I'm going to Jamaica and I couldn't be more excited

This weekend I'm heading to the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall for my first international trip of 2017 (and first since being approved for Global Entry). I'm not bringing my computer so there shouldn't be any activity here on the blog until next week, although if you find yourself in FQF-withdrawal you can check out my new personal finance blog on the Saverocity network. I hope you like it.

This is my first time visiting Jamaica and my first stay at an all-inclusive resort (although a couple Spanish girls did let me use their wristband at an all-inclusive in Cuba once), and I am both excited and extremely curious.

What will the facilities be like?

This is obviously an issue visiting any hotel for the first time, but it seems like a slightly bigger deal this time, since I don't plan on going anywhere else all weekend. If the swimming pools are cold, the rooms are dated, and the showers don't work it's not like I can go walk around Paris to distract myself.

What will the beach/ocean be like?

The quality of the sand and water, and the temperature of the ocean, can vary incredibly from beach to beach and from season to season. I've dived in crystal clear warm water off the coast of Cuba and trudged around in murky silt in Atlantic City. If the beaches are great and the ocean's clean, even if not warm, then I don't expect I'll have much to complain about.

What will the food be like?

I tried to reach out to the Hyatt but never got a response, so my current expectation is that none of the restaurants on the Zilara and connected Ziva properties require reservations, and I plan to try as many of them as possible (we'll only be there 3 nights). I'm not a food blogger or a very good photographer but I'll try to get some pictures to share when I get back.

Will my status get me anything?

As a newly-requalified Hyatt Diamond and soon-to-be Globalist I'm curious whether I'll get any kind of special treatment, like an upgraded room or slippers or something. I don't think of Hyatt Gold Passport as offering "soft" benefits, versus concrete benefits like confirmed suite upgrades and breakfast, but maybe they'll surprise me.

How annoyed will I be?

I like to say that the worst possible price for anything is "free," the proof of which is the line around the block every time Ben & Jerry's offers a free small ice cream cone. People waiting for hours to save $1.09 is both a moral and economic catastrophe.

Price is the greatest rationing mechanism mankind has devised so far, which means an all-inclusive resort is guaranteed to use some other mechanism. Will the restaurants have inconvenient hours? Limited capacity? How much time will I spend waiting in line versus drinking rum out of a coconut on the beach?

Conclusion

I don't want to come across as pessimistic; like I say, I'm absolutely thrilled about the trip and can't wait to get there. But I truly have no idea what to expect, which means the trip has the potential to give me a huge pleasant surprise or end in, well, disappointment.

I expect I'll have internet access at least some of the time I'm there so be sure to follow me on Twitter if you want to find out all the details in more-or-less real time, although God willing I won't be spending much time on my phone while I'm there!

On Chase Hyatt stay credits

Last year I did a fair amount of waffling back and forth on whether to requalify as a Hyatt Diamond for 2017. After the new World of Hyatt program was announced, I ultimately decided to requalify for two main reasons:

• As a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond transitioning to World of Hyatt Globalist status, I'd receive a free night certificate at any Category 1-7 Hyatt property in the world;
• After March 1 confirmed suite upgrades will be useable on free night awards, which means I'll actually use all 4 confirmed suite upgrade awards (I still have two left from 2016, and many people have all four).

Since I was within a few stays of requalifying, I decided that those two benefits would be worth the roughly $200 I spent on mattress runs in December.

My plan relied on earning 20 elite-qualifying stay credits, mainly by booking at least one night as a Points + Cash award whenever I stayed at a Hyatt, and sometimes by bouncing around between Hyatt properties when it wasn't too inconvenient (i.e. when I was traveling alone). Those 20 stay credits would be enough to requalify as Diamond once I spent $40,000 with my Chase Hyatt credit card, which I finished off before my December, 2016, statement closed.

Then I waited.

Chase Hyatt stay credits post automatically, sometimes

My 2 stay credits and 5 night credits posted in August, 2016, without any intervention on my part, so I practiced watchful waiting for the first few weeks after my December statement closed. As days became weeks, I called Hyatt and was told that it can take up to 10 business days for Chase to communicate with them. I waited some more, called back again, and the agent (helpfully?) suggested I call Chase instead.

If your stay credits don't post, go straight to Chase

This was an excellent suggestion. I had obviously called Chase before my statement closed to confirm that I had reached the $40,000 spend threshold, but when I called back in early January the agent insisted on going through each statement and adding up my net purchases to make sure I qualified. Then she asked if she could put me on hold to call Hyatt.

When she came back on the line, she had connected in someone from Hyatt's corporate office who said she understood the problem and promised to get it sorted out within a couple days.

