With the World of Hyatt program, there are lots of opportunities to earn Category 1-4 free night awards. For that matter, the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) currently has an improved welcome offer, where you can earn five Category 1-4 free night awards after completing minimum spending.
While that’s much better than the previous bonus, I get that that to many people, a handful of free night awards with category caps might not sound that appealing. However, there are so many reasons to get this card, as it offers amazing long term value.
In this post I wanted to talk a bit about how I approach redeeming Hyatt’s Category 1-4 free night awards. Sure, they won’t get you stays at top properties in Manhattan, but I still find these to be incredibly useful, even as someone who tends to prefer luxury hotels.
In this post:
How to earn Hyatt Category 1-4 free night awards
To start, let’s talk about all the ways to earn Category 1-4 free night awards with World of Hyatt:
- With the World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards program, you earn a Category 1-4 free night award when you earn 30 elite nights in a year, which coincides with when you earn World of Hyatt Explorist status (these elite nights can be earned with credit cards)
- With the World of Hyatt Brand Explorer promotion, you earn a Category 1-4 free night award for every five unique Hyatt brands you stay at
- Separate from the current welcome offer, with the the World of Hyatt Credit Card you receive a Category 1-4 free night award on your account anniversary every year, and you receive a second one when you spend $15,000 on the card in a year, which I consider to be a spending sweet spot
Note that there are also opportunities to earn Category 1-7 free night awards, especially if you have World of Hyatt Globalist status. However, I’m focusing specifically on the Category 1-4 free night awards in this post, since they’re more restrictive in terms of the properties you can redeem at.
My Hyatt Category 1-4 free night award strategy
World of Hyatt is my primary hotel loyalty program, and I earn a good number of Category 1-4 free night awards, both through having Hyatt’s co-branded credit card, as well as through being a lifetime World of Hyatt Globalist member. I don’t ever recall having one of these expire, and consistently redeem these at hotels that would charge at least $200 per night, and in many cases, way more.
Do I wish it were possible to top these off with points, to redeem at more expensive properties? Of course! Heck, I wish Hyatt would boost these to Category 1-5 free night certificates, given how much category inflation we’ve seen. Do I acknowledge that these aren’t valuable if you want to go to Manhattan, or want to stay at a Park Hyatt in the United States? Of course!
Despite that, I still consistently get great value from these free night certificates. What’s my strategy?
- The further you get from the United States, the more opportunities there are to redeem these certificates at legitimate luxury hotels, where you’ll actually have a great experience
- Sometimes you travel to destinations that just don’t have luxury hotels, and where a limited service property could still be very expensive if paying in cash, but is bookable with a Category 1-4 free night award
- You can get the most value by redeeming in peak season, or in situations where the rate would be really high in cash, but it’s affordable with points
Personally, I kind of view these as being my practical hotel free night certificates, rather than my aspirational free night certificates. When I want to stay at a property and am sort of offended by the price (as is so often the case in the United States nowadays), these really come in handy.
To give some examples, I often stay at the Hyatt Place St. Petersburg, since it’s near my family. If paying cash, that hotel often retails for over $250 per night (it has a central location), yet it’s still a Category 4 World of Hyatt property.
Similarly, I recently had an overnight near Boston Logan Airport, and I booked the Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor using one of these certificates, as it’s a Category 4 property. If paying cash, the rate would’ve been over $300. The same is true at the Hyatt Regency JFK at Resorts World, which is my preferred hotel when overnighting near New York Kennedy Airport.
I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking of hotel points and free night certificates exclusively in terms of aspirational, bucket list destinations. Yes, it’s great to be able to redeem points at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, but when you look at how cash rates for hotels in the United States have increased, there’s something to be said for practical, useful redemptions as well.
Some solid Hyatt Category 1-4 hotels
As a reminder, Category 4 World of Hyatt properties ordinarily retail for 12,000 to 18,000 points per night. Specifically, the pricing is 12,000 points on off-peak dates, 15,000 points on standard dates, and 18,000 points on peak dates. So obviously you’ll get the most value from these certificates if redeeming in peak season.
World of Hyatt has a webpage that will show you hotels by category and region, which I find to be the best way to get inspiration for how to redeem these free night certificates. Just visit this page, and then select your preferred region and category.
I’m not a fan of lists of “top X properties to redeem certificates at,” because Hyatt adjusts categories every year, and for that matter, we all have different travel goals. You should redeem these when there’s a Hyatt you want to stay at and it’s expensive in cash.
However, I wanted to list out some properties in each region that are Category 4 or lower, which I think are worth a look.
In the United States and Canada, you’ll find the fewest exciting options, though here are some solid properties that could represent a good value with a certificate:
- Andaz Savannah
- Hyatt Centric Center City Philadelphia
- Hyatt Centric Chicago Magnificent Mile
- Hyatt Centric Downtown Denver
- Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco
- Hyatt Centric Las Olas Fort Lauderdale
- Hyatt Regency Bellevue on Seattle’s Eastside
- Hyatt Regency Coral Gables
- Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort
- Hyatt Regency JFK Airport at Resorts World New York
- Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina
- Hyatt Regency Sarasota
- Thompson Washington D.C.
