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[bribro]

I'm looking to get away from the city over this holiday weekend and was curious if anyone else was in the same boat. It seems like the general rule is to use Hyatt Gold Passport points to maximize the value of UR points. Thoughts?

[FrugalRican]

I wish I could tell you. I just used some points, but won't see what the conversion is until the next statement.

Was a great experience though, was treated like a rock star.

[CreditScholar]

Well, it isn't a holiday weekend here so I can't really tell you much about location options.

As for Hyatt GP points, the best redemption rates seem to be at the top and bottom ends. There's value to be had in almost all Cat6 and Cat1 hotels, and somtimes in Cat2s and Cat5s. Cat 3-4s generally have horrible redemption values, in which case it might be better to pay cash.

For example later this year my financee and I are going to Disneyland in Anaheim. We haven't been there for 5 years and she wanted to go back. A room is running about $135 per night at the Hyatt Regency, while a suite is about $180. As a Cat3 hotel, it'd cost 12,000 points for $135 for a value of 1.125 cpp. A suite is no better at 18,000 points, or 1 cpp. If there was something like the Waldorf in Orlando, I'd be all over it. However for Anaheim there doesn't seem to be any real luxury hotel options.

I personally wouldn't even consider using points unless I was getting an absolute of minimum of 1.5 cpp, although 1.7-1.8 cpp is a better target. Do you have any Cat6 hotels within a reasonable distance that you were interested in? If you're serious about using your points and getting good value out of them, I'd start there first.

[bribro]

After doing some fairly extensive comparison shopping I've come to the conclusion that Hyatt GP >>> Marriott and Priority Club value wise when transferring CSP points. I ended up booking a decent Cat 5 hotel for 36,000 points that would cost almost $700 in cash, so pretty close to 2 cpp. I'll take it.