Then keep watching

As I diligently continued to log into the Hyatt app each day, I noticed immediately when my stay and night credits posted about 4 business days later. The problem was that they posted in 2017, not 2016! In other words, I had 3 stay credits and 5 nights credits towards 2018 status, not 2017 status.

This time when I called Hyatt the frontline agent immediately saw that my account had been flagged in some way and connected me to "someone in corporate," who was handling my case. I explained the situation again, and she immediately understood what had happened and told me she'd take care of it.

And watching

A few days later I received an e-mail from Hyatt, which read in its entirety: "Current tier status is reflecting Diamond.  Spend bonus update from Chase posted Jan 14, 2017.  Please review your account and let us know if you are in need of further assistance."

Obviously I was in need of further assistance, so I replied to the e-mail explaining the situation again. The next morning I saw in my inbox another e-mail, subject line: "You've Achieved Diamond Status Again."

And sure enough, my account now reflects my Diamond elite status will be good through February 28, 2018.

Conclusion

I confess I'm a bit confused by this whole situation: there must be thousands of people who meet the $40,000 spend threshold in December each year. Does each one of them have to go through this rigmarole? If not, why me?

But the conclusion is unmistakeable: the Hyatt elite-qualifying stays and nights are a benefit offered by Chase, not Hyatt, and Chase phone agents are much better equipped to handle these problems than Hyatt front-line phone agents. So if you're still waiting on your 2016 elite-qualifying stays, or planning to storm 25 elite-qualifying stays before the February 28, 2017, changeover to World of Hyatt, Chase should be your first point of contact for these issues.

Things I have learned about booking Hyatt all-inclusive resorts

In the past few weeks I've gone from vaguely speculating about booking a winter weekend at a tropical all-inclusive resort to starting to plan an actual trip. Since, for good or ill, I'll be a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond/World of Hyatt Globalist next year, I've been looking at Hyatt's all-inclusive properties. Here are a few things I've learned so far.

Standard award availability is very tight

At the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall I happened to reserve the last standard room available over Presidents' Day Weekend, which is quite a few months from now.

At the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall, the only room types bookable at the 25,000-point level are the "Hyatt Zilara King" and "Hyatt Zilara Double" room types.

Suite award availability may be a bit better

While there are no more standard room awards over Presidents' Day Weekend at the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall, there are still suite night awards available.

According to the phone representative I spoke with, at the 40,000-point level I could still book the "Junior Suite King" room type.

The point is that even if you don't have any reason to book a suite, if you're willing to spend the additional points you should ask anyway, since you may have access to additional award space you wouldn't have if you insisted on booking a "standard" room award.

Since during peak times those rooms can be phenomenally expensive, you may still save money even when "overpaying" for suite night awards.

Cancellation policies are brutal

My award reservation at the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall has a 45 day cancellation policy. That means in the first couple days of January I've got to decide whether I'll really make it to Jamaica in late February.

Feel free to book these awards speculatively, but also keep track of their cancellation policies and don't get caught paying some preposterous cancellation penalty for missing it by a day.

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond point loans still apply

On a final note, it is possible for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds to book award nights without sufficient points in their account. This is a pretty cool feature which can be used for domestic and international award stays, and can also be used for all-inclusive award stays.

Why I'm gunning for Globalist

After I wrote last month that Hyatt's new loyalty program "made the decision easy" to requalify as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond in 2016, Joe Cheung at As the Joe Flies suggested it might be useful to explain my thinking in more detail.

The fact is, I take a pretty brute force approach to travel hacking, so the calculus for me is equally straightforward: I calculate my projected benefits, subtract my projected costs, and figure out whether I'll come out ahead or not. I'm happy to spell that calculus out in more detail.

The cash value of 2017 Diamond status

There are exactly three benefits of the World of Hyatt program which have any concrete value to me:

• A free night at any Category 1-7 property worldwide. This is worth up to $300, the cash value of 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Hyatt Gold Passport or World of Hyatt.
• Breakfast and club access. This is worth perhaps $20-30 per night stayed at Hyatt properties between March 1, 2017, and February 28, 2018.
• 4 confirmed suite upgrades, subject to availability. This is worth perhaps $100 total — suites are nice, while being subject to availability sucks.

In other words, given a minimum of 4 Hyatt stays in the 2017 membership year, Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status requalification can be assigned a starting value of $480: $300 in transferred Ultimate Rewards points, $80 in breakfast, and another $100 in suite upgrades.

