I just realized I redeemed 98,000 Hyatt points at less than once cent each. I'm an IDIOT!!!

Maaaan, I am sorry. You do not deserve a slapping machine Ben. For the ocean of information you possess, this is the price of a missing drop I say. Good luck next time.

Ben,

Unslap yourself. Tried several dates in August just now with the Premier code at the Cannes property, and no availability using the travel cert, but plenty using points. Didn't hit every date possible of course, but obviously availability isn't guaranteed for the travel cert.

Besides the these two hotels, any other sweet spots to redeem these certs ?

Interesting info. Do they ship or mail hard copies of all certificates, or is there a way to buy them online and just have the instantly emailed?

How tight is the inventory control on using these certificates? If the capacity control is too tight, they aren't worth much.

By any chance do they earn stay credits when consumed at the property? They are kind of revenue...

Plus, do you still get the stay credit with those certs?

No you don't get stay credits. No points too.

I seemed to have made the same mistake just a couple weeks after you, Ben. I never really think I travel certs when looking into high end foreign properties... But guess this is a lesson learned!

If you find availability with Certs, can't you just cancel the Hyatt points nights and have them redeposited if you are outside of the cancellation window?

@ gavinmac -- They have to ship them so I guess I should feel slightly less horrible since I planned this last minute... but still.

@ Jig -- Hah, that makes me feel a bit better, thanks.

@ Susan -- As janyyc notes, you don't get stay credits, but then again you also don't get them on points.

Hi,
Great post - never considered this option. How can you tell if there is availability before purchasing certs? I have 2 reward nights booked at Park Hyatt Chicgo in Sept for bday wknd. I would opt for cert if avail - only $260/nt w certificates.

@ Carl -- Well it's not "no blackout dates" like with points, but generally I still find availability to be rather good. Depends on the specific property, though. In the post linked above I outline how to search for availability.

@ Rhys -- Yep, though sadly I was within the cancellation period already when I booked.

@ EricNYC -- See this post for an explanation of how to search for space using these certs:
https://onemileatatime.com/reward-programs/hotel-rewards/world-of-hyatt/

Well those two hotels seem surprisingly low for cert use. Any other amazing bargains? I notice you can't even use them at any price at the Park Hyatt Vendome.

It's interesting that the category of a hotel for stay certificates can be very different from its award category... I just noticed that a category 3 property is "classic". That's only $109, almost insane!

Never thought you could leverage stay certificates this way... Thanks guys!!!

Just another thought. Is there a secondary market where I can buy those certificates at a discount?

And now this deal will die. Got three of my family members into Nice for three separate vacations. They were talking about doing it again next year. Onto the next deal

@ Al -- Not that I know of, unfortunately. I suppose someone may be given them as a gift and try to resell them on Ebay, but that's about the only way they'd end up for resale as far as I know.

ROFL @ the video on the end 😀

Have the prices of those certificates increased over the years due to inflation?

@ Al -- Slightly. In January of this year they slightly adjusted the prices, but it wasn't a big difference.

Quick question: are the new Vegas hotels part of the cert program or separate? Thanks!

@ Kevin F -- It doesn't look like they've been added to the program yet. I doubt they will be since they're not Hyatts but rather "affiliate" properties.

Well, Hyatt Certificate participating properties now says Palais de la Méditeranée does not accept stay cert anymore, so are most Park Hyatt (I checked for SYD and TYO).