If I book a stay using an FFN, and decide to cancel that stay, will I get my free night certificate (from "The Next Big Thing Free Night Award" promo back?

yes http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...ncellable.html

again, perhaps this should be put in the Sticky ????

The fact that the nights are refundable puts Hyatt in another league in comparison to the comparable promos offered by SPG and IC last year.

The SPG promo allowed you to cancel the room after it was booked, I did this a few times. They were nonrefundable if you passed the cancellation time, but I believe the same applies to Hyatt.

It is best to let an agent cancel a FFN reservation so that the FFN credit is disconnected from it. Occasionally, if you cancel online, that process does not automatically occur.

This depends on "Cancellation Policy" of your confirmed stay in question. If you have passed this date, you surrendered these FFNs. BUT as always, CS is known for excellent customer service ...

When i have booked in the past have always been told cancellation policy was like reg reservations eg I just booked 3 nights for Indian Wells in March and says on confirmation 72 hr cancellation policy, so I think if you cancell 72 hrs in advance your night goes back to your acct

I know that this is off-topic, but I will echo FD1971's sentiments about how great this promo is:

-- FFNs are cancelable, just like any other room reservation.

-- You can book speculative reservations, i.e., before you have the certificates. I have a somewhat mixed opinion about this, because it could lead to abuse if people "hold" a great many reservations, tying up the inventory, and then cancel most of them. But it has served me well, so I can't complain.

-- Typical great Gold Passport customer service. In one case, for some reason the certificates did not post properly, so the Park Hyatt Paris deducted 18,000 points for the last night even though I had one more certificate (which, it turns out, was reserved for a future stay). One call to Gold Passport quickly solved the issue.

-- Availability seems to be good. I was able to book three nights at the PH Paris in January mid-week only three weeks out; plus have been able to book a few stays on short notice on both GH or PH Dubai, at which this is peak time (and the hotels are totally sold out); plus GH Muscat, which also commands premium rates. Of course, YMMV, and these places are not exactly Hawaii or Florida in terms of demand this time of year, but, still, I have a 100% success rate on redemptions that I have sought.

Good job Hyatt!