Is the most valuable award offered to Hyatt’s most loyal guests actually completely useless? Hyatt introduced the Ultimate Free Night Award and the Miraval Extra Award a year ago, and if you want to use them at Miraval Arizona before your certificates expire — you can’t.
Every 10 elite nights from 100 to 150 nights a benefit choice is a Miraval Extra Night, allowing a free night in conjunction with a night that’s been paid with either points, cash or free night certificate.
Pairing one of these with the most valuable Hyatt certificate – the Ultimate Free Night Award – earned after 150 elite nights in a year can be used at Miraval properties, of which there are 3: Tucson, Austin, and Berkshires can be an amazing deal. (A Saudi property is supposed to open later this year.)
- You can easily spend $3,000 per night for one of these rooms. That’s two nights at Miraval for two certificates. And the certificate gets great value, since a standard room for two people in peak season runs 72,000 points per night.
- The only downside is that, while Miraval stays come with a $175 per person per night resort credit for things like spa services, that’s included on free night certificate and points redemptions – but not on Miraval Extra Nights.
The idea of Miraval Arizona is a Sonoran Desert backdrop for an inclusive wellness retreat with guided meditation, fitness and mindfulness classes, healthy dining, and outdoor hikes and activities meant to blend luxury with holistic well-being.
Credit: Miraval Arizona
Both certificates expire six months after they’re selected. A blog reader made a huge blunder, however. He selected his Miraval Extra Night award as soon as he was eligible to do so, after earning the needed elite nights at the end of 2024 rather than waiting until right before the allowable time to pick the award lapsed – timing it for when he’d be able to find availability. He was aiming to book the Miraval property in Arizona and there are not two days in the next six months where it is available.
One report says that there’s “no extra night award availability at the Arizona property until August!” (Tucson… in August… yay?)
In fact, the readers concierge found 3 individual nights in the six month period where there are redemptions available.
- Points and free certificates can be redeemed for standard rooms, which at Miraval Arizona are the Native Spirit and ADA Dreamcatcher rooms. Standard Dreamcatcher rooms used to be eligible for redemption, but no longer are, restricting points redemptions at the property.
- The next time there are two or more consecutive nights available in these room types in August.
- However they were showing available March 5, May 5, and May 21 for single night stays. There’s no ability to use a free night certificate with a Miraval Extra Night award during the six month period where both certificates are valid. They could expire unused!
Credit: Miraval Arizona
There are limited rooms, those book out far in advance because they’re in demand. But it seems to me, though, if you’re going to need to book a year in advance to get desirable dates then Hyatt’s award certificates – offered only to those guests achieving 100 to 150 nights per year with the program! – then the certificates should be valid for a year?
Hyatt bought Miraval in order to lean into wellness, and learn from them how to leverage the concept for higher margins. People will pay a premium for experiences rather than just commodity stays. At the time they also had acquired Exhale Spas as well.
They haven’t done a ton with the brand, although seeing a focus on Miraval with 2024 program changes suggested that might change. There’s a lot of loyalty to it. Many guests who like to cleanse this-and-that seem to enjoy it. And availability should be modestly better at the other two properties.
I’m sure in Hyatt’s eyes what you describe is a feature, not a bug.
I’m reminded of why I closed my Hyatt credit card a few years ago- trying to redeem the Cat 4 cert at a city center property on the weekend had become nearly impossible.
I vowed to never stay in a Hyatt property again when I lost 107,000 Gold Passport points in 2014…
@DWT — Really? Sure, there are restrictions, but the Chase Hyatt personal card’s Free Night Award is much less challenging to use than these specialty awards that Gary was referring to above. I’ve still managed to use for stays worth at least $100-300 using that Chase free night at many places around the country and the world. Definitely breaking-even on the $95 annual fee at least. I suppose sometimes we can’t be too picky with this. Always better to use than lose.
This seems like the kind of thing Hyatt *might* crack down on (making ADA and non-ADA rooms “separate categories” seems to fly in the face of the terms). However, I expect the same hotel management that initially made only ADA rooms part of the “mix” will eventually just remove the Dreamcatcher category entirely.
@Gary – Is this property owned or managed by Hyatt? I’m curious if this Bonvoy style behavior is now infecting more than the franchised properties.
I do hope Hyatt addresses this. To offer an award that can only be used at 3 properties and then to offer no award availability at one of them is not a good look to say the least. The Arizona property is also probably the most appealing timing wise for those who likely get to 100 nights later in the year. It seems like maybe Hyatt is offering too many of these awards to a small group of members. Perhaps instead of offering the Miraval BOGO award at 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 (potentially 6 free nights), they should only be offered at 100, 130 and 150? I suspect a number of these awards are being “gifted” or sold.
Right now, I’m fighting with Chase/Hyatt because they posted 2024 spend in 2025, resulting in my missing the 150 night milestone for 2024. That is contrary to their T&C, which clearly state that elite nights should be credited in the year that the charges are made.
This comment I dot understand: I’m reminded of why I closed my Hyatt credit card a few years ago- trying to redeem the Cat 4 cert at a city center property on the weekend had become nearly impossible.
I have had no such issue and have redeemed hundreds of room nights on points over the years. I compare Hyatt to Marriott (Which I have lifetime Plat status) and Hilton (limited experience) No issue with Hyatt and still the best redemption value for me.
@Frank That is so weird. Last yr I only cleared Globalist due to spend that posted in Jan but earned in Dec. I didnt have that issue.
@robertw — I’m with you, in our shared disbelief at DTW’s comment.
You mention Hilton’s free night certificates, which, in my experience, are quite useful and have ample availability for across their properties (there are always exceptions, of course). Through their Hilton Aspire Amex card, upon the each year’s card anniversary, you receive one of their free nights good for 12 months for any Standard Room award rate. Depending on the property, that saves literally thousands of dollars, like at the Waldorf-Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, where I’ve happily used a few over the years for overwater bungalows. Then again, you could burn the same certificate at a Hilton Garden Inn off I-95, saving a whopping $99. ‘You do you.’
These kind of games continue to be a problem for Hyatt. Same for club lounges. There are basically no Hyatts in North America with a lounge.
@FNT Delta Diamond — Speak for yourself, sir or madam. For example, Grand Hyatt SFO, in the ‘North America,’ has an excellent Club Lounge–it’s just annoying when you have to ‘call them in’ to use add to your booking.
Agreed, the club lounge awards have basically outlived their purpose.
With these new Miraval awards, I can’t imagine that Hyatt would not have had a discussion with their 3 properties before they released it. If there wasn’t going to be sufficient award space to accommodate the number of people who would likely earn them, then they should have gone back to the drawing board. For one of the properties to almost eliminate award availability right at same time a significant number of members started earning the awards seems really sketchy. I’m lucky I was able to redeem one at the Arizona property, booked probably a week before availability dried up. I really only selected the award to stay at that property and I would not have been happy if I wasn’t able to use it there.
@Mark — Pray tell, what is the ‘purpose’ of a club lounge award, and how could it be ‘outlived’?
There are nearly 20 in the US, and around 100 worldwide. It’s some complimentary snacks, drinks, and some extra space. It’s a benefit–use it or lose it. I use mine. This isn’t hard.