The cash cost of 2017 Diamond status

After meeting the $40,000 spend threshold on my Chase Hyatt credit card, and earning a total of 5 elite-qualifying stay credits, I'll be 5 stays away from requalifying for Diamond status in 2016. Earning those 5 elite-qualifying stay credits only needs to cost me $96 per stay to "break even" with my projected value of Globalist elite status

I'm always anxious to remind people that "breaking even" isn't the point of travel hacking: we're supposed to come out so far ahead that all the crazy antics we commit ourselves to end up paying for themselves! If spending $480 in cash only got me $480 in value, there'd be no point in using Hyatt Gold Passport as an intermediary — I'd just pay $480 for things I valued at $480.

I can, in fact, achieve my remaining 5 elite-qualifying stays for a total price of $455. Putting those charges, at Hyatt Regency properties, on my Chase Hyatt credit card will reduce the price by another $50. One of these "mattress runs" will trigger another 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport-point payout from the current "More Points. More Play." promotion, and all 5 will trigger 500-point payouts from the current mobile-booking promotion. Earning 6.5 points per dollar adds up to another 2,600 points on the room charges, plus up to 5,000 more points if I choose the points amenity on all 5 stays.

Valuing those earned points at their cash opportunity cost to me — one cent each — means I can pay $204 for $480 in value. That puts me squarely in the range of savings that travel hackers should take seriously.

This calculation requires no fantasies

If you're paying attention, the value I place on Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status and World of Hyatt Globalist status requires just four stays of one night each in the 2017 membership year.

If I stay four separate nights, and apply four suite upgrade awards, and a single one of my nights is at a Category 7 property, I'm certain to get $480 in value.

I plan to get much, much more value from Globalist status in 2017. The key point is that the more realistic your assessment of the value of elite status, the easier it is to calculate the return on your travel hacking investment.

Quick hit: what we think we know about World of Hyatt status transition

In this Monday's post, I explained why I thought a plain reading of the World of Hyatt terms and conditions made it possible, but far from certain, that Hyatt would grant World of Hyatt Globalist status through February, 2019, to Hyatt Gold Passport members who qualified for Diamond status between January 1 and February 28, 2017.

Then I launched into a pretty extensive rant on Twitter about the habit of loyalty programs to leak "confirmed" details, without attribution, to their pet affiliate bloggers.

What can I say? I get worked up about unethical bloggers occupying a privileged position in the loyalty firmament.

An actual Hyatt Gold Passport executive appeared to have answered the question in public

Under increasing pressure from hardworking independent bloggers (joking!), an account claiming to be that of Hyatt Gold Passport Senior Vice President Jeff Zidell tweeted that "25 Stays or 50 nights in Jan/Feb, would earn Diamond through Feb 2019, which would then transition to Globalist on March 1."

Pretty convincing, right? The simplest reading of the tweet is that anyone who qualifies as a Diamond through February, 2019, would be transitioned into Globalist status for the same period.

Who is @jeffzidell and who is @BinghamtonDaily?

I don't know Jeff Zidell. I don't get invited to the Freddies, and I don't have one-on-one chats with loyalty program executives. But it's clear that the @jeffzidell Twitter account is not the Twitter account of someone deeply invested in the nitty-gritty of loyalty program logistics. He mostly retweets other people's posts about Hyatt's loyalty program, marathoning, and being a vulnerable leader.

Meanwhile, his supposedly definitive tweet about Diamond requalification in 2017 was directed at @BinghamtonDaily, which is a Trump-supporting sockpuppet account. Recent representative tweet: "NY 22 Three candidate field of non-compelling candidates. Write In Eric Trump."

@BinghamtonDaily deleted whatever tweet @jeffzidell appeared to be responding to, so we have no public record of the entire exchange.

I personally believe Hyatt will transition 2018 Gold Passport Diamond status to 2018 World of Hyatt Globalist status

But this is not about my personal beliefs. If a loyalty program wants to earn loyalty it has an obligation to make the terms of the program as clear as possible, and where ambiguity exists, to resolve it publicly on equal terms.

So don't attack me for calling into question what will happen to Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds after March 1, 2017. Join me in asking Hyatt to make clear, in public, with attribution, whether they intend to transition 2018 Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status to World of Hyatt Globalist status through February 28, 2019. It's a simple yes-or-no question, and Hyatt's refusal to answer it on the record is a problem.

World of Hyatt: more on the Chase credit card and chasing status

Now that some official information information has been released about the World of Hyatt program, I have a few additional thoughts to add to Friday's post.

Chase Hyatt Gold Passport bonus spend thresholds

The Chase Hyatt Gold Passport credit card currently awards 2 elite-qualifying stays and 5 elite-qualifying nights after spending $20,000 and 3 additional elite-qualifying stays and 5 additional elite-qualifying nights after $40,000 in calendar year spend.

