We’re all too accustomed to hotels and airlines making negative changes, but Hyatt genuinely broke our hearts this week. So Gunnar and Kyle devote the show to diving into some massive changes on tap for what is (or perhaps was?) the most popular and valuable hotel points program. We’re talking nasty award rate increases, confusing pricing systems, a few silver linings, and what you should do before the hammer falls. Plus, Gunnar reviews his experience on the new (& improved?) Southwest Airlines, plus they help a listener navigate the dreaded Chase 5/24 credit card rule.
We’re all too accustomed to hotels and airlines making negative changes, but Hyatt genuinely broke our hearts this week. So Gunnar and Kyle devote the show to diving into some massive changes on tap for what is (or perhaps was?) the most popular and valuable hotel points program. We’re talking nasty award rate increases, confusing pricing systems, a few silver linings, and what you should do before the hammer falls. Plus, Gunnar reviews his experience on the new (& improved?) Southwest Airlines, plus they help a listener navigate the dreaded Chase 5/24 credit card rule.
00:00 - Gunnar’s review of the “new” Southwest
03:20 - Welcome back … from the Park Hyatt Tokyo!
04:30 - The “Goat Rodeo” with TSA PreCheck and Global Entry
10:30 - Puerto Vallarta chaos & what to do about your upcoming Mexico trip
15:25 - A word from our sponsor: Sign up for The Extra Mile Newsletter today!
16:14 - World of Hyatt’s positively nasty new award chart changes
35:00 - Listener Question: How far above “5/24” should you go?
40:20 - On the Spot: How 2 hockey fans celebrated a golden weekend
Send us your “Welcome Back to the Thrifty Traveler Podcast” video! Keep it short, tell us who you are and where you are, and say “Welcome Back to the Thrifty Traveler Podcast.” Then, upload it to thriftytraveler.com/voicemail so we can feature your video on the show!
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Yo, welcome to the show. I am Gunnar. That's Kyle. Kyle. I'll be honest with you, I've not been super plugged into the news over the past few days, so I'm gonna lean on you really hard during this episode. But today we're digging into Hyatt's big new award chart changes. Uh, we're gonna touch on the hectic travel news surrounding TSA precheck global entry and the situation in Mexico.
But first, can I tell you and the listeners what I was up to, uh, when the travel world was. Being turned upside down last week.
No, just, no. Let's move on
This is why I come into the office to bombard you all with my,
with your personal
my personal travel
Gunner Olson, the man who coined the phrase, nobody cares about your travels more than you.
That's right. But these are my travels, Kyle. Um, I flew to Montrose, Telluride Airport. I went to Telluride in Crested View. Went skiing with some of my friends, but I flew the new and improved Southwest, uh, to get there. Um. My first impression of the new Southwest was that it's just so unremarkable. It's exactly the same as every other airline.
And I was kind of surprised because I just expected it to feel worse, but it just felt exactly the same. But you know, all the bad parts about all airlines, like the boarding process when people have to pay for care for check bags is always a nightmare. Everyone's always just gate lysing lining up in the wrong groups or whatever.
Um, the stanchions are gone. There's just one stanchion at every gate now,
RIP.
yeah, really sad. But, um, basically the onboard experience was totally normal. They actually had fast, good wifi on both flights. Uh, that was free for rapid rewards members, so it was basically just like flying every other airline, which, depending on your perspective is good or bad.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's honestly the, the saddest conclusion that you could come to, like the most beloved airline in the history of aviation in the United States is now just completely unremarkable, which I, I mean, it, it could be worse. It could be spirit, it could be failing. Um, but that's, that's still a little sad.
Yeah.
gotta, you gotta pour one out for Southwest. 'cause this is really not Southwest Airlines anymore. It's something else. Yeah.
Paying them $35 to send my ski bag to Montrose was a huge bummer, but there was no line at the check bag line. Uh, so that's pretty nice too. But, um, I highly recommend flying over to Telluride and Crested Butte, by the way. Skip that drive on I 70 through Denver, if possible. Even if you take the tiny flight from Denver to Montrose, it was, it made it so worth it.
Both those towns were super fun. We had a great time skiing. We got lucky with some snow, uh, after what has been a terrible year out there snow wise. But, um, it looks like they're about to have, uh, a couple of big storms and maybe a miracle march to, to save. This season, but, um, they're both Telluride and Crested Butte, both awesome mountains.
They're both on the epic pass or they, you can get like the Epic four day pass, which brings the total cost down to like 115 bucks a day. Which might sound insane to a lot of people, but that is a steal in terms of a ski day in North America. Um, but I, I really loved both places. Tellurides kind of bigger and fancier.
