My Hyatt 2 free nights in suite expiring soon
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NYC
Posts: 246
My Hyatt 2 free nights in suite expiring soon
Hi guys, I applied for the Hyatt Visa card in May last year and I was doing a diamond challenge then and so the 2 free nights I got from applying for the card are 2 nights in suite.
Now fast approaching the one year mark with having the card, and my free nights are at risk for getting unused. I broke up with the gf and so I have no plan of going anywhere soon. My questions is how to the most use of these 2 nights. I am thinking of 3 options as below.
1. Can I ask Gold Passport to extend the expiration date of these 2 free nights? I seem to vaguely remember someone on here did that...
2. Can I make a speculative stay for like 360 days out and make changes to the stay later? And if so, can the dates be changed in the future? Can the hotel be changed in the future?
3. If not, I'll probably book a vacation for my parents, though it's not the perfect time for them to go on a vacation either (with my nephew still an infant) though they want to.
Thanks for any help.
Now fast approaching the one year mark with having the card, and my free nights are at risk for getting unused. I broke up with the gf and so I have no plan of going anywhere soon. My questions is how to the most use of these 2 nights. I am thinking of 3 options as below.
1. Can I ask Gold Passport to extend the expiration date of these 2 free nights? I seem to vaguely remember someone on here did that...
2. Can I make a speculative stay for like 360 days out and make changes to the stay later? And if so, can the dates be changed in the future? Can the hotel be changed in the future?
3. If not, I'll probably book a vacation for my parents, though it's not the perfect time for them to go on a vacation either (with my nephew still an infant) though they want to.
Thanks for any help.
#2
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Stockholm, Sweden + Austin, Tx
Programs: "But, I'm a GLOBALIST guest...."
Posts: 2,848
Hi guys, I applied for the Hyatt Visa card in May last year and I was doing a diamond challenge then and so the 2 free nights I got from applying for the card are 2 nights in suite.
Now fast approaching the one year mark with having the card, and my free nights are at risk for getting unused. I broke up with the gf and so I have no plan of going anywhere soon. My questions is how to the most use of these 2 nights. I am thinking of 3 options as below.
1. Can I ask Gold Passport to extend the expiration date of these 2 free nights? I seem to vaguely remember someone on here did that...
2. Can I make a speculative stay for like 360 days out and make changes to the stay later? And if so, can the dates be changed in the future? Can the hotel be changed in the future?
3. If not, I'll probably book a vacation for my parents, though it's not the perfect time for them to go on a vacation either (with my nephew still an infant) though they want to.
Thanks for any help.
Now fast approaching the one year mark with having the card, and my free nights are at risk for getting unused. I broke up with the gf and so I have no plan of going anywhere soon. My questions is how to the most use of these 2 nights. I am thinking of 3 options as below.
1. Can I ask Gold Passport to extend the expiration date of these 2 free nights? I seem to vaguely remember someone on here did that...
2. Can I make a speculative stay for like 360 days out and make changes to the stay later? And if so, can the dates be changed in the future? Can the hotel be changed in the future?
3. If not, I'll probably book a vacation for my parents, though it's not the perfect time for them to go on a vacation either (with my nephew still an infant) though they want to.
Thanks for any help.
2) Very Doubtful.
#3
formerly known as felinaar
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Plat, AA Gold, AS MVPG, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 612
I found Gold Passport very accommodating when extending the dates. However, they'll only do it once, only for one month, and only upon request. It gets passed to the higher ups for evaluation. I think you would improve your odds if you had a specific use in mind and mentioned it when making the request.
You can't use them for a speculative booking. IIRC, the terms say that both redemption AND travel must occure before the expiration date. So you can't use a certificate that expires at the end of this month for travel next month just because you happen to book it before the expiration date.
You can't use them for a speculative booking. IIRC, the terms say that both redemption AND travel must occure before the expiration date. So you can't use a certificate that expires at the end of this month for travel next month just because you happen to book it before the expiration date.
#4
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 4,843
This is a good reminder why one should have a specific award in mind before applying for a CC that comes with x free nights that expire in a year. A year goes by pretty fast, and Chase/Hyatt are hoping that many people do not use these awards.
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NYC
Posts: 246
Well, plans change. Always uncertainties in this game that are hard to predict
#7
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 4,843
Common sense.
Points don't expire (as long as one uses the account).
Free nights expire. Therefore, the cost to Chase is less than if they awarded points. If this were not the case, Chase would give points as the sign up bonus.
The cost is only less if not all the free nights are redeemed. Put another way, Hyatt knows that some free nights will expire unused, so they are willing to discount the cost that Chase pays.
