If you frequently stay in hotels, focusing your stays on one loyalty program could make sense. The loyalty program of Hyatt, World of Hyatt, has expanded quite a bit as the chain has acquired hundreds of new properties, enhanced its brand portfolio, changed its elite status tiers and provided more incentives for frequent travelers. In fact, the World of Hyatt program is widely regarded as one of the best hotel loyalty programs out there.

Regardless of whether you’re a frequent traveler or saving up for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, the World of Hyatt program can deliver tremendous value. If you’re looking to earn or redeem Hyatt points or are interested in achieving elite status, here’s everything you need to know about the World of Hyatt program.

Before diving into how you can earn and redeem your Hyatt points, it’s important to know what they’re worth. According to frequent flyer website The Points Guy, Hyatt points are worth about 1.7 cents each, though your exact value will depend on how you redeem them.

While 1.7 cents is what you should aim for when redeeming Hyatt points, it’s important to understand that value is in the eye of the beholder. If you decide that you want to redeem Hyatt points at 1.3 cents apiece toward dining on a property or a spa treatment, you can — and should — do so without any remorse. However, just know that you’ll be forgoing higher value potential from your points by not using them for hotel stays. Ultimately, you should use your points how you best see fit.

Thankfully, there are many ways to earn Hyatt points. You can earn Hyatt points on virtually everything ranging from hotel stays and flights to credit card spending and more.

Here are a few prominent ways to earn Hyatt points to use toward your next free trip.

Earn Hyatt points by staying at Hyatt and MGM hotels

The most straightforward and traditional way to earn Hyatt points is by staying at Hyatt properties and MGM Resorts properties. Eligible Hyatt stays include those at all Hyatt brands, including Alila Hotels, Thompson Hotels, participating Small Hotels of the World (SLH), all-inclusive Ziva and Zilara properties, more than 10 MGM properties in Las Vegas and many more brands.

All World of Hyatt members earn 5 points per dollar on base room rates, dining, spa and other on-site purchases. Additionally, World of Hyatt elite members can get up to a 30% bonus in points, depending on their status level:

With each night you stay at a Hyatt — or partner — property, input your World of Hyatt number and you’ll earn points in return for your business.

Through a partnership with Chase, Hyatt has two credit cards: one meant for personal use and one meant for small-business owners. Each card offers a generous welcome bonus, convenient bonus categories and reasonable redemption options for free night awards.

The cards also provide incentives for spending, as you can earn free nights by reaching certain spending thresholds. Plus, both cards offer significant value through recurring elite status benefits, helping justify their annual fees. The World of Hyatt Credit Card and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card both offer automatic Discoverist status to all card holders.

Here’s a closer look at how the two Hyatt cards stack up against each other.

Aside from Hyatt’s own portfolio of credit cards, the fastest way to accrue Hyatt points is by transferring them from Chase Ultimate Rewards or Bilt Rewards. Transfers from both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards are instant and move to your World of Hyatt account at a 1-to-1 rate.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of our favorite credit cards out there — especially for beginners in the travel rewards space — because of its low annual fee and useful point currency. The card currently comes with a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Not only can those points be transferred to the World of Hyatt program, but they can also be transferred at the same 1-to-1 rate to 13 other travel partners.

Earn Hyatt points through meetings and events

If you’re looking to book an event or meeting space, you can earn 1 point per dollar by hosting it at a Hyatt hotel. You can earn up to 50,000 bonus points per meeting. These points are in addition to the 5 points per dollar earned on rooms, dining and spa services. Meeting planners can earn quite the windfall of points by taking advantage of this offer.

American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world. And, if you often fly with American, it might make sense to dedicate your hotel stays to Hyatt — and vice versa. That’s because if you’re an elite member with American’s AAdvantage program or the World of Hyatt program, you can double-dip and earn Hyatt points and American miles for a flight or hotel stay, respectively.

To earn these reciprocated points and miles, you must link your AAdvantage and Hyatt accounts. Because benefits are reciprocal, elite members will earn one AAdvantage mile per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels and 1 Hyatt point per dollar spent with American Airlines.

If adventure cruising is your cup of tea, Hyatt’s partnership with Lindblad Expeditions might be worth a look. Lindblad offers small cruises to unique destinations like Antarctica, the Falklands, the Galapagos and more. Book your Lindblad cruise through Hyatt and you’ll earn 5 Hyatt points per dollar spent, plus a $250 onboard credit. As an added bonus, cruise nights also count toward Hyatt elite status.

If your ideal vacation is packing the car trunk and hitting the road, then you’ll be pleased to know you can earn Hyatt points on your next road trip. Hyatt partners with Avis, enabling you to save money and earn hotel points on rental cars. Currently, World of Hyatt members earn 500 bonus points per qualifying rental and get up to 25% off base rates with Avis.

To qualify, you must use the designated discount code when searching for a reservation.

World of Hyatt offers plenty of flexibility when it comes to redeeming points. You can use Hyatt points for hotel stays (including all-inclusive properties), cruises, rental cars, event bookings and more. While redeeming points for hotel stays will generally provide the most value, you can get an excellent deal by using them for Lindblad Expeditions as well.

Here are some popular ways you can redeem Hyatt points.

Redeeming Hyatt points for free nights is the best way to get the most value from your points. The World of Hyatt program adopted peak and off-peak pricing in early 2022, which means that the value of your points can go even further if you’re flexible with travel dates. Free night awards start at 3,500 World of Hyatt points per night and can go all the way up to 45,000 points per night.