Um, Crested Butte, it feels a little more like hole in the wall mining town to me. But both towns were awesome too.
Do I need to order a skiing button? Are we about to lose the plot here?
Just let me have this. All right. Um, okay. Enough about skiing, enough about Montrose and enough about Southwest. Today on the show, it's all about Hyatt and some of the latest news from around the travel world. All that and more all.
Welcoming you back to the show this week where Kyle's good friends, Jim and Dana from the iconic New York Grill and Bar at the park Hyatt Tokyo, where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen shared a drink and plan their jailbreak in the movie. Lost in translation. I double checked again this morning, lost in translation.
Still not available to stream for free anywhere.
It's a, it's a crime. One of my, one of my favorite movies and two of my favorite people. I am so, so jealous that, that they got to stay in the new, newly renovated. Park Hyatt, Tokyo, which I think just opened what last December. So they certainly weren't the first, but they were among the first to stay there, um, in late January.
So about a month ago.
Yep. Just another, uh, another person giving us a, an awesome shout out in the show that I'm starting to hate because of all their amazing travels. So, uh, Jim and Dana, thank you so much for sending that in. Um. Their video's the perfect intro to the show. 'cause we're gonna talk a lot about Hyatt this week with some good and bad news.
But first, let's get to some other headlines right away. Um, and we're gonna start with something cold this week, Kyle. Um, what the heck happened with TSA precheck and Global entry this week?
I, I struggled deciding between the word boondoggle or goat rodeo or dumpster fire. I don't know, just everything that could be poorly handled was poorly handled. So the Washington Post on Saturday evening reported that. Out of nowhere, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Christie Nome was going to shut down both TSA pre-check and global entry, which immediately caused concern for anybody heading to the airport on Sunday morning, you know, at 6:00 AM when this was supposed to take effect, that this was going to be a nightmare.
And then we get to Sunday morning, and I started hearing from dozens of travelers across the country. Pre-check lines are still open. The agents here have either have no idea what's happening or say this isn't happening, that pre-check is still open. And then by about mid-morning, late morning on Sunday, the TSA itself comes out and says, pre-check will continue operating as normal, but that they'll revisit on a case by case basis, which.
Basically means, no they won't. They won't revisit this on a case by case basis because you know, it turns out what happened is the White House found out what the Department of Homeland Security was planning to do and reversed it and nixed it, but only for precheck. So as we're talking right now, pre-check is still operating as normal across the country.
You can still use your pre-check. Um. Perks to get through security faster, not have to take liquids and electronics out of your bag, all of the reasons that you pay for that service, or use a travel credit card to use that service. But global entry remains shut down, and I just wanna say none of this made or makes any sense whatsoever.
It's absolutely infuriating that this was even considered, let alone haphazardly put into place.
Is, uh, is that the same goal? Blunt tree, Kyle, that is an unstaffed, uh, perk is, I, I, if, if I do recall, it is just a kiosk that you walk up to, it scans your face, and then you're done.
Well, and this is, this is exactly why this doesn't make any sense whatsoever among the many, many reasons. Both of these services, TSA, precheck and Global Entry. Make things better for everyone, especially people who have pre-check or global entry, but also people who don't because that means that there's fewer people in their lines, which also means there are fewer people for the agents themselves.
TSA Agents and Customs and Border Protection agents to handle. And then you start talking about these are member paid services that are largely supported by member fees and maybe most importantly. You know, we, we are now, uh, what, a week and a half and change into a partial government shutdown that only affects Department of Homeland Security funding a week and a half.
The, the last shutdown in November, in October and November of 2025, lasted 45 days, a month and a half. There was a shutdown in 2018 and 2019 that lasted over a month. Never was. It suggested that TSA PRECHECK and Global Entry needed to be shut down in those far longer and more expansive government shutdowns.
Again, this makes no sense whatsoever. All it comes down to is what we saw in all of those shutdowns was not. Shutdowns of pre-check and global entry and putting those programs on pause. What we did see is that travel is the lever that politicians increasingly decide to use to try to inflict pain on people, to try to force a solution in Congress to get the government reopened on their terms.
It's, for whatever reason, the most effective lever that they have, the most effective leverage that they can use in order to get their way. And it's getting really old.
yeah, it's, oh God. They're just obsessed with us. Like, come on guys, find another punching bag. Why is it always travelers? Why are, you know, we're already waiting in lines enough. Why, why are you making our lines worse? Um, quickly, Kyle, is there anything that people can do, uh, if they're really annoyed with this global entry mess up?
