Hyatt Announces Fall Promotion

Hyatt just announced a fall promotion and it’s pretty lackluster. From September 15 through November 15, 2011 you earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for every 3 nights, with a maximum of 30,000 points.

For those with more than 8 nights per promo period, this is less lucrative than their spring promotion, which was 10,000 points after the first 5 eligible nights and then 5,000 bonus points for every 2 nights after.

In the current promo 10 nights will get you 15,000 bonus points, whereas in the spring promotion, you would have had 20,000 – much closer to a top tier hotel night (22,000 points). However, for those with less than 7 nights, the current promotion is more lucrative. At 3 nights the spring promo would have awarded 0 points, whereas the fall promotion would earn 5,000.

Most upsetting to most point Hyatt loyalists is that this most likely means that there will be no “Faster Free Nights” promos in 2011, which Hyatt used to run frequently. Faster Free Nights is a promotion that would award 1 free night at any Hyatt for every two paid stays – a pretty spectacular value.

I understand that such lucrative promotions can’t be run all the time, but I feel like Hyatt has really watered down their bonus opportunities – especially after getting rid of G bonuses, which used to give up to 3,000 2,000 extra points per stay.

The easiest way to get Hyatt points/free nights is via credit card. Currently the Chase Hyatt Visa gives 2 free nights (in a suite if you are a Diamond) at any Hyatt in the world, which is essentially up to a 44,000 points value. Plus the card awards free Platinum status, no foreign transaction fees and a free night (up to category 4) every year. All for a $75 annual fee.

The most lucrative Hyatt card sign-up is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which has a 50,000 point sign-up bonus that can be transferred instantly to Hyatt at 1:1 ratio, plus the $95 annual fee is waived the first year and there are also no foreign transaction fees.

In any case, I hope this promo isn’t an indication of what other hotel chains plan to launch for the fall. Is it so much to ask for a little bit of creativity?

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