New Hyatt promotions have suddenly made it reasonable to consider booking Hyatt stays even if you have no intention of sleeping there. The objective is to earn bonus points and enough elite nights to get top tier status. This is called mattress running. In this post, my goal is to answer all of your questions about mattress running with Hyatt’s overlapping promos. Many of the answers shown below are with thanks to Glennie Janssen, Hyatt’s Associate Manager of Global Communications.
Background
Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion offers triple or quadruple point earnings plus bonus tier qualifying nights. In parallel with that, Hyatt has extended their previous awesome promotion for Free Nights on Sale (up to 25% back and free parking on award stays). Both promotions run until January 4th 2021. Both promotions additionally overlap with the Miraval Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer, Hyatt’s Work from Hyatt (WFH) offer, and the targeted offer to earn 3X American Airlines miles on paid Hyatt stays.
I previously covered the Hyatt mattress running topic in these posts:
The key to maximizing the overlapping promotions is this: If you book a qualifying stay that starts in December and ends in 2021 (on or before January 4th), you’ll earn double tier qualifying nights in 2021 for your stay. Therefore, with a 30 night mattress run one can earn top tier 60 night Globalist elite status. And that status will last for more than two years: through Feb 2023.
Of course, most people will want to do less than 30 nights. Those with the World of Hyatt credit card automatically get 5 elite nights each year plus 2 elite nights per $5K of spend. So, you wouldn’t need to get all 60 nights with the mattress run in order to earn elite status next year. My recommendation (if you’re interested in doing this at all) is to estimate how many nights you’ll earn next year through the credit card and actual stays and reduce the number of mattress run nights accordingly.
Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (general)
This section answers questions about Hyatt mattress runs, in general. The next section addresses questions specific to the Bonus Journeys promo.
Q: What are elite nights or “tier qualifying nights”?
Tier qualifying nights are often referred to as “elite nights”. With many hotel chains, you can earn elite status by acquiring a number of tier qualifying elite nights each year. For example, Hyatt requires earning 30 elite nights per year to achieve mid-tier Explorist status, or 60 elite nights for top-tier Globalist status. Additionally, Hyatt offers “Milestone Rewards” which are perks like free lounge access, free nights, bonus points, etc. Milestone Rewards are earned within a calendar year when you achieve 20 elite nights, and every 10 elite nights after that up to 100. Read more about Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide.
Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check in?
Usually yes. Most mattress runs involve physically checking into the hotel. That said, if you’re lucky you may be able to find a hotel manager willing to process your check-in remotely. If so, you may have to fax them a photo of your ID and credit card.
Q: Should I speak with a hotel manager about my plans?
Yes! If you don’t speak with a hotel manager, they may find your room unoccupied and check you out early. If you’re not planning to actually stay at the hotel, then I think it’s critical to explain to hotel management what you want to accomplish and why.
Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check out?
No. You can check out with the Hyatt app or you can simply ignore it and the hotel will automatically check you out.
Q: Do rates with free nights (e.g. 3rd night free) earn elite nights for those free nights?
Hyatt Rep: No. Due to limitations of our program operations system, free nights applicable through a ‘BOGO’ offer, or the likes thereof, would not qualify toward earning Tier Qualifying Night credits.
Greg: I’ve spoken with someone who did the Miraval BOGO offer and says that he did receive elite nights for all nights of his stay. Miraval isn’t as tied in technically with Hyatt as most other brands, so this result might be dependent upon how the stay is keyed in after checkout.
Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (Bonus Journeys Promo)
Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion offers triple points for all eligible spend; quadruple points at select resorts (for Hyatt credit card holders only); and double elite nights, with base elite nights being credited the year in which you check-out and bonus elite nights credited to 2021. To qualify for the promo you must register between Oct 1 and Nov 30, 2020. Offer is valid for stays with check-out between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 4, 2021.
Here are the answers to questions relevant to this promo:
Q: Are there limits to how many bonus points or bonus nights can be earned with…
Continue Reading: Source Link