They just want a good way to get back into the country.
I mean, there is a distinct possibility that the Trump administration rethinks this and reopens global entry because shutting that program down is completely counterproductive. So I think we can all hope. Pray for that. Absent that. The one possibility here is that you can use the free mobile passport control app.
It's available on iPhones, it's available on Android. You download it, you take a selfie, it gets you into a designated queue. The catch here is, is that we've heard over the course of the last couple of days before this podcast comes out that. At times at airports across the country, even those MPC mobile passport control lanes are shut down as well.
And I have to assume that's tied to the broader shutdown of global entry. Maybe it's just a, a quirk or a bug with systems at those airports. I don't know, but it's clear that it's somewhat hit or miss right now. So I would just have that pa, that app ready on your phone if you're flying back to the United States anytime in the coming days, and hopefully not, but possibly weeks.
And, and look out for the option to use that if you can to skip the, the bigger lanes. But yeah, goat Rodeo is the half of it at this point.
Yep. Pack your patients if you're coming back into the country coming up. Uh, stay tuned on all of this. We're, we're gonna have coverage of this as it goes on thrift traveler.com and in our extra mile newsletter every weekday morning too. Uh, let's pivot to something colder, Kyle. So people are understandably anxious about traveling to Mexico in the next following days, weeks and months.
Um. Cartel violence in Porto Vallarta caused a big widespread scare across the country. A bunch of airlines canceled flights for a few days. Stranding Travelers. Um, where do things stand right now?
I mean, people are still understandably on edge. As we're speaking into these microphones and people are listening to this, as soon as Thursday morning, airlines have resumed service to Port Vallarta, we didn't ever see, um. Airlines stopped flying to and from other major tourist towns like Cancun, San Jose, Del Cabo, Oaxaca, Mexico City, despite some pretty widespread encouragement from the State Department in the hours and days following this violence in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday to shelter in place, even if you were, you know, a thousand plus miles away in Cancun.
So. It's still pretty tense and I, I totally understand why people are on edge, but the advice that I've given to everybody, I mean the, the flood of people reaching out who have travel plans anywhere in Mexico, not just in March, but in April and May, about whether they should cancel. What are their options?
Will their travel insurance work? The, the, the mantra has just been, just give it a minute.
Yeah.
Don't make a knee jerk reaction about your spring break travel plans. Things are gonna look a lot different in a matter of days, let alone weeks and months.
There's no upside to canceling right now. Right? Just wait and see. I mean, if you, if you're really nervous about it and you don't think you're gonna take the trip, I mean, unless you have big canceled deadlines coming up for lodging, like for flights, it doesn't matter. Just, just sit on it and wait. You still might be able to salvage the trip.
We don't know what the situation will look like in the future. Definitely scary scenes. I mean, some. The social media videos coming through, uh, from Puerto Vallarta were very strange, to say the least, and, and probably pretty frightening to a lot of people. So, um, understandable that people are taking a look and, and reconsidering if they want to head down to that part of Mexico.
Um, but yeah. Anything, any other advice for people, um, if they're travel, if they're planning a trip or planning to dump a trip to Port Avara to, as a result of all this?
I mean, if you're still on edge about this. You know, for a trip in March or April or whenever, now is the time to really bone up on your travel insurance policy. Whether you added it when you booked your flight, hopefully if you just booked it with a good travel credit card that has that built in. When you pay for those flights with that credit card, maybe you have a standalone or even an annual policy, just making sure you're covered for what you think you are.
Um, you know, in, in cases where your flight gets canceled. If your flight down to port of AR to earlier this week got canceled, that will generally speaking trigger a lot of the protections to start to get some, if not most of your money back if you just decide that your trip in. Late April is no longer looking as good and you're hope hoping to cancel everything and get all your money back.
That's not necessarily gonna be the case. It's gonna vary a lot from policy to policy and especially whether the travel insurance policy that you have has a cancel for any reason. Clause, which many. Don't, and in many cases you have to pay more for that kind of flexibility to just scrap the trip just because you're not feeling it anymore.
Which again is why I get get back to the best thing that you can do is just take a deep breath, give this, you know, at least a week if you're traveling in late March or April, or certainly may to, to play out a little bit more. I, again, I, I sympathize with everybody who is having misgivings about traveling to Mexico, but I want to remind people that Mexico is not a monolith.
