Hyatt Will Give You Points If Your Free Night Expires
It appears Hyatt has made a change to the free night awards that are a part of the World of Hyatt program. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. A bit of background first.
Hyatt is in the early stages of their new program, World of Hyatt. It’s generally better for really frequent travelers and not as good for folks who only stay a dozen or less nights a year. One of the primary new benefits were free nights when you hit certain milestones each year.
Staying 30 nights earns you a free night in any hotel from Category 1 to 4. Staying 60 nights earns you a night in any property up to a Category 7, which is essentially all hotels (maybe not Miraval?).
The Catch?
Those free nights expire 120 days after you earn them. That means you need to book and stay within 120 days of earning these free nights. That’s a tall order for me at certain times of year. Heck, most of the year!
I called the Diamond Globalist line a couple of days ago. I was asking if there was any way to extend the expiration of a free night that I wasn’t going to be able to use in time. The agent apologized and said he couldn’t. However, he did say he could credit my account with 10,000 points once the night expired.
Oh, Really?
My Private Line Agent (soon to be my Ambassador) was out of the office when I made the call to customer service. When she got back in the office she confirmed the same thing.
Now, 10,000 points isn’t great. A category 4 property is 15,000 points per night. Still, if you can’t use the free night in time, 10,000 points is better than nothing (and a sharp stick in the eye).
The Final Two Pennies
This is the first I can recall hearing about this policy. It’s possible I missed it during the new program rollout. I don’t think I do. I’m thankful to have that option. Going forward, I’ll look at those free nights as a 10,000 point award. If I’m able to use the night within 120 days at a Category 3 or 4 property, great! If not, I won’t sweat it too much.
Are you having trouble using your World of Hyatt free nights?
The post Hyatt Will Give You Points If Your Free Night Expires was published first on Pizza in Motion
What about the cert you get after 60 nights. That one is worth 25k points. Will they give us more than 10k?
AI, I’m getting an answer from Hyatt.
I got 2 free nights for making spend on my card; I am not a Globalist (Discoverist). Do those nights expire in120 days as well? Think I would be eligible for 10k?
Skydiverjim, checking on this as well.
I wonder if they would do the same thing for the yearly free night from the credit card? None of my travel this year coincided with a nearby Hyatt.
Cynthia, I’ll ask.
I can personally confirm they did this for me as someone that only had status from the credit card. I have had the credit card for just over a year and found myself needing a Category 1 Hyatt room for two nights – literally the day after my credit card cert expired but before the next year’s cert posted to my account. It was crazy timing. The rep told me she couldn’t un-expire the cert, but was giving me 10,000 points to use instead, which paid for BOTH of the nights I needed since Cat 1 is only 5k/night. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Particularly so after staying at the very nice St. Paul Hyatt Place (Minnesota) with 16′ ceilings in a cavernous room including free breakfast for me and my daughter!
Thx, Larz!
That’s great news! Thx!
My CC free night expired in July. When I called in June to see if I could extend the date I was told they could credit back 10,000 points if I called back in after the expiration and within 30 days. I did and mentioned that I had been told I could get points credited. The agent I spoke to then gave me 15,000 points which I needed for a stay in Tokyo next month. I am also Explorist with WOH thanks to a match between MGM Life and Celebrity Cruises Select status. That has given me 4 Club update certificates. One of which I am using in Tokyo. So far I am liking WOH.
Emerson, that sounds like a pretty fair solution. Glad it worked out for you!
Emerson, see my updated post today. Looks like this is NOT official policy: https://pizzainmotion.boardingarea.com/2017/08/23/hmmm-hyatt-not-give-points-expired-free-nights/
We regret to hear that you are unable to use your night. All nights are only eligible for use after one year from the date they are deposited into your member account. Nights cannot be extended, reissued or converted to points.
Kevin, try calling.