Hyatt Regency Da Nang Resort, Vietnam, where we’ve cashed in our Rite Aid Rewards.
After a deal is done, I find it helpful to look over the results and take away any lessons learned for future promotions. Today I’m analyzing the Rite Aid “New Year, New You” promotion that gave 2 free Hyatt nights after $250 spend.
Money Spent
In order the earn 2 free Hyatt nights from Rite Aid “New Year, New You” , you had to spend $250 at Rite-Aid. Using Cardpool I was able to get $250 in gift cards for $225. By entering through Top Cash Back I earned back $4.50, or 2%, for a net cost of $221.50.
Then I was able to use manufacturer coupons. After testing, I learned that the coupons did NOT lower the price credited towards the promotion. I was able to redeem $63 in coupons, taking the cash price down to $158.
The requirement was $250 is “qualifying products”. I tried to keep the purchases to items we normally use, but a few items on the list were priced over what I would normally pay. I’m adding $25 (10%) to my outlays for that reason.
Grand Total: $183
Result
First off, I got $250 worth of stuff we already use for $183. Not too shabby. The Hyatt redemption went more smoothly than I expected. We got our confirmation with date requests 3 days after sending in the codes, then the call booking our first choice came 10 days later. The room I booked costs 12,000 Hyatt Points a night or a cash value of $240.
Verdict: Worth it!
Lessons learned:
- I hate coupons, but they’re a necessary evil. If you’re going for specific items trying to hit a specific target spending amount, clip away.
- Rite Aid reward bucks and in-store coupons are NOT helpful when trying to earn your way to $250. Use them on non-list items only.
- Matching “qualifying products” to sales to coupons to stuff we already use was WAY too time consuming. In the future I’ll have the ad matched up with the coupons before leaving for the store. The issue is that not every item is on a list and sometimes only certain sizes/flavors match the “qualifying item” description. Those items tended not to be on sale.
- I think the promotions are made intentionally difficult as they really don’t have to be so.
- In this case redemption was a piece of cake. If another Hyatt promotion comes along I’d definitely recommend it. However, I’m skipping the February version as the items seem harder to redeem.
Are you playing along with Rite-Aid? Please share your results in the comments.
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I am still in the waiting period to see which of my 3 choices wins. It has been over a week now since I submitted my choices…..ugh! I am hoping it works out. It was a great deal because I bought lots of things on sale that I needed to buy anyways.
Were you notified yet? It’s been a little over a week and still no email. Tried calling today, but no luck talking with a person on the phone.
I’ve submitted my three choices and I’m still waiting to hear back. So far, everything has gone smooth. I also decided to skip February’s promotion as it seemed too complicated. I would do this promotion again if it were for Hyatt stays. I used a bunch of coupons, bought many cases of water and detergent. Pretty stocked up right now.
I was a little surprised to get my first. I think it helped bring in Vietnam.
What about the Hyatt Regency HK or Hyatt Osaka, Are they better deals? They are both on the list.
Hi Pan,
Osaka just dropped to a Cat 2, which is a steal. HK is also 12k and was my 2nd choice.