Hyatt (Finally) Announces New Promotion: Double Points for Being You

Hyatt hasn’t had a promotion running since the last one ended November 30.

Now they’re offering double points beginning with your second stay between April 1 and June 30. Registration required. The program’s base earning is 5 points per dollar, so starting with your second stay during the promotion period you’ll earn 5 points per dollar, any applicable elite bonus, and an additional 5 points per dollar.


Park Hyatt New York

I value Hyatt points at 1.4 cents apiece so consider the bonus an extra 7% rebate starting with your second stay during the second quarter. That’s worthwhile, generous compared to not having a bonus, but about average for other chains and less generous than what Hyatt has offered in past promotions.

Just as World of Hyatt’s changes save hotels money this new promotion saves money compared to what Hyatt has offered in previous times during a similar period.

Let’s compare this to the promotion that Hyatt announced at the end of last March:

About a third of the portfolio is represented by Hyatt Place hotels pulling down room rates around $130 a night. A quarter of the portfolio is represented by Hyatt Regency properties pulling down room rates around $180 a night. Andaz and Park Hyatts have room rates above $300 on average but that’s less than 10% of the portfolio.

For argument’s sake let’s say someone stays 25 nights during the promotion period at an average rate of $180 per night (which is high considering that nationally hotel average daily rates are at about $130).

This guest would earn (25 x 180 x 5) 22,500 bonus points during the promotion period — compared to 75,000 points last year.


Park Hyatt Maldives

At least there’s bonus point earning that begins after the second stay rather than after the 5th night. The reason for the second stay requirement is clear. It’s a huge cost saver. Most guests, even members of the program, won’t stay more than once during the promotion period. This is geared towards moving the needle with people who can stay more than once, while avoiding unnecessarily spending on bonuses for those who would stay once anyway.

It’s similar to the reason for requiring registration: there’s no reason to incentivize someone who didn’t even know about the promotion, that guest couldn’t have been motivated by the bonus.


Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

You should definitely register for the promotion but it’s not strong enough to encourage most guests to stretch their stays or move incremental business. Instead it seems designed to help Hyatt avoid losing business to other chains offering promotions while they sat the sidelines. In other words, it’s very much a ‘me too’ offering.

Offer details:

  • Register by June 30, 2017
  • Earn double points on eligible stays beginning with your second eligible stay
  • Offer period April 1, 2017 through June 30, 2017
  • Points under this offer are Bonus Points
  • Stays at participating MGM M life Rewards properties are eligible for the bonus, but Miraval hotels which were acquired by Hyatt but that are not yet part of the rewards program are not eligible.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. After 10 years of being a Diamond, it seems the new World of Hyatt is enticing me to seek out a new hotel loyalty chain. Pitiful promotion. Hello Starwood/Marriott. I have already received a promotion from them which gives me 2500 points for my first stay and then an additional 5,000 for my second before 5/15. Guess where I am staying at next week?

  2. @Steve, perhaps you should take a moment and aquant yourself with the definition for “word”…..

  3. Hyatt has lost me unfortunately. I used to go out of my way to stay with Hyatt as I loved the hotels. Between the credit card rollout, the match your status push last year, my membership has been diluted. Then the WoH replaces Gold Passport and the rollout was a disaster, remember they marketed WoH like a lifestyle brand, then there was the 4th tier that most Plats got demoted too with less bonus points and finally the nail in the coffin. That disastrous AMA on reddit with Jeff Z trying to answer any and all questions and ended up insulting peoples intelligence. I am done

  4. I have a multi-night Hyatt stay that starts on March 30th. Since my checkout is after April 1st, does this count as my first stay for purposes of this promotion? This wasn’t answered in the T&C’s, and I didn’t see any FAQ’s. Anyone know the answer to my Q? Thanks for your help!

  5. is this the april fools campaign?
    i would earn more points than this joke if hyatt just reinstated welcome bonus points.

  6. Very weak promo. Hyatt could do a lot better, given the huge changes brought about by World of Hyatt. They keep pushing customers away… I’m an Explorist and thus far I have 0 Hyatt stays booked for this year. We’ll see if things get better, but I doubt it.

  7. I agree with the comments you’ve all posted. I’m also A long time Hyatt person – diamond most of the past 10 years and Globalist now. I just don’t see how this program, or certainly this promotion, really works for anyone. I am booked in the Tokyo grand Hyatt, the Kyoto Hyatt Regency, and the Park Hyatt Tokyo – all within the months of April and May of this year. I’ve sent emails to a couple of them, asking about their policies on upgrades at check-in etc. The garbled responses I receive mostly point to the new program – almost as a weapon to tell me that as of March 1 “I must direct all Globalist inquiries to the World of Hyatt program”,

    I’m with Evan and his four words.

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