Port of Vallarta is some hundreds, if not a thousand plus miles away from Cancun. Something that happens there doesn't necessarily, and probably doesn't have any bearing on what your trip in Cancun is going to be like tomorrow, let alone in April or May. And you know, for as much as Americans love traveling to Mexico, we conflate everything that happens down there despite the fact that many of us ignore.
Violence that's happening in our own country. You know, that, you know, violence that's happening in New York or in Alabama has no bearing on us here in Minnesota. And yet something that's happening in the state of Jalisco is supposedly means that traveling to Canna Roo where you know Cancun and Tulum and Playa Ade Carmen is, means that those areas aren't safe as well.
So give it a minute. Don't make a knee jerk reaction. Study up on your policies and your rights for what you're entitled to if you do ultimately decide to cancel. But don't make those decisions anytime soon if you don't have to.
Good points. Okay, let's get into Hyatt, but first we're gonna take a quick break. So we love these newsy episodes of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast, but you don't have to wait until Thursday mornings to get a first look at the news. For that, I am loving our free extra mile daily travel newsletter. It's the newest way that we're bringing everything you need to know about travel, including our deal of the day segment.
Uh, our deep dives into the latest changes in points and miles, as well as other fun. Segments that we're doing like on our radar, where basically the Thrifty Traveler premium team are just emptying our notebooks out of all the things that we, uh, can't find good, perfect deals for, or just hunches we have about award space.
It's been really fun to put that together too. Um, it's a free newsletter. It's every single weekday, and it's the best way to digest the travel news all in one place. Sign up today@thriftytraveler.com slash extra mile. We'll see you there. Okay, it's time to go the extra mile. And this week we are diving into Hyatt and it's points program.
Um, it's not good Kyle. Some maybe even say it would be bad. What do you
Some would say it's bad. I would say it's bad. Would you say it's bad?
I would, yeah, I would. So every ti every year, this time of year, essentially, Hyatt releases a big update. They usually shift some properties around, up and down their award charts. So the price you're paying using your world of Hyatt points, um, we always braced for the worst this time of year, uh, which one of our favorite hotels are, they're gonna make more expensive.
Uh, there were also a ton of rumors last week about an even bigger shakeup, which ended up being a total hoax. Um, but Hyatt made. The announcement official on Wednesday, and honestly, it's kind of worse than the rumors. What, uh, what's happening here?
I, I just wanna point out, I think you're right, that it's worse than what was rumored, and we don't need to get into what those rumors were. We published a story on them. You can still find it. We'll link it in the show notes. Um. But I do think that this is worse than the rumors, especially if you care, as many people do about those top dollar luxury resorts and properties in Hyatt's portfolio that you can book for four 40,000 high world of Hyatt points or less per night, even when they're charging $2,000 or more a night.
That is what really sets Hyatt apart now, um, compared to the likes of, of. Hilton, IHG, Marriott and some of the lesser hotel programs, and that is really going to take a big hit for two big reasons. For years now, Hyatt hasn't just had one sec single price for an award stay. They have three potential options standard, which is the norm off peak, which is cheaper during the less busy times, and then peak pricing slightly more pricey during the busiest times.
And so what Hyatt is doing is blowing out those three possible pricing tiers into five from the lowest. At the absolute slowest times to top, which is the peak of the peak. I mean, you know, championship games in a city Christmas and New Year, certainly I would imagine would fit into that. We don't have all of the details about exactly how properties will slot into these individual tiers.
We do know that it's gonna vary a lot from property to property, but the takeaway for me there is there's going to be far less predictability about what you may end up. Paying for that property you wanna book because it's going to vary more from property to property. And there's not gonna be three pricing bans, there's gonna be five.
So painting down exactly what it's gonna take to book that hotel stay that you want is going to take more effort. And that is really the hallmark of Hyatt and its award chart now, is that it's so much more predictable and easy to understand than any of the other major hotel chains. They're still gonna have an award chart.
It's not going to be quite as valuable or reliable as it has been when these changes take effect because two, some of the award rates are going up by a significant, arguably exorbitant. Amount, especially again on the high end. So just as a, as a quick example, um, many awards stays at the top, top end, category eight.
Think Your Park Hyatts are really luxury resorts for a standard award stay. Currently cost 40,000 points a night in the new award. Tears that go live sometime in March. That's going to jump up to 55,000 points per night. So a standard award stay goes from 40,000 points a night to 55,000 points a night.
That's almost a 40% increase when these changes ultimately take effect in two months in change. We're still not exactly sure when that's gonna happen on the top end of those same, you know, ultra lux properties, it goes from 45,000 points a night currently, which you can book. The Park, Hyatt, Sydney, or the Park Hyatt, Paris, or Tokyo or New York, go down the list.
