Registration is required, will not open until September 9, and must be completed by October 31.

You’ll earn bonus points every 5 eligible nights between September 9 and November 30 as follows:

Stays at MGM M Life-participating properties in Las Vegas count, too, by the way.

How Does this Promotion Compare to Past Hyatt Offerings?

This promotion is very similar to the one offered last September through November. That one offered bonus points every 5 nights, though starting with night 10 the bonus was 10,000 points and this time it increases with each set of 5 nights.

It’s actually a pretty lucrative promotion for guests racking up lots of nights. Last year’s gave you 35,000 points after 20 nights and this year’s gives you 50,000.

However, one difference is that unlike recent promotions there’s no additional kicker for Hyatt Visa co-branded cardholders. Last year’s offer included a 20% bonus if you had a Hyatt Visa, which meant 20 nights would have actually yielded 42,000 points — definitely closing the gap, though at 20 nights this year’s promotion is still nearly 20% more lucrative.

There wasn’t as low a cap, though, on bonus points last year: After 35 nights last year if you also had the Hyatt Visa you could have earned 78,000 points. This year there’s no additional earning after 20 nights and 50,000 points.

All-in I like this year’s September through November promotion better (though wished it started September 1 as it did last year, my Labor Day weekend nights would help — as it is I have 9 nights booked during the promotion period, but I also have several nights with other chains, and likely won’t get past eligible 15 nights).

Ultimately we’ll always compare any Hyatt promotion — indeed, any hotel promotion – to “Faster Free Nights” the former gold standard in offerings that gave a free night at any Hyatt in the world after every two stays. In that promotion you used to be able to stay two nights at a cheap airport Hyatt, and redeem at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, Sydney, or Zurich for instance.

This isn’t that though you will earn more than enough points after 20 nights for 2 nights at any Hyatt in the world including those and the Park Hyatts in Paris or the Maldives.

How Does Hyatt’s Promotion Compare to Other Chains’ Promos?

We don’t yet know what all of the hotel chains will be doing in terms of promos for this period, I like Hyatt’s offer better than Marriott MegaBonus (though other’s may disagree, it’s an entirely debatable point) and better than Starwood’s offering for sure. And I strongly suspect it will be more valuable than offerings from Hilton and Priority Club.

So my prediction is that Hyatt’s offering will be the most valuable in the market during the September through November period — but whether it will work best for you will depend on stay patterns (number of nights, nights versus stays, and whether you ‘strand’ four nights with Hyatt by staying 4, 9, 14, or 19 nights and just miss a bonus tier).

• Starwood is offering double base points and 2500 bonus points per five nights (awarded up to 4 times). Maxing out on their promotion after 20 stays would yield 16,000 bonus points at an average room rate of $150. I’d view Hyatt’s bonus as being more than twice as generous.
  
• We only know Hilton’s promotion through September 30th, but it’s double or triple base points depending on the night of the week and since it’s tied to spend at the hotel it’s better than nothing but not super lucrative.
  
• Marriott’s MegaBonus will get you free nights at low and mid-tier properties, and if you do short stays and want to redeem for those it could be best. However, points are more flexible and Hyatt’s offer lets you choose top end properties or more nights at lower end ones. Plus MegaBonus nights have to be used within a year whereas points can be saved for future trips as long as you keep your account active.
  
• Priority Club has been less aggressive than in the past these last several months.

In general Hyatt Gold Passport offers the most rewarding program for free nights and is also the most generous for room upgrades with points by far and this promotion helps too.

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