Updated: Hyatt Credit Card – Two Free Hotel Nights at any Hyatt Hotel, $75 Annual Fee

The Hyatt Credit Card by Chase with two free hotel nights anywhere promotion offers you one Free Night Award after your first purchase, and an additional Free Night Award after spending $1,000 in the first three months of account opening. The free nights are valid for a standard room at any Hyatt hotel worldwide, with no blackout dates, within one year of issuance. Award nights have no resort fees, no internet fees, and no redemption fees.

You get Hyatt Platinum member status with the credit card, but if you are already Platinum, the two free nights come with two suite upgrades. I’m happy this card is back because I don’t have it yet, and I was afraid they would dilute the bonus a lot more. My sister signed up for the card and already used it for a two-night stay at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Orlando (Cat 5, $250 a night). I think I can do better. I just need to see if I can travel somewhere I can take advantage of this within the next year. There are also no foreign transaction fees for international purchases.

There is a $75 annual fee that is not waived, so keep that in mind… Now for the fun part. By cross-referencing Condé Nast Traveler’s Top Hotels and Travel+Leisure’s Top 500 Hotels with their highest level Category 5 & 6 listings, I found these spots with sample rates from from $500-$900 a night. These also tend to be in prime locations for sightseeing.

Also new: Upon renewing the card (for another $75) you will get another reward night at designated as Category 1 through 4. There are some nice Category 4 options for the renewal as well. These hotels definitely normally charge more than $75 a night, but only worth it if you would get the value out of it. Some of them charge up to $300 a night and are the poshest hotels in the area, like the Park Hyatt Saigon.

Hyatt Regency BostonHyatt Regency ChicagoHyatt Regency OrlandoHyatt Regency San FranciscoHyatt Regency Washington DCPark Hyatt MelbourneGrand Hyatt BeijingGrand Hyatt ShanghaiGrand Hyatt BangkokPark Hyatt Saigon

Ease of Award Redemption?
My sister was able to book her hotel with no issues, and most other experiences I have read about are positive. However, there was an issue with the Maui Hyatt which can be summarized from this InsideFlyer interview with a Hyatt representative:

Garrido (Inside Flyer):In a recent Flyertalk discussion, members said that some hotels (e.g. Hyatt Maui) are setting aside standard room inventory as part of package deals, thereby making rooms unavailable for free nights in a stealthy move around no blackout dates. Any comment?

Zidell (Hyatt): When we relaunched the Hyatt Gold Passport program last year, we removed all blackout dates and/or capacity controls on award inventory for standard rooms. As long as the hotel is selling standard rooms then these rooms are available for award redemption. Occasionally, award inventory will not be available because all standard rooms are sold or the hotel is only selling packages, which cannot currently be booked with Hyatt Gold Passport points. Overall, we have received very positive feedback regarding the availability of our award inventory.

I’ve haven’t heard of any other specific hotels doing this, but there are sometimes glitches with their online booking. I would use the phone to book your award nights, and if you have any problems, use the power of social media. Hyatt has Gold Passport “Concierges” all around the internet, and you can contact them easily via @hyattconcierge on Twitter. They seem very vigilant and have done a good job of solving any issues that do come up.

Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 9/30/11, 5:00am | Trackback

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