My Best Upgrade On A Free Night

I have received several nice upgrades on hotel stays over the years, but normally not on free nights. By free nights, I am not referring to award nights with points but free nights by way of certificates. In this case, it was my wife’s annual free night from the Hyatt card (to be fair, the night is not “free” in that there is an annual fee to be paid to receive the free night). We used it for a birthday celebration at the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki – a hotel we have stayed at several times before (see here for my review).

Best Upgrade on a Free Night

As a Hyatt credit card member, my wife (as all card members) receives Hyatt Platinum status. It is a decent status that helps get a few perks at Hyatt but does not include an upgrades to suites. Instead, the terms say “Enjoy a preferred room including rooms on higher floors or larger rooms, based on availability upon arrival.”

The same goes for a Hyatt Diamond member – better rooms but no complimentary suite upgrades. Here is what those terms say, “Enjoy the best room available upon arrival, excluding suites.” So, Diamond’s get the best rooms, but that does not include suits. Of course, that can still be at the discretion of the hotel.

My wife used her annual certificate for this stay and I called to add my name and number to the registration as I would be checking in first. When I checked in, the desk clerk expressed her surprise at my status and my wife’s status and that we were both there! 🙂 Instantly, all the room rules defaulted to what Diamonds get – late check-out, breakfast, and the nicer room. Every time we have stayed there, we have received suites – whether it was as a Platinum or a Diamond. This is the first time we have put both of our names on the registration, so I am assuming the Platinum + Diamond combo had something to do with our upgrade this time.

Anyway, the normal upgrade we receive is to the Regency Suite King, which consists of a bedroom and a parlor totally 860 sq. ft. It is always very nice and spacious and something that we have come to really enjoy. However, this time, we received the upgrade to the Regency Executive Suite. This suite comes in at 1,076 sq. ft and has a powder room, dining room (with a long table and 6 chairs), living room (with two couches, a fireplace, and a work desk), as well as the large bedroom with the master bath. The bath has double sliding doors and has a small changing area, two sink vanity, large soaking tub, shower (that also acts as a steam room), and the toilet room. All the dividers in the bathroom are glass and the bathroom itself is as large as some hotel rooms! Of course, the patio that runs the full length of the room is also very spacious and comes with a table, four chairs, and two lounge chairs. The cost of the room last night was $650! That was quite an upgrade for a free certificate!

Here are some photos of what we enjoyed in the Regency Executive Suite.

Definitely a very nice suite and easily the best suite upgrade that we have ever received on the free night certificate. Is it something that I should expect every time? Absolutely not, but it was a very generous upgrade and one we really appreciated. It makes me wonder if it was indeed that we had a Diamond and Platinum in the room. If that is the case, I cannot wait to see what they might do when we stay later in the year on actual suite upgrade certificates! 🙂