2,500 Aeroplan Miles Per Hyatt Stay
I earned 20,000 bonus Hyatt points during their recent Possibilities promotion, which isn't too bad for 9 nights/4 stays - it's basically a free night at any Park Hyatt in the world. Since that promo ended June 30, 2011 and another hasn't been announced, it may make sense to bank your Hyatt stays to Aeroplan (Air Canada's frequent flyer program).
They have a promotion from July 1- September 30, 2011 where you earn 2,500 Aeroplan miles per stay. Aeroplan miles can be used for Star Alliance awards and even though they are increasing their award requirements on July 15, 2011, there are still a lot of good redemptions, such as 90,000 miles for North America to Western Europe. Aeroplan is also an instant, 1:1 transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards, so I can top up my account to reach whatever award level necessary. Aeroplan is also very flexible with award routing rules and they even allow Round The World trips for a relatively low amount of miles - even after the July 15th increase. I value Aeroplan miles at 2 cents each, so 2,500 miles per stay is $50 in value.
This definitely makes sense for cheap/short stays, since the value of those miles would most likely be more than the base amount of the Hyatt points you'd earn (5 points per dollar spent with a 15% bonus for Platinum and 30% bonus for Diamond members).
I value my Hyatt points at roughly 2 cents each. I generally only redeem them for the best Park Hyatts, which cost 22,000 points per night, so I think $440 is a reasonable price to peg the value of points - especially since many of my stays would have cost more than that (including Park Hyatt Paris Vendome). I especially value Hyatt points, because as a Diamond member I receive great benefits on award stays, like breakfast - which is often over a $100 daily value.
So for a $200 stay, I'd earn 1,000 (base) + 300 (Diamond bonus) = 1,300 Gold Passport points or $26
or
2,500 Aeroplan = $50
The threshold for me would be a $350 stay, which would yield me 2,275 Hyatt points. But, while 2,500 Aeroplan is technically worth more, I have way more airline miles than hotel points, so at that rate I'd rather accrue Hyatt.
FYI: I did not include the 1,000 point Diamond amenity in either calculation, because you can get that whether you earn Hyatt points or airline miles.
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