There's, uh, you know, probably more than a hundred or 200 even category A properties. It goes from 45,000 points a night to 75,000 points per night. That's. 67% increase once this actually kicks in. There's a lot of big increases even as you go down the chart, especially during those busiest periods. Um, you know, so this isn't just hitting, you know, the Park Hyatts of the world.
This is gonna hit on das and a Leela and some. Some even kind of mid-tier properties in big cities like New York and LA and London, where there just aren't that many truly affordable options. And even in those affordable tiers, there are going to be increases at the very least in that kind of standard award state territory during normal times, but especially during the peak times.
The only real silver lining here with how they are shifting and increasing and changing award rates is that. Is really on the lowest of the low end during the slowest times, which again, we don't know exactly how hotels are gonna handle this, but it all spells out to a pretty massive award rate increase where, you know, hotels that you can book today for, let's just say 30,000 points a night.
Those days are gonna be over pretty soon, and that is a real bummer. Yeah.
I mean, we held on pretty long us, us Hyatt people for having these really low rates. And you know, when you compare 'em to, uh, the, some of the other hotel chains, they still feel like good rates in general, even 55,000 points a night for a Park Hyatt is, uh, a pretty good deal. But it is a, it's a huge bummer.
And 40,000 a night is just, I mean, that was just so low for so long. Um, and it makes sense that these changes are happening. Do we have a sense of when the changes are going to be happening?
Yes and no. We don't know officially when it's going to happen. Hyatt has said that it will happen sometime in May. Um, I spoke with some of the officials from Hyatt the other day, and they hinted at late May. Like they said sometime before the end of May, I think were the exact words that they used.
They'll communicate exactly when this changeover is going to happen, probably sometime in the coming weeks. But regardless, you know, you've got this two or more month window to book the Hyatt properties that fit your upcoming travel plans for the next year before they will almost certainly cost you more points.
And you know, I would, I would urge anybody who's got travel plans out there that involve either Hyatt points that you already have, or Chase points that you can transfer to Hyatt, or build points that you can transfer to Hyatt to book. Don't wait around because once this deadline actually becomes official, let's say sometime in April, maybe it happens in March, we don't know.
But once that deadline becomes official, it's gonna cause a stampede of people who know exactly when that deadline is, and that will be their trigger to start to look and book the properties that they want. You'd be wise to get ahead of that. Yeah,
Yeah. Um, so are we still also expecting a reshuffle of the categories like we do every year? Did, was that included in, in this or is this still something that's to come?
no. Hyatt has said that they, they did reshuffle a handful of properties, which honestly just aren't, are not really worth calling out there. I think they did five or six, but they said the big annual reshuffle is still coming, so that will happen again. We don't know exactly when. Sometime in April, and we also don't know the effective date for when that changeover for shifting, you know that that property that you really like from a category seven up to a category eight or vice versa, we don't know when that changeover date will happen.
I would imagine it will coincide with the change to this, you know, new five tier award pricing structure Sometime in May. We just don't know yet. So there's going to likely be more pain ahead for, for Hyatt, despite just how negative this looks right now, because once you layer in a hundred or maybe even 200 properties, most of which tend to go up and not down, those, those properties are going to get even more expensive than they would have this time last year had this change taken place.
So let, let me get this straight. The changing of the category for the Hyatt Place, San Antonio Northwest slash Medical Center didn't move the needle enough for you. This isn't a big reshuffle.
Uh, get back to me when I need open heart surgery when I turn 39.
The people of Northwest San Antonio are furious with you right now that you're not taking this seriously. Um, okay. What is the big takeaway from Hyatt's changes here? In your opinion.
Hyatt has made pains to, to recognize that they still have an award chart published, a award chart that people can look to and determine what kind of points that they need in order to book their upcoming hotel stay. And that's true. Hilton does not have this. Marriott and IHG certainly don't have this, and, and Hyatt does deserve credit for that.
But, and they stress that this isn't full-blown dynamic pricing where the, the amount of points that you need is tied exactly to what the cash price is. The more cash the hotel is charging for that night, the more points you need. That's not. What's happening here, but it kind of also is, it's less predictable.
There's going to be more range in the amount of points you need for a stay at the exact same property than there is today once this kicks in. And so if it's not dynamic pricing, it's dynamic light. Takes a big cudgel to the value in Hyatt's Award program. And I mean, the second takeaway, I'll just repeat if you've got travel plans coming up this year or early 2027, that could involve Hyatt points.
