I’ve had several readers ask about expiring Hyatt free nights. They’re offering reservation cancellation flexibility, postponing peak season award pricing and hotel category changes and have paused expiration of points through May 31.
Like many other programs they haven’t said anything about elite status for the year yet. To extend status now just lets folks stay with other chains when they’re traveling again. And status promotions would be great to help put heads back in beds later in the year. But will they be able to hold out that long? There’s a game of chicken with other programs going on, and if others just extend status they might have to also.
However Hyatt has been strangely silent on free night certificates, while several other programs have extended theirs. And free night certificates are extremely common at Hyatt.
- One each year for co-brand credit card members (category 1-4)
- Another for spending $15,000 on the card (category 1-4)
- A free night after staying 30 nights (category 1-4)
- And for each five brands you stay at for the first time (category 1-4)
- Plus a free night upon staying 60 nights (category 1-7)
These continue to expire. Indeed my category 1-7 free night for requalifying for this year’s Globalist status is set to expire April 2. I asked Hyatt what will happen and was told, “we continue to evaluate extending elite tier qualifications and award expiration for global members, including those beyond the ASPAC region. We know adjustments will need to be made given the quickly evolving nature of the situation, and we are committed to communicating these updates as we can.”
In other words no news, including for certificates expiring now. However I also asked my assigned concierge about an extension. They told me they’ll give me 20,000 points for the expired category 1-7 award night.
Regretfully, we can’t extended the awards however, what I can do is issue 20,000 points for the Cat 1-7 award once it expires. It looks like your award expires April 2, 2020. If you could reach out to me once the award expires I would be happy to issue the points.
In the past Hyatt has only been willing to offer points, when asked, for expiring category 1-4 free night certificates earned via their co-brand credit card. Category 7 free nights expired uncompensated.
Two years ago I cancelled travel plans with my category 7 free night, earned for requalifying as a top tier Globalist, when my 16 year old dog was facing his last days. We couldn’t leave him. The vet came over to our house the day after we’d have returned home from the trip. Hyatt wouldn’t offer anything.
That’s why I was surprised to learn that I’d be able to get 20,000 points upon request once this same certificate expired now. We’ll see what the official policy becomes moving forward. However for now if you have an expiring free night, you might ask Hyatt for points once it expires.
I don’t think that compensating for expired category 1-7 free night certificate is a very recent change. I got 20,000 points for an expired certificate in February 2019.
Gary-did you ask about potentially receiving 30,000 points, as that’s the point equivalent to a category 7 night?
I fully realize that 20,000 points is arguably equal or even higher in value than a category 1-7 free night, depending on your travel habits, but if you’ve taught us anything it’s that it never hurts to ask.
Gary, you wrote “In the past Hyatt has only been willing to offer points, when asked, for expiring category 1-4 free night certificates earned via their co-brand credit card. Category 7 free nights expired uncompensated.”
I had a cat 1-7 cert expire at the end of Jan 2020 and my concierge volunteered to issue points after it expired I took her offer of the 20k points.
I had a 1-4 free night cert expire this week. I got the same response as you: no extension, but we’ll give you 10K points. This did not seem negotiable.
Very relevant topic for me. I have three cat 1-4 certificates expiring in May and June, together with reservations which were supposed to be using those three certificates in Florida in late April. Hyatt told me over the phone that there was nothing they could do since their system wouldn’t let them extend the certificates. I then contacted customer care by e-mail and their response was to contact them again when the certificates were within 90 days of expiration. I wrote back and said the certificates were now within 90 days of expiration, so what do you want me to do? I even provided them with my reservation numbers so they knew I had absolutely intended to use the certificates. They wrote back clarifying that they meant before 90 days had passed after the certificates had expired. They would not tell me what type of compensation would be given for a cat 1-4 certificate. I really don’t understand why Hyatt can’t extend these certificates unless it truly is an IT problem.
Short and sweet: No cert extension and I mail back the credit cards and never book a paid stay again.
Marriott, Hilton, others-Take note.
The “system won’t let them”. A policy so poor they gotta blame IT.
The 20k for category 7 “unofficial” policy has been in place for a while, just the same as the 10k for category 4. I’m surprised you didn’t know about this. Plenty of data points out there of people receiving 20k after letting their certificates expire. To be fair, I’m not one of them. I’ve always tried to use mine. But this might be the first time as I have a 7 expiring in April and my PH SKB cancellation was cancelled by the hotel.
Hyatt extended free night certificates for those residing in Asia Pacific. They also extended elite status for people in Asia Pacific. Now that the US has more current Coronavirus cases than China and we are in government forced lockdowns, Hyatt should offer USA members the same that they offered for those in Asia Pacific.
My concierge told me that if my 1-7 expired without being used, I would receive points.
She didn’t say how much, though.
I plan to stay at the Park Hyatt NYC if it’s open, just to use the cert, then sue when I get the plague.
At least maybe they have a maid. My place is Vegas is starting to look pretty rank.
Hi, Like Gary, I am a lifetime Globalist and my understanding of the policy is that for globalists who receive the yearly free night – they do allow the 20K points for expired certificates in the category 1-7 but they never extend the expiration. I don’t think that Hyatt give points ever for any free night award that is associated with the Chase Hyatt card. At least, that’s what my concierge wrote me this year. I have also received the 10k credit for the free nights that are awarded to us for the number of stays during a year that are in the category 1-4. I have never received points for expired certificates with the Chase card for the annual night or the spend. Big fan of the program and they have been very generous with COVID-19 cancellations.
My certs don’t expire til end of year but it would be nice if Hyatt would follow Hilton (and BA) and just grant a global extension of all certs and status instead of wasting CSR and customer time with individual calls.
Would be nice if Marriott would provide further guidance too. They are all well behind Hilton.