Since the Hyatt Gold Passport terms and conditions remain in effect until March 1, 2017, I believe those elite-qualifying stays and nights will be awarded if you're able to meet the spending threshold by February 28, 2017. My statement closing date happens to fall on the 27th — if yours is earlier in the month and you are interested in pursuing this option, I recommend moving your statement closing date as soon as possible, since February spend after your statement closes may not trigger the bonus nights.

The World of Hyatt FAQ's seem to make clear that "a member’s Tier-Qualifying Nights and Base Points earned during January and February 2017 will count toward earning tier status in the new World of Hyatt program." That matters because Tier-Qualifying Nights earned through spend on the Chase Hyatt credit card are not, under the terms of the World of Hyatt program, "Tier-Qualifying Nights." Under World of Hyatt, "Tier-Qualifying Nights" are only:

"the number of nights the Member (i) stays at a Hyatt hotel or resort or an M life Resort; (ii) pays an Eligible Rate; and (iii) associates his or her valid Program membership number with the reservation (either at the time of reservation or check-in or by requesting retroactive credit for the night in accordance with Hyatt’s procedures) during the applicable measuring period."

The World of Hyatt terms do not include any allowance for Tier-Qualifying Nights earned through credit card spend.

Chase World of Hyatt $50,000 bonus spend threshold

According to the World of Hyatt Frequently Asked Questions (look under "Discoverist" — thanks to Twitter user @VM4827 for finding it there), the Chase Hyatt credit card will replace its automatic Platinum status benefits with an automatic Discoverist status.

Moreover, according to the FAQ, "starting January 1, 2017, Hyatt Credit Cardmembers who spend $50,000 USD on their Hyatt Credit Card in each calendar year will receive Explorist status through the following calendar year."

That means it should be possible, since the Hyatt Gold Passport program is in effect through February 28, 2017, but credit card spend starts counting towards Explorist status on January 1, 2017, for the same spend to count towards both Diamond status qualification for 2017 and Explorist status qualification for 2018 (if you don't end up meeting the Diamond qualification requirements, or if Diamond qualification ultimately does not granting Globalist status in 2018 — see below).

A Category 1-4 free night certificate is not a benefit of Explorist status

This has been missed in much of the discussion I've seen so far of the new World of Hyatt program, but it's spelled out clearly in the World of Hyatt terms and conditions:

"This award is available only to Members who complete the qualifying number of Tier-Qualifying Nights or earn the qualifying number of Base Points starting from the Effective Date of these Terms. While this award requires the same Tier-Qualifying Night and Base Point accrual requirements as are required to achieve Explorist status, the Category 1-4 Free Night Award is not provided as a benefit of Explorist status and a Category 1-4 Free Night Award will not be provided to Members who receive Explorist status through any means other than satisfaction of the Tier-Qualifying Night or Base Point accrual requirements (e.g., Members who receive Explorist status as part of the migration from the Hyatt Gold Passport program to the Program)."

That means that while spending $50,000 on the card may grant you Explorist status, and thereby earn 4 Explorist Club Upgrade Awards ("Upon receiving or re-qualifying for Explorist status, Explorists will receive four (4) complimentary Room Upgrade Awards for accommodations with Club lounge access"), you will definitely not earn a Category 1-4 free night certificate for spending $50,000 on the card.

Should you put $50,000 in unbonused spend on the Chase Hyatt credit card in order to earn Explorist status? The same spend on a Chase Freedom Unlimited card would earn 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points, which could be transferred to World of Hyatt with the help of a Chase Ink Plus or Bold, or Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. By foregoing those 25,000 Ultimate Rewards points (worth $250 in cash), you receive:

• 4 Club Upgrade Awards;
• 1 bottle of water per day;
• 2:00 pm late checkout "subject to availability at some locations;"
• and waived resort fees on free night awards.

That's not worth $250 to me, but if you book up to 4 stays of up to 7 nights with multiple family members, or frequently stay at properties with resort fees, you could conceivably get $250 in value from those benefits.

2018 Diamond qualification does not guarantee 2018 Globalist status

I have scoured the World of Hyatt website and the terms and conditions, and have come to the definite conclusion that requalifying as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member in January and February of 2017 does not guarantee that you will be awarded World of Hyatt Globalist status for 2018.

Here's what the FAQ says:

"If my new World of Hyatt status doesn’t take effect until March 1, 2017, what happens January 1 through February 28, 2017?

