Suite Upgrade using Points
 

Anyone here has any experience using points to upgrade to a Suite (on paid stays). Please share.

What would you like to know?

For which hotel?

The upgrade is a wonderful deal and we have certainly done it. The ONLY downside is that unlike the Diamond upgrade, you must book the Rack Rate. We used our last Diamond upgrade and booked at the Senior rate and save a few dollars.

That said, it's the best deal out there. Kind of makes me wonder why EVERYONE paying rack rate doesn't upgrade every stay!

It seems like this benefit is fortunately overlooked by many.

6,000 GP points per upgrade adds up very fast!

This is not true. You pay the Hyatt Daily rate and not Rack. e-certs, however, can be applied to any eligible rate.

As doodley says 6,000 points adds up pretty fast. But for us, it is the rack rate criteria that is a the dealbreaker - we never pay rack rate, so 6K + the difference in room rate is a huge difference that makes it a no-go.

It's not Rack!
 

Why are you all referring to Rack? Rack rate is not the Hyatt Daily Rate.

See http://www.hyatt.com/gp/en/awards/hyatt_upgrade.jsp

1 When redeeming Regency Club® or Grand Club® upgrades or suite upgrades at a resort property, you must pay a minimum of the Hyatt Daily Rate deluxe room (such as partial ocean view, ocean view, slope view, etc). At non-resort properties you must pay a minimum of the Hyatt Daily Rate.

as noted, the rule is that it is applicable on Hyatt Daily Rate (NOT rack), which can be reasonable at some hotels.

i just did it for 4 nights at the GH Hong Kong -- incredible value indeed given a fantastic view and how great the Grand Club is at that hotel.

i've also used it on some corporate rates (which can be quite a good deal at some properties).

You are both of course correct, RACK is not DAILY. In my mind I use them interchangeably, (as I never pay Daily, either :D ). This is incorrect, and I appreciate the correction so that it is clear for others.

KV99, if you were able to use them on a corporate rate you were lucky - I have never been able to do so, which is why I don't use them.

I used the benefit at the HR Hong Kong TST this past summer for a 6 day booking I made for my wife's sister. It was a great deal. I had booked them a room with my corp rate which was substantially cheaper than the daily rate, and then called back a few weeks later and upgraded them using points (I was feeling particularly generous).

The agent noticed that the daily rate was now cheaper by ~$20usd a day so she dropped the rate, and upgraded it to a suite with the 6k points.

Does this mean the suite upgrade using points benefit can potentially be applied with our company's corp codes? If this is the case, then this benefit's value just increased in my book.

Do you know if you can upgrade on a BRG rate?

I used to occasionally be able to apply a 6000 point suite upgrade to my corp rate, or a BRG (which is usually described as a "Hyatt Daily Rate"). But lately it seems that Hyatt has put in place some automated process to automatically adjust the rate to the current actual Hyatt Daily Rate when a points upgrade is applied. Some agents don't even notice the rate change and won't notify you. Always check the updated reservation email after the upgrade is applied to confirm.