directcj

I’d like to requalify for Diamond; need 19 stays and I seriously doubt I can get there between now and the end of the year
Diamond challenge is out since I did it two years ago. Was hoping to requalify earlier but work circumstances changed.

I’m trying to find the lowest cost possible
1. Live in SoCal, OC. Might possibly stay weeknights so local preferred (LA, San Diego, OC; maybe Ventura/SB)
2. Willing to do flights out of SNA, LGB for weekends (SFO, OAK, SEA, PDX)

How do I find a low rate without going through the Hyatt booking engine night by night between now and end of the year (weekend nights 1st). Is there a tool similar to google flights so I can see by calendar when the cheapest nightly rate might be? I recall years ago that the Hyatt booking engine showedthe nightly rate per week – somehow I don’t see this capability anymore.

I’ve done a search for “cheapest hyatt rate” – results haven’t quite helped my specific case.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...tt-hotels.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...hyatt-usa.html

I thought Hyatt Regency Irvine had rates ~$80 or so years ago but alas, Hyatt Regency is no longer around. Maybe Hyatt OC. I notice that Hyatt Place Carlsbad has a $116 rate. I'd really like to find something that's <$75 per night.

Appreciate any help the Hyatt FT community can provide

exmike

try hyatt place riverside, that can run ~100 some nights, or less. Cant imagine that flying out would make it cheaper unless you want to go to vegas and bounce between cheap mlife hotels. A lot of the OC ones are low 100's too. If you want to go between place to place, HR LB and Centric LB are walking distance apart, and have decent cash+pts avail for $75+6k

TerryK

Are you sure Diamond is worth it since you only stay at Hyatt 6 times or less this year?

nineworldseries

This is a bizarre post. You've been Diamond all year, and you value it highly enough to mattress run 19 times for it, yet you've only stayed at Hyatts 6 times in 9 months?

Also, there are only 14 weekends left in 2016, and two of those are Thanksgiving and Christmas. You're willing to spend the next 12 weekends mattress running? Really? Even if you scatter some weeknights in there, you're willing to fight SoCal traffic on weeknights?

You're willing to spend money to fly to cities where the Hyatts are significantly more expensive overall than where you are now?

I would wager many of us would love to find Hyatts under $75 per night, but that's wildly unrealistic, unless you're talking about a few domestic locations: DFW, Northern Virginia, outer Chicago suburbs, Charlotte, Atlanta suburbs, etc. Even then these rates are becoming more scarce than a few years ago.

The suggestion to fly to Vegas and hotel hop between Luxor and Excalibur was a decent one, but do you really want to spend the rest of your weekends this year in Vegas? Bouncing between Luxor and Excalibur in Vegas 19 times sounds pretty close to the worst travel-related thing I can imagine.

The only realistic, remotely cost-effective (and I'm being super generous) way I see to do this is to do 19 nights at somewhere like the Hyatt Place Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga. I've seen this go for as low as around $80. Checking a random Saturday in October, the AAA rate is $134, though. Hyatt House Cypress/Anaheim is $116 on October 22.

So let's say you spent the rest of the year bouncing back and forth between Anaheim and Rancho Cucamonga (sounds awesome ). Generously, let's say you can do this for $140 all-in each night including tax and a small amount of gas allowance:

$2,660 to requalify for Diamond. Of course, you'd get a bunch of points (although not a crazy amount, as they're HP/HH) and 19 free crummy breakfasts. You'd also have to deal with the soul-crushing reality of SoCal traffic and spending 19 of your weekend nights in Anaheim and Rancho Cucamonga.

I know Diamond isn't worth over $2500 to me, and I really, really value it and do 30-35 Hyatt stays a year.

Jaimito Cartero

Better do do mattress runs in Jan and Feb to earn status for a year longer.

SCEflyer

I have been wondering the same thing. By my reckoning, these 16 one night stays would cost a minimum of $1,600, to say nothing of any outlay for airfare.

OTH, if the OP is looking for free breakfasts at the full service properties, lounge access where available, and would also be able to use four the DSU's for stays beyond one or two nights, it might make sense.

MSPeconomist

Nights before the end of November can earn a bunch of extra points through the current cascading promo. Fifteen nights should earn 5,000 + 10,000 + 15,000 = 30,000 points IIRC.