Hyatt Gold Passport will continue to operate exactly the same until the March 1, 2017, launch of World of Hyatt. In January and February 2017, members will continue to earn Platinum or Diamond tier status based on nights or stays. If a member achieves Platinum or Diamond tier status in January or February 2017, the member will be upgraded to that tier status and then transitioned into a new World of Hyatt tier status on the March 1, 2017, launch of World of Hyatt. At the same time, a member’s Tier-Qualifying Nights and Base Points earned during January and February 2017 will count toward earning tier status in the new World of Hyatt program."

Here's what the terms and conditions say:

"Members who, in the course of one (1) Calendar Year, record a minimum of sixty (60) Tier-Qualifying Nights or earn one hundred thousand (100,000) Base Points will receive Globalist status after meeting the minimum requirement through February of the second Calendar Year following qualification."

In other words, according to the letter of the rules, if you qualify for Diamond status in the first two months of 2017, you'll transition into Globalist status for 2017, and your elite-qualifying nights will roll over to the World of Hyatt program and be used to calculate your 2018 status.

What will Hyatt do with 2018 Diamonds?

While Hyatt may not be obliged by the terms of its program to award 2018 Globalist status to 2018 Diamonds, it does seem like they are trying to please as many stakeholders as possible in this transition, for example by awarding Category 1-7 Free Night Award to Diamonds who are transitioned to Globalist status on March 1, 2017.

That means it's at least possible, at least on a case-by-case basis, that people who qualify as Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds in the first 2 months of 2017 will be awarded Globalist status through March 2019, although Hyatt would be perfectly within its rights to only award Globalist status through March 2018. Hyatt's Twitter team, naturally, was unable to give a definite answer to this question.

Final note: pay attention to the terms and conditions for upgrade awards

While Suite Upgrade Awards and Club Upgrade Awards will be redeemable on award stays booked with points starting March 1, 2017, note that they are not eligible for use on free night awards booked using any other instrument. According to the terms and conditions, Suite Upgrade Awards are:

"Not valid in connection with any Free Night Award other than those identified above, including, without limitation, Hyatt Credit Card premium and anniversary Free Night Awards, 5-brand Free Night Awards, Category 1-7 Free Night Awards (defined below), or any other promotional Free Night Award."

Likewise with Explorist Club Upgrade Awards:

"Not valid in connection with any Free Night Award other than those identified above, including, without limitation, Hyatt Credit Card premium and anniversary Free Night Awards, 5-brand Free Night Awards, Category 1-4 Free Night Awards (defined below) or any other promotional Free Night Award."

Conclusion: details matter

There's a lot of sloppy writing and sloppy thinking out there about the new World of Hyatt program, which is a good reminder that letting other people read and think for you is unlikely to work out well for you in the long run. If something is unclear, go to the original source. If the original source is unclear, ask the people in charge. And if the people in charge are unclear, keep a close eye on your wallet!

Preliminary thoughts on World of Hyatt

By now you may have heard that in March, 2017, Hyatt Gold Passport is going away. Apparently, it will be replaced by a completely new program called "World of Hyatt." I first read about the change at a blog called Pen and Passport, but you can now find the details sprayed all over whichever blog is your favorite.

Here are my first few thoughts about the transition to the new program based on the information currently available.

World of Hyatt makes 2017 Diamond requalification a no-brainer

I've been dramatically hemming and hawing about whether to requalify for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status this year, and the new program makes the decision easy.

That's because of the way Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds will be transitioned to World of Hyatt "Globalists," the new program's top tier:

• 2017 Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds will become 2017 World of Hyatt Globalists on March 1, 2017;
• 2017 World of Hyatt Globalists will receive a free night at any Category 1-7 Hyatt property in the world;
• 2017 World of Hyatt Globalists will receive 4 confirmed suite upgrades that can be applied to any stay, whether it has a cash component or not.

Additionally, starting on March 1, 2017, Globalists will be entitled to the best room available at check-in, including standard suites. That's better than the current "best standard room excluding suites" benefit, especially for leisure travelers who occupy hotels when Globalist business travelers are less likely to be there.

2017 is the year to take your Hyatt dream vacation(s)

If you're the kind of person who has mulled a trip to Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, or one of Hyatt's prestige resort properties even farther afield, but put it off figuring that there was always time next year — time's up!

Starting March 1, 2017, as a Globalist you'll be able to redeem points (plus your free Category 1-7 night certificate) for award stays at any Hyatt property without using a cash co-pay and redeem your 4 suite upgrade certificates. Since, as of now, Hyatt doesn't appear to be changing their award redemption costs, the cost of a suite-eligible room at Category 7 properties will drop from $450 in cash and transferred Ultimate Rewards points to just $300 in transferred Ultimate Rewards points. On a 7-night stay, that's $1,050 in savings — enough for 3 more nights at a Category 7 property!

