Nice perk!
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That’s a room I’m avoiding, lol. Sounds torturous.
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Oh, I’d love it.
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| TIL: If you want to book a stay at a Hyatt that uses both free night certificates and points - YOU HAVE TO SEARCH FOR A CASH RATE ROOM. Say what now? |
A few months ago I had booked a Miami stay on Hyatt points for my nephew’s upcoming wedding - completely forgetting that while traveling for my niece’s wedding last Fall I earned a Hyatt Free Night Certificate (FNC) by finishing up a row on my Hyatt Brand Explorer Bingo Card.
That FNC expires this upcoming September and my best bet to use it is one of our Florida trips, since there don’t tend to be many Hyatts where we travel up here in the northeast.
So, I thought I’d try to book a new reservation using the FNC along with points - but then found when I searched for a points stay there was no way to pick the FNC for the one night.
If I searched for one night, I then could pick the FNC - but I’d really like to avoid booking two separate reservations then try to have them linked together or something. That didn’t work out well when I had to do something similar with Marriott when staying at the Swan - I had to truck down to the front desk multiple times to refresh our key cards each day.
I did a little Googling and found a reddit thread where someone said they just book on points, then call in to Hyatt and ask them to swap out one of the nights for the FNC. So, I called in, waited on hold for way too long - then went around in circles with a rep who kept telling me that I couldn’t book any of my nights or swap out the FNC because the rooms are all booked up.
NARRATOR: THEY WERE NOT BOOKED UP.
Before I even called, I of course triple checked that I could see rooms available. The last thing I wanted to happen was I cancelled my original reservation and then Hyatt messed something up and I ended up with no reservation.
While on the phone I searched the rooms, telling the rep what I was seeing - all the dates available for a “Standard Room Free Night.”
Then she tried to insist that phrase didn’t meant I could use points or certificates.
Ok, then so the 15,000 points showing on that selection means…?
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And all of my previous stays were trespasses rather than points stays? |
Anyway: Long story, long: the trick to book with both FNCs and points on the same reservation is both easy and NOT obvious. You search for a cash booking on your dates (not points), then select the room and choose the “Pay My Way” option.
That pops up a selection grid where you can use cash, points, cash+points, organic eggs, or a FNC “Award”.
Frequent Miler has a full run down on the process.
In the name of the Deluxe it Up thread: A Reckoning
This is the same hotel we stayed at last trip down to Miami - 100% thumbs up all around. Beautiful place, bougie high floor pool, in a location where you can walk to many shops and restaurants. Also, only about 20 minutes from my sister’s house, but a good way from the noisy airport area.
The cash cost for this stay is $1,166. If I assume the FNC has the same 15K points value as the night I replaced with it, then I’m getting just over 2 cents per point for this stay. #Bazinga
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That is so frustrating! We’re you talking to an overseas call center?
Yes, for sure. If I had to guess I’d say Malaysia or thereabouts.
It is just amazing how so many customer service reps at so many companies don’t know the most basic things.
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Agreed. I had to tell my boss to hang up and call a local vendor because the call center couldn’t change the shipping method while placing the order (something we do frequently). This is the first year the vendor is using a foreign call center. It’s not going well.
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There are a bunch of communal call centers that work for multiple companies at once. When you have to call two different companies for two different issues, there is a greater than 0 chance that your phone calls will land in the exact same office.
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Fixed it for you. 
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I had to read that 3 times before realizing what you fixed 
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Well, this beats my usual method of applying sunscreen:*
(Looking forward to using my free night certificates here if I can lock in dates with my family!)
*My Usual Method
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