Therefore, both Chase and Hyatt plan that x% of awards expire unused. If more awards are redeemed, then Hyatt's costs go up, and Hyatt will pass those costs to Chase during the next contract negotiation.
This is the same reason that Hyatt (and other programs) prefer to award free (expiring) nights than run generous point promotions.
Common sense can answer many questions.
Points don't expire (as long as one uses the account).
Free nights expire. Therefore, the cost to Chase is less than if they awarded points. If this were not the case, Chase would give points as the sign up bonus.
The cost is only less if not all the free nights are redeemed. Put another way, Hyatt knows that some free nights will expire unused, so they are willing to discount the cost that Chase pays.
Therefore, both Chase and Hyatt plan that x% of awards expire unused. If more awards are redeemed, then Hyatt's costs go up, and Hyatt will pass those costs to Chase during the next contract negotiation.
This is the same reason that Hyatt (and other programs) prefer to award free (expiring) nights than run generous point promotions.
Common sense can answer many questions.
#8
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 4,843
I just wanted to remind people that these expiring free nights can easily end up being worthless.
#9
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: SPG Platinum, Hilton Gold, RA, QF Gold, UA 1K
Posts: 308
Common sense.
Points don't expire (as long as one uses the account).
Free nights expire. Therefore, the cost to Chase is less than if they awarded points. If this were not the case, Chase would give points as the sign up bonus.
The cost is only less if not all the free nights are redeemed. Put another way, Hyatt knows that some free nights will expire unused, so they are willing to discount the cost that Chase pays.
Therefore, both Chase and Hyatt plan that x% of awards expire unused. If more awards are redeemed, then Hyatt's costs go up, and Hyatt will pass those costs to Chase during the next contract negotiation.
This is the same reason that Hyatt (and other programs) prefer to award free (expiring) nights than run generous point promotions.
Common sense can answer many questions.
Points don't expire (as long as one uses the account).
Free nights expire. Therefore, the cost to Chase is less than if they awarded points. If this were not the case, Chase would give points as the sign up bonus.
The cost is only less if not all the free nights are redeemed. Put another way, Hyatt knows that some free nights will expire unused, so they are willing to discount the cost that Chase pays.
Therefore, both Chase and Hyatt plan that x% of awards expire unused. If more awards are redeemed, then Hyatt's costs go up, and Hyatt will pass those costs to Chase during the next contract negotiation.
This is the same reason that Hyatt (and other programs) prefer to award free (expiring) nights than run generous point promotions.
Common sense can answer many questions.
Probably x% and dependent on past year experience. There are always people forget to redeem those rooms... And don't forget, we are on FT and talk about where is the best value redemption... Some of them may be using the certificate in the same city or cat 2 just because they are going there.
So the costs even out as well...
#11
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Iowa City, IA
Posts: 337
Kind of an old thread but I wanted to give an update to this as I had this issue and I finally called in to find out instead of speculate. I have 2 free nights from Chase which expire on March 31st. I called in and told the agent I read online that I might be able to extend the expiration by a month.
I had booked a room for the last weekend of March at the Paris Vendome and said I pretty much wanted to move it to the last weekend in April. The lady informed me that they can extend them, but only after they expire. Obviously I am a little bit leery of cancelling the reservation, letting the certs expire, then calling in April. She put me on hold and talked to a manager. It turns out you can extend them, but you have to do it in the month they expire. She told me to call back in on March 1st and they will happily extend them for another month. I'll report back in a month and let you guys know if its true.
I had booked a room for the last weekend of March at the Paris Vendome and said I pretty much wanted to move it to the last weekend in April. The lady informed me that they can extend them, but only after they expire. Obviously I am a little bit leery of cancelling the reservation, letting the certs expire, then calling in April. She put me on hold and talked to a manager. It turns out you can extend them, but you have to do it in the month they expire. She told me to call back in on March 1st and they will happily extend them for another month. I'll report back in a month and let you guys know if its true.
#12
Just called in to try and do this, and was told that as of Oct 1st, they no longer extend the sign-up certs, but they will convert each to 10K Hyatt GP points. They said they would still extend the anniversary certs up to one month.
Not sure if anyone else has encountered this...
Not sure if anyone else has encountered this...
Last edited by transparent; Oct 27, 2014 at 7:58 pm
#13
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: BKK
Posts: 6,741
Just called in to try and do this, and was told that as of Oct 1st, they no longer extend the sign-up certs, but they will convert each to 10K Hyatt GP points. They said they would still extend the anniversary certs up to one month.
Not sure if anyone else has encountered this...
Not sure if anyone else has encountered this...