Even at lower-category properties, if you are not attempting to requalify for Globalist status there's no reason to ever pay cash for a Hyatt stay, since award stays are eligible for both confirmed and complimentary suite upgrades.

One possible route to 2018 requalification

Since World of Hyatt is reported to go into effect March 1, 2017, Twitter user MJC asked the reasonable question, "couldn't you also squeeze 25 stays in Jan/Feb to get 2018 qualification done under the old system?"

In other words, MJC is asking whether it's possible to be "transitioned" twice: once from Hyatt Gold Passport 2017 Diamond membership to World of Hyatt 2017 Globalist membership, then a second time from Hyatt Gold Passport 2018 Diamond membership to World of Hyatt 2018 Globalist membership (good until February 28, 2019).

This would only apply to the small number of Gold Passport members who meet Gold Passport Diamond membership requirements between January 1 and February 28, 2017. While undoubtedly a small group, it's not utterly implausible for someone who has the Hyatt Gold Passport credit card who's able to spend $40,000 on the card and also earn 20 elite-qualifying stays or 40 elite-qualifying nights in those 59 days.

Whether or not that strategy will be allowed is something that won't be known until World of Hyatt is officially announced and additional details are announced, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on if you're interested in making a big play for 2018 Globalist status.

Conclusion

World of Hyatt means the end of top-tier Hyatt elite status for most travel hackers without substantial reimbursed business travel. Earning 60 elite-qualifying nights is simply too expensive compared to the benefits Globalist status will offer.

Meanwhile, reimbursed business travelers who have their choice of hotel property and who spend a huge number of nights in markets served by Hyatt will have to decide whether the new suite upgrade benefits and Category 1-7 certificates earned by Globalist status are enough to attract their hotel dollar.

Hyatt Diamond benefits, ranked

I'm still plodding towards requalifying for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status after successfully matching to the status late last year. I've been intentionally booking towards Hyatt whenever it makes sense financially and logistically. That's included the Park Hyatt in Vienna, the Grand Hyatts in Berlin and New York, the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf, a whole slew of Hyatt Regencies, and one Hyatt House.

That's given me a chance to see how benefits are implemented in practice at a range of properties. Here's my list of Hyatt Diamond benefits, ranked based on their value to me in practice:

1. Late check out. Diamond members get a guaranteed 4 pm check out time (except at Hyatt Resorts and Casinos and Residence Club properties). I have used this on virtually every one of my Hyatt stays this year. I love being able to leave my belongings in my room instead of having to deal with left luggage offices, and be able to relax in the room while waiting for a afternoon train or flight. And the benefit really is guaranteed: usually check in agents even offer it proactively.
2. Welcome amenity. I often write theoretically about the 1,000-point Diamond welcome amenity offsetting the points cost of a Points + Cash stay, but in fact I almost never choose the points amenity. That's because when checking into a property after a long day of travel I'd much rather have a bottle of wine and a cheese and nut platter (or whatever looks good) brought up to the room while I get settled in.
3. Lounge access. Access to the lounge, and the ability to grab water bottles and coffee or tea throughout the day, is a good way to save money and stay hydrated if you're not sure about the local water. Properties that offer hors d'oeuvres and drinks in the evening are also great places to make evening plans.
4. Breakfast. I've had some phenomenal breakfasts as a Hyatt Diamond, but this benefit has to go below lounge access simply because I'm more likely to sleep through breakfast than I am to sleep through an evening cocktail hour. Your circadian rhythm may vary.
5. Suite upgrade awards. While this is often mentioned as a key benefit of Diamond status, you can ask anyone with Diamond status how much value they really get out of it, and the answer is usually: "not much." I've redeemed two of my suite upgrade awards, at the Park Hyatt Vienna and Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf. And they were both great suites that made the trips feel a little more special! But the obstacles to getting value from suite upgrade awards are significant. First, your awards expire at the end of the February after your qualifying year (so 2016 upgrade awards expire February 28, 2017), and can't be used for reservations beyond that date. Second, an eligible suite has to be available at the time you make the request — you can't waitlist for a suite upgrade. That means longer stays, where the upgrade would be most valuable, are also the hardest stays on which to redeem upgrades!
6. Point bonus. Diamonds get a 30% bonus on base points earned on paid and Points + Cash stays. This is essentially a rounding error, worth perhaps $1 per night on a Points + Cash stay (I earned 89 bonus points on a recent Points + Cash stay with a $55 cash component).
7. United lounge passes. You get two United lounge passes for qualifying as a Hyatt Diamond. That's fine, but it's not a recurring privilege of membership or anything. It's just two United lounge passes.
8. 48-hour guarantee. Since Hyatt offers generous guaranteed award availability when there are standard rooms available, their 48-hour guarantee is just a way to overpay for rooms when a property is completely sold out. Hopefully you'll never use this benefit!
9. Premium Wi-Fi. It's hotel Wi-Fi. It's not going to be great, whether it's "premium" or not.
10. Best Room Upon Arrival. I know that hotel staff have a mental inventory of which rooms are "good" and "bad," but this is a joke benefit.

