The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card issued by Chase is the small business version of the consumer World of Hyatt credit card. Here are the highlights:

• 60,000 Bonus Hyatt Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
• Up to $100 in Hyatt statement credits – spend $50 or more at any Hyatt property and earn $50 statement credits up to two times each anniversary year.
• 9X points total per $1 spent at Hyatt – 4 Bonus Points per $1 when you use your card at Hyatt hotels & 5 Base Points per $1 from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member.
• 2X Points per $1 spent in your top three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/24, then your top two categories each quarter.
• 2X Points per $1 spent on fitness club and gym memberships
• 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• 5 Tier-Qualifying night credits toward status and Milestone rewards for every $10,000 you spend in a calendar year.
• World of Hyatt Discoverist status for as long as your account is open. Plus, gift Discoverist status to up to five employees.
• 10% Redemption bonus. Spend $50,000 in a calendar year and get 10% of your redeemed points back for the rest of the year.
• $199 annual fee.

Under-the-radar benefit: The “2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in your top three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/24, then your top two categories each quarter” is pretty good if you want to earn 2X Hyatt points per dollar spent. Eligible categories are:

• Dining
• Shipping
• Airline tickets when purchased directly with the airline
• Local transit & commuting
• Social media & search engine Advertising
• Car rental agencies
• Gas stations
• Internet, cable & phone services

Application details. Note the following:

This bonus offer is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

The 5/24 rule is believed to apply to this card. On many Chase cards, there is an unwritten rule that they will automatically deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This is applied on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.

The value of Hyatt hotel points. The most valuable redemption options are for free hotel nights, points+cash hotel combinations, and/or room upgrades. Hyatt allows you the flexibility of combining your points with any other World of Hyatt member to redeem an award. They are also somewhat unique in that you can book a suite directly with points.

Below is their points award chart, and here is their award search tool. Free rooms start at 3,500 points, and you can book suites with points as well.

If you compare with the cash cost of these hotels, the number varies but you are nearly always getting between 1 cent and 2 cents per point value on the low end, and possibly much more on the luxury end. We stayed at Grand Hyatt Kauai on Hyatt points (earned via credit cards), where the cash value is $701 per night when you include all taxes and the $35/night resort fee. That worked out to 2.8 cents per Hyatt point.

I am conservative with point valuations, so I prefer to use a simple value of 1 cent per Hyatt point. After the Marriott/Starwood merger, I believe that Hyatt points are now the most valuable hotel points on a per-point basis. In general, I would rather convert my Chase Ultimate Rewards points into Hyatt points than any other hotel program.

Hyatt points expire after 24 months of inactivity, but earning points via this credit card counts as activity. Chase Ultimate Rewards points also convert to Hyatt points and the transfer counts as activity.

The free Discoverist status from this card gets you a free bottle of water daily, a free upgrade to premium WiFi internet, dedicated check-in area, and a 2pm late checkout upon request at participating locations. You are also eligible for a minor room upgrade within your type booked.

Bottom line. The new World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers the best value to small business owners that regularly stay at Hyatt properties. (This is me – World of Hyatt is my favorite hotel rewards program.) The first-year value on this business card is very strong. 60,000 Hyatt points even at a conservative 1 cent per point value is worth $600. One perk missing that is included with the consumer version of this card is the Free Night award each after your Cardmember anniversary at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort, but that is effectively replaced by the $100 statement credit. As long as you have two $50+ charges at a Hyatt property (including a food or spa purchase), that is another $100. Ignoring every other perk and subtracting the $199 annual fee, that’s still an estimated first-year value of $500.

I will be adding this to my Top 10 Best Small Business Card Bonus Offers.

Updated. Chase and Air Canada have partnered to create The Aeroplan World Elite Mastercard for US customers. Using the new Pay Yourself Back feature, 60,000 Aeroplan points can be redeemed for $750 back toward eligible travel purchases including flights on any airline (details below). Here are the highlights on the sign-up bonus and Air Canada perks:

• 60,000 bonus points after $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
• 60,000 points is worth up to $750 in travel. Redeem points for a statement credit to cover travel purchases including hotels, car rentals, ride-shares, flights and more. There is no limit to the amount of points cardmembers can redeem through June 30, 2024. Each point is worth 1.25 cents which means you can get a $750 statement credit for 60,000 points redeemed.
• Free first checked bags on Air Canada flights: one free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to eight other travelers on the same itinerary.
• Automatically receive Aeroplan 25K Elite Status for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, allowing primary cardmembers to enjoy benefits such as priority check-in, early boarding, upgrades and more on Air Canada flights.
• Each calendar year in which you spend at least $15,000 in purchases you earn Aeroplan 25K Status through the following calendar year.
• $100 credit toward Global Entry, TSA Precheck or NEXUS every four years (as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card)
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $95 annual fee.

