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Registration is now available for Hyatt’s autumn promotion. Members will be able to earn triple points and any elite night credits will roll over to 2021. The promotion will run between 1 October 2020 and 4 January, 2021. You must CHECK OUT during the period of the promotion.
Those three nights in 2021 open up a very interesting opportunity; this is due to a quirk in how World of Hyatt works. For stays that straddle the year end, ALL of your elite nights will count towards the year in which check-out occurs. In other words, if you have a seven-night stay with a check out on 1 January, you will receive 7 elite nights in 2021 (and none for 2020).
However, because of the “all nights count twice” structure, you would earn a bonus seven night elite status credit for 2021. This has been confirmed repeatedly by the promotion’s FAQ page and Hyatt reps on social media.
So, what would happen if you had a 30-night stay that ended on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th of January? All 30 nights would count for 2021 purposes, and you would receive an additional bonus of 30 nights –> the 60 nights that you require for Globalist status!
Because you picked up 60 elite nights early in 2021, you would be Globalist for the rest of 2021, all of 2022 and the first two months of 2023.
A Mattress Run Idea
Many Hyatt hotels are expensive. But some aren’t… especially the Hyatt Place in Hayes, west London. I’ve stayed here many times, as it is reasonably convenient for Heathrow airport. (but not nearly so convenient for central London…)
If you were to check-in on 4 December for a 30-night stay ending 3 January, 2021, you’d pay a total of £1,332.76 (roughly £44 per night).
Why This Would be Hugely Lucrative
Triple Points
The last time I stayed at this hotel and paid £45 for a night, I earned 270 base points. Since then, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer has reduced VAT from 20 to 5% for a limited time (that would cover this particular mattress run).
In theory that means that your pre-tax room rate would be higher and you might receive 300 base points. Triple that and you get 900 points per night. Over thirty nights you’d receive a total of 27,000 points. (this assumes that you don’t have any Hyatt status at the moment)
At my valuation of 1.3p per point, these points would be worth £350.
Milestone Bonuses
One of the many attractive elements of World of Hyatt is the Milestone Bonuses that you receive based on the number of nights spent during a year.
Because this mattress run automatically gets you to 60 nights in early 2021, the most valuable bonuses you would receive are:
- 30 nights – a free night certificate for a Category 1-4 hotel –> worth at least £150
- 40 nights – a $100 gift card best used at a Hyatt in the United States –> worth £75
- 60 nights – a free night certificate for a Category 1-7 hotel –> worth at least £300
And Don’t Forget 2+ Years of Globalist Status…
Simply from the value of triple points and your 2021 Milestone Bonuses, you’d have received value totalling £350+£150+75+£300 –> £875 from your 30-night mattress run costing £1,332.
You would also receive 4 suite upgrade certificates. These are some of the most valuable perks offered by any hotel loyalty programme. They allow you to confirm – at the time of booking – a standard suite for a stay of 7 nights or less. Used extremely well, you could be staying 28 nights per year in a suite… guaranteed! (the rest of the year you’d be relying on Hyatt’s standard upgrade policy for Globalists, which also offers suite upgrades where available)
You will also receive free breakfast at every Hyatt hotel worldwide, as well as lounge access at those hotels that have them.
In summary… the most valuable level of elite status available from a major hotel chain.
The Bottom Line
It might sound ludicrous to undertake a 30-night mattress run. And to ensure that you aren’t prematurely checked out of the hotel, you would have to leave some items in the room and drop by every once in awhile to show that you are still using the room. (click here for my advice about mattress runs)
But if you’ve ever wanted to try Globalist status from Hyatt, but have always been put off by the limited footprint of Hyatt hotels (especially in Europe)… this travel hack/ mattress run might be your best ever chance to see what bloggers such as yours truly are always raving about!
A 30 night mattress run might sound ludicrous to most folk but not necessarily to those of us who play the points game – I’m doing something similar to this in Hilton to lock in Diamond till 2023. I have more Hilton points than I know what to do with and it will only cost me 180K points net (given that I’ll also get the 60K milestone bonus for 60 nights in the current Double Rewards promo) to spend 30 nights at a decent Double Tree in Krakow this quarter.
A secret hack for the Double Tree is that you can currently book the lower category Hampton next door, which is closed until next year, and they’ll transfer your reservation over to the DT!
I can get a lot of joy out of Hilton Diamond till 2023, even before long haul travel opens up again, but since Hyatt’s footprint is so small outside the US and China, how can Europeans get much out of Globalist status? I agree that it is objectively superior to anything else if you can actually use it; only legacy SPG came close and Bonvoy is far behind either of those.
Also, why would you choose the gift voucher for 40 nights? Wouldn’t it make much more sense for someone based in Europe to get the points? Are you based in the Americas perhaps?
5k points vs. $100. I go to the US enough (pre-COVID at least) to know that I’ll get $100 of value. (plus 650 points from a $100 paid room)
5k points I can buy for $85 in the best promos.
Great travel hack in Krakow! Might be a fun one to write an article about…
Very tempting, especially as this location is near family and it might actually be useful to stay there on and off during December.
Reviews seem quite poor, have you stayed there lately? Perhaps not a huge concern for a mattress run but valid consideration if I’ll be stopping over on occasion.
The hotel is fine in my opinion. Nothing extraordinary – it is a Hyatt Place after all – but the beds are comfortable, wifi works, breakfast is good enough (but not included). I think they charge for parking though. The location can be quite depressing and it can be a bit noisy if you’ve got the aftermath of a wedding or a coachload of tourists. (unlikely in December)
But being able to drop in a few times during the month would be ideal for such a long-term mattress run…
Thanks for this… Will you get 2 free night certificates or just one with this? I’m contemplating doing the mattress run in 2020 so u can get 2 but your idea saves me 30 additional nights! Also do u have to physcially check in?
If you do it exactly as I suggest, you would get 2 free night certificates in 2021 – the Category 1-4 certificate for 30 nights and the Category 1-7 certificate for 60 nights.
You definitely must check-in in person. I’ve had weather problems mean that I no-showed once or twice and they wouldn’t “check me in anyhow”, even though I’m a fairly regular customer… 😉
£13 per night for parking though. Any nearby, safe alternatives?
There are several retail parks nearby, although I don’t know whether they have an issue with overnight parking. On-street parking appears to be limited…