I’ve recently discovered two tricks that have added value to my family’s Hyatt stays. One involves booking a standard room with points and then paying a cash supplement to upgrade the room to a better room or suite. The other involves using points to upgrade an award stay to allow club lounge access.
The view from my family’s upgraded suite at the Hyatt House Naples/5th Avenue
I’m not aware of either upgrade being an official part of Hyatt’s loyalty program offerings. But each trick has worked for me twice in a row now, so I think them worth sharing as my experiences may be more than a fluke.
In this post I share why I find these tricks valuable and how to pull them off. I also share how to find other such upgrades, whether at Hyatt or at other hotel chains.
2 Tricks to Get Unpublished Hyatt Upgrades
Trick #1: Use Points to Book a Standard Room, then Upgrade with Cash (or for Free)
Experience 1: Hyatt House Naples a Year Ago
A year ago, my family was down in Florida for my work. We decided, on the spur of the moment, to try to stay at the Hyatt House Naples/5th Avenue.
We wanted to stay in a suite, but only the standard room was available to be booked with points. But the difference in cash price between the standard room and the suite was only $10. Since we would check into the room in just a few hours, I wondered if the hotel would be willing to negotiate.
I called and explained that the suite I wanted couldn’t be booked with points. If I booked the standard room with points, would they be willing to switch my family to the suite? Why yes, they would! In this case, I got a free upgrade to a much better room by calling in advance and asking. But did I just get lucky?
Experience 2: Hyatt House Naples a Month Ago
This summer, my family was back down in Florida. We again wanted to stay at the Hyatt House Naples/5th Avenue. This time I wanted to book an even better available suite. But having called World of Hyatt, there were no suites available to be booked with points or “points + cash.”
Because it was Memorial Day weekend, and I hadn’t planned far ahead, the rooms were expensive. Shoot. The suite I wanted was going for $394. The standard room was going for $329.
While there were no suites available to be booked with points, there was, however, a standard room available for 15,000 points:
I called the hotel and asked if I could book into the standard room using points and then upgrade from there to the suite I wanted. The gentlemen at the front desk who answered the phone (a different guy from the year before) said yes. I should book the standard room with points and then call him right back and, for $50/night, he’d upgrade me to the suite I wanted. Done.
Benefits to This Trick
There are at least four noteworthy benefits of snagging a better room or suite through such an arrangement:
- Inexpensive Upgrade. In my case, the difference in cash price between the the standard room and suite was $65. That’s what I was going to offer to pay to upgrade. But he only charged me $50.
- Cheaper than Official “Points + Cash.” Much more significantly, with a traditional/official “points + cash” Hyatt stay, you still have to pay resort fees, parking, taxes & fees (where applicable). With this approach, the reservation is considered an award stay, so you don’t have to pay for those things. That’s often huge.
- Creates a Point Booking Out of Thin Air. This approach enables you to book a suite or upgraded room largely with points where neither award nor official “points + cash” inventory is available for the room you want. For those looking to use points, that’s huge as well.
- Great Dollar-per-Point Value. At least in this instance, this approach yielded an excellent dollar-per-point value. The grand total for the suite should have been $455/night ($394 rate + $12 for self-parking + $49 in taxes). Subtracting the $50 I paid, the 15,000 points I used covered $405 of the stay. That yields an excellent value of 2.7 cents per Hyatt point.
Trick #2: Use Points to Add Club Lounge Access to an Award Stay
On many paid stays, Hyatt allows you, for 3,000 points/night, to upgrade the room to include club lounge access, where available.
Using FrequentMiler’s valuations, 3,000 Hyatt points are typically worth about $45. Some club lounges serve a great breakfast, snacks throughout the day, and hors d’oeuvres that can be substantial enough to replace dinner. Redeeming 3,000 points for so much food and drink can be a great deal, especially for larger parties.
But you aren’t supposed to be able to use 3k points to upgrade award stays. You can read the relevant terms and conditions here. However. . . .
