Today, from View From The Wing, I learned about the latest Hyatt promotion where you stay 25 nights and you will earn 75,000 bonus points.
For this thought exercise, we will assume you are a basic Hyatt member without status. As a reminder it takes 5 stays or 15 nights to reach Platinum and it takes 25 stays or 50 nights to reach Hyatt Diamond, but let’s say you are just a Hyatt member without status.
The Deal
What you want to do is execute one night stays using Points + Cash with the lowest category. Finding a hotel with Points + Cash is super easy thanks to Will Run For Miles’ finding.
Since the Stay More Play More promotion pays up to 25 nights, this plays well into the 25 stays required for Diamond. Your best bet would be Category 1 and if you do 25 stays it will cost you $1250 and 62,500 Gold Passport points. You will net 6000 points for the stays (250 for the first 5, then 5750 for the next 20 as a Platinum member) and 75,000 points from the promotion. Net net you will spend $1250 and earn 18,500 points.
The Opportunity and Closing Out:
For me, I have been traveling for work to Morristown, NJ rather frequently and there are 2 Category 2 Hyatts.
As a pure mattress run play for the entire 25 nights, for these hotels, this would cost $1375 and after accounting the 75,000 bonus would still cost 19,000 points to buy Diamond. This promotion works well if you already have stays, but due to the new developments like finding easy Points + Cash stays and the giant bonus for 25 nights helps subsidize the cost of buying Hyatt Diamond relatively early into the year. Because these two hotels are in the US we could also buy discounted gift cards. According to Gift Card Wiki as of today, we could buy some cards 17% off and juice the deal to buy Diamond the cash outlay would be $1141.25, a little more palatable. If you are going to buy Diamond, I am pretty sure you would be better off mattress running in Vegas.
Would I personally do it? No because I don’t travel enough to warrant buying Diamond, but it sure would provide an entertaining story! Buying Platinum would be fairly easy since it would cost $275 and 15,000 points which isn’t terrible, but still not something I find value in doing. Just like everything else, you should think about all your options and see what fits your needs.
Why would anyone “buy” Plat when they can get a Chase hyatt card that comes with lifetime Plat status for $75/yr? (Plus points and free nights) Does not even make sense to suggest it here.
As for Diamond status it would depend on how you value the 4 upgrade certs and breakfast. For example, for 1 family trip to Hyatt Incline Village – I can book the lowest room rate ($180/nt) and then use an upgrade cert to save at least $150/nt on a 1BR plus maybe $50/day on breakfast. Thus having Diamond status would save me $600+tax on a long 3nt weekend. Take another 3nt trip with your family and the mattress run to Diamond has basically paid for itself. YMMV
Hi. First- thanks for the mention. Second- I agree with Boraxo – platinum status is available via the Hyatt credit card for $75 which gets you 2 free nights the first year and 1 each year after. Third- and I’m not sure if the bloggers have mentioned this- but generally when Hyatt does these sort of promos there are various different offers – my offer might be different than yours etc.
Shawn –
I would like to hear why you feel “If you are going to buy Diamond, I am pretty sure you would be better off mattress running in Vegas.”
The issue I run into those cheap stays is the Resort fees at MLife properties eclipsing the Points+Cash rate of 2,500 + $50
Do the MLife properties typically qualify for this type of promo?
Does the credit card provide any nights or stay credit for spending?