Hyatt + Europe
Jul 24, 2022, 11:56 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: Marriott Ambassador/United 1K
Posts: 68
Hyatt + Europe
Hey All,
I'm new to the Hyatt program but did made Globalist this year. I apologize for the noob questions, but didn't see any clear answers to either of these issues:
1. There is virtually no award space left in Paris or London for August. Park Hyatt Paris, Louvre, Madeleine are all unavailable with points. Is that normal?
I switched from Marriott Bonvoy to Hyatt because Bonvoy has really gone down hill, but at least they have award space available. This honestly makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.
2. A lot of hotels say Member Only. What does that mean? Member of World of Hyatt?
3. Is there a reward calendar that is easy to use? I look up dates and hotels populate with what appears to be redemption availability, and I click them and it says this hotel isn't available. I can't tell what date it isn't available for, so I have to look at each night individually for each hotel I'm interested in. This is bananas. How are people solving this?
Thank you!
I'm new to the Hyatt program but did made Globalist this year. I apologize for the noob questions, but didn't see any clear answers to either of these issues:
1. There is virtually no award space left in Paris or London for August. Park Hyatt Paris, Louvre, Madeleine are all unavailable with points. Is that normal?
I switched from Marriott Bonvoy to Hyatt because Bonvoy has really gone down hill, but at least they have award space available. This honestly makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.
2. A lot of hotels say Member Only. What does that mean? Member of World of Hyatt?
3. Is there a reward calendar that is easy to use? I look up dates and hotels populate with what appears to be redemption availability, and I click them and it says this hotel isn't available. I can't tell what date it isn't available for, so I have to look at each night individually for each hotel I'm interested in. This is bananas. How are people solving this?
Thank you!
Jul 24, 2022, 12:05 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,578
1. Yes sadly. Award space is often a crap shoot especially for higher demand hotels. Many hotels will be open for awards all the time, certain high demand ones can be more limited to the point that awards are functionally 0, although this is fairly rare and limited to a handful of really sought after properties.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.
Jul 24, 2022, 12:37 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,363
August will be a busy time in London and Paris.
I checked random dates of August 12-18 for 2 adults.
Hyatt Churchill, Andaz Liverpool, and Madeline Paris are available during these 6 days on points. If your dates are flexible, it will help to find something that will work
I checked random dates of August 12-18 for 2 adults.
Hyatt Churchill, Andaz Liverpool, and Madeline Paris are available during these 6 days on points. If your dates are flexible, it will help to find something that will work
Jul 25, 2022, 6:13 am
#5
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy LTTE, HH Dia, HY Expl
Posts: 4,657
Jul 25, 2022, 6:26 am
#6
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,720
In London you're virtually almost always guaranteed to have a decent range of rooms available (at 20,000+ a night) on points. Except this August, where I'm sure you realise that major European tourist cities are almost entirely sold out.
Jul 25, 2022, 8:39 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: Marriott Ambassador/United 1K
Posts: 68
I really wanted to thank you for writing all this out. Super helpful in understanding Hyatt well. Thank you again 
1. Yes sadly. Award space is often a crap shoot especially for higher demand hotels. Many hotels will be open for awards all the time, certain high demand ones can be more limited to the point that awards are functionally 0, although this is fairly rare and limited to a handful of really sought after properties.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.
Jul 25, 2022, 11:11 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: UA GS, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 263
1. Yes sadly. Award space is often a crap shoot especially for higher demand hotels. Many hotels will be open for awards all the time, certain high demand ones can be more limited to the point that awards are functionally 0, although this is fairly rare and limited to a handful of really sought after properties.
This year is strange. Usually it is not hard to find award spaces. But I might be spoiled by Covid time. If you want award space for popular hotels, act as early as possible.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.
This year is strange. Usually it is not hard to find award spaces. But I might be spoiled by Covid time. If you want award space for popular hotels, act as early as possible.
2. Member only means SLH hotels usually, which is the Small Hotels collection that Hyatt allies with. Those hotels are often bookable or not, months out or not, and are a very random thing because they are not Hyatt controlled or owned and only are a loose collection of hotels that you can theoretically use Hyatt points at and earn them at. To earn you have to book through Hyatt which you should almost never ever do, because the rates are 30-70% more than are easily bookable through other places. Awards are sometimes useful at those places as they sometimes offer options with hyatt points you will not get otherwise, although awards at those places are, as I said, very spotty and hotel dependent...some hotels are always offering Hyatt award redemption and many others are pretty much 0. Since they are not Hyatt, it is up to them. That alliance is honestly mostly useless other than the occasional really useful situation.
3. No. There are some places and ways to check some hotels in larger windows but overall, no, there is no award calendar in the sense that it shows say, 30 days and which ones have awards. Generally the rule is supposed to be if there is a BASIC entry room category, they have to open it for awards, but what most of the hotels that don't want to offer do is change the basic room to a strange name like Parking Lot King instead of King, so they can offer like 1 of those and claim they are complying with the program rules, and like most other terms, Hyatt largely lets hotels do whatever the **** they want.