DealDetective

According to GP, the only two hotels that do not accept them are Hyatt Regency Trinidad and Hyatt Regency Tianjin in China.

astan100

I read through all the 52 threads...yes, really... and wanted people's opinions on using these.

So I tried to use one tonight at checkin and they told me I had to do it at checkout. I didn't want to go "listen, this is a MR and I'm not going to come back tomorrow", so do I have to just show up again to use it?

Is there any way to phone it in or possibly give it to them at some time other than checkout? I can understand that they want to make these difficult to use, but I'm debating the value of driving 30 minutes round trip to make 10 bucks

GoingAway

They would need it before check-out. When I was given that response, I told them that I was leaving early or was going to be in a rush in the morning, so could they just process it now as I know they have a multiple steps and it takes some time (on occasion) to get it done.

astan100

Smooth...I like the answer. I'll try it tomorrow as my 2nd MR hotel is almost next to my first...so checkout of one and early checkin to the other.

Does anyone ever tell the front desk they are doing a MR?

Jaimito Cartero

Just be firm the next time, and tell them you're leaving early in the morning.

I have let it slip to some hotels that I'm doing stays for the points/promotions. They're usually more than happy to fill rooms.

astan100

I'll try being more pushy tonight. I used Cert #1 today without any trouble at checkout at least.

I figure Mattress Runs are like Fight Club...you don't talk about it (unless it's a mostly anonymous forum of course.)

gijoe24jp

I never understand the purpose and meaning of just booking a room and not staying for the night.

Is it for achieving the Diamond status? Personally, Diamond status doesn't worth all that money. If all you desire is Diamond treatment on only few stays at a high-end Hyatt and you would rather pay money to get there, why don't you save all the money and book a high-end room instead?

Is it for scoring a FFN? If you are using your FFN on super high-end Hyatt hotels like PH Tokyo or Vendome, I get it. But for almost everything else, one night of FFN is not worth paying for 2 MRs without the intention of staying. Granted that many Hyatt may cost more than $300+/night, but you also have to pay at least $100 for 2 nights of MRs. If you just book and don't intend to stay there, you basically pay Hyatt money in return for that free stay, which I think defeat the purpose of FFN.

astan100

Here's my math that makes this reasonable. I'm staying in Hyatts that cost ~60 bucks all in. With a hyatt Cert, that brings the cost to 50.

Total cost per FFN = 100 bucks.

To sweeten the deal, I'm pairing it with the united each stay = 2500 miles. So each FFN also yields 5k miles, worth ~50 bucks on the low end.

In my mind, I'm getting a 300 dollar or more (if I'm lucky) hotel room for 50 bucks.

I have 2 large vacations coming up, so why not treat myself and save the points from my other hotel programs.

Diamond status is side benefit.

Jaimito Cartero

Doing a run for diamond may be worth it to some folk. If you were doing it only for that, you would have done it in January when stays counted double.

I think most people are doing it for free nights. By using the Costco certs, you can get 2 paid nights for $100 or so. Plus points and stay credits. I know when I did my first Hyatt MRs, they had overlapping promos, free nights, Gx promo and MC promo. No Costco certs then, but I got free nights for about a $75 each.

Most of the nicer Hyatts that I stay in are $200-400 per night, and you get your elite benefits.

Hyatt has a great program. When I first did runs, I would stay in some of the rooms. After you've done 20-30, it gets a bit boring. If I could find a nice place that's out of town, I'd certainly stay in the room.

antonius66

Wonder if the Costco near me sells them. I wish Vegas had a cheaper than 89 a night + option for Hyatt as well.

fsfsfsfs

Thanks for the PMs. I take back my request!

Just got a large number of certs at a Northern Virginia Costco. They didn't have them on display at all next to the M&C, Vegas, etc. gift cards, but when I asked Merchandise Pickup and gave them the item #, they were able to locate the paper certs. They wrote the item # on a slip of paper for me to give the cashier, but I imagine if you tell the cashier you want item #485271, he/she is not going to turn you down.

mauld

I would be interested in buying the Hyatt CC's but do not have a Costco membership. Does anyone know if Costco ever offer's a Free temporary membership? It really wouldn't be worth the $50 for me to join, just to get the Hyatt card. I'm always getting those Free BJ cards, and never use them-- does Costco have anything similar ? (Didn't see anything on their website).

mauld

Obviously not a regular FT'er

TravelGuy1965

Have a friend with a costco membership buy them for you.
Or you may also be able to buy a Costco Cash Card on their web site then just show up to the store with it - I had a friend do this in the past and they can't say - sorry you lost your money or need to buy a membership. They will let you in to use it.


I just bought another $1k today.

jtaft

Signed up at a west suburban Costco today and bought $1K of face value of certs. The store I went to offered a $25 Costco cash card for signing up for the Executive membership and the Amex card, effectively reducing the cost of the Executive membership to $75. Then, of course, the $800 purchase is worth presumably $16 from the 2% Executive cash-back plus another $8 from the Amex cash-back.

Before my buy, this location (Saint Charles) had 59 sets in hand. One person said they thought it'd be a regular item, the other wasn't sure if it was for a limited time or not. I'd be willing to help out others; PM me.