Looking at this list, it's immediately clear that all the value of requalifying for Diamond status comes from items 1-4, which clarifies the question: will I get enough value from late check out, welcome amenities, lounge access, and free breakfast in 2017 to justify chasing the remaining stays required to requalify?

I'm not sure! But I'm thinking about it.

I wonder what's going on with all these Hyatt promotions

[9/29/16: edited to include base and bonus points earned on spend, hat tip to commenter VM.]

I just updated my Hotel Promotions page with yet another Hyatt promotion, meaning there are currently 4 concurrently running Hyatt promotions (although two are only available to co-branded credit cardholders).

The new Hyatt Regency promotion is pretty good

If you have a Chase Hyatt co-branded credit card and register by the registration deadline (turn off your adblocker if you don't see the credit card field) of October 31, 2016, and spend $500 in "net purchases" on the card at Hyatt Regency properties before December 31, 2016, you'll receive a $50 statement credit.

This promotion belongs to a category of promotion I typically blow off. For example, American Express periodically has Offers For You promotions for discounts off certain purchases at Hilton brand properties.

I'm normally not interested in these promotions because my goal is to pay as little cash as possible for my travel, which means redeeming miles and points I've already purchased at a steep discount to their ultimate value. Paying for travel with a credit card, which I have to pay off with cash, is an admission of failure to a travel hacker.

There are two big differences with this promotion:

• The $500 purchase requirement doesn't need to be a single transaction. That means the cash co-pays for Hyatt Regency Points + Cash stays will count towards the $500 threshold.
• 3 Hyatt Gold Passport points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties with the Chase Hyatt credit card is competitive with any other rewards-earning credit card.

That doesn't mean I'm going to "chase" this promotion, but it does mean I'm not writing it off as completely irrelevant. I'll take a look at my existing and possible Hyatt Regency reservations, and if the cash components add up to $500, I'll pay for them with my Chase Hyatt credit card. If they don't, I'll pay with a discounted Hyatt gift card instead.

This is yet another stackable Hyatt promotion

With the addition of this Hyatt Regency promotion, it's now theoretically possible to stack all the current Hyatt promotions by booking, before October 31, 2016, 10 non-consecutive Category 2 Points + Cash stays at Hyatt Regency properties through the Hyatt mobile app.

You would pay 40,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and $550 in co-pays, plus tax, which I'll hand-wavingly assume comes to 10%, for a total of $605. I'll also assume you select the 1,000 Hyatt Gold Passport-point Diamond amenity during each stay. You would earn:

• a $50 statement credit to your Chase Hyatt credit card account;
• a 4,000-point rebate to your Hyatt Gold Passport account;
• 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points in Diamond amenities;
• 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points in "More Points. More Play." promotion points;
• 1,815 Hyatt Gold Passport points for your credit card spend;
• 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for booking 10 stays through the mobile app (see Michael's comment on receiving the promotion multiple times);
• [edit: plus 3,575 Hyatt Gold Passport points earned on the $550 in cash co-pays.]

Your total out of pocket expense for 10 elite-qualifying stay credits would therefore be 4,185 [edit: 610] Hyatt Gold Passport points and $555.

Now, that's not a great argument for mattress running, and it's not intended to be. But I do think it's a pretty good argument for staying at a Hyatt Regency, or booking a Points + Cash stay instead of a points-only stay, if you're able to hit the relevant promotion thresholds (10 eligible nights and $500 in spend) at Hyatt Regency properties, and thereby re-qualify for Diamond status.

So what's going on with all these promotions?

To state the obvious, it is not usual for a loyalty program to be running 4 stackable promotions simultaneously. So what's going on?

I figure there are two obvious explanations. First, Hyatt might be trying to get their membership numbers and revenue up in the fourth quarter either to ward off a takeover offer after Starwood's acquisition by Marriott, or to fetch as high a price as possible in the inevitable merger.

