Hyatt hotels are my personal favorites and one of the things I like about the program is the ability to receive Hyatt free night certificates. These can be incredibly valuable and you can get more than one each year! Let’s answer the questions of what are Hyatt free night certificates and how can you earn them!
What Are Hyatt Free Night Certificates and How to Earn Them?
First, there are actually two kinds but the second kind is more limited. There is a Category 1-7 free night certificate that is awarded to members who stay in 60 nights per year at Hyatt properties. They are also sometimes available as a credit card sign-up bonus. This post is now about that particular certificate since it is more rare.
What Are Hyatt Free Night Certificates?
A Hyatt free night certificate is a free night that is bookable at Hyatt properties that are in the Category 1 – 4 award charts. These are outright awards that give a free night stay when they are redeemed. They are just one of the things that make the World of Hyatt program so exciting for so many!
How Can You Earn a Hyatt Free Night Certificate?
Stay in any 5 of these brands and earn a free night certificate each time!
You can actually earn several of these Hyatt free night certificates! They can be earned through the following means:
- Staying 30 nights per year in Hyatt properties (the elite nights earned with the World of Hyatt card count towards those nights)
- Staying in 5 different Hyatt brand hotels
- This can be accomplished up to 3 times
- An anniversary night on both the regular Hyatt credit card and the World of Hyatt card
- By spending $15,000 in a year on the World of Hyatt card
As you can see you can actually earn up to 7 total World of Hyatt free night certificates! Even better, you can actually up to 4 per year (if you hold both the old Hyatt credit card and the World of Hyatt card). If you just hold the World of Hyatt card, you can earn up to 3 Hyatt free night certificates per year (earning 30 nights in a year, anniversary night, and spending $15,000 in a year on the World of Hyatt card on any purchases).
How to Use Hyatt Free Night Certificates
Use your “Free Night” award when it pops up in your searches
When you login to your account (whether on your computer or through the app), you can search for a hotel in the location you want to visit. When you select to use points, it will also show you your “Free Night” award at that point also.
Just select to book with the “Free Night” instead of points and you are all set! You can use these certificates on standard rooms just like with points.
How Long Are Hyatt Free Night Certificates Good For?
This can be a bit confusing but the expiration dates of Hyatt free night certificates are different based on how you earned them.
If you earned the free night through staying 30 nights in a year or staying in 5 different Hyatt brands, that Hyatt free night certificates is good for a stay that has a checkout date 180 days from the day it was issued.
If you earned the free night from the World of Hyatt credit card, that is good for one year from the date of issuance.
How Valuable Are Hyatt Free Night Certificates?
If you hold the World of Hyatt credit card, that means you are paying a $95 annual fee. If you have the old Hyatt credit card, that means you are paying a $75 annual fee. So, those numbers should be the minimal threshold of value you try to get out of each Hyatt free night certificate.
This is a random night that shows what the standard rooms are going for – and you can use your free night certificate here!
Fortunately, it is quite easy to get a lot of value from these certificates! I have used my certificates in the past at properties like the Grand Hyatt in Washington DC on nights that rates were running $600+ for the night! Now, that is definitely on the high side of the redemption scale! But, it is very easy to get at least $150 in value from the Hyatt free night certificates.
Compare Point Value to the Certificate
However, what you should look at more than the actual cash cost is the category that the hotel is at. If it is a Category 1, that means you have traded your Hyatt free night certificate in place of using 5,000 points. For most people, that is not a good value at all!
With recent Hyatt point sales, you can buy 5,000 Hyatt points for $85. That means that you should have just bought the points instead of using the certificate! This is why you want to focus on Hyatt award category 3 or 5 hotels. These hotels cost 12,000 points (Category 3) or 15,000 points (Category 4) per night so that should be what you are shooting for.
Just remember – if you need a hotel in one place and you have a certificate, that should be what you use it for if you don’t have the points to cover it. Be careful about trying to travel someplace that will cost even more in cash or miles just to use the free night certificate! 🙂
Bottom Line
Hyatt free night certificates can be earned in many ways and they are quite valuable if you know how to use them! I continue to get a lot of value out of mine each year!
For example, if you get the World of Hyatt credit card and spending the $15,000 in a year to earn that other night, you will have 2 free certificates to use (one being the anniversary certificate). Plus, that $15,000 in spending will earn you another 15,000 points plus 6 extra elite nights (combined with the 5 you have automatically for using the card and you have 11 nights!).
Put all of that together and it means you can earn a minimum of 14 elite nights each year without spending any actual money (except the annual fee on the card). That means you are 16 nights away from earning yet another free night certificate!
So, there is some value to be had!
But you can’t hold both the World of Hyatt and the Hyatt credit card, you can have one or the other. So you can’t get an extra certificate that way.
There are some that do have both (you could get it early on but not getting the bonus on one) but you are right that this is the policy. Thanks!