Everything You Need to Know: Earning Hyatt Points Dining

World of Hyatt members can earn points not only for hotel stays, but also for visits to Hyatt restaurants. You can earn 5 base points for every $1 spent on eligible dining* and spa services at Hyatt hotels, even if you are not a guest.

In this guide, we’ll explain the Hyatt Dining Rewards program in detail and compare it to similar programs from Marriott, Hilton, and IHG, including point earning rates and special member benefits.

Registration: How to Get Started

• Join the World of Hyatt (WoH) program—membership is free via Hyatt.com or the app. This is essential even to earn points on Hyatt dining.
• When dining at a participating Hyatt hotel restaurant or spa, simply provide your World of Hyatt number at payment—you don’t need to stay at the hotel.
  

Note: A separate Hyatt Dining Club is operating in India, offering membership-based discounts and vouchers, not connected with World of Hyatt, and does not earn WoH points.

How Points are Earned: Base & Elite Members

Base WoH Members

Earn 5 base points per US $1 spent on eligible food, beverages, spa, and qualifying hotel charges. These base points counted towards level status, including Lifetime Globalist status. 

All points earned in addition to the base points for elite membership will be considered bonus points (they do not count towards elite-tier qualification). See below for the % bonus depending on the elite level.

What Counts As Eligible Dining?

Generally, food and beverage charges at restaurants, bars, and lounges located within Hyatt hotels will qualify. However, participation can vary by property. Most Hyatt-operated outlets honor the program, but if a hotel’s restaurant is run by a third-party vendor, it might not post points. If in doubt, you can ask the restaurant or front desk if they participate in World of Hyatt dining rewards. Taxes, service fees, and gratuities typically do not earn points, and obviously if you apply any free night voucher or promo that comped the meal, that portion wouldn’t earn points. But the vast majority of paid dining spend at Hyatts – from a latte at the lobby cafe to a multi-course meal at a Park Hyatt restaurant – is eligible for 5x points.

Elite Members (Discoverist, Explorist, Globalist)

• Discoverist: +10% bonus → ≈5.5 points/US $1
  
• Explorist: +20% bonus → ≈6 points/US $1
  
• Globalist: +30% bonus → ≈6.5 points/US $1
  

Example: A Globalist dining out for a $200 bill earns ~1,300 points (1,000 base + 300 bonus) = ~$28–30 in points value. (Hyatt points are valued at around 1.7–2.2¢ each.) The base portion (1,000) counts toward renewing or elevating status; the bonus portion (300) does not (they’re extra rewards for being elite).

Using Hyatt Credit Cards for Dining Rewards

Earning points is not limited to the loyalty program – there are also Hyatt co-branded credit cards that allow you to increase your earnings when dining out:

World of Hyatt Visa and Business Credit Card by Chase give you 2 bonus points for every dollar spent at restaurants worldwide. If you pay for your meal at any restaurant (Hyatt or non-Hyatt) with this card, you will receive 2 Hyatt points for that amount. This means you effectively double your earnings: you will receive the standard 5 points (5 points per $1) in World of Hyatt for your dining expenses plus 2 credit card points. In practice, a regular member who uses a Hyatt card at a Hyatt restaurant earns 7 points for every dollar spent (5 from Hyatt + 2 from the card). And as we mentioned above, elite members earn even more, considering their status bonus of 5 base points.

Another benefit of the card worth mentioning: the Hyatt Visa card automatically grants Hyatt Discoverist status to the primary cardholder. This gives you a 10% bonus on Hyatt points right away, even if you’ve never stayed 10 nights. So if you have this card, your Hyatt dining expenses will earn you at least 5.5X instead of 5X thanks to the Discoverist bonus.

Example: Let’s say you are a Discoverist member and have dinner at a Hyatt Regency hotel for $150, paying with your Hyatt Visa card. You will receive 750 base points + 75 bonus points (Discoverist 10%) = 825 Hyatt points through the program, plus 300 Hyatt points on your credit card (2x on $150). That’s a total of 1,125 points for $150 spent, which is approximately 7.5 points per dollar. Considering that Hyatt points are worth approximately 1.7 cents each, that’s like getting ~$19 back in points — not bad for a dinner you were going to buy anyway!

Of course, you don’t need a Hyatt credit card to participate in the restaurant rewards program. Any form of payment is eligible to earn 5 points if you provide your membership number. But using a credit card that offers bonus points on dining will allow you to maximize your rewards. If you don’t have a Hyatt Visa card, even a regular travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or  Chase Sapphire Reserve (3 points per dollar spent on dining) or Amex Gold (4 points per dollar spent on dining) will allow you to earn other valuable points in addition to Hyatt points. 

Don’t pay with cash if you can — use a bonus credit card to earn twice as much (once through the card, once through Hyatt).

Key Information to Know About Hyatt Dining?

1. Earn points on restaurant/spa bills even on non‑stay visits.
2. No membership fee or special card required beyond the basic WoH account.
3. Before asking for the bill, give your WoH number to the waiter. If your points are not credited, which can also happen sometimes, take a screenshot of the bill and send it to WoH customer service by email.
4. They will be credited to your account upon payment, but in case of unforeseen system failures, processing may take up to 72 hours.
5. These points contribute toward free nights, elite status, or credit toward award redemptions like hotel stays, FIND experiences, or upgrades.
6. To check immediately whether points will be credited for restaurant expenses, look at your receipt, which will show your World of Hyatt account number and the amount of expenses for which points will be credited.
7. To view transactions related to points earned or redeemed, log in to your world.hyatt.com account. Go to the “Account Details” section, where you can sort transactions by category, and select the “Dining/Spa” category.