Second, Hyatt might be trying to retain all the new Diamond members they acquired poaching from Starwood at the end of last year and beginning of this year. I'm someone who never would have considered staying at Hyatt properties as a non-elite member, but as a Diamond I started booking towards Hyatt whenever possible. And not just that, I also book Points + Cash stays, which I would never do at a chain with less valuable points, like Hilton, which I'm eager to burn.

So it may be that this aggressive push for paid and Points + Cash stays in the end of the year is an effort by Hyatt to retain their new Diamond members, who have turned out to be more lucrative than they expected when they began matching Diamond status back in November and December of 2015.

3 ways I would use the Ritz-Carlton credit card

There's a simple reason why I am so skeptical of signup bonuses and recurring annual benefits. I receive e-mails and comments every day from readers who say the same thing: "I signed up for this credit card before I found your site, and now I have no way to use these points/certificates/companion tickets." If you don't get those e-mails and comments, there's no reason for you to realize just how widespread the problem of orphaned and expiring loyalty benefits is. You may even think you're the only one who has trouble redeeming Membership Rewards points (you're not).

I don't have anything against signup bonuses. But if you chase signup bonuses, rather than focus on how to pay as little as possible for the trips you want to take, you're unlikely to get the most value from your travel hacking budget, whether that budget is in the form of time or money.

Last week I applied that skepticism to the new Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card. But just because I don't chase signup bonuses doesn't mean signup bonuses are worthless or bad! On the contrary, the right signup bonus at the right time can help you achieve your travel goals at the right price.

With that in mind, here are 3 ways I would use the new Ritz-Carlton credit card signup bonus of 3 free nights at a Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton property after spending $5,000 within 3 months.

A 3-night vacation

Sometimes you just want to go away for a long weekend. Nothing wrong with that! Without flying halfway around the world, you could spend 3 nights at Lake Tahoe, in downtown Boston (where hotels, even on points, are shockingly expensive), or in Puerto Rico. Slightly farther afield, there's a Tier 2 Ritz-Carlton in Santiago, Chile.

Those aren't all properties where you'll get outsize value from your redemption, simply because there are other, cheaper properties nearby. But you'll still save the money or points you'd otherwise pay, and you'll get to stay in a class of property you might not otherwise be able to afford.

A leg or side trip during a vacation

If you're planning on a multi-week trip like the one I took to Europe this summer, it would be easy to book one of your stops at a Ritz-Carlton property. The Ritz-Carltons in Budapest and Geneva both look lovely and are centrally located.

Likewise, if you are planning a long stay in a single location, you might want to make a side trip to see more of an area. While planning a trip to Kauai, you might decide to take a side trip to stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, or while visiting Tokyo you might plan a few nights in Okinawa or Osaka as well.

Extending a stay

There are a few ways you could use the Ritz-Carlton signup bonus to extend a stay.

First, if you are relentlessly focused on maximizing the value of your points, there are certain inevitable obstacles to doing so. For example, Hilton HHonors points are most valuable when redeemed for 5-night stays, since the fifth night is free. If you want to stay more than 5 nights, but less than 10, that benefit is correspondingly less valuable.

But if you are staying in an area with both Hilton and Ritz-Carlton properties, you can use Ritz-Carlton free night certificates to extend your stay. For example, you might redeem 320,000 HHonors points for 5 nights at Hilton's Grand Wailea, then head around Maui for another 3 nights at the The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, maximizing the value of your HHonors points and enjoying an 8-night Hawaiian vacation.

Second, you could extend a stay at a Ritz-Carlton property. For example, for 350,000 Marriott Rewards points you could book 7 nights at the Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton Vienna (plus 55,000 United MileagePlus miles or 50,000 miles in other loyalty programs), then redeem your Ritz-Carlton free night certificates to extend your stay to 10 nights. Note that if you're transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Rewards, this is only a marginal play since the Park Hyatt Vienna costs just 25,000 Gold Passport points per night.

Third, you might try to achieve something similar to my experience with Hyatt Gold Passport suite upgrade awards. Since the Ritz-Carlton credit card comes with 3 "Club Level" upgrades annually on paid stays, you could book one paid night, apply a Club Level upgrade, and see if you're allowed to keep the same Club Level room on subsequent nights paid for with your free night certificates. There's no guarantee that would work every time, but it's virtually certain to work at some properties, some of the time.

Conclusion

The right time to sign up for a new credit card is when you already have a redemption in mind, and your research indicates that a new card's signup bonus or earning and redemption structure make it the cheapest, easiest, or fastest way to achieve that redemption.

The wrong time to sign up for a new credit card is when bloggers are salivating over temporarily raised payouts on their affiliate links.