Hyatt has expanded its all-inclusive portfolio with brands like Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Dreams, Secrets and Sunscape resorts. Hyatt all-inclusive awards are an excellent value for those who want to travel on a budget, given that meals and lodging are included in your redemption. The best part of redeeming points for an all-inclusive property? Award nights start at a very reasonable 12,000 points per night.

On the higher end of the spectrum, Miraval Resorts are luxury all-inclusive properties aimed at more discerning travelers. You can redeem a minimum of 40,000 points per night for an off-peak award at select properties. When you redeem points for a Miraval stay, you’ll also get a $175 resort credit per person, which is a terrific value since meals and most activities are already included. So you can treat yourself to a spa day while sticking to a reasonable budget.

If you don’t have quite enough points for a free night award, you can book a Points + Cash award instead. With this redemption option, you’ll pay 50% of the points required, plus a cash co-pay. Cash + Points redemptions start at just 1,750 Hyatt points, plus a cash outlay.

Cash + Points can be a great value, depending on the asking rate. If you’re booking multiple nights, be sure to compare the total cost of a Cash + Points award versus the cost of booking part of your stay on points and the rest of the nights with cash. You might save more money by opting for the latter approach.

Sometimes cash rates for a hotel stay are so affordable that it makes sense to save your points rather than redeem tens of thousands of points for a lower value. However, you might still get value out of redeeming points for room upgrades. Starting at just 3,000 points per night for a club room upgrade, this can be a great way to receive free breakfast and a better room for you and your travel partners.

If you’re looking for more space, a suite upgrade might be a better option. At some properties, guests staying in suites receive access to the club lounge, which comes with even more perks. In other words, you can get lounge benefits and a bigger room from just 6,000 points per night. Here are the starting number of Hyatt points required to upgrade your standard room to something a bit more deluxe:

If you want an adventurous vacation with most expenses included, consider redeeming your Hyatt points for a Lindblad Expedition cruise. Hyatt points are worth 1.6 cents each by redeeming them this way. For example, a five-night Channel Islands National Park tour starts at $3,260, or 203,750 points per person. That might sound steep, but it amounts to 40,750 points per night. Considering this option includes room and board (both on and off-shore), meals, activities and excursions, it can amount to an excellent value.

Redeem Hyatt points for dining, spa and event experiences

Although you used points to book your room, you’ll still likely end up with a bill at the end of your hotel stay — unless you redeem points for those charges too. World of Hyatt allows you to redeem points toward on-site dining and spa purchases at 1 cent apiece. In other words, every 1,000 points equals $10 in credit. This option isn’t available everywhere, so be sure to search participating locations if you’re interested in this redemption option.

And, if you’re looking to cut back on expenses for a meeting or an event, you can redeem your Hyatt points toward a meeting credit at a value of 1.3 cents each. For example, if you were to redeem 15,000 points to host a meeting or an event at a Hyatt property, you would get back $200 in credit toward that. That’s a much lower value for your points than what you’d get for travel redemptions, but it could be worthwhile if you’re looking to lower out-of-pocket expenses.

For its most loyal customers, World of Hyatt has three elite status tiers: Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist. Elite benefits vary at each level but include perks such as free continental breakfast, complimentary Wi-Fi, early check-in, late checkout and space-available room upgrades.

Members can earn status via stays, event bookings or by earning a certain number of base points. The two Hyatt cards offer Discoverist status to all members, plus the ability to earn elite status via credit card spending. The World of Hyatt Card holders get five elite nights annually and can earn two credits for every $5,000 spent. Hyatt Business Credit Card holders earn five elite night credits for every $10,000 spent.

Here’s a look at the varying benefits Hyatt elites get at each status level.

Hyatt Discoverist status doesn’t come with many notable perks, but it’s easily attainable. World of Hyatt Credit Card holders get automatic Discoverist status just for holding the card. Otherwise, you can earn it by completing 10 nights, bookings three events or earning 25,000 base points. Here’s a look at the benefits you can expect as a Hyatt Discoverist member:

Travelers with World of Hyatt Explorist status will experience incrementally better benefits than Discoverist members. Explorist elite status can be reached after completing 30 nights, booking 10 events or earning 50,000 base points. Hyatt Explorist offers a chance at room upgrades, the benefits of Discoverist along with a few other perks worth mentioning:

Top-tier World of Hyatt Globalist members get money-saving perks like suite upgrades, free parking on award nights and complimentary breakfast. At some hotels, this benefit even includes room service breakfast. In destinations like the Maldives, complimentary breakfast can amount to hundreds of dollars in savings for two guests.

The great thing about being a Hyatt Globalist member is that you can extend your elite benefits to friends and family via World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor perk, which gives them the same benefits you enjoy as a Globalist. The only stipulation is that this benefit applies to award stays only.

To reach Hyatt Globalist status, members must complete 60 nights, book 20 events or earn 100,000 base points. In addition to the Discoverist and Explorist perks, Globalists enjoy the following benefits:

The World of Hyatt program offers elite travelers great, reliable benefits. And, when it comes to points, there are plenty of ways to earn and save money by redeeming those points for free night awards. The World of Hyatt program is widely considered one of the most rewarding hotel loyalty programs out there — and for good reason.

Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored chose as our best travel credit cards of 2022.