you decide to go, at the end of the day all that matters is that it’s free!

How to Request a Hotel Upgrade

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Hyatt All-Inclusive Resorts: Which Resorts Are the Best Value?