Get moving now. Before everybody else figures out that this is happening and knows exactly when these changeovers are gonna happen, because award space can and will go quickly. And if you are, you know, thinking about your trip to London or South Africa or Tokyo, and you have the option to book the Ho, the Hyatt Hotel that you wanna book today, you might as well do it today.
Yeah, that's a really smart takeaway. We are always proponents of earn and burn and especially when we know things are getting worse. So I would definitely recommend that you book something as fast as you can here. Um, what other positives are out there from this, uh, from this news that we got?
You, we had to dig pretty deep, but we found some positives, right?
Yeah, I'm not in the, not in the mood to be positive today, gunner. Um, this has been a real bummer of a podcast now that I think about it
Hey, I went skiing.
Oh, yeah,
Yeah, I went skiing in the first segment, but Southwest was, you know, kind of a bummer.
could you get a KE in Telluride?
No, I had a labat though. Um, but you know, after, uh, after last weekend, after the US took down Canada twice last weekend, I felt like maybe I needed to take a break from my Canadian friends.
a good call. What was your question? Positives. Positives, PO positives, yeah. Two, which I wanna stress are still like the details of these things are still up in the air. The devil is always in the details with this stuff, but two positives. One is that. Currently, if you want to combine Hyatt points with your spouse or a friend in order to, you know, have the 90,000 points you need for a two night stay, somewhere special, you have to print a form, write it out, scan it, and then email it to Hyatt, and then they will actually process that transfer.
Sometimes in days, sometimes in weeks. It's really annoying.
Yeah, a handwritten letter by horseback courier.
Dear Hyatt, PS I love you. Please reconsider what you're doing to my beloved award chart. They are gonna bring this online. Finally, this is something that every other hotel chain, as far as I can recall, does, and Hyatt is going to join the club. We don't know exactly when that's going to go live. They've said sometime in 2026.
We don't know what kind of caps or restrictions will be on this. You know, for example, will they limit how many points you can combine in a, in a given calendar year? Will they restrict you to only being able to combine points with a member of your household? We don't know. They, they wouldn't comment on this, and we also don't know whether these transfers will happen immediately after you.
Click combine or transfer on hyatt.com. So a lot's still up in the air, but this, this will be genuinely helpful. I think maybe very importantly because for most, if not all of the properties that you may be trying to book with someone, it's gonna cost a lot more points pretty soon. So this is going to come in handy and be borderline essential.
Yeah. What about for cardholders? There's a new perk for cardholders as all. Apart all this too. I
I mean, this is just following the trend that we talked about in the Points Party is Over podcast. Um. Hotel chains and airlines are finding ways to incentivize, let's say, people, to be more loyal to them by giving them extra special and withholding those special things from, you know, us everyday norms.
So they are adding another month of award availability to members who have status with Hyatt Explorer and up, or who have a world of Hyatt. Chase credit card. So instead of just being able to book 12 months in advance, you'll be able to book 13 months in advance using your world of Hyatt points if you're, uh, if you have status or a Hyatt credit card.
Again, we don't know exactly how this is going to go live or when this is going to go live. We also. Don't know, is this going to apply across height's entire portfolio? So does this mean that, you know, like the Alila, Ventana, big Sur, one of the hardest properties in the world to book using hotel points?
Definitely within Hyatt. Is that 13 month of availability gonna be wide open and that's really gonna be the only chance for people to book? Or is that going to be excluded? We don't know that yet. Um, but this is another, at least, uh, a silver lining here.
Yeah. Okay. Um, a few months ago, we, uh, famously. Questioned whether Hilton could dethrone Hyatt. We had Hyatt globalists crying into their free breakfasts all over the world. Kyle, you, you've created quite a stir, a big ruckus with your take. Um, we, I, I think we assumed at the time in the, in the months afterwards that the take really didn't age well.
But are we creeping back towards Kyle Potter was right. Suck it globalists.
I'm not saying that you said that. I didn't say that. Um, I don't know. I wouldn't go that far yet. I think because there is, there could be more nuance here than just like the black and white of the award chart. If you just. To look at this award chart. It is brutal. It is absolutely brutal. And I think, you know, to the point that we made in, what was it like episode 14 or something about Hilton versus Hyatt.
Hilton points were, and still are so much easier to earn at scale than with Hyatt. So, you know, a 40,000 point award night with Hyatt is not the same. Hilton, you know, that equates to somewhere in the neighborhood of probably 150,000 Hilton points, maybe more. So that hasn't changed. What, what we need to wait for is more detail once this goes live sometime in May, about how award rate stays per night map over from the current system to the new one.