Here is the rewards structure on credit card spending:

• 3X points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
• 3X points at grocery stores
• 3X points on direct purchases at Air Canada
• 1 point for each dollar spent on all other purchases
• 500 bonus points for every $2,000 spent in a calendar month (up to a maximum of 1,500 points per calendar month)

Redeeming Aeroplan points for flights. It is very easy to redeem Aeroplan points on Air Canada, Air Canada Express, or Air Canada Rouge flights because “every Air Canada seat available to buy for cash is also available for points, no restrictions.” You simply run a search like normal on the Air Canada website, and it will tell you upfront the cost in Aeroplan points. It’s quite easy to compare the cash cost side-by-side. In addition, when you have this credit card, you get even better preferred pricing on flights when redeeming points.

Here is an example flight from San Francisco to Vancouver during our March Spring Break period:

At 8,300 miles + CAD$8 for a one-way flight, that means I could get 4 of these SFO-YVR roundtrip flights for 70,000 with some 3,000+ points left over. This means an entire family of four could get their flights covered. The cash cost for the one way was CAD$207 or US$161 at this writing, for a total redemption value of CAD$1,656 or US$1,288.

For a more general idea, here is a link to the Aeroplan rewards chart (PDF). The points required are based on distance.

You can also get excellent value by redeeming your points on a partner airline.

Finally, with this credit card, you get preferred pricing on award flights (less points required):

You, as the primary cardmember will often require fewer Aeroplan points to redeem for flight rewards through the Aeroplan program than Aeroplan Members who do not hold an Aeroplan co-branded Credit Card.

Redeem towards any travel at 1.25 cents per points. Via their Pay Yourself Back(R) feature, Chase allows an alternative option to redeem Aeroplan points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point to cover travel purchases including airline flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, rideshares, parking lots, and more. This provides a nice minimum floor on the value of an Aeroplan point. You can redeem unlimited points through 6/30/24 as an introductory offer; in the future it will be capped at 50,000 points redeemed per year in this way.

Here’s all of what counts as “Travel”:

Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.

Personal experience. I have had this card now for over a year, and here is why I renewed and paid the annual fee for a second year. There are a lot of little things with this card that makes travel better.

• You get 25K elite status on Air Canada with this card (25K automatically for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, later years with eligible spending), and that lets you check in using the speedy priority line with helpful humans! The same line as business class ticket holders. This 1 on 1 person can help you make flight changes, fix seats, check bags and just make flying smoother rather than trying to flag down the kiosk person trying to help 30 people at once.
• 25k status lets you pick better seats for free and gives you a 50% discount on the preferred seats with extra legroom on (non-basic) Flex economy fares.
• 25k status gets you Zone 2 boarding even on basic economy tickets, which is very early. You know how the line is usually split between “1st class/fancy folks” and “everyone else”? You get to board in the fancy folks line.
• Free checked bags for you and all travel companions with the card. For me, that means my family can check 5 bags for free. 25k status also gives the person with status 2 free checked bags.

Basically, this card helps me feel closer to a business class passenger when I just buy economy tickets and pay for the extra legroom seats. I get the nice check-in line, no hassles with checked bags, TSA PreCheck for security, and true priority boarding so no stress about carry-on space.

Bottom line. The Chase Aeroplan World Elite Mastercard offers a 60,000 point sign-up bonus (redeemable for multiple Air Canada flights or use the Pay Yourself Back feature to offset $750 of travel on ANY airline) and Air Canada flight perks (including free first checked bag and elite status).

