The World of Hyatt Credit Card is one of my all-around favorite hotel credit cards. The card offers an anniversary free night on your account anniversary each year, which is valid at category 1-4 properties. The card has a $95 annual fee, and almost anyone should be able to get more than $95 worth of value out of that anniversary night certificate.
While the limitation of only being able to redeem at category 1-4 properties does exclude some properties, there are many awesome hotels that belong in those categories. This by no means limits you to Hyatt Place properties in third rate cities.
A couple of days ago I wrote a post about 10 great properties in the Americas where you can redeem your Hyatt anniversary free night certificate, and yesterday I wrote a post about 10 great properties in Asia where you can redeem your Hyatt anniversary free night certificate. In this post I wanted to look at 10 great hotels in Europe and the Middle East where you can redeem the anniversary night certificate offered by the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
In general Europe isn’t Hyatt’s strongest region, especially for lower category properties. However, there are still some great redemption opportunities for the anniversary night certificate, given how expensive hotels in Europe can be. The Middle East is a stronger region for Hyatt, as I’ll outline below.
In no particular order, here are 10 great hotels where you can redeem your category 1-4 anniversary night certificate:
Grand Hyatt Berlin
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt a couple of years ago and had a great stay. To me, the hotel feels more like a Park Hyatt than a Grand Hyatt in terms of design. The rooms are nicely furnished, the Grand Club is lovely, and the hotel has a good location for exploring Berlin.
Park Hyatt Hamburg
This is the only Park Hyatt in Europe that’s a category 4 or below. While I’ve heard it’s not quite up to the standard of the Park Hyatts in Paris, Milan, Vienna, etc., it still looks like a solid hotel.
Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile
Paris is a very expensive hotel market, so having a category 4 property there is a good opportunity to redeem these certificates. For example, in summer rates at this hotel can be about $500 per night, so redeeming the certificate you receive from a card with a $75 annual fee is a heck of a deal.
Hyatt Regency Amsterdam
The Hyatt Regency Amsterdam just recently opened, and nicely complements the Andaz Amsterdam. In summer, rates here can be over $250 per night, so again, redeeming a certificate from a $75 annual fee card is a great option.
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Funny enough I’ve redeemed my anniversary night certificate at this property for two years in a row, both when I had quick overnight layovers in Abu Dhabi. The Hyatt Capital Gate isn’t far from Abu Dhabi airport, and is a beautiful property. The two times I redeemed my certificate here, the paid rate would have been about $250 per night.
Grand Hyatt Muscat
Muscat is one of my favorite major cities in the Middle East, and the Grand Hyatt is solid. I love that the hotel actually feels like it’s in Oman, rather than having a generic design.
Grand Hyatt Dubai
If you like mega hotels, the Grand Hyatt Dubai is a great place to stay. It has a huge pool, a bunch of great restaurants, a very nice Grand Club, and it’s conveniently located between the airport and many of Dubai’s most popular attractions.
Grand Hyatt Doha
Doha’s hotel market has expanded very nicely over the past several years, and the Grand Hyatt is pretty good based on what I’ve heard. I’ve stayed at the W and St. Regis in Doha, and am planning on staying at the Grand Hyatt the next time I pass through Doha.
Grand Hyatt Amman
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Amman a few months ago, and had a very nice stay. Many of the guest rooms are renovated, the hotel’s Grand Club is nice, and Amman is an all around cool city.
Bottom line
There are lots of great hotels where you can redeem the category 1-4 anniversary free night offered by the World of Hyatt Credit Card. While Europe isn’t Hyatt’s strongest continent, they have some good hotels there, especially when you consider how much they’d cost if paying cash. Hyatt’s footprint is even better in the Middle East, in my opinion.
Keep in mind that if your spouse/friend/travel companion signs up for the World of Hyatt Credit Card, you can potentially book two back-to-back nights by using your anniversary free night certificates for the same stay.
Do you have a favorite category 1-4 Hyatt property in Europe or the Middle East?
In terms of value:category ratio, the Park Hyatt Hamburg is hard to beat. The style and design are solidly representative of the brand, the location is terrific, and the gym/pool/sauna (Club Olympus underground) crushes most other Park Hyatts.
I found both the Cologne and Mainz properties very nice (level 4 and 3, respectively). Stayed in early December while visiting cathedrals and Christmas markets. I used combo of P+C and free night certificate and got outsized value compared to full rates.
@Jeff
As soon as he gets an affiliate link, he will pump 150 posts saying how the Chase Marriott is the greatest card ever even though he never stays at Marriott hotels.
These posts are so very helpful! Thanks a lot! Would you mind doing the same thing for the Marriott anniversary annual night certificate?
Thanks a lot! I really enjoy your blog!
@ Lucky: I got the Hyatt Visa card ladt year and we made my wife an authorized user, so she has a card with her name on it, but the account #is exactly the same as mine. Can she still apply for a Hyatt Visa in her own right and get her own number and all the bonuses?
We have the same situation with our IHG Mastercard too.
Interestingly, SPG Amex issued differently numbered cards for us but both tied to a single billing account and my SPG account.
@ RobPHX -- Yep, she can get either card and the bonus. Her being an authorized user doesn't preclude her from applying for the card as the primary member.
I spent a horrible weekend at the Hyatt regency etoile and while I agree that Paris is expensive I believe that regency is the worst hotel under the Hyatt name (as a glob/diamond I have a seen a bunch as well). They are renovating at the moment so maybe it will improve but my experience last November was horrible/dirty literally bare wires comming from the walls and so dirty white socks would turn black by...
I spent a horrible weekend at the Hyatt regency etoile and while I agree that Paris is expensive I believe that regency is the worst hotel under the Hyatt name (as a glob/diamond I have a seen a bunch as well). They are renovating at the moment so maybe it will improve but my experience last November was horrible/dirty literally bare wires comming from the walls and so dirty white socks would turn black by walking from the bed to the bathroom. I complained and eventually got half my money back, but a real crappy place!!!
I actually think lucky has sunk pretty low into bank shill territory... and I'm enjoying these posts.
@Jan - if you don't like it, don't read it. Others like it.
Ben, I really do love your blog, trust me! But I think that you have been inflating it a bit too much with posts. Do you really think it's that necessary to post the '10 Great fares' for every single world region? I know it's a relatively small details, but those are the ones that lead to the deterioration of the blog... Please don't let it happen