Originally Posted by
dtremit
Both Starwood and Hyatt have run "stay 2, get 1 free" promos in 2009, with Hyatt's usable at nearly any property (I think four in the entire chain are excluded). SPG's was usable at all but Cat7 properties. So I'm not sure this is particularly exceptional.
I love Hyatt and their historically good promos to death. SPG's promo was pretty good (not as good as Hyatt's with no restrictions on day of week for redemption, little restriction on hotels to redeem at, and the option to take a decent number of points instead). But I think it's important to point out that SPG and Hyatt, regardless of limited-time promotions any of the chains may run, always have two strikes against them for many travelers - very limited number of locations compared to Hilton.
Sure, just comparing the requirement of four stays for a free night compared to two seems like it's a worse promo, but for me I can get a Hilton stay in nearly every city I travel to. I can not say the same for SPG or Hyatt.