Is buying hotel points or airline miles ever a good idea?

My thinking is that there are sooooo many easy, cheap or free ways to generate some points, it's hard for me to imagine ever actually buying any directly (speaking generally, not about Hyatt points specifically). Indirectly, sure. Or maybe spend them - remember that what you almost always need to keep points alive is activity, which could be either gaining or losing or sometimes transferring in some points (from some other place); sometimes there are creative ways to extend the life of points that don't require a big out-of-pocket cash expense (not saying I know of one for Hyatt, and every system is different, so check the rules carefully - for example, I'm pretty sure that one can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt, though I don't know if doing that will reset your Hyatt points expiration date).

I am pretty active in playing the points 'n miles games, though I don't treat them all equally. There are some programs I find very useful, others not so much. Honestly, I've not found it worthwhile to traffic much in Hyatt points. I have an old Hyatt credit card that I barely use. I pay the annual fee and get a free night certificate every year, which I sometimes find useful, so I can justify the annual fee (although just barely). I know plenty of people love their Hyatt stays, I just prefer different currencies (for hotel points, I'm much more interested in IHG points, which I usually find more useful).

In any case, don't kick yourself if you broke down and threw a few bucks at Hyatt to keep your points alive. Find a way to use them on an upcoming trip, you come out ahead, and don't look back.

I'd only buy points if I needed just a few to reach the number needed for a trip I had immediate plans to take.

Ages ago I had a small number of Marriott points, nowhere near enough to get me a room anywhere. With no expectation of acquiring more in the foreseeable future, I converted the points to airline miles. The conversion rate was bad, but it was better than losing the points entirely.

I once used a paltry number of miles from an airline I rarely flew to buy a gift card at CVS. I knew that would be useful.

At one time I think you could donate points to a charity, which counted as activity.

I remember reading in the past that hotel points can be more useful than airline miles. However, I don't stay very often in hotels that are part of a points scheme, and I'm satisfied with rooms not belonging to points-issuing chains. On the other hand, airline flights are a necessity, so I devote my attention to airline miles rather than hotel points.

There's nothing wrong with buying points but in many cases it's not a good value.

As has been stated, all you need is some type of activity to keep your points. This doesn't have to be a hotel stay. Every program has ways of getting activity from dining out programs to online shopping to making donations. Of course, it has to be done through the program. And sometimes you have to dig deep to find them.

While Hyatt does not have a lot of options besides stays or having status, two ways would be to rent a car with Avis using Hyatt's code number or dining at a Hyatt hotel and letting them know you have a Hyatt account.

Depending on the program, points are usually worth about 1.5-2.5 cents each in value. So,
$72 for 3600 points is not bad. That's 2 cents each.

The other thought is this....even though you found a hotel that takes 3500 points, is it located someplace you want to go?

I once bought about 5000 American Airline points to get to a level where I could fly business class to Germany. Of course that trip was cancelled due to Covid. When I checked on that flight this year the points needed had doubled and it was back to coach for me !

"so instead I bought 3600 points for the price of 3000 "
Is this a typo - I'm confused?

I only buy Southwest points and only when they are discounted so that the value proposition makes sense ($ spent per point). Southwest points are the easiest to use and are quite predictable; I have trust that I can put them to use at a later date. I don't have the same faith in other airlines; there is constant devaluation of points and you earn points based on how much you spend, not the distance flown. I don't bother with hotel points - I earn a free night from using a certain number of nights with Hotels.com and also some funds using Booking.com.

I've purchased airline miles to top up my account so I could get two round trip tickets to Amsterdam using just miles. It ended up costing about $300 for the miles, but that was still much less than paying for one ticket with cash. I penciled it out ahead of time and was comfortable with the cost/benefit. I probably won't do that again though, as the miles tickets have restrictions that caused some difficulties when needing to reschedule flight home due to travel drama. I'm not sure I'll play the miles/points game in future, currently just maxing out my cash back credit card and putting that aside for travel.

I’m willing as long as I’m not spending more than 2¢ a point. Yours was exactly 2¢.

I have only done this when I am getting ready to book something on points and need a small number of additional miles. I think you always need to ”do the math” to see if this has value for you.

I have a small number of points in a number of airline and hotel programs. I often sign up for hotel programs because they will give you some benefit for your stay (either a lower ”members only” rate or some perk like free wifi). I let many of these points just expire because I have no specific plans to stay in that hotel chain in the near future.

I appreciate when everyone shares their perspective, thanks all.

The old mistake of buying something that's a good deal even if it isn't the right deal is one I keep having to watch myself over.
I keep in mind a scene in a comedy where a woman finds a yellow dress in her mother's closet and says "I've never seen you wear this!" Her mother replies that she never looks good in yellow. "So why did you buy it?"

"It was 75% off!"