JetAway

MRs in Northern Virginia can make definite sense with weekend rates between $68-$81 at several of the many Hyatts in the area.

antonius66

Sorry but I agree with the others...this is nonsense. You don't stay at Hyatt barely at all, and want to spend upwards of $1500+ on requalifying for a status you do not use? My suggestion is to do some math and evaluate the honest value of the stays and possible future stays against what you are planning to spend. For the few stays you do, would $1500+ not buy the benefits you want outright and then some?

jameswes

A few hints/tips/tricks:
- As mentioned, promo for up to 75K points for 25 nights through the end of November. Nets out to 3K/night if you do 25 nights.
- Cash & Points. If you have the Hyatt CC, 10% rebate on points spent through the end of October.
- Citi Prestige. If you're going for nights, you can pay for four nights, and get the fourth night free. Especially if you find a cheap airport/suburb hotel, that can drop the cost per night from say $100 down to $75.
- Corporate/Discount codes. AAA, Costco both have ~5-10% off. Some companies/groups have specific contracts that are reasonable.
- Combo!
For example: 10/3-10/7 in the DFW area. Hyatt Place Fort Worth/Hurst is $90/night. With Prestige, that ends up being $270 for four nights (plus some taxes/fees).
You earn:
* 500 points diamond amenity
* 12,000 points (promotion)
* ($360 * 5 * 1.3) = 2340 points from spend
= almost 15K points for your four night mattress run.

StirredNotShaken

Call me jaded, but I'm glad someone came forth and offered a bunch of great suggestions for the OP. Instead of piling on the OP with their opinions.

But then again, I'm doing the same thing with my opinion. Doh!

speedytimmy

We don't know what the OP's hotel plans are for 2017. Mathematically it doesn't seem to make much sense to try and qualify again for Diamond status with only six Hyatt stays to date, but we don't know what those stays were. If one planned an annual two week trip to Europe and stayed at Park Hyatt properties, enjoyed the comparatively luxurious breakfasts and applied DSUs, the economics would be very different than staying at six Hyatt House properties.

I like the idea of waiting until the start of 2017 and then trying to qualify for all of 2017 and 2018 with 25 stays compressed at the start of the new year.

caimaster

PHX might be a good spot for mattress run. Short flight from LAX and couple of properties to choose from typically under $100 a night.

With the 25 night HGP promo, might as well shoot for 25 nights. You get 75,000 additional points.

directcj

Thanks all for the replies – including the ones that attempt to knock some sense into me. They are all valid points. The tips about PHX and DFW are great - back when I traveled to Chandler quite a bit the only options were HR and Scottsdale.

I know, it's bizarre, confusing and quite possibly borders on nonsense, isn’t that why mileage and mattress runs are known as a hobby? I’ve had diamond privileges for quite a few years and have enjoyed the fruits; contiguously for the past 2 yrs. Unfortunately due to circumstances (business and personal) I haven’t had many paid stays. I have however stayed “free” nights (mostly at Andaz and Grand properties) throughout this year in addition to the 6 stays I’ve done. If I’d known that a points+cash stay counts as a stay I’d definitely have more stays to count towards Diamond.
I think the math part is relatively easy as others have already pointed out $1500-2600, countered with getting 90-110k points (50-75k promo, 500 points booking via app, diamond amenity, +hotel points) as a consequence due to the various promos currently in play (in addition to getting diamond). I’m willing to do some travel to nearby for a quick “vacation”; call it a quasi mileage run. I noticed there are some cheap fares to DFW and DEN for example, 2 cities I haven’t visited that I wouldn’t mind visiting. Maybe I’m looking at an excuse to go visit some cities I haven’t seen yet – DFW, DEN, IAH, etc.. and as a consequence get some stays/nights in. If I do fly out it would have to be for wknd, locally, I can do weeknights.

What I’m really after is this:
or ITA Matrix


Then at least I’ll have something in my toolset I can use for the future. If not now, maybe the beginning of next year or when I plan to retire and do a RTW trip!


Oh…. And you wanna know what’s really ludicrous? I’m also trying to decide on SPG Platinum . But that’s possibly a different post in a parallel universe elsewhere.

SCEflyer

[QUOTE=MSPeconomist;27248320]Nights before the end of November can earn a bunch of extra points through the current cascading promo. Fifteen nights should earn 5,000 + 10,000 + 15,000 = 30,000 points IIRC.[/QUOTE

True, but that doesn't help the OP get to 25 stays from 6 by December 31.