$75 Hyatt Visa forcibly PCing to $95 card

[wasCB14]

I got a notice in the mail. On January 11, 2021 my $75 Hyatt Visa is forcibly converting to the $95 World of Hyatt card.

Since I mostly earn with Amex and BofA, and really just use the Hyatt card for the annual night, this is unwelcome news...effectively just an AF hike. But I doubt I will cancel.

[CreditCuriosity]

Suspect that will happen to the IHG in time as well

[Adkins]

Yuck. 

[Anonymous]

It's one thing if there will be no lower AF Hyatt cards after your current one gets discontinued. I believe banks will first try to switch you to the nearest like product, and if none, convert you to a generic rewards vs. a different hotel chain. Also, I think banks may try to keep you on the same tier of card, too. For example, if Chase killed off their United Club card, they'd probably PC you to a CSR and not a CSP. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I got a notice in the mail. On January 11, 2021 my $75 Hyatt Visa is forcibly converting to the $95 World of Hyatt card.

Since I mostly earn with Amex and BofA, and really just use the Hyatt card for the annual night, this is unwelcome news...effectively just an AF hike. But I doubt I will cancel.

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Before you judge Chase too harshly, compare the benefits of the 2 cards.  I don't recall what the differences were but I do recall that they more than made up for the $20 hike in annual fee, and caused me to voluntarily make the product change immediately after the new card was offered.

[wasCB14]

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@CreditCuriosity wrote:

Suspect that will happen to the IHG in time as well

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It might even be soon. The timeline is similar, with both World of Hyatt and IHG Premier launching in 2018 with the lower-AF cards closing around then to new apps.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It's one thing if there will be no lower AF Hyatt cards after your current one gets discontinued. I believe banks will first try to switch you to the nearest like product, and if none, convert you to a generic rewards vs. a different hotel chain. Also, I think banks may try to keep you on the same tier of card, too. For example, if Chase killed off their United Club card, they'd probably PC you to a CSR and not a CSP. 

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Nothing is ambiguous here. I'm going from the older $75 Hyatt Visa (which closed to new application about two years ago) to the newer $95 "World of Hyatt" Visa that came out at that time.

My parents used Chase TravelPlus years ago, a no-AF card. When Chase discontinued that they tried to steer them not to Freedom but to the $95 CSP.

[staticvoidmain]

$20 increase to $95 sounds reasonable for a card with an included annual free night. Amex had the same thing with SPG ($95) (which is now exclusive to Chase's Boundless Visa), and their $95 Hilton did not even have a free night (which is why I canceled it). Seems like they are enforcing streamlining/simplifying their portfolio by removing legacy products.

[wasCB14]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I got a notice in the mail. On January 11, 2021 my $75 Hyatt Visa is forcibly converting to the $95 World of Hyatt card.

Since I mostly earn with Amex and BofA, and really just use the Hyatt card for the annual night, this is unwelcome news...effectively just an AF hike. But I doubt I will cancel.

---

Before you judge Chase too harshly, compare the benefits of the 2 cards.  I don't recall what the differences were but I do recall that they more than made up for the $20 hike in annual fee, and caused me to voluntarily make the product change immediately after the new card was offered.

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I did compare the benefits before posting. I didn't say the card couldn't work for anyone, just that it didn't appeal to me with my Amex+BofA focus. I like MRs and have BofA's +75% PH multiplier, so a bunch of narrowly-defined travel and dining 2x categories don't do much for me.

I'm losing price protection (one of the few cards that has kept it) and return protection.

With a lot of accumulated hotel points, I'm more focused on using points than earning them, so 4x vs. 3x at Hyatt doesn't do much.  And I'm not likely to spend $15k for an additional low-category annual night.

[wasCB14]

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@staticvoidmain wrote:

$20 increase to $95 sounds reasonable for a card with an included annual free night. Amex had the same thing with SPG ($95) (which is now exclusive to Chase's Boundless Visa), and their $95 Hilton did not even have a free night (which is why I canceled it). Seems like they are enforcing streamlining/simplifying their portfolio by removing legacy products.

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As I said, I doubt I will cancel. I have a lot of Hyatt points and I don't want to risk letting them expire if I were to close the card and forget to buy points occasionally. And eventually I will travel again and use the card.

I know $20 isn't much...and I know they are simplifying...I'm more grumpy over the principle of a forced AF hike on a travel card when we're in the middle of a pandemic without any recompense to customers. There were incentives in the past to upgrade but I ignored those offers as I thought I could keep my card for at least a few more years. Between Continental cards, TravelPlus, and legacy Marriott products Chase seemed to keep legacy products active for many years.

I have the $95 "old SPG" Bonvoy Amex. I actually got to keep the 50k night by downgrading from Brilliant right after the AF hit. Otherwise it's a 35k night.