Time is fleeting to transfer Chase points to World of Hyatt at 1:1 with some Ultimate Rewards cards.
Starting October 1, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred will transfer points to Hyatt at a 4:3 ratio. For every 1,000 Chase points transferred, that means 750 Hyatt points instead of 1,000.
Some Sapphire Preferred cardholders are already living with the new ratio. Anyone who opened the card on or after June 15 got the 4:3 ratio from the start.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Business, meanwhile, are keeping 1:1 transfers.
That’s a pretty meaningful divide for people who regularly use Chase points to book Hyatt hotels.
A Hyatt stay costing 20,000 points currently takes 20,000 Chase points with a 1:1 transfer. At 4:3, it takes 27,000 Chase points, since Chase processes transfers in 1,000-point increments.
Three nights at that price goes from 60,000 Chase points to 80,000.
What to Do Before October 1
If there’s a Hyatt stay somewhere in the plans, now is a good time to price it out.
That doesn’t have to mean booking a hotel today. Check trips already planned for next year, weekends under consideration, or anywhere Hyatt was already a possibility.
If a hotel is available with points and the trip is likely to happen, waiting until after October 1 to transfer could mean spending considerably more Chase points for exactly the same stay.
That doesn’t mean emptying an Ultimate Rewards account into Hyatt. Transfers are final, and keeping points with Chase leaves more options if plans change.
There is another way to keep the 1:1 ratio.
Chase is effectively making it a perk of its more expensive Sapphire Reserve cards. Someone who uses Hyatt regularly now has another reason to compare the Sapphire Preferred with the Sapphire Reserve, or the Ink Business Preferred with the Sapphire Reserve for Business.
That’s a bigger decision than what to do before October 1. For now, if a Hyatt stay is somewhere on the horizon, it’s worth seeing what it costs before the transfer rate changes.
