Hyatt’s “More Points, More Play 2016” Promotion Now Live

Hyatt More Points More Play Promotion 2016

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Hyatt’s final promotion of 2016 (which it’s calling “More Points, More Play”) is now live and it’s a promotion that definitely more likely to be of use to the road warriors amongst us than to the casual traveler – I for one won’t be getting much out of this promo.

Disappointingly Hyatt has opted to show absolutely no imagination whatsoever and has simply brought back its April through June 2016 promotion under a different name – what was once “Stay More, Play More” is now “More Points, More Play”. As far as I can tell there is absolutely no difference between the two promotions.

Hyatt’s “More Points, More Play” Promotion

What You Can Earn

The promotion is simple and is predicated on the fact that you get more Hyatt Gold Passport (HGP) Bonus Points to more nights you stay during the promotional period:

  • Stay 5 nights – Earn 5,000 Bonus HGP Points
  • Stay 10 nights – Earn 15,000 Bonus HGP Points
  • Stay 15 nights – Earn 30,000 Bonus HGP Points
  • Stay 20 nights – Earn 50,000 Bonus HGP Points
  • Stay 25 nights – Earn 75,000 Bonus HGP Points

If some of the words and formatting look familiar it’s because I’m taking a leaf out of Hyatt’s book and reproducing what I posted in March – if it’s good enough for Hyatt…… 🙂

Hyatt More Points More Play Promotion 2016

More Points, More Play – Headline T&Cs

  • Registration open from today (1 September 2016) through 30 November 2016
  • Promotion valid for stays between 1 September and 30 November 2016.
  • Points & Cash reservations will count for the promotion
  • Stays at M-Life properties in Las Vegas will count for the promotion (according to this FlyerTalk post)

Link to Full T&Cs 

How Good Is The “More Points, More Play” Promotion?

For me this is another underwhelming promotion but I’m sure it will be a welcome bonus for anyone with a lot of stays over the next 3 months.

For someone who travels a lot for work or happens to have a vacation booked that coincides with the promotion dates then this could be a lucrative promotion but, for everyone else, it doesn’t appear to be good enough to warrant a change of plans/bookings.

Just like with the previous promotion this one spans 91 days and, to earn the maximum bonus of 75,000 Gold Passport Points, you’d have to spend 25 of those at Hyatt properties – that’s 27% of the available nights.

For non-road warriors that’s quite the undertaking so, if you don’t happen to travel for work and if you pay for your hotel stays out of your own wallet you’re unlikely to be jumping up and down with joy at Hyatt’s 4Q offering.

As I’ve said before, that’s not a criticism of the promotion (Hyatt can target its promotions at whatever demographic it chooses), I’m just pointing out the reality for most people who read this blog.

What does the math look like?

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 14.29.31

  • If you spend 5 nights at Hyatt properties during the promotional period you would earn enough Gold Passport points for a free night at a Category 1 property.
  • 10 nights, would get you 3 free nights at a Category 1 property (at the low end) or 1 free night at a Category 4 property (at the top end).

For anyone not traveling on Business, this is probably the sweet spot of the promotion.

10 nights isn’t a target that’s overly hard to meet over a period of 3 months (if you want to) and Hyatt has some very nice Category 4 properties.

Hyatt Regency MontereyHyatt Regency Monterey – A Category 4 Property (Image:Hyatt)

You could, of course, use any points you earn through this promotion for Points & Cash awards:

hyatt-cash-and-points-chart

10 nights during the promotion would earn enough points for a Points & Cash award at any Hyatt property in the world…..but that’s still only one night and you’d still have to pay the cash element of the stay (which also comes with taxes).

Using my valuation of 1.4 cents per point, 10 nights, which earns 15,000 points, would earn an effective rebate of $210 or $21/night and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s not enough of an incentive to make me book more Hyatt stays or to get me to move any stays I have at other hotels over to Hyatt.

If, however, you’re a road warrior and spend more time in hotel rooms than you do at home (and you have my sympathies if you do) then the 25 night target is almost certainly easily achievable for you and that makes the math look a bit more interesting.

Not only would 75,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points be enough for a weekend at any Hyatt in the world it would also be enough for a long weekend at any Hyatt Category 6 property too.

Andaz 5th Avenue New York ReviewThe Andaz 5th Avenue New York – A Category 6 Property

Bottom Line

For me this promotion has two disappointing aspects:

  • There’s been no attempt by Hyatt to introduce anything new in this promotion
  • The promotion only runs to the end of November and not the end of the year.

That last point is especially annoying for me as I have a 5 nights booked at Hyatt properties in December and none of them are going to count.

How you view this promotion will depend on you travel patterns. If you’re a leisure traveler I don’t think there’s that much here to tempt you to book any stays you weren’t going to be making anyway.

If, on the other hand, you’re a heavy traveler then earning a significant number of points from this promotion may not be too hard and that could be enough warrant moving some or all of your stays over to Hyatt. If you’re going to be away from home for 25 nights anyway you may as well get something out of it and 3 nights in a nice Cat 6 property would probably be a welcome break.