In the Caribbean and Latin America, here are a couple of properties that stand out:
In Europe, here are some properties that are worth considering:
- Grand Hyatt Berlin
- Grand Hyatt Istanbul
- Hyatt Centric Murano Venice
- Hyatt Regency Cologne
- Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid
- Hyatt Regency Lisbon
In the Middle East and Africa, here are some noteworthy properties:
- Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel & Residences Emirates Pearl
- Grand Hyatt Doha Hotel & Villas
- Grand Hyatt Dubai
- Grand Hyatt Kuwait Residences
- Grand Hyatt Muscat
- Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa
In Australia and the South Pacific, here are some hotels that cap out at Category 4:
Last but most certainly not least, here are some of the great properties in Asia where you can redeem Category 1-4 free night awards:
- Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach
- Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui
- Hyatt Regency Koh Samui
- Park Hyatt Changsha
- Park Hyatt Jakarta
- Park Hyatt Siem Reap
- Park Hyatt Suzhou
Bottom line
While Hyatt’s Category 1-4 free night awards might not be the most aspirational free night certificates out there, I still find them to be super useful. No, they won’t get you free nights in the Maldives, but I almost always use them at properties that cost well over $200 per night if paying cash.
With how hotel rates have evolved, I view these more as practical free night certificates, rather than aspirational ones. That being said, if you’re willing to travel a bit further from the United States, you can use these for some awesome Park Hyatt properties as well.
What’s your strategy for redeeming Hyatt Category 1-4 free night awards?
Ben you have intl down bit really need help on donestic uses!
Not much in US, specially California!
“ I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking of hotel points and free night certificates exclusively in terms of aspirational, bucket list destinations…. there’s something to be said for practical, useful redemptions as well.”
Sound advice which applies to airline miles as well. I know there’s an audience on this site that consistently reaches for the most aspirational redemptions almost out of necessity (“I’ll fly whatever dates are available with two overnight...
“ I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking of hotel points and free night certificates exclusively in terms of aspirational, bucket list destinations…. there’s something to be said for practical, useful redemptions as well.”
Sound advice which applies to airline miles as well. I know there’s an audience on this site that consistently reaches for the most aspirational redemptions almost out of necessity (“I’ll fly whatever dates are available with two overnight layovers on three different airlines because I can’t afford it any other way”), and I respect that.
For my circumstances, time is the more valuable commodity. As such, I typically pay for my overseas trips in cash (or occasionally credit card points directly without transferring to airline programs) because I have fixed vacation dates and have neither the time or inclination to investigate sweet spot redemptions.
As a result, I’ve found my best use of airline miles and hotel points to be for unexpected or short notice trips within North America (family gatherings, sick relatives, funerals, etc.), where the cash price is undesirably high but points redemptions are still available.
"I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking of hotel points and free night certificates exclusively in terms of aspirational, bucket list destinations."
Don't you see some ummm... inconsistency with you clearly specifying that you don't do economy flight reviews because this is a blog about aspirational travel then saying the above? Didn't you just spend a grand a night to stay in some mega-ritzy French ski hotel?
Most often I use them for airport hotels in the US as I often need a 1-night stay and usually have no issues finding a cat 1-4.
But this year I used it at the Story Hotel Studio Malmö, Sweden. It's only a cat 1 but the refundable rate was $259 for the nights we stayed. Got 2 rooms for 2 nights for just 1 cert + 15K points total. Includes rooftop breakfast.
We used our certificates at the Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Montenegro and thought it was well worth it.
Hyatt Regency Vancouver BC is a good cat 4 redemption.
Salt Lake City Regency
Regency Toronto is in a great location if not a little worn around the edges. Cat 4; we used a FNC right during TIFF even.
I almost want to gatekeep these but: 1) Hyatt Place LIC is the last cat 4 in NYC proper 2) Hyatt Regency Seattle is one of the nicest HR's in the US and usually hovers around $400 a night and 3) Hyatt Regency Hesperia in Madrid (which is mentioned above) saves me hundreds of Euros when visiting friends.
PH Jakarta is also incredible but no one should go to Jakarta without very very good reason.
Yep, agreed about Hyatt Place LIC. Been using my free nights there for years.
These cat 1-4 are nice to have to on the off chance there is one in an area you might visit. But they cannot be used consistently at all. Hyatt would have to change it to 1-5 to really know there is a hotel you’d like to stay at in whatever city your travels take you
+1 For Regency Lisbon. While not in the downtown area it is right on a main Tram line. I have basic status and they gave me a suite with a full kitchen and a washer/dryer. Plus there is a great rooftop bar.
Clearly the sentiments on yesterday's article didn't land where you expected. Agreed that if you're just looking at the price of a property, this isn't too bad. Just not what if waste a CC sign up on.
Despite a few gems out there, Hyatt does make it as hard as possible to redeem value from these certificates. We are about 4 months from our next "oops 75% of the properties we changed went up a category" announcement from them.