At least that’s what I’ll always call it. Last year it was “The Big Welcome” promotion, and now it’s “The Big Welcome Back.”
No matter, the crux of it is still the same: every two stays earns a free night for use anywhere in the world.
Of course, you have the option of taking 5000 Hyatt Gold Passport points instead, and you can bank those, whereas the free nights must be used by August 31 (historically Hyatt has offered to extend the validity of these nights, especially for their Diamond members, but this is by no means guaranteed). The short time in which to use the free nights means some will actually prefer points. But in general the free night is a much better option, claimed at a top tier porperty that usually requires 18,000 points.
The old Faster Free Nights promos required you to pay for your stay with a Mastercard. That’s no longer part of the deal. Though back in the day, once upon a time, a Priceline stay counted and if you charged anything to your room during the free night it would wind up counting as well — making it in essence a free night for every one night stay. Oh, those were the days!
But this Hyatt promo really is the mother of them all, and real worthwhile bonus, while the other hotel chains piddle away. Hilton was supposed to offer their very modest second quarter promo (of double points or 1000 points per night) but that thus far appears to be targeted.
The real value in Hyatt’s Stay Two, Get a Free Night offer is loading up on cheap stays, such as airport stays on a Saturday night, and using two of those to fund a high-end stay such as that Park Hyatt Sydney or Park Hyatt Tokyo.
The only real requirement is that you actually check into your room (though occasionally members find a property which permits phantom stays — that is, which posts a qualifying stay activity on a prepaid rate even when you don’t actually show up, cheap phantom stays are like gold under this promo). And as long as you’re not doing a phantom stay, you can effectively get a 20% discount on your Hyatt stays by buying Hyatt gift cards at Costco.
You will need to register, and that won’t be available until the start of the promo on March 26 (it will be here but the site isn’t live yet). The promo lasts through June 30. A wonderful second quarter promo!
And with the recent Gold Passport improvements — true availability of award nights without blackout dates or capacity controls on standard rooms, free internet for elites, 4 confirmed suite upgrades annually for Diamonds — this makes it a good time to consider giving Hyatt some business, or even comping over your existing hotel status and start off as a Diamond member.
The Flyertalk thread on the promotion is here.
If I’m a priority club platinum (made the hard way with 50+ nights in a PC hotel for 2009) – will Hyatt comp my status? Is this worth the switch? I’m not enamored with Priority Club, but there are holiday inns everywhere whereas Hyatts seem somewhat more rare.
@Corey yes they will as long as you haven’t had them comp it in the past
can’t wait
Argh. Why does every hotel chain whose promo I consider not have high end properties (or any, in most cases) in Spain for my upcoming trip? Really freaking annoying!
Funny you say that, Erik. That’s the first thing I thought of when I read this since I have a Spain trip coming up myself.
I’ve never used a Hyatt Free Night award before, are they capacity controlled?
I cannot believe they are doing another one of these so soon.
I amassed enough free nights during the Q4 running of this to take my extended family to the Park Hyatt Paris (2 separate rooms) for a full week. And to answer Tim’s question, no capacity controls, you just need base level room availability for sale and the FFN can be used. Most of us “hold” the rooms (some agents allow this without having yet earned the FFNs, others require you to book with points and change once the FFN is earned).
I was looking forward to trying out a new starwood property on an upcoming trip, but with this promo I think my business will go to Hyatt.
If I’m a Marriott Platinum, am I better off having Hyatt Match my Status or using the Platinum Trial / 15 nights to Diamond Promotion? I’m planning on staying at a Hyatt every week (3 nights each) instead of my usual Marriott or Hilton throughout the promotion period.
Also, can you book Free Nights before the certs are earned?