So if you just take it at face value and you say. A standard award stay at 40,000 points with Hyatt is going to become 55,000 points under the new award chart. Then I think you're creeping pretty close to these two programs, being at parody and that, you know, our take is, uh, re aged. It's reverse.
Benjamin Buttoning? No, the other one. The other one the other way. I thought, I thought that Take through, um. So I don't, I don't know. I think it's too early to say, there's still time for Hyatt to figure out a way to thread the needle, to make this still gonna be painful. There's a way for them to thread the needle in a way that's going to be less painful.
But regardless, I have, I have a real hard time seeing this. Anything other than not just a negative, but a big negative for World of Hyatt and the value of those points.
Yeah. Okay. Uh, one last question. Question for we help a listener, um, gun to your head. You can book one Hyatt property before these changes. What is it? And I remember I have dibs on the Hyatt place. San Antonio Northwest
You got it. You got it. Sorry.
So you get, uh, you second choice. What's your second choice then?
I would follow Jim and Dana from the top of the show to the park, Hyatt, Tokyo. That one's been on my radar for a while. I've actually been trying to make that work for the last couple of months, and this is gonna be the kick in the butt to make it happen before these changes take place. Because you know, there's, it's already a category.
It's as high as it goes on, you know that eight tier. List of categories from, you know, your San Antonio medical place to, uh, you know, the Park Hyatt, Tokyo. It doesn't get higher than that, but it can slide over into the busier periods that, where it's gonna charge substantially more. And regardless, going from 40,000 points a night to 55,000 points a night, even during the normal times, that's, that's a big increase.
So I'm going to try and lock that in beforehand. Yeah.
That's smart. I would definitely try and use your Hyatt points on a hotel that just has a single name and doesn't have a, both a hyphen and a slash in the name like my beloved Hyatt Place, San Antonio dash northwest slash Medical Center.
God, the these people are just catching strays. The GM of that hotel is just pounding his fist on the table right now.
just furious. There's a picture of me in the lobby right now. It says, do not let this man enter.
a dartboard.
Yeah. All right. Let's help a listener. Um, before we get started with that, a reminder to send us your welcome back video, uh, thrifty traveler.com/voicemail, or find the link in the show notes. Leave us a very quick message, uh, welcoming everybody back to the show.
That's thrifty traveler.com/voicemail to leave us a message. Okay, I have a question from Blaine. So Blaine asks. I have all the under 5 24 cards I want for now and I'm ready to go over 5 24. Really quickly, Kyle, can you describe what 5 24 is for the listener?
5 24 is a Chase rule that where if you've opened five or more credit cards from any bank, not just Chase, you are unlikely to be approved for any additional Chase credit card. Arts, which basically just means start with chase.
Yeah, so Blaine said he has all the. Under 5 24 cards he wants for now and he is ready to go over. Um, his question is really simply, how far over should I go? I tend to open a lot of cards and quote, earn and burn. So I'm ready for the open road of other banks' personal cards. Is there a number of X 24 I should go before stopping new applications and go back under 5 24?
What do you all do? Uh, am I thinking about this all wrong and a fool? Uh, Blaine, definitely not a fool. Uh, if you're joining us here. You're clearly the top 1% of the top 1%, the, the smartest, most savvy elite travelers.
with that group? Does not include us, by the way.
No, it does not. Uh, so bla, I, I'll, I'll, I'll answer Blaine's question. Um, right now I'm what we would like to call LOL 24. Um, I'm so far above 5 24 that I think, uh, travel freely, which will calculate this for you. Um, my, one of my favorite tools tells me that I think sometime in 2027 or 2028, I will be, uh, under, under 5 24.
I wanted a bit of a spree, uh, 'cause we did a bunch of house projects last year. Um, and daycare's expensive, but, um. Right now I'm way over 5 24 and it can be annoying when there's like a really good chase offer, but, uh, there haven't been that many really good Chase offers lately. So, uh, it hasn't really affected me.
Uh, right now I don't really take 5 24 into consideration at all. Actually, the one reason why I am annoyed is, uh, I think I would like a United credit card and I don't know if Chase would approve me for one. I haven't tried though.
Yeah, I think. As a, as a general principle, I, I think it's wise to start with Chase. I think that's good advice for people who are just starting this. Even if the idea of getting more than five credit cards is just absolutely unthinkable at the time, because that can quickly change and before you know it, you can be like Gunner and be LOL over 24.
