Compare the Features and Benefits of World of Hyatt Business Credit Card and
Citi Custom Cash℠ Card

The World of Hyatt business credit card is literally packed with reasons to have it. To me, the main reason is that you can use your business spending to earn elite night credits. For someone that values Globalist status (which is often referred to as the best top tier status of any US hotel chain – with good reason!) and has business with high spend, the ability to earn 5 elite night credits per $10,000 in spend is great.

Keep in mind you’ll also earn 4X World of Hyatt points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties and then 2 points per $1 spent for the top two of the following eight spend categories you spend on each calendar quarter —with no cap: dining; airline tickets purchased directly with the airline; car rental agencies; local transit and commuting; gas stations; internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping.

If you spend a lot on those categories, your $10,000 in spend earns you 20,000 World of Hyatt points (worth about $340 using our own valuations of points and miles) as well as 5 elite status qualifying nights.

One thing to note is that there are other Chase credit cards that earn better for some of the above categories. For instance the Chase Ink Business Preferred earns 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards (which transfer back to the World of Hyatt program 1:1) on all travel (beating 2X on the World of Hyatt Business card for airline and car rental spend) and 3X on internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping. However, that caps out at $150,000 in combined total spend whereas the World of Hyatt business credit card has no cap. You could spend $500,000 on these (top two each quarter, remember) and earn a whopping million points whereas you’d earn significantly less on the Chase Ink Business Preferred due to the $150,000 cap. Basically, you can earn a ton of Hyatt bonus points!

Beyond that, this card offers automatic Hyatt status in the form of Discoverist status. While it’s the lowest elite tier in the World of Hyatt program, it normally would take 10 nights to earn and still offers some nice perks such as premium Internet, complimentary bottled water, a preferred room within your booked category, the ability to earn 1 American Airlines AAdvantage mile per $1 spent at Hyatt (in addition to your Hyatt points), and a 2pm checkout (based on availability). Not only that, but you can “gift” this same Discoverist Hyatt status to up to five employees as well.

And don’t forget, this card gives you access to the Hyatt Leverage program. Hyatt Leverage provides your company with a discount code for stays at a Hyatt property, just like big corporations get! I have personally saved significant money using my own Hyatt Leverage discount.

Another great benefit of this card is the primary car rental CDW / LDW coverage as long as the rental is for business purposes. I really love credit cards with primary CDW insurance because you know you won’t have to involve your personal insurance, potentially owing a deductible, if something happens. I once had a Jaguar I rented from Hertz get keyed in a parking lot and Chase took care of it 100%.

It’s also got some nice protections for items you purchase, with both Purchase Protection (theft or damage to a newly purchased item) and Extended Warranty.

All in all, the World of Hyatt Business credit card is an incredibly well rounded card for those that are loyal to Hyatt and, by extension, the World of Hyatt loyalty program.

You will earn 5% cash back (as ThankYou® Points) on eligible purchases in your top spending category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, with 1% cash back thereafter on all of your other eligible purchases made with your Citi Custom Cash card. You do not have to select anything at any time. It’s automatic. And these are not rotating bonus categories – it’s the same choice each month.
The eligible bonus spend categories are:

• Restaurants
• Gas Stations
• Grocery Stores
• Select Travel
• Select Transit
• Select Streaming Services
• Drugstores
• Home Improvement Stores
• Fitness Clubs
• Live Entertainment

You’ll earn an unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

The 5X applies to your top category each month. So it’s kind of like a rotating bonus category except you choose – and you don’t even have to technically choose or register, the 5% is automatically applied to your highest spend category each billing cycle.

As a comparison, the Chase Freedom Flex offers a 5X rotating quarterly bonus category, but with a limit of $1,500 per quarter and on whatever categories they choose. This works out to the same $1,500 per quarter, but divided evenly each month such that you can utilize different categories each month.

This is the first and only card that I can think of that offers 5% at home improvement stores and at drugstores.

While a heavy spender may not be super impressed with the $500 a month cap, I think many spenders would be very happy to earn 5% on restaurants, grocery stores, gas, etc. on a card with no annual fee.

