How the Hyatt Leverage program works & how it can help you save on hotel stays

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Not everything in the miles & points world is aimed squarely at individuals (although you could be forgiven for thinking that’s the case) so you’ll find that some of the big names in the airline and hotel industries offer programs designed to secure the loyalty of small- and medium-sized businesses as well.

In this article, I’m going to focus on one of the less well-known small business programs – the Hyatt Leverage program.

What does Hyatt Leverage offer?

• Officially, we’re told that it offers ‘savings of up to 15% off Hyatt’s standard rates’ at properties around the world, but as I’ll show with an example a little later, the savings can be better.
• It offers a dashboard through which a business’ travel administrator(s) can…
  • View details of all the reservations made through the program (past and future)
  • Track all expenses changes to rooms booked through the program.
  • View the total number of nights consumed and the total number of nights booked for future stays.
  • View the total spend on bookings consumed and bookings yet to be consumer

Also, the program offers an email template that can be used to easily introduce the Hyatt Leverage program to employees.

How to sign up for Hyatt Leverage

Hyatt Leverage has a dedicated page (here) and in order to start the sign-up process, you’ll need your World of Hyatt credentials.

Once you’re logged in, the registration page asks for a few low-level pieces of information (company name, company location, address, etc…), and once those are filled in, the “Join Now” button completes the process, and the business corporate discount code is issued (it usually appears on the screen).

How to book using Hyatt Leverage

Members of the Hyatt leverage program are given a unique corporate ID which when entered in the “Corporate or Group Code” field on the normal Hyatt website*…

… will ensure that the discounted rate is displayed when the search results are returned:

*You can quote the corporate ID when booking through a Hyatt call center as well.

The discount in action

The Hyatt Leverage discount is based on the standard rate that’s being offered at any given property, so while the Leverage rate can sometimes be the best deal available (even cheaper than the non-refundable rates rates) …

…there will be times when other (discounted) rates are better.

Officially, the Leverage program offers a 15% discount off the standard room rate, but as I have found out on various occasions, the actual discount can be better than that.

Here’s a booking that I made a little earlier today and as you can see, the standard rate being offered is $244 while the Hyatt Leverage rate is £305. That’s a saving of 20%.

Crucially, the Hyatt Leverage rate is a flexible rate, so even though it offers a discount, someone using this rate isn’t tied into their booking. Most of the time, the leverage rate will permit cancellations at least up to 48 hours before 23:59 on the day of arrival.

This flexibility is worth keeping in mind when the Hyatt Leverage rate isn’t the lowest rate available, because it may still be the best option (depending on circumstances).

Here, for example, the Leverage rate that I’m being quoted isn’t the cheapest rate on offer, but it allows me to cancel my booking up to 6pm on the day of arrival.

The two cheaper rates are Advance Purchase rates which offers no flexibility at all (full payment is required), and none of the other rates on offer will give me as good a cancellation policy as the Hyatt Leverage rate

Comparing the TFM Leverage rate with the cheapest rate that offers flexibility sees me saving ~12%.

Put simply, if you’re a fan of keeping your bookings as flexible as possible (as I often am), the Hyatt Leverage rate can be very useful and can offer good savings.

Important to know

• The Hyatt Leverage program is free to join for all members of the World of Hyatt program.
• Individuals/employees will continue to earn World of Hyatt points and World of Hyatt elite status credits as normal when using a Hyatt Leverage corporate code.
• Keep in mind that you cannot search using more than one discount rate/code at a time, so to ensure that you’re seeing all the best rates, you should always perform multiple searches to check what the other discount programs (e.g. AAA/AARP) are offering.
• The Hyatt Leverage discount rate is not always available.

• The program describes itself as being aimed at businesses whose employees will, collectively, consume a minimum of 50 nights at Hyatt properties in a calendar year but in practice, anyone can join – there is no requirement to prove that you are or own a business.
• Any participant that doesn’t consume at least 50 nights in a calendar year is open to being removed from the Hyatt Leverage program. Removal isn’t automatic, but Hyatt reserves the right to terminate a company’s participation in the program if that target is not reached.
• Holders of the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card are exempt from having to reach the 50 night target (which is why I hold that card).

Final thoughts

I’ve found that the Hyatt Leverage program frequently saves me quite a bit of money on my stays without requiring me to give up the flexibility that I value, and that why I’m a fan.

For higher-end bookings, it’s possible that Hyatt’s Privé program will offer more value to the average consumer, but having recently performed dozens of searches for bookings that I need to make in the coming months, I’ve seen firsthand the kinds of discounts and flexibility that the Hyatt Leverage rates can offer and they’re hard to ignore.

Most people will no doubt encounter multiple occasions on which the Hyatt Leverage rate isn’t the cheapest rate available or the rate that works best for them, but then no one is suggesting that every booking should be made using the Hyatt Leverage discount. Far from it.

This is a program that should be viewed as just another tool in a person’s multi-tool travel booking toolbox, and as it’s a tool that will work better on some occasions than on others, recognizing when to use the program and when to ignore it is key.

Personally, I’ve used Hyatt Leverage more and more over the past couple of years and out of all my current Hyatt bookings for the months ahead (cash bookings), only one was made without using the Leverage discount, so I’m clearly getting a lot of use out of the program.

Having said that, not everyone will find that it’s as invaluable a program as I do (it’s not perfect), but it’s still a program that all Hyatt fans should be keeping in mind and for some, it will be fantastic.

Featured image courtesy of Hyatt