ramolnar

It looks like Hyatt has updated the Stay Certificates. Almost every property accepts a new type of certificate, the Ultimate.

EDIT 10 January:
The bad news is that even though www.certificates.hyatt.com still says there are 5 levels, there are now 7 levels of certificates:
Classic ($109.00 per night) same cost as December 2011
Choice ($152.22) up $3.22
Premier ($188.89) down 11 cents
Elite ($260.00) up $11
Inspire ($325.55) up $6.55
Exclusive ($394.44) new
Ultimate ($461.11) new
There's no tax, and FedEx Express Saver shipping is $6 in the US.

The terms and conditions say that one must call (800) 555-0233 to redeem certificates. I was able to use the Special Offer Code field on normal reservations to book availability. The code for the Special Offer Field is HSXXNY, where Y is the number of nights and XX is the first two letters of the name - except for Exclusive, which is XL not EX for some reason. For example, HSULN1 is one night Ultimate.

If there's availability, sometimes the main rate screen will come up with an obvious result. For instance, certificate availability in Seoul has a rate of 1 KRW. No certificate availability produces a normal rate.
But that's not true for all cities. The Park Hyatt Chicago ultimate rate lists as 373.57 USD. Why? That appears to be the "internal value" of the certificate. If the "internal value" is higher than a regular rate, the lower regular rate will appear on the rate screen. For instance, I could book the Hyatt Place Chicago/Lombard/Oak Brook with an Ultimate certificate on April 4, but the hyatt.com rate of $132 is lower than the "internal value" of $373.57. Thus, the rate screen shows $132. If I click through to a hotel screen, I see "Rate is Confidential" for the stay certificate.

Here are the "internal values" I got for Chicago. These appear on the comparative screen. The purchase cost / internal value quotient is about 1.4, varying a little by level.
Classic [$79.10 internal value]
Choice [$107.74]
Premier [$133.26]
Elite [$185.41]
Inspire [$234.54]
Exclusive [$286.68]
Ultimate [$373.57]

baliktad

Thanks for this informative post, and especially the notes about the price changes. Didn't we just add the Exclusive level recently? Erps... found it, it's been just a year: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...siv-level.html

op487062

I'm sorry if this question has been asked previously: if a property accepts Ultimate, Exclusive, Inspire, etc., is there an added benefit for using a higher valued certificate vs the lowest accepted one?

baliktad

No, the only difference is the amount of money paid. The certificates are designed as gifts, so you receive no extra credit/benefit/rebate/points/anything for using a higher level certificate than is necessary. If you're buying them for yourself, only buy the minimum level necessary.

Renard

Every time I've tried to use these, the appropriate certificate never seem to be accepted by the hotel on the particular dates I was looking at....so be sure to call first if you have dates in mind to avoid costly mistakes. I'm not sure if this would be appropriate or not, but a special thread where people could post their successful stays using these certs with date/property info would be really helpful.

slocouple

Perhaps, but the GP reservations people have been very helpful to me in checking availability for the nights I want. Once I have the reservation secured, I then order the certificates. That way, I am not left with a bunch I cannot use.

Renard

Yes. However, my point is that such a thread might be helpful in knowing which properties actually have had availability in the past to use these certificates. It might help eliminate time consuming and frustrating calls to Hyatt that seem to always end in that the certificates are unusable. It would be best if we could check usability online.

baliktad

I thought the certificates just used "base room" availability, same as award nights. In that case, checking availability is just a matter of identifying the category the property uses as its base room.

chungkyu82

Found out hard way that this is not true... the certificate is more like an airline award which does not always guarantee because "base room" is available.

CanuckFan

These stay certificates and Weekend certificates are very easy to use. I have successfully used them numerous times, always making my reservation first and then ordering the certificates when it is close to the time of travel. The last time I ordered certificates, they were delivered to me here in Vancouver in just a few days. Here is an example: Go to Hyatt Regency Vancouver webpage, on the left hand side - under check availability - there is MORE OPTIONS - under that it says Redeem Gift Certificates - Click on this. On the new page - I used March 9/13 Check in and March 10/13 Check out for an example. On The Gift Certificate Type - click on Stay Certificate - Choice (1 Night) For the Gift Certificate Offer Code Line - Type in HSCHN1 (ramolnar describes offer codes in his/her post) Then click on Check Availability. New page offers a room with a King Bed and also a Room with 2 doubles with a cancellation policy of 4pm 24 hours prior. If you were to Book the room, a credit card is still needed in case you don't show up with the actual certificates. Sometimes there is only 1 type of room and sometimes there is several types of rooms including ADA rooms.

hailstorm

Isn't that what you do by searching for availability using the relevant Offer Code? No need to call anybody to find out when a room is available...

peteropny

With advance planning I've never had a problem using these certs when I wanted to - I don't think a thread with experiences would be helpful due to dates etc.

RTW1

Does using a certificate get you stay and nights credit?

eefor jfp

How come there's little correlation between the level of certificate needed and the level of the property with regard to redeeming points for free nights? In other words, there are plenty of level six properties that can be had for an elite cert and some lower level properties that cost more.

TravelingBear

Terms here

It specifically says "Hyatt Gold Passport points will not be given for the-value of this certificate." Says nothing about stay credit.

Anyone else know more?