I have never been offered a choice of amenity in Australia. Rather, I am always given some sparkling wine masquerading as champagne, strawberries and chocolates. On business trips I'd much rather get the points!

How does it work in the U.S.? Are you offered one of the 3 choices at check-in? Is this only in the U.S. or international?

From Ts and Cs:

7. Diamond members will receive a complimentary welcome amenity consisting of the following: at Hyatt properties in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean; a choice of 1,000 bonus points or Food and Beverage option; at Hyatt properties outside of North America and Andaz hotels a Food and Beverage amenity will be provided; at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites a choice of 500 bonus points or Food and Beverage amenity; at Hyatt Vacation Club Resorts 500 bonus points will be automatically be awarded.

Thanks, once again, San Diego1K. So for my upcoming US trip, do they ask you at check-in, or do you simply inform the check-in agent?

You'll generally be handed a card and asked to make a choice between the points or a beverage and a snack item.

So I stayed at a HP last Sat night, today (Thurs) *nothing* appears in my Hyatt account. Do I wait or call at this point?

Or delete if I missed free wisdom somewhere above.

While generally preferring conventional bookings to maintain status for next year, sometimes an off-channel deal is too good to pass up, or I'm using points I earned the hard way. If you are on an award stay or third-party channel stay (like but not limited to Priceline bidding channel, consolidator one-price pre-paid vacation product, or anything were you are paying somebody other than Hyatt for a Hyatt stay), you should still get Diamond recognition, Diamond arrival points, and points for incidentals. (Stay credit, G bonus, and pick of rooms probably not).

You much improve your odds of actually getting them without hassle if you make sure and create a transaction for your stay. Meaning, never run a zero balance. One or more dining or drink charges are better, even if primarily dining elsewhere (the server wants the tip and will be sure to run it through), and throwing in a few phone calls can't hurt. Otherwise a well-intentioned not-fully-versed back office person may think there is no reason to upload the stay history at all just to save work.

Call Hyatt and add the GP number well before arrival and most likely the Diamond packet will still be waiting for you. Ask for the points and club access if its not. Eventually you may get an attitude either on the phone or at check-in, but do it anyway.

Good points, jayer, and not yet discussed in this thread. I've now added it to the summary at the start.

Just thought I'd post a datapoint on points posting. I opted for 3000 pts/nt for the Next Big Thing promo. Have completed one stay each at the Denver Tech Center HSS and HP, as I was automatically enrolled in the "earn 2.5K pts/stay at HSS/HP" promo. All points posted correctly about 48 hours after checkout. My Plat Extra award took another 24 hours to show up, but all seems to be in order.

TBH

Not sure if this should be listed in this thread but didn't want to clutter up with a new one...
I received a Big Welcome free night... presently I was comp'd Diamond until end of year. Did one night stay get maximize M/C bonus but otherwise when I travel w/family we use DH GP# since he's Diamond and will requalify for next year.
We're maximizing out upcoming stays since the announcement of FFNs and will have 5 (hopefully) accrued before our trip at end of December. Of course we'll use the FFNs first before using Big Welcome. Know FFN and BW are non-transferable... no problem, we'll work around it so we don't miss out.
If I don't use the BW night before I drop out of Diamond when I DO use the stay and my DH is with us will he get Diamond ammenity (nice to get 1K pt but since don't want to be greedy I won't be disappointed if we don't)? Will we have access to RC if it's on my award if he's with us on the stay?
Once DH requals for Diamond we'll probably start using my GP # but until that time it's more important to get one family member status.
TIA
Carolyn

Depends on your negotiating skills when you show up at the front desk. Technically they are not required to give you Diamond bennies but if you bust out your husband's Diamond card you may get lucky, you never know.

Alternatively you could try the old trick where you use your Big Welcome night on the second night (after you book a room under your husband's Diamond acct on the first night either paid or award). Then ask them at the front desk if they can combine the 2 reservations so you don't hafta switch rooms.

Good suggestion...

Thanks, for the hints...
We'll probably do either an award night in addition to using the Big Welcome night or revenue since just staying for one night seems "too short". By the time you check in it's not far from 12 noon check out.

SanDiego1K-I truly appreciate ur Oct 8 post (especially the signing up for miles but still being able 2 receive my 1k Diamond amenity pts). gregorygrady-a big thanks to u even more for guiding me (if not others) to SanDiego1K's post. Now I don't have to ask the same ? that has probably been asked 10k times.

Thanks for the primer it was great to review all the details in one well written post.

Now with the G bonuses, when making the reservation, is there a field on the web reservation screen where you enter the G code like G2? EG does it go in the promotion code field? Even if this is done, does the front desk agent still need to manually add it to your stay account?

Also how does the promotion work where you get extra points if you fly in on a Hyatt airline partner. The web res screen prompts you for your airline/flight#. Does the front desk agent need to activate this somehow or as long as the carrier/flight# is in the record will any points for flying be automatically creditted?

Yes, you should make the booking using the Gx or Ax code in the promo field. I believe it is automatically added to your stay. Still, I am eager enough for my points, I prompt the front desk to be sure that the promo is added. And if all else fails, which it seems to do a remarkable amount of time, I call after the stay has posted. The Customer Service Rep can easily add it at that time.

The res screen is asking you for your carrier into the city. That is a different matter than chosing airline miles for your stay. You need to tell the front desk agent that you are chosing miles, tell them the airline, and give them your Frequent Flyer number. You lose the opportunity to earn any Gx bonuses when you chose miles.