There are several ways to earn World of Hyatt free night award certificates. In this post I wanted to talk about one of the often overlooked ways to earn Hyatt free nights, which is with World of Hyatt’s ongoing Brand Explorer promotion. This offers World of Hyatt members the opportunity to earn free night certificates for exploring Hyatt’s portfolio.
In this post:
Hyatt’s Brand Explorer offer
With World of Hyatt’s Brand Explorer promotion, you can earn a Category 1-4 free night certificate for every five unique Hyatt brands you stay at:
- As of now Hyatt has 28 brands, meaning you can earn up to five free night certificates (which you’d get for staying at 25 brands); Hyatt’s number of brands continues to increase, thanks to Hyatt’s expansion in the all-inclusive resort space
- There’s no registration required, and any qualifying stay that’s tied to your World of Hyatt account will count toward this; yes, this includes when you redeem points
- This isn’t in any way tied to the calendar year or typical membership year, but rather you can earn these free night certificates for stays over several years if you’d like; for example, if you stay at one new Hyatt brand every year, you’d get a free night certificate after five years
- The free night certificate is valid for 180 days from when it’s issued, and you need to complete your stay by that date, rather than just having to book by then

What are Hyatt’s brands?
Hyatt currently has 28 brands, which are as follows:
- Alila
- Alua
- Andaz
- Breathless
- Caption by Hyatt
- Destination by Hyatt
- Dream Hotels
- Dreams
- Grand Hyatt
- Hyatt
- Hyatt Centric
- Hyatt House
- Hyatt Place
- Hyatt Regency
- Hyatt Residence Club
- Hyatt Zilara
- Hyatt Ziva
- Impression by Secrets
- Joie de Vivre
- Miraval
- Park Hyatt
- Secrets
- Sunscape
- Thompson
- Unbound Collection
- UrCove
- Vivid
- Zoetry
As you can see, only brands managed directly by Hyatt qualify for this offer, so stays at Small Luxury Hotels of the World and MGM properties don’t count toward the Brand Explorer offer.

How can you track how many Hyatt brands you’ve stayed at?
You can see how many Hyatt brands you’ve stayed at either through the World of Hyatt website or mobile app. Just go to the “Brand Explorer” section, and there will be a display showing how many unique brands you’ve stayed at (including which ones), and also how many free night certificates you’ve earned.


This is a fun way for Hyatt to engage members
This promotion is a fun way for World of Hyatt to engage members and try to get them to try more brands. At least in one case it impacted where I chose to stay, because I do love checking this dashboard every so often, both to see the progress that I’m making, and be reminded of all the brands I’ve stayed at.
Even though I’ve had top tier status with World of Hyatt for over a decade and have now earned lifetime Globalist status, I haven’t even stayed at half of Hyatt’s current brand portfolio.
In the past year I have visited two brands for the first time — Hyatt House and Miraval. I stayed at the Hyatt House LAX, and specifically chose to stay there for the purposes of the Brand Explorer promotion. Meanwhile I also stayed at the Miraval Arizona, though that was motivated by general curiosity about the Miraval brand, rather than the Brand Explorer promotion as such.
Looking at the Hyatt brands I haven’t stayed at:
- Most of the Hyatt brands I haven’t stayed at are all-inclusives, as that’s an area where Hyatt is growing significantly; however, in general this has limited appeal to me, based on the type of travel I like to do
- I’m guessing I’ll knock out a stay at a Joie de Vivre in the not-too-distant future; this is a brand that Hyatt acquired as part of the Two Roads Hospitality takeover, and most of Hyatt’s new Lindner Hotels properties in Germany are branded as such
- Destination by Hyatt is probably the Hyatt brand I know least about, and I can’t say that any of the properties have ever tempted me, though I’d love to know if there are any I should check out
- I’m sure I’ll stay at a Hyatt Residence Club eventually, though it’s also not a brand I’d necessarily seek out
- UrCove is a new Hyatt brand in China, so it’s unlikely I’ll stay at one of those hotels anytime soon

Bottom line
With World of Hyatt’s ongoing Brand Explorer promotion, you can earn a free Category 1-4 free night certificate for every five Hyatt brands you stay at. This is a way to earn up to five free nights over time, based on Hyatt’s current portfolio.
Given how easy Hyatt makes it to track this, I’m curious — how many Hyatt brands have you stayed at? Has anyone stayed at 15+? Has this promotion ever impacted where you’ve chosen to stay?
I just finished my 20th brand at Dreams resort in Panama! is there anyone stays more than I do?
You might want to consider the Lodge at Spruce Peak or some of the destimations in Denver if Ford likes skiing. I found Spruce Peak to be in a great location and near many activities w a decent size space for family. Vermont is just incredibly scenic summer fall or winter.
It's my first year as a Hyatt member... not yet a Discoverist but I have 2 brands and 4 stays planned for the rest of the year with 3 new brands... my last of the year is Park Hyatt... that stay will get me to Discoverist (unless I get the WOH CC by then)
Nothing beats the jaw-dropping value of the Hilton Honors programme.
I can prove it with hard facts and an elaborate demonstration. Sadly, the vast majority of the Hyatt fan boys do not have the mental capability to understand
I've stayed at 12 brands, but no all-inclusive properties so far. I had a reservation for Zoetry last year, but had to cancel. I have upcoming stays at Thompson and Alila this year.
There are three brands within the independent collection, once you’ve stayed with all three, does the category reset?
Ben, I just got a new brand explorer certificate in April and it has one year until expiration, not 180 days. Not sure if that’s a recent change.
We are at 15 now, by the way....
Hey, Ben.
Might wanna give The Shay (a Destination by Hyatt property) a look-see when you visit SoCal. I have a feeling that Culver City could be your cup of tea. :)
Staying at brand number 10 in less than a week. The Hotel Reisen in Stockholm is an Unbound Collection property that sits right on the bay. Used a suite upgrade certificate to get a bay suite.
Is there still no AC at this hotel?
Absolutely love this promo. What a great way to reward members.
Already earned one free night, and already focused on how to earn the second.
Brand Explorer FNC now last for one year.
Unrelated Ben but I think it would cool if you did a post on the airlines with the most national pride from their countries as you have obviously flown on all the major airlines in the world and visited all their respective countries several times.
Yes! Had a great conversation with a purser on an Air France flight that mentioned the history and French culture
I’m currently at four brands. Looking for #5…
Hmm, Globalist with 4 brands?