And heck, you could buy $500 worth of show or concert tickets one month and get 5% on that!

The Citi Custom Cash card is a perfect companion card to a Citi Premier® and a Citi® Double Cash card, creating a Citi Trifecta. If you have all three cards, you would use the Citi Premier for 3X Citi ThankYou points® on air travel & hotels, gas stations, restaurants and supermarkets, the Double Cash card for everything else at 2X, except for one category out of the Custom Cash’s options for 5X up to $500 a month. Personally, I think that most people would want to make this their go-to card for gas stations, as that is an easy one to spend roughly $500 a month on. But, of course, what category you pick will depend on your own spending patterns.

You might be thinking about getting multiple Citi Custom Cash cards – a Custom Cash card for each category, but you cannot. Acknowledging that someone might want to hold many of these to get everything at 5X, they have capped this card at one per person.

Bonus Eligibility Rules for the Citi Custom Cash card

The bonus offer is not available if you received one for opening a new Citi Custom Cash℠ Card account in the past 48 months.

However, this is GOOD news! You see, with all of the other Citi credit cards that earn ThankYou points you can only get one bonus, in total, every 24 months. Meaning that getting a Citi Premier precludes you from, for example, a Citi Rewards+.

But the Custom Cash card is not subject to that rule. So, you can get another Citi ThankYou® card bonus and a Custom Cash card bonus within the same 24 month period.

Bonus Category Definitions

It’s important to know what counts and what doesn’t, especially for bonus categories that start with the word “Select.”

The following definitions apply to the Citi Custom Cash card categories:

Restaurants

Includes purchases at cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants. Excludes purchases at bakeries, caterers, restaurants located inside another business (such as hotels, stores, stadiums, grocery stores, or warehouse clubs) and third party dining delivery services.

Gas Stations

Excludes gasoline purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, convenience stores or other merchants that do not use the gas station merchant category code.

Grocery Stores

Includes purchases at supermarkets, meat/seafood stores, dairy stores, bakeries, and miscellaneous food/convenience stores. Excludes purchases at general merchandise/discount superstores; wholesale/warehouse clubs; candy, nut and confectionery stores. Purchases made at online supermarkets or with grocery delivery services also do not qualify if the merchant does not classify itself as a supermarket by using the supermarket merchant category code.

Select Travel

Includes airline, hotel, cruise line and travel agency purchases. Excludes timeshares, boat leases and rentals, campgrounds and trailer parks, and real estate agencies.

Select Transit

Includes car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicle rentals. Excludes bike/scooter rentals, auto clubs and insurance companies.

Select Streaming Services

Includes the following cable, satellite, and streaming providers: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Apple Music, CBS All Access, Disney+, AT&T TV NOW, ESPN+, fuboTV, HBO Max, NBA League Pass, Netflix, Pandora, Showtime, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, SiriusXM, Vudu, YouTube Red, YouTube TV, and Tidal.

Drugstores

Includes purchases made at pharmacies in grocery stores, general merchandise/discount superstores, and wholesale/warehouse clubs if those merchants submit purchases made in their pharmacy with the drug store and pharmacy merchant category code.

Home Improvement Stores

Includes purchases at home supply warehouse stores, lumber and building materials stores, paint and wallpaper stores, hardware stores, nurseries – lawn and garden supply stores and paints, varnishes and supplies stores. Excludes florists and florists’ supply stores; nursery stock; wholesale construction stores; and glass stores.

Fitness Clubs

Includes membership fee and other purchases at athletic, sports and recreation facilities requiring membership such as health, tennis, and swimming clubs. Excludes fees associated with virtual services for home exercise equipment, personal monitoring devices, or fitness streaming classes.

Live Entertainment

Includes ticket purchases for live entertainment, including: concerts, live sporting events, live theatrical productions, amusement parks, and orchestras. Excludes: charitable organizations that provide live entertainment (benefits), sporting camps, sports complexes where you participate in the sport, public and private golf courses, country clubs (including membership fees), bowling alleys, movie theaters, tourist attractions, museums and art galleries.