Value of Diamond Across Multiple High-Value PHs
 

A quick question. I'm a Hyatt Plat with four nights booked at the PH Tokyo in mid-May -- two with points, two with reward certificates from the Chase card. In addition, I have three nights booked in July at the Park Hyatt Sydney and one night each booked at the Park Hyatt Melbourne and Grand Hyatt Melbourne. In all, I have 9 nights booked at upper-echelon Hyatts over the next three months, with all but the two nights in the Melbourne Hyatts booked into the lowest-level rooms. (I have the Melbourne Hyatts booked at club level for now.)

I am considering the possibility of doing a Diamond challenge for May 1 and beyond. I've found a very friendly Hyatt rate at the end of May that will allow me to complete the challenge for $708, and after receiving some quantity of Hyatt points back (both in Hyatt spend and bonuses and saving the cost of upgrading the Melbourne rooms to club rooms), the net cost for me will be just over $440.

My question: Am I likely to recoup $430 worth of value across those nine nights by virtue of being a Diamond member at these hotels as opposed to a Platinum member? Thoughts from people who have been to one/all of the hotels as a Diamond would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'd say for most of those you could plan on $40 for breakfast and internet $15-20 so yes if it's worth your time and trouble then go for it.
I'm not sure what you get as a Plat though so I might be overstating the benefits of Diamond vs Plat.

I'm pretty sure at PHT the breakfast is JPY 3900 and internet is free though.

Remember that you also get the suite upgrades which can be applied to at least some of those nine nights. The price differential per night can run into hundreds of dollars, which makes the relatively small cost of going for the challenge very worthwhile.

Alternatively, if the majority of the nine nights span from 1 May to 30 June, you can just sign up and not complete the challenge (saving the $440), since you will get Diamond benefits and suite upgrades for the 60 days anyway.

Beyond that depending on the hyatt you are hopping, you could possibly earn enough points (assuming they apply the diamond bonus) to earn a free night at one of those properties, so I would venture to guess you would come out ahead.

I don't think your four nights at PHT will count for the challenge, so be sure you're counting the required nights correctly.

Plats do get free internet, so the primary savings would be on breakfast, plus the spa at PHT.

Do award stays count as valid stays for a Diamond challenge? My impression was that they had to be paid stays. Do I get the suite upgrades the moment I become Platinum, even if it's for a challenge?

Sorry. To clarify, here are my plans:

May 10-14: Four nights at PH Tokyo
May 27-June 8: 12-night mattress run to gain Platinum in the states
July 10-15: Five nights in Australia at various PH, GH properties

I'm counting only those 12 paid nights on the mattress run as the nights that will earn me Platinum.

Award stays/nights don't count for the challenge. You will get the suite upgrades (4 of them) the moment your challenge begins and you can use them immediately on paid stays. Keep in mind that the above referenced $40/breakfast is most likely per person so if you have others traveling with you your savings would be much greater. Consider that you'd get the club access at those properties that have the club, which can be worth quite a few pennies in food and beverage consumption. And finally, to clarify your clarification, you will earn the diamond status by completing the 12-night challenge - not the platinum.

Remember that you can't use suite upgrades on free stays. Also, taking the Hyatt Diamond challenge might be a once in a lifetime offer; think carefully before doing it to benefit a few particular stays.

Hyatt looks after their Diamonds very well. It's worth holding that status. The challenge will get you into that exclusive club only once and after that you have to qualify on your own.

Diamond Treatment can vary though, some hotels go out of their way, others don't:

Park Hyatt Tokyo: Excellent Diamond recognition
Grand Hyatt Tokyo: They don't care

Park Hyatt Sydney: Excellent Diamond recognition
Park Hyatt Melbourne: They don't care

Park Hyatt Milan: Excellent Diamond recognition
Park Hyatt Vendome: They don't care

Diamond: Go back to Standard or to Platinum ?
 

My situation: After several years on the highest level, I started to concentrate on SPG because of their lifetime status.

One Hyatt account in my household will remain diamond. But what shall I do with the second account. Retain diamond status costs money. So, what to do best?

Fall back to standard or to Platinum? I fail to see any benefits of the Platinum status.

Get/keep the CC and have Plat comped to the second account, plus an annual free night?

Free drinks in the New York Bar from 5 to 7 could also be very significant.

I'm not sure that they don't care at the GHT. They upgraded my stay cert stay over New Years to the Presidential Suite annex room, the best non-suite room in the hotel.

The Annex Room is just a regular room, it's only released last when they are really fully booked.

And again: They don't care. I had multiple stays at the GHT and management has even put it in writing that they are above things. :td:

They don't want to give me a Hyatt credit card. Despite the fact that I have an account with Chase. They say "only for US residents". Do you know a way to get a US credit card for non-US residents?

move to the US?

More than likely you dont have much history with any of the US based credit reporting agencies, so you probably couldnt get one even if you finagled yourself a social security number, US address, etc.