Hyatt is one of the best hotel chains in terms of complimentary upgrades for elite members. But what if you are not an elite member? In my last post about using Hyatt points, I shared how non-elite members can redeem extra points to reserve a suite on an award stay. In this post, we’ll share how you can redeem points for a suite or club room upgrade on a paid stay and present a few scenarios to illustrate the value proposition.
Everyone doesn’t have a large bank roll of miles to redeem points for suites like the expensive Park Hyatt Paris. Even the minimum 3 night suite stay will require 99,000 Hyatt points. But you can still earn enough points for a suite or club room upgrade by staying just a few nights, picking up the Chase Hyatt credit card or by transferring Ultimate Rewards points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Ink Plus and Chase Ink Bold.  A four night club room upgrade can be had for only 3,000 Hyatt points and a four night suite upgrade can be had for only 6,000 Hyatt points.
Using Hyatt Points For Travel Rewards
- Booking a suite at Hyatt using points
- Upgrading to a suite on a paid stay at Hyatt using points
- Other redemption options
How To Upgrade A Paid Stay
Upgrading to a suite or club room on a paid reservation can be tricky. But knowing how to use this upgrade instrument can give you a ton of value out of your Hyatt points.
Upgrading to a Regency / Grand Club room will cost you 3,000 Hyatt points. The best part is the upgrade is good for up to a total of four nights. If you want to upgrade beyond the four night period, you’ll have to use additional points.
Upgrading to a suite will cost you 6,000 Hyatt points. Again, this upgrade is good for a total of 4 nights.
Hyatt Paid Upgrade Reward Chart
There are a few terms and conditions when using Hyatt points for a suite upgrade on a paid stay. The key take away being that at resort properties, you only have to pay the deluxe rate, but at non-resort properties you are required to pay the prevailing rack rate. Rack rates are often higher than the best available rate.
- When redeeming Regency/Grand Club® Upgrades or Suite Upgrades at a resort property, you must pay a minimum of the prevailing deluxe rack rate (such as partial ocean view, ocean view, slope view, etc.)
- At non-resort properties you must pay a minimum of the prevailing rack rate
- Not available at Hyatt Place
- Award applies to two-bedroom suites at Hyatt Summerfield Suites
Once you find the hotel where you would like a suite, you can book your reservation online and then call Hyatt to upgrade your reservation using points at a later date. Alternatively you can book your paid stay and upgrade your reservation over the phone by calling Hyatt at 800-228-3360.
Value For Suite Upgrade On A Paid Stay
In this example, I’ll assume a 4 night paid stay at the Hyatt Aruba Resort and Spa. I’ll compare the cost benefit to upgrade to a suite on a paid stay versus booking the best available rate and hoping for an upgrade at check in.
The best available room rate is $285 for the Hyatt Aruba for a sample booking in May. This rate will get you a room with 2 queen beds. Not exactly the most desirable room but could work for most people. But if extra space is what you are looking for consider buying up to a suite upgrade-able room.
The best available rate is $320 for a room which qualifies for an upgrade, the partial ocean / island view room with a king bed. This room only requires an additional $35 per night of your stay over the lowest standard room.
Using this method the total extra cost to upgrade to a suite at the Hyatt Aruba for a 4 night stay would be $140 (35 x 4) + 6,000 points. Since a family suite room costs a total of $540, you are getting a value of $0.146 ((540-320)x4/6,000 = .146) out of your 6,000 Hyatt points. If you are able to convince the hotel to upgrade to a larger suite, then your point value will be even better.
So for the price of the partial ocean island room and 6,000 points, you’ll have four wonderful nights in a Family suite at the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino.
Value For Regency Club Lounge Upgrade On A Paid Stay
The same resort rules apply for upgrading to a Regency Club Lounge room at the Hyatt Aruba. You must book a minimum of a partial ocean island view room to qualify for a Regency Club Lounge room upgrade.
Using this method the total extra cost to upgrade to a suite at the Hyatt Aruba for a 4 night stay would be $140 ( x 4) + 3,000 points. Since a Regency Club room goes for $415, you are getting a value of $0.126 ((415-320)x4/3,000 = .126) out of your 3,000 Hyatt points.
So for the price of the partial ocean island room and 3,000 points, you’ll have four wonderful nights in a Regency Club King room at the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino.
Bottom Line
Knowing all the ways you can redeem points for an award will help you maximize your point redemption. Regency Club room and suite upgrades require only a few thousand points but offer great value for up to four nights. In our next post we’ll share additional ways to use your Hyatt points for travel rewards.
If you want to see more or less of posts like this, please let us know by going to our Hyatt gift card give away post and sharing your thoughts. If you share your thoughts by Tuesday at 8 PM EST, you can win a chance at a $50 Hyatt gift card.
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About The Weekly Flyer
The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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How did you know that the Garden View rate wasn’t a “deluxe” rate? Both are higher than standard…is there a rule of thumb? thanks
I believe your math is incorrect the suite actually costs $2160 for the 4 days that you’re using the upgrade for. So the 6,000 pts and $35/Day would get you a much higher return rate. 4 days x $220/day value in upgrade= $880/6000pts= $.1467/pt value
Garden view is not deluxe. The ocean island view is the deluxe upgradable room.
Sorry … I must have not
Sorry, I must have not asked right. I was asking how you knew that the Garden View isn’t deluxe? Is there a rule of thumb? How can you help us understand?
Hi Colleen,
Two ways (1) When redeeming Regency/Grand Club® Upgrades or Suite Upgrades at a resort property, you must pay a minimum of the prevailing deluxe rack rate (such as partial ocean view, ocean view, slope view, etc.) and (2) I called the Hyatt desk to confirm what is the lowest category at this hotel.
Thanks. That’s what I wondered – if it took a call to the property or to Hyatt to find out the specifics. Couldn’t figure out what the code was in their rate definitions – it seems like a call would always be in order to avoid disappointment.
Almost no way to tell what the rate is without calling – I checked the GH Kauai and on both dates the paid rate upgradeable with points was more expensive than the rate for the same RC room.
Can you use a special rate (corporate, AAA, Costco) and still qualify for an upgrade? For example, the current Costco offer is 10% off, if I book a partial mountain view would it still qualify?
BTW, to answer your question, I would definitely like to see more posts like this, your examples and explanation have been quite helpful on this and the previous Hyatt post. Keep up the great work!
Hi MNY – Thanks for the feedback. I’ll look into your question and report back soon.
Per Hyatt GP Diamond Line –
The upgradeable-with-points rates are loaded by property & you must call Gold Passport to find eligible rates. The rates I was given for GH Kauai (paid – upgradeable with points) did not correspond any other published rate.
Great series of posts! What are the benefits of upgrading to a Club level room versus a suite? Thanks.
Great post. I recently ran into a quirk with the Maui Regency and the Kauai Grand. Instead of an upgrade to suite for 6k points, they only offered a discount on the suite ($600m down $150 from the normal best available rate of $750). Just a discount on a suite is not that great a deal at all.
I’ve only used the suite upgrade once before, but it was at the Park Hyatt Tokyo (extremely nice hotel by the way). So I’m wondering if you’ve encountered this before. It could be just unique to these resorts as they also had other unusual traits, like the Grand required a two night deposit prepaid with any reservation.
I’ve never heard of a resort not upgrading on a suite upgrade.
So what is the best approach to take if your stay is 5 or 6 days? Do you have to do another 6000 points despite the fact that the stay isn’t a full 8 days? Thanks!
@BrianQ: Ran into the same issue with Hyatt Maui. The upgrade-with-points rate was significantly higher that the rack rate.
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