I switched some of my hotel business to Hyatt in early March, and in those two short months I've made over 20 stays at Hyatt properties thanks to the insane promotions they have. Overall I couldn't have been happier. I've earned nearly ten free nights I can use anywhere in the world and around 65,000…
Continue reading: For the first time I’m frustrated with Hyatt…
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I don't think this is an inventory issue. I think it is a 'too close to travel date' issue...i don't think the situation will change as the date gets closer. This issue has been the same with similar FFN promos... at least the last one. It's clearly stated in the T&C that one can't book within a week.
From the Big Welcome Back Promotional T&C:
"FREE NIGHT AWARD RESTRICTIONS: Please allow ten (10) days after each of your second Eligible Stays for Free Night Award(s) to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account (allow 2-3 weeks for awards from stays outside the U.S.). Free Night Award(s) must be posted to your account prior to redemption.
Reservations for Free Night Award(s) redemption are subject to availability and must be made in advance by visiting the My Promotional Awards page within goldpassport.com, or by calling 1-800-228-3360 or your nearest Hyatt Worldwide Reservation Centre. Free Night Award(s) can only be redeemed for stays between April 1, 2010 and August 31, 2010 and are not transferable. Free Night Award(s) are valid for standard room accommodations only and do not include incidental expenses, gratuities, service charges or other hotel-specific charges. Free Night Award(s) are valid for single or double occupancy. Additional guests are subject to additional hotel charges. Stays at hotels outside the U.S. may be subject to government approvals, regulations, restrictions and taxes. Other restrictions may apply."
http://goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp/en/offers/welcome-back-offer-tc.jsp?wt=pop_up
The T&C state reservations must be made in advance, however, I see nothing there in the T&C stating free nights must be booked one week in advance.
@ Tom @ Gene -- I don't believe that's correct. I made my reservation for the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach only a couple of days in advance, and when I called to make this reservation, the Grand Hyatt New York was available for the dates I needed...
I haven't had a time issue but did have a problem booking the Hyatt Sierra Lodge Vacation property even though rooms are not sold out. The rep's didn't know why it wasn't open for award booking but said that vacation properties had "different" rules although I haven't found those. I was able to get one award night (a Fri) and currently have one paid night booked for Sat.
I tried to redeem a FFN at Andaz Fifth Ave. for Aug 1st (its opening day), the representative first told me I can't use free nights, but points. I asked him to check again (I didn't believe there were two different inventories), and it worked the second time!
Have you tried your personal lines agent? What does he/she have to say?
Love,
Katie
I think the problem is the rep was trying to book 2 nights all at once - these BWB nights can only be booked one at a time - ask them to book the first night and then the 2nd night - it should work.
Get in touch with your personal line agent or try @HyattConcierge. @HyattConcierge is extremely helpful and very responsive to questions and concerns.
Peter is correct on this one - in an unrelated issue, a couple months ago I was snowed-in after what should have been a quick visit to Tahoe City - I was able to book a room at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe for 1 night using a free night award with about a 1-hour lead time. Circumstances and my charming personality may have played a role as I was fairly desperate when I called, but it was still another example of Hyatt's great service.
Hyatt's computer systems are about as good as Hilton's award chart. This "book one night at a time" issue is probably due to that... Once you know the "work around" for each issue you encounter it becomes merely annoying rather than completely frustrating, and given all the good things Hyatt gives me, its well worth the annoyance
I've encountered the same problem with the Grand Hyatt Kauai. Multiple Res/GP/Web agents have told me BWB nights are capacity controlled. I am not Diamond however...
I would just follow the old adage, when you can't get what you want with one agent, try again with a new one. I have actually had the most success using the non diamond agents late at night, but thats just me.
Good luck.
Just wanted to provide a quick update. Well, everything worked out in the end. I called back and they told me again that it wasn't available. I called back and was told the same thing. I called back and was told the same thing again. Then for the 5th agent, before he could even check BWB availability, he said he would swap the points for the BWB night, and five minutes later it was reflected online.