Experience 1: Grand Hyatt Denver
About six months ago, I took advantage of an Extreme Hotel Deal to snag an incredibly inexpensive suite for one night at the Grand Hyatt in Denver. When I called in to use 3,000 points to upgrade the stay to club lounge access, the World of Hyatt agent informed me that I couldn’t technically do so as that option isn’t available on an “Advanced Purchase Rate” cash booking, such as mine was. (Turns out the agent was right about that.) But she offered to call the hotel to see if they’d be willing to let me upgrade nonetheless.
When she came back on the line, she informed me that the hotel would have let me upgrade for 3k points but that the club lounge happened to be under renovation during the dates of my stay.
But she said—and this was the key—that any time I booked a Hyatt room that didn’t technically qualify for the 3k points/night club lounge upgrade, to have a World of Hyatt agent call the hotel to see if they’d do it regardless as they often will. . . .
Experience 2: Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch
Armed with that information, I decided to press my luck on my family’s next Hyatt stay three months later. This time we were spending four nights in two rooms at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch. I booked these rooms with Hyatt points.
The World of Hyatt agent I spoke with did not immediately think it would work to use 3k points per room per night to upgrade the rooms to club lounge access. But she agreed to call the hotel and ask. And sure enough, they went for it!
There were 7 of us staying in the two rooms. Using 3k points per room per night to upgrade to club lounge access gave us all free breakfast, free dinner (heavy hors d’oeuvres) on the nights we chose, and free snacks and drinks throughout the day. It was a great value. And it enabled us to complete the whole stay—room and board—at a 4.5-star hotel almost entirely on points.
Sarah’s and my kids enjoying our gondola ride at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch
Caveat / Opportunity
These methods of upgrading aren’t part of Hyatt’s official loyalty program. As such, the downside is that there is no guarantee they’ll work on a given stay.
That said, a big advantage of them being unofficial is that you won’t have many people competing with you to try them.
Bigger Picture Lesson for How to Get Unpublished Upgrades at Hyatt and Other Hotel Chains as Well
Lastly, stepping back for a moment, both tricks are, at bottom, a matter of knowing what you want, coming up with a creative way to get it (e.g., kicking in some extra cash or points), and then calling the hotel (or having a World of Hyatt agent call on your behalf) to ask if the hotel would be willing to do it.
As such, there’s no reason to think that I’ve found the only two unpublished tricks to getting Hyatt upgrades. Nor, for that matter, is there any reason to think that such approaches would only work with Hyatt properties.
If managers across many hotel chains are willing to give you a completely free, spectacular upgrade just for asking—and I’ve shown that they certainly are—then there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t be willing to give you an upgrade in exchange for some consideration on your part.
Question: Have you gotten upgrades by negotiating directly with a hotel? If so, what was your approach? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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I have done your #1 trick before. Reserved a room on points as a Guest of Honor; usually you would be upgraded to a standard suite. The only suite available was the Presidential Suite, which we upgrade to for $100/night for our 3 night stay. It had a huge bedroom, an even more huge bathroom with separate shower room, claw foot tub and stained glass window, and the living room/dining room also had a corner balcony overlooking the street. it was fantastic.
Bear, thanks for sharing that example. That’s awesome to score the Presidential Suite for points + $100.
Now you’ve got me thinking. Since presidential suites often aren’t even listed for booking on hotel’s sites, I wonder if there is actually a sweet spot for booking a room with points and then specifically asking whether they have any really nice rooms not listed for booking that might be available for upgrade. I think there’s a good chance of this working especially very close to the dates of the stay.
I came across your post as I was looking to the exact same thing – book an upgrade with points on an award at Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Gainey Ranch! Would love to know how close to your reservation you called to inquire? I do still see availability online for a point award club level stay so thinking best to wait until not available? Staying mid April Easter Weekend. Would love to upgrade if possible.
Hi Jill,
I’d recommend reaching out to the hotel sooner rather than later. My understanding with Hyatt (and maybe all chains?) is that, due to club lounge capacity, once a certain number of club reservations have been made, you can’t even buy your way into the club as it is at capacity. So it’s best to reach out while club availability still exists.
I hope you enjoy your stay!