Making travel purchases through online shopping portals is one of TPG’s favorite ways to stack points-earning deals on top of each other. So imagine my delight when Hyatt joined Rakuten quietly last week, offering 3% cash back on completed hotel stays in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It gets even better. On Cyber Monday, Rakuten is now offering 15% cash back on Hyatt bookings started through Rakuten’s website. Since Rakuten also allows the option to earn American Express Membership Rewards or Bilt Rewards points instead of cash-back rewards, that means you could also earn 15 points per dollar on bookings made on Dec. 1, 2025.
In addition to being applicable only to North American stays, there are a few more restrictions to keep in mind. Cash back is not available for bookings paid with points, gift card purchases, or purchases made with gift cards. You’ll also need patience. Your earnings won’t be added to your Rakuten account until after your stay is completed.
New to Rakuten? You can also stack a new customer referral offer on top of the increased cash back rates and get a bonus $50 cash back after you spend $50 or more via Rakuten in the first 90 days.
Maximizing my earnings on an upcoming New Mexico trip
When I saw the cash-back offer increased to 15% on Cyber Monday, I jumped at the opportunity to maximize my earnings on an upcoming stay for a last-minute trip to New Mexico this month.
I’ve had my eye on Hotel Willa since it opened in Taos’ historic district this past spring. The hotel group Casetta transformed this 1960s motel into a charming boutique stay, featuring an artist-in-residency program led by the Paseo Project and a farm-to-table restaurant, Juliette. The hotel is now part of Hyatt’s partnership with Mr & Mrs Smith, so if I booked my stay directly through Hyatt’s website after starting my booking on Rakuten’s Hyatt page, I could take advantage of Rakuten’s bonus rewards.
With nightly rates at $180 for a deluxe king room in mid-December, my two-night stay at Hotel Willa came to $360, plus $51.05 in taxes and fees. Since Rakuten generally does not offer rewards on taxes or shipping, I expect to earn 15% back on $360, which comes out to $54. However, I’ll likely choose to convert my cash back to Bilt points, as 5,400 points are worth roughly $118, given that TPG values Bilt Rewards points at 2.2 cents apiece, according to TPG’s current valuations.
Hyatt is also a Bilt transfer partner, so I could transfer those 5,400 points back to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio once they are credited to my account, saving them up for a free award night in 2026.
Stacking my rewards
Speaking of Hyatt points, since I put my reservation on my World of Hyatt Credit Card (see rates and fees), I will earn up to 9 points total per $1 spent on Hyatt stays — 4 Bonus Points per $1 spent on qualified purchases at Hyatt hotels and up to 5 Base Points per $1 from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member, plus a 10% bonus for being a Discoverist elite. That means I’ll see 8,820 additional World of Hyatt points added to my account soon.
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Related: 5 reasons I love my World of Hyatt Credit Card and plan to keep it for the long term
All in, I expect to earn 8,820 Hyatt points and 5,400 Bilt points from this two-night stay. And since standard points bookings for Hyatt Category 2 hotels start at 8,000 points per night, I could turn this into a free night or save it toward a more luxurious redemption.
Bottom line
Now that Hyatt is on Rakuten, I can stack my regular credit card and World of Hyatt member earnings with bonus rewards from the online shopping portal, making it even easier to rack up points toward my next redemption.
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