Can Reservation for Standard Room be converted into Free Night Award?
 

I just signed up for the Hyatt credit card and was planning to use the 2 free nights for an upcoming stay. Of course, 2 days after I applied for the card the hotel sold out of the standard/award room type!!!

However, I have an existing paid reservation for the standard room type. Do you think Hyatt would convert it to a free night for me? Or should I try my luck canceling the reservation and hope it goes back into inventory so I can book it as a free night award?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Ringside,

Can you please PM your reservation details to us? We'll be happy to look into this.

Sincerely,

Nick B.

Generally no conversion of a revenue reservation into an award night is not possible. Canceling the revenue reservation doesn't necessarily mean that the "base room" category (that you booked) would go back into inventory as the "base room" category - it depends on the overall inventory of the property.

Isn't the base room category a fixed set of rooms based on their physical description and layout? How can the same room switch from, for instance, the superior to deluxe category, unless it has been renovated?

Yes, physical inventory is "fixed" but hotels oversell just like airlines do counting on no-shows. If a property is close to "full", they may be willing to sell higher category rooms to increase revenue much like airlines might be willing to sell a full Y but not cheaper fare buckets and someone cancelling the cheaper fare bucket doesn't put that fare bucket "seat" back into inventory.