How to Save on Hyatt Stays

There are some ongoing promotions from Hyatt that might be worthwhile. I value Hyatt points at a minimum Rs 1.75 each, so using them in conjunction with stays could be lucrative. Trying to gain more points or staying for less, especially when there are no bank transfer partners, could be nice.

Brand Explorer

We receive a complimentary night with this promotion for each Hyatt hotel stay in five different brands. The free night earned can be used for any Category 1-4 hotel. There are currently eight brands available in India, allowing us to get one free night. There are 26 Hyatt brands worldwide thus making us eligible for five complimentary nights.

I would book the free night at Cat 3/4 property since we could still book the lower category hotels by points or Hyatt Dining Club vouchers. The best place to redeem is Hyatt Regency Dharamshala Resort or Alila Fort Bishangarh.

New Hotels 500 Points Bonus Offer

Hyatt runs new hotel opening promotion wherein we receive 500 points per night. This bonus could be stacked and earned along with other promotions and base points that we may receive. You may view the offer and the participating hotels here.

Typically, this promotion runs for about a year of the opening of the hotel though the website would list the offer period in a block of three months. Hyatt updates the list monthly.

Important Terms:

– No registration is required

– 500 points per night

– Even an award stay is eligible for the bonus. [Potentially, we can stay for 3000 points for an off-peak rate of Category 1 hotel]

– Only one room would earn the bonus

Hyatt Leverage Program

Hyatt Leverage, a free program for small and mid-sized businesses, gives a 5-15% discount on BAR (Best Available Rate). We do receive elite nights and points for the Hyatt Leverage stays. You may sign-up for Hyatt Leverage here. After registering, you will receive a code that should be entered under corporate code.

I’ve made several reservations using the Hyatt Leverage rate. In the absence of any other offers, it might be a good deal. Additionally, these rates don’t require a deposit and have a flexible cancellation policy. Here are some examples of the Hyatt Leverage rates of straight 15% off:

Sometimes the rates are cheaper than the prepaid members rate also:

Of course, not all times it would be cheaper so we may have to check before booking. Sometimes there could be some property specific promotional rate too:

Double Your Points

This rate rarely would make sense unless we would have a lot of incidental spends or if the stay is reimbursed by the employer/client. This rate would make sense, for example, if we wanted to host a family lunch or celebrate a birthday. The base points are only doubled, and only one room per stay qualifies.

Paying with Gift Voucher

We could purchase discounted Hyatt gift cards, bringing down the cost of our hotel and meals. I usually buy Hyatt Gift Vouchers on Axis Grabdeals for an 8.5% discount and Amazon at 8% (but it varies). Given that we can purchase a specific amount rather than a set amount and receive a marginally higher discount, Axis Grabdeals would be a good option. I haven’t had any issues redeeming at the hotel and we do get points for the portion paid by the gift voucher.

Purchasing Points

Hyatt is the only big hotel chain to now have a published award chart. Thus, we can predict the maximum cost of a stay and sometimes we do get outsized value. You can purchase Hyatt points here.

This is the award chart:

Generally, you could buy each Hyatt point for 2.4 cents/Rs 1.97 before any discount and bonus. The 40% bonus was the best price ever, but typically we see a 25%–30% bonus or a 25%–30% discount. The best card to buy points would be the cards that give additional rewards on forex spending like Axis Reserve, Citi Prestige, or Amex Platinum Charge card. The best credit card is Axis Reserve, which offers 2X returns. I’ve calculated the cost per point for a range of possible Hyatt promotions:

	Cost per point	Cost per point if Axis Reserve used
30% discount	Rs 1.38	Rs 1.21
25% discount	Rs 1.48	Rs 1.30
30% bonus	Rs 1.53	Rs 1.35
25% bonus	Rs 1.59	Rs 1.40

Booking through points could potentially be a great deal, particularly in Indian Cat 1-2 hotels. Imagine booking a room that would cost Rs. 44,132 ($535) for just 3,500 points purchased at a 30% discount!

Bottom line

I generally prefer staying with Hyatt hotels, and thanks to my Globalist status, the stays are usually excellent.  We could use any of these offers or buy points to boost the value since there are no bank transfer partners. My favourite promotion is the brand explorer and it is possible to get outsized value with it.