Give a warm welcome to Mike Hammari, who is writing a series of guest posts about a trip across the US on foot that he is currently in the middle of...very much in the middle of. He just wrote me today thanking me for finishing up a detail for this post that he couldn't because he was caught in a storm and had to store his computer. That's life literally on the road!

Mike is covering some of his hotel stays on this journey with points and wants to share his strategy with you guys.

Update 12/6/18: The Chase 5/24 rule now applies to the cards listed below as well.
The general rule of thumb concerning Chase cards is that you won't be approved for them once you've opened five credit cards from ANY bank in the last 24 months.

Hyatt Cash + Points Awards let you use only half the number of points needed for a free night award in exchange for a cash co-pay. They can sometimes be a high value way to stretch your points. They can also be a bad deal.

Here are what Points + Cash awards typically cost.

For some reason there are various Hyatt's with Cash + Points awards priced lower than the chart listed above right now, and it's not being advertised by Hyatt.

Hyatt has announced a few hotels that will go up in award price and one that will drop in price, effective as of 12:01am CST on December 13, 2017 (this Wednesday).

Looks like Hyatt wants a little slice of Airbnb's pie. They've partnered up with luxury home rental platform Oasis to offer "all the perks of staying at a hotel combined with the coziness and authenticity of being at home."

While Oasis is still a growing company, I'm somewhat familiar with it already as they have properties in Buenos Aires and I've met people over the years who work for them here.

The Chase Hyatt Card's bonus of 40,000 Hyatt points can be stretched pretty far if you spend them on lower tier Hyatts. That's not to say slumming it is required--there are some fantastic, high-end, well located Category 1 and 2 Hyatts around the world.

If you're into Hyatt hotels and don't have this credit card, it seems like a no-brainer to open.

There are a few reasons I would never cancel a credit card. I wouldn't cancel a card:

With no annual fee. There's not much point, and eventually these old accounts will improve the average age of my credit accounts which will help my credit score. Plus presumably the card offers at least one benefit that has some value to me.
With a renewal bonus more valuable than the annual fee. Several cards offer bonus points or free hotel nights every year you pay the annual fee.

The World of Hyatt program is running a promotion allowing those with a Hyatt Credit Card an expedited path to earning Hyatt Elite status. They have cut the amount of nights you must stay to qualify for Explorist and Globalist, the top two tiers, drastically. Hyatt cardholders can earn...

Explorist status by completing 10 qualifying nights. Normally you're required to stay 30 nights.
Globalist status by completing 20 qualifying nights.

Through 11:59PM ET tonight (August 9) you can buy between 10,000 and 55,000 Hyatt Points and get a 40% bonus on the number of points you purchase.

Hyatt points normally cost 2.4 cents each.