Please note that points will not be awarded for gratuities, service charges, taxes, rewards, and, in some jurisdictions, the purchase of alcoholic beverages.

In addition to earning points, you can spend them on food instead of cash. 

Redemption of Points for Hyatt Dining at Restaurants

In addition to earning points, you can spend them on food instead of cash. To do this, when visiting a restaurant, you can request to use World of Hyatt points as a form of payment. The Hyatt staff will then provide you with a dining rewards chart, and you can select the reward and corresponding points you wish to use. Upon request, they can also tell you the total amount available on your bill that can be paid with points, based on your current point balance. 

If the points do not fully cover your expenses, you can choose partial payment and then pay the balance by another method.

Hyatt vs Other Hotel Dining Rewards

How do 5X Hyatt points on dining compare to the dining rewards offered by Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and IHG One Rewards? All of these major hotel loyalty programs have their own dining rewards programs, although they work a little differently. 

Below is a quick comparison of point earning rates and key features: 

Marriott Bonvoy Eat Around Town

Marriott partners with a network of restaurants called Eat Around Town. Program members can sign up for free and link a credit card to earn Marriott points at thousands of participating restaurants (usually regular local restaurants, not necessarily Marriott hotels).

The accrual rate is 4 Marriott Bonvoy points for every $1 spent for basic members and 6 points for every $1 spent if you have elite status with Marriott (Silver, Gold, Platinum, etc.). These points are added to those you earn with your credit card.

Marriott often makes the offer even more attractive with bonuses for new members — for example, at the time of writing, new Eat Around Town members can earn up to 6,000 bonus points within the first 60 days (1,000 points after the first $30 spent on dining, 2,000 after the second, and so on). There is also a permanent benefit of 1,000 bonus points for every 10 restaurant visits made through the program.

In terms of value, many analysts estimate Marriott points to be worth 0.8–0.9 cents each, so 4 points per dollar is approximately 3.4% profit, and 6 points is about 5% profit on your spending.

The appeal of this program lies in its wide selection — over 11,000 restaurants in the US have joined, so you can earn Marriott points for everything from your local pizzeria to a fine dining restaurant, any day of the week.

Hilton Honors Dining

Image sources Hilton

The Hilton program (simply called Honors Dining) also allows you to earn bonus Hilton points at a wide range of restaurants by registering your card. 

The rate at which you earn points depends on your activity and email settings. If you opt out of promotional emails, you will only earn 2 Hilton points per $1 spent (the base level). If you agree to receive emails, you will move up to the 5 points per $1 level (the selected level). And if you eat 11 or more times during a calendar year (while remaining subscribed to emails), you will receive VIP status and earn 8 points per $1. Hilton Honors points are valued at approximately 0.6 cents each, so your earnings range from a meager ~1.2% (at 2X) to approximately 4.8% at 8X.

Reaching 11 qualifying dinners is not that difficult if you use the program throughout the year. Like Marriott, Hilton Dining also runs various promotions – for example, a new member can get 5,000 bonus points after a few uses, etc. The restaurant network is managed by a single company (Rewards Network), so many of the same restaurants appear on both the Marriott and Hilton platforms. You should choose one loyalty currency to earn on your card, as you usually cannot double your earnings at the same restaurant under both programs for a single transaction.

IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn

The IHG dining program is new but works in the usual way. Once you sign up, you can earn IHG points when you dine at participating restaurants. 

The earning structure is identical to Hilton’s: 1 point per $1 if you opt out of emails, 5 points per $1 if you opt in, and 8 points per $1 after 11 or more visits per year (with consent to receive emails).

IHG One Rewards points are typically valued at approximately 0.5 cents each, so the maximum return is approximately 4% of the bill.

Special feature: IHG also sometimes offers direct discounts to program members who visit its hotel restaurants. For example, in some regions of Asia, the IHG Dining Privileges program gives IHG members a 20% discount on their bill at IHG restaurants (in Southeast Asia, Korea, etc.) plus 100 bonus points for every $10 spent. This is a hybrid of an instant discount and points earning.

How Does This Compare to Hyatt’s 5X Dining Bonus?

Hyatt bonus points are worth more — approximately 1.5–1.7 cents each in value, not including any status bonuses.

This is significantly higher than the effective 3–5% return in the Marriott/Hilton/IHG programs. Even if you take the lower end of the value of Hyatt points (some estimate them at ~1.4 cents), 5X is ~7% return, which still beats the other programs. And a Globalist Hyatt member who dines at a Hyatt restaurant can get ~11% of their spending back in points. This illustrates Hyatt’s philosophy: they give a bigger discount, but only at their properties. Marriott and others offer a smaller discount, but at virtually any restaurant. You should also consider breadth versus depth: with Hyatt, there may only be a few Hyatt restaurants (or none at all) in your city where you can earn these points. 

Conclusion

In summary, Hyatt’s dining rewards program (through World of Hyatt) offers one of the highest levels of dining rewards in hotels. However, it is limited to spending at Hyatt hotels.

The Hyatt dining rewards program is worth leveraging if you find yourself at a Hyatt restaurant or bar. It costs nothing, it’s easy (just remember to give your number), and the reward rate is excellent. Those points can be very valuable for future travel. If you’re a points and miles enthusiast, you should also join the dining programs of Marriott, Hilton, etc., to ensure you’re earning something no matter where you eat. But when you have the