As a benefit, several co-brand hotel credit cards offer a free night in return for meeting a spending threshold in a calendar year. At the beginning of the year, the spending counter resets to zero. Once you meet the required amount, a free night is deposited into your account. Typically, this free night is good for one year from when it arrives in your account.
There are co-branded credit cards available from Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, which offer a free night after spending $15,000. However, each free night comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. The question is whether it is worth putting $15,000 on any of these credit cards in order to earn an extra free night.
World of Hyatt Visa
With the World of Hyatt card, you earn an additional free night at any category 1-4 hotel if you spend $15,000 during your cardmember anniversary year.
Unfortunately, most top-level properties located in large cities in the Americas, like Park Hyatts, Andaz and Thompson, are out of reach since they’re category 5 or higher. There are some nice places you can stay, including the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando and the Hyatt Residence Club Sedona, Piñon Pointe. You’ll be able to find a Category 4 hotel anywhere except a large city like New York, Miami, or San Francisco.
However, if you’re traveling to Southeast Asia, the Park Hyatt in Siem Reap and Hyatt Regency Danang are category 4 or lower.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card
The Hilton Honors AMEX Surpass doesn’t include a free night on renewal. Instead, you earn a Free Night Reward after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.
Unlike Hyatt’s free night, Hilton’s version is usable at almost any Hilton property worldwide, with only a small list of exclusions. That flexibility makes it one of the most valuable free night perks at this spending level.
We’ve now earned this free night two years in a row, and both times used it for stays that would have cost over $300 per night. Most recently, we redeemed it at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. With Hilton’s top-tier properties now charging up to 250K points per night, the ability to redeem a free night at nearly any hotel in the portfolio is a huge win.
Marriott Bonvoy Bevy AMEX & Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
Both the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy (American Express) and Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful (Chase) cards award a 50K free night certificate after $15,000 in calendar-year spend.
One advantage Marriott has over Hyatt is the ability to “top up” a certificate with up to 15,000 additional points. That means your 50K cert can book a night costing up to 65K points.
In our case, we already hold Marriott cards with 35K and 85K free nights. We’ve found that many everyday properties in popular destinations — think city hotels, resorts in vacation markets, or even airport locations during peak demand — often price just over 50K points. That makes the 50K certificate easy to use if you’re willing to add a few extra points.
That said, while the cert is practical, the dollar value per point tends to run lower than comparable free nights from Hyatt or Hilton.
Final Thoughts
Whether spending $15,000 on a hotel credit card for an extra free night is worth it depends on your travel patterns and how you value flexibility.
- Hyatt offers strong value but limits you to Category 1–4 properties, which takes many aspirational hotels off the table.
- Hilton offers the most flexibility, as the free night is redeemable at almost any property — a huge win if you choose to redeem it at resorts or big-city hotels, where rates can easily exceed $300.
- Marriott sits in the middle: the 50K certificate isn’t flashy, but with the 15K point top-up, it’s surprisingly practical for everyday properties in popular destinations.
The key is opportunity cost. That $15,000 in spend could go toward hitting a welcome bonus on a new card, earning more points in bonus categories, or unlocking other valuable perks. If you have organic spend and a plan for the free night, it can be a great deal. If not, you may be better off putting your dollars elsewhere.
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10 comments
I love the category 1-4 Hyatt night after spending $15,000 but I use my card for business expenses to pave my way toward Globalist status so it’s more of an incidental benefit.
On a side note, I’m not sure it matters a lot but both the Hyatt Regency Miami and the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables are category 3 hotels so staying in a well located quality place at a good price in Miami is actually pretty easy.
Darn my shoddy research!! I checked SF and knew about Manhattan. I figured the same would be true in Miami.
I came here to say the same thing. Hyatt Regency Miami, Coral Gables, Hyatt House, and Hyatt Place.
Also, the two Hyatt hotels in Jersey City (Hyatt Regency and Hyatt House) are Category 4 and next to a subway that’s one stop away from Manhattan and have amazing views of NYC. They’re super convenient if you’re driving in from Jersey or PA, as you don’t have to cross the bridges into NYC and deal with the traffic.
My household has 2 IHG cards that give a free night annually and the Amex Marriott legacy card that offers the same. I do not put spend on these cards to earn extra nights. I would rather put $15K of spend to earning a SUB. The only spend I put on hotel CCs, is for that hotel brand. Unless they offer a promo that earns more points or cash-back. Which Chase and Amex do thru their offers on their websites. I just did an offer on my Hilton Amex that gave $80 credit for purchasing shades from SelectBlinds. It amounted to 20% discount on something we had to purchase.
But I repeat, putting $15K of spend on hotel card is something I would never do. Now, if a person uses their hotel CC for business spend, by using other people’s money, go for it.
With the Hyatt card you are also earning 2 qualifying nights for every $5000. So you really are getting 7 nights towards status (the six you earn from spend, plus the free night when you use it). Additionally you get 5 for just holding the card, bringing you to 12. Not too shabby in my opinion.
We put $15K in groceries (6x Hilton points) on the Surpass each year and stack two of them to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado every other year. You just need to time when you cross that $15K threshold because the certificate gets issued pretty quickly and is only good for 12 months. We try to cross it in December and then the following January charge a lot on the card so we get the second certificate by May or June. Then we have two certificates that are both good for at least 6 months and use points for a third night. The rates there regularly run $700+ so it’s a great value and experience.
I got 3 Hilton free last year but have been unable to redeem. It seems like every time I want to book a hotel, the room is available for hundreds of thousands of points PER NIGHT. My Marriott free nights got Bonvoyed but Hilton is ridiculous and no one talks about it. People value Hilton points at 0.5 cpp but I assign much lower value given that there seems to only be peak pricing. Are you traveling to the Del in off peak seasons?
Like JohnB, I won’t spend $15k on a credit card just for a free night. I have to consider the opportunity cost. That same $15k can usually get me 3-5 credit card bonuses, earning AT LEAST 250,000 points/miles across different programs. To me this is worth much more than one free night.
I also don’t have unlimited spend, so I’d likely make up the difference by using Plastiq to pay my mortgage or other bills. This would cost me $435 (2.9%) in fees, which essentially means I am paying $435 to spend the night in that hotel. Would I really choose to do that if I were just spending my own cash?
It’s easy to get caught up in this game to earn “free” travel, but it’s never really free. I have taken my family all over the world with this game, but I have to be careful to calculate the cost, including the opportunity cost, of annual fees and big spending. And in the case of $15k free nights, I’ve decided they’re not worth the cost.
Not only that Stefano, but you also receive 15,000 Hyatt points in addition to the free night cert and 7 status nights. 15k points are a worthy free night in and of themselves!
Absolutely worth it provided you don’t have to manufacture spend or miss other opportunities. I run $150,000 – $180,000 a year through my credit cards (vast majority of my spend) and pay them all off monthly. I easily run $15,000 of unbonused spend through both my Hyatt Visa and Hilton Surpass cards (1.5-1.7 value which isn’t out of line with any other card I have) and usually can run $40,000 through my Surpass to keep my Diamond status. Again this doesn’t take away from any of the bonus categories for my Amex Platinum, Amex Gold or Chase Sapphire Reserve card. If you don’t have the level of organic spend I do maybe an issue but not for me.