I will be adding this offer to the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited Card is a no-annual-fee rewards card which earns a flat 1.5% cash back on all non-bonus purchases (or a possibly more valuable 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent). This is a different card from the new Chase Freedom Flex, which has 5% cash back on rotating categories, on up to $1,500 in purchases each quarter. Here are the highlights for new cardholders:

• INTRO OFFER: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back!
• Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year).
• After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
• 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% – 29.24%.

Here is the standard rewards structure, before any doubling during the new cardholder offer:

• 5X points (5% cash back) on travel purchased through Chase Travel.
• 3X points (3% cash back) on dining out, take-out, and eligible delivery services.
• 3X points (3% cash back) on drugstore purchases.
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
• No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
• Cash back does not expire as long as your card is open.
• No annual fee.

1.5% cash back on all purchases is better than the 1% cash back you see from a lot of cards, but there are now multiple 2% back back cards out there.

But wait, you actually get Ultimate Rewards Points! The lesser-known perk of this card is that you actually earn Ultimate Rewards points, which are in turn redeemable for cash back at a rate of 100 points = $1 in cash back, or 1 cent per point. But you don’t have to do that. Ultimate Rewards points are worth collecting because of their flexibility. (I hope Chase doesn’t forget this fact.) This is important because there are many ways in which Ultimate Rewards points can be worth much more than 1 cent per point.

If you have also have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred Card, then you can pool all of your Ultimate Rewards points together (even with your spouse/partner as an authorized user) and thus utilize all of the same transfer partners with the following results:

• Earn 1.5 United Mileageplus miles per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
• Earn 1.5 Hyatt points per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
• Earn 1.5 British Airways Avios per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
• Earn 1.5 Southwest Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent on ALL purchases.

Notice that you are earning more miles and points on ALL purchases than even the specific co-branded cards from United or Hyatt themselves! Most of them just offer 1 point/mile per dollar spent on all purchases.

If you placed a perceived value of 1.5 cents on each United Airlines mile or Hyatt hotel point, then you’d receive 2.25 cents of perceived value per dollar spent with this card. Your actual numbers will depend on your own specific redemption choices, but you can see that you can definitely exceed 2% cash back value on an ongoing basis with the Sapphire Preferred/Freedom Unlimited combo.

With the Sapphire Reserve, you can also redeem for travel through the Chase Travel portal at 1.5 cents per point value, which means 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points = $300 towards airfare, hotel, car rentals booked through Chase Travel. 5% cash back on groceries turns into 7.5% potential value back, and so on.

If you would like the opportunity to earn 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories each quarter, compare with the Chase Freedom Flex card. You can have both a Freedom and a Freedom Unlimited card, but you’ll have to apply for each card separately. I think this is actually a great combo if you plan to keep a Sapphire Preferred/Sapphire Reserve/Ink Preferred cards as well.

Restrictions. This card is subject to “5/24” restrictions, which means that your application will be automatically denied if you have opened 5 or more credit cards in the last 24 months (check your credit reports). Our household strategy is to have one person only apply for Chase 5/24 cards, and the other person applies for everything else. There is also this language on the consumer card:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

Bottom line. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a unique card that works best in combination with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Preferred Business cards. The combination of earning 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all purchases plus the unique redemption options from those other cards can create a value exceeding that of 2% cash back. You also get a bonus category of 3X points on dining out and drugstore purchases.

The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit is a business credit card with simple, straightforward cash back along with no annual fee. This version is currently offering a strong $750 cash bonus for new cardholders after qualifying purchases, while also requiring an excellent credit score. Here are the highlights:

• Earn a $750 bonus when you spend $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back for your business on every purchase, everywhere – with no limits or category restrictions.
• Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
• Rewards won’t expire for the life of the account.
• Redeem your cash back rewards for any amount.
• No annual fee.

This card does not have all of the bells and whistles like top-level rewards, transferrable airline miles, or airport lounge access. For that, look into the Capital One Venture X Business Card and its higher annual fee.

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and these days many people are full-time or part-time consultants, freelancers, eBay/Amazon/Etsy sellers, Uber/Lyft drivers, or other one-person business owners. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Bottom line. The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit is a business credit card with simple, straightforward cash back along with no annual fee. This version requires excellent credit, but is also currently offering a one-time $750 cash bonus for new cardholders after qualifying purchases.

Due to the $750+ first-year value, I will be adding this to my Top 10 Best Small Business Card Bonus Offers.