4 Nights in Savannah, Georgia for 72K Hyatt Points

I celebrated 2025 4th of July in one of America's most haunted city - Savannah, Georgia.

To my surprise, Savannah had it all - great food, picturesque locations, close proximity to oceans and beaches, a rich history, a very walkable city, and above all, having the title of being one of the most haunted city in America. For a horror-addict like me, this was nothing short of a dream come true.

Before going deeper, let me tell you got this post is structured

Trip Basics (hotel names, room type, perks, etc)

Redemption (points total, CPP, transfer partners, credit cards used, etc)

Credit Card Strategies (easiest ways you can do the same trip with minimal cost)

Trip Highlights (what we loved, some highlights, best food, etc)

Now, let's get started.

Basics - Hotel Hyatt Regency

We stayed 2 nights in the beautiful riverfront Hyatt Regency, located in the Historic District of Savannah.

The hotel was a stones throw away from the Savannah river and close to some beautiful picturesque cobblestoned streets. It was also next to several highly rated restaurants and cafes that I had bookmarked before our trip.

My parents joined us in this trip, so we had to book 2 rooms.

Upon check-in, my parents' room was ready, but ours wasn't. We had to wait approximately 30 minutes in the hotel lobby. Although we were off to a rocky start, the staff was generous enough to offer free lunch at their restaurant. While we devoured some hotdogs and flatbread, I received the notification that our room was ready.

Given I don't hold elite status with Hyatt, I really appreciated the free lunch.

Overall, we had a very lovely 2-night stay. The staff was attentive, the rooms were spacious and modern-looking, the lobby had beautiful views of the Savannah River, and the front desk had coffee, tea and a few snacks every morning.

Because we drove in from Atlanta, we valet parked our car for 2 nights, amounting to $100 in parking fees. My parents are big breakfast people, so they had $45/person breakfast buffets both morning, amount to $180.

I booked our stay using Hyatt points, so all destination fees were waived, which otherwise would have added up to $100 between the two rooms.

After a fantastic stay, when I was reviewing my folio at checkout, I was expecting the following charges:

$100 parking fees

$180 breakfast

To my surprise, I could find neither. My folio only showed a $5 charge for a few water bottle purchases. When I asked the front desk, amazingly they said they waived both charges because of the inconvenience we experienced during check-in.

Overall, we had a fantastic stay. Now, let's talk about redemption.

Redemption - Bilt & Chase Points

I transferred 72,000 Bilt/Chase points to Hyatt to complete my booking for both the rooms.

Here's the cash cost otherwise:

$1,410 room cost

$100 destination fee

Instead of paying $1,510 for the two nights, I used 72K Hyatt points resulting in cents-per-point (CPP) of 2.10. Quite good!

Among the 72K Hyatt points, I had around 50K Chase UR points and 22K Bilt points. These two are the only currencies that transfer to Hyatt.

Most of my points earning came from my Chase Sapphire Preferred sign up bonus and rent spending on the Bilt card.

Strategies - Wallet Setup with Chase & Bilt

If you want to replicate the same trip, there are a few points earning strategies that you can adopt.

The first one is through credit card spending. The second one is through new card sign-up bonuses. Let's start with credit card spend.

Strategy 1: Credit Card Spend

To book Hyatt hotels using Hyatt points, you can strategically use credit cards from issuers that transfer to Hyatt. As of November 2025, these are:

Chase

Bilt

Here's one possible spending breakdown:

Dining - 3X Chase Freedom Flex

Groceries - 1.5X Chase Freedom Unlimited

Gas - 1.5X Chase Freedom Unlimited

Flights & Hotels - 4X Chase Sapphire Reserve / 2X Chase Sapphire Preferred

Rent - 1X Bilt

Rotating Categories - 5X Chase Freedom Flex (most years, at least one quarter of Grocery / Gas / Restaurant)

Everything Else - 1.5X Chase Freedom Unlimited

If you are averaging 2X across all spend, to earn 72K Chase UR points that you can transfer to Hyatt, you need to spend $36,000.

Remember, 72K Hyatt points got me 4 nights across our 2 rooms. If you need one room, it will cost you 36K Hyatt points. You need to spend $18,000 to earn 36K points.

For most of us, it will take quite some time to spend $18,000 or $36,000. Instead, if you want to earn the same number of points faster, here's our second strategy.

Strategy 2: Sign up for Chase Sapphire Preferred

The quickest way to amass 72K or 36K Hyatt Points is by signing up for Chase credit cards, hitting the minimum spending requirement, receiving the sign-up bonus, then transferring the points to Hyatt.

Here are a few options:

Earn 75K UR points by signing up for Chase Sapphire Preferred

Earn 125K UR points by signing up for Chase Sapphire Reserve

Earn 20K UR points by signing up for Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited

Earn 60K Hyatt points by signing up for Chase World of Hyatt credit card

If you can get 1-2 of these cards, and meet the spending requirement in the first 2-3 months, you will accumulate more than enough points to stay 4 nights in Hyatt Regency Savannah.

Trip Highlights

Savannah provides you with a very unique experience.

When you are walking the beautiful city streets, you almost feel like you have been transported back to the 70s and 80s. The city is known for its "old charm".

During our 2 days in Savannah, we had some fantastic food from local restaurants - Flying Monk Noodle Bar, Vic's on the River, Leopold's Ice Cream, and Huey's.

The city also has some of the best bookstores I have been to in the South, notably The Book Lady Bookstore and E Shaver Booksellers.

Savannah is one of the most well-designed cities that I have been to in the States. There are these beautiful "squares" every couple of blocks, which are beautiful parks full of greeneries, benches and statues. In particular, we loved Chippewa Square, Madison Square, Orleans Square and Forsyth Park.

Now, let's talk about the hauntings!

Quite easily the most exciting part of the trip was our late night tour of the haunted Old Sorrel-Weed House. It lasted for 2 hours, from 9PM to 11PM. The tour guides were fantastic, and it was so worth the approximately $20/person.

Outside absorbing the Savannah charm, we managed to squeeze in a short road trip to Tybee Island to soak in some Atlantic beach vibes and historical lighthouses. This was quite a milestone for my parents who really wanted to experience Atlantic beaches, having already been to a few Pacific beaches in San Francisco.

Lastly, the fourth of July fireworks - the very reason we were in Savannah. They were quite good, but nothing spectacular. Our hotel was in the perfect location to quickly get in and get of the prime firework spots by the river. It was quite a spectacle to see the fireworks in the night sky, with the backdrop of the beautiful Savannah River and the Talmadge Memorial Bridge. That said, if seeing spectacular fireworks is your main goal, make Nashville your top priority.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, we absolutely loved our Savannah trip!

It was all the more sweeter given our out-of-pocket hotel cost was literally $0. Instead of paying $1,510 for the 4 nights (2 nights, 2 rooms), we spent 72K Hyatt points resulting in cents-per-point (CPP) of 2.10.

If you are planning to do the same, check out the Chase travel cards, Chase everyday spend cards, and the Bilt card.