I also think that the 5 24 rule is pretty overblown. And overrated, and it shouldn't be like a hard and fast principle that you follow or keep in mind for determining a credit card strategy. 24 months goes pretty quickly, so if you, you are at a point where you can, you know, get by on the points that you already have.
And stop opening additional credit cards you can get back under if in fact there is that next new Chase credit card offer that you actually really want. I don't personally think about 5 24 at all anymore because the number of Chase credit card offers that I truly want is pretty few and far between.
There's probably been two that I really even strongly considered among hearts that I don't already have in the last two or three years, and. I'm fine letting some of them go. And if I can get under 5 24, then I'll get it. And if I can't, I won't. And the other thing is, is it, it's becoming increasingly clear that if they're not there yet, chase is letting go of how hard this restriction is.
Because like every. Bank and credit card company in the country. They have so much data on us. I regret to inform you, you have a data profile. The banks have access to it. They can make decisions about whether or not they want to extend you a new line of credit that go far beyond just do you have five or more credit cards open within the past 24 months?
So I don't know that we've really answered Blaine's question. I don't know that we ever really answer people's questions. We just kind of sit here and talk for a little bit. But I would say. Do what's comfortable, go after the next credit card offer that you can meet the bonus responsibly, first and foremost.
And that is going to best suit your travel needs. And if you need to slow down in order to get that next good credit card offer or that next new credit card from Chase or co-branded Chase Airline or hotel card, you can figure it out over time. But I don't, I don't think it's worth, um, spending a whole lot of time to design that strategy around personally.
Yeah, for sure. And like, you know, you. You're basically planning for a Chase bonus that you don't know will come to. Right. So, uh, Blaine, I think you're smart to be cautious. I, I, I mean, I myself am too far, over 5 24 that I am trying to reign it in a little bit, uh, currently, so I'm, I'm not, you know. Saying that, uh, you're, you're being too cautious.
But 5 24, like Kyle said, as a rule, probably a little over-emphasized. Um, you don't necessarily have to think about it all the time, but really good question. Blaine. If you'd like us to answer your question on the podcast or if you have any feedback, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We might feature your question on next week's show.
Okay, close the show we're doing on the spot as usual, and I'm putting Kyle on the spot. You ready? That's good.
Let's do.
Uh, Kyle, you admitted to me that you cried last weekend. Where did you watch the men's and women's USA hockey gold medal games. And at what point during those games did you cry?
If, if my wife ever listens to this, which is a stretch, she will, she will be laughing 'cause she'd be like, oh, Kyle only cried once last week. I cry more than any human being that you've probably ever met. Here's a short list of things that I cry at. Mediocre Pixar movies, even like even the bad ones, if I'm being honest.
Um, an emotional couple reuniting on the British Reality Show. Love Island a good song. It's, it's a lot. So this doesn't say a lot, but at the same time, watching the, the, both the women's and the men's team win gold in hockey at the Olympics was. Were two of the highlights of my adult life. I, my, some friends and I and my wife met up at a bar at 7:00 AM on Sunday morning to watch the entire men's US versus Canada game.
I was drinking beer by 7:15 AM. Watching that game and watching them win that. Uh, in overtime, after watching all the celebrations, I turned to my wife and I said, this has to be what Doing heroin feels like. It can't possibly get better than this. It was really, really FA really, really fun experience. And yes, to your actual question, that is the last time I cried.
Well, I, it's probably been since, but I don't remember.
That's awesome. Um, USA hockey is my second favorite sports team in the world behind my beloved Chicago Blackhawks. I love everything USA hockey. This was an incredible weekend. I watched, uh, at the Montrose airport. I watched the women win gold on, on my iPad, on Peacock, uh, sitting at the Montrose airport, um, right before, uh, one of our meetings actually.
And then, uh, I. On Sunday morning, we were in Crested Butte. We were gonna drive to Telluride that morning and realize the conflict that was, that was gonna be there. So we just stayed at the Airbnb and watched the whole game instead of beers. Uh, I had seven cups of coffee. I probably should have just had a beer.
Would've been healthier. Just what, a weekend? What A weekend for, uh, USA hockey
Sports, you know.
All right. That's all. Uh, thank you so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler Podcast. Rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice and like to subscribe to the show on YouTube. Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation.
If you had feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We'd love to hear from you. Kyle, tell us about the team.
This episode was produced by your favorite host who needs you to loan him $70 to pay to check his skis on Southwest. Now, gunnar Olson was, uh, produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and. Edited by Kyle Thomas. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissotl. See you next week.
See ya..