<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cactuspete:
I have an expensive Hyat stay coming up. Has this been everybody's experience - - points for the certs purchase and points for using the certs like cash?</font>
Only if you are staying in the US or your room rate is base on US$, otherwise your credit card's exchange rate is far better than the hotel's. You have to consider trade off between a few percent more of your total bill and the extra points.
Actually I am also thinking of doing this for my up coming stay at Park Hyatt Tokyo. My usual bill come up to US$ 2K+ for a four days stay plus food. So it is an extra 10K points for less than US$100 (I think half of what you paid to purchase from GP if you don't have enough points for an award).