Tag Archives: Hyatt Hotels

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Track Hotel Free Night Certificates & Credit Card Annual Fees with my Spreadsheet

Good afternoon everyone.  Last month, I was reading an article by Nick at Frequent Miler called Almost #Bonvoyed: a cautionary tale on free night certs.  In that post, Nick shared that after cancelling a Marriott stay booked with a free night certificate, the free night certificate did not automatically redeposit into his Marriott account.  He had to track down the cancelled reservation and call Marriott to get the free night certificate redeposited into his Marriott account.  Bonvoy!  Toward the end of the article, Nick stated, “You shouldn’t need a spreadsheet to track the history of your Marriott free night certs — but the reality is that you do need to stay organized with them.”

That’s when the idea hit me, I should create a spreadsheet to track my Marriott category 1-5 free night certificates… as well as my Hilton free weekend night certificates, Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificates, IHG 40k free night certificates, and Radisson Rewards anniversary points.  Here is my Hotel Free Night Certificate Tracker, maybe it will help you stay organized too.

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3 Buy Miles/Points Promos Ending Soon: Avianca LifeMiles (100%), IHG (100%) & Hyatt (40%)

Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found 3 offers ending in the next few days.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 3 buy miles/points promos ending soon.  First up, Avianca LifeMiles is offering a 100% bonus, plus bonus miles based on the number of Avianca LifeMiles you purchases.  This offer expires on June 5.

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Dilemma: Spend $15,000 on Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card to Earn Extra Free Night Certificate?

Good morning everyone.  In January, my fiance was approved for the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card (my referral link) that offered 25,000 Hyatt points after spending $3,000 in 3 months and an additional 25,000 Hyatt points after spending $6,000 total in 6 months.  We are planning a wedding, so spending $6,000 in 6 months was not a problem.  This credit card also offers an extra free night certificate (for category 1-4 Hyatt properties) if you spend $15,000 during the cardmember year.  So the dilemma is, after spending $6,000 on this credit card and earning 50,000 Hyatt points, is it worth spending an extra $9,000 on this credit card to get an extra free night certificate?  Here are my thoughts…

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Hyatt Residence Club Timeshare Vacation Packages at San Antonio Wild Oak Ranch & Bonita Springs Coconut Plantation

Good morning everyone.  If you are looking for a discounted vacation, check out these timeshare vacation packages from Hyatt Residence Club.  They should be open to anyone who meets the age and income requirements (differs by property).  In exchange for booking the discounted vacation package, you will be required to attend a 90-100 minute sales presentation.  I have attended several timeshare presentations over the years.  In most cases, I know more about hotels and loyalty programs than the person trying to sell the timeshare.  And remember, if they were as good a deal as they sound, why would you need a team of salespeople to sell properties.  Lastly, people will sell their current timeshare on eBay for as low as $1 just to get out of the deal.

With that said, here are 3 “Featured Vacation Offers” currently listed on the Hyatt Residence Club website.  The three properties are:

  • Hyatt Residence Club Maui, Ka’anapali Beach
  • Hyatt Residence Club San Antonio, Wild Oak Ranch
  • Hyatt Residence Club Bonita Springs, Coconut Plantation

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Keep Airline Miles from Expiring with Conversions from Radisson Rewards (or Hilton / Hyatt / IHG / Marriott / Wyndham)

Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, I got an email from Radisson Rewards about transferring Radisson Rewards Points into airline miles.  I figured it would be a bad deal in terms of the value you get from Radisson Rewards Points, but thought it might be useful if you have airline frequent flyer miles expiring soon and need some activity to reset the expiration date.  I went through the transfer process to convert 2,000 Radisson Rewards Points into 200 American Airlines miles.  Trust me, I know this is a terrible exchange, but it is a very efficient way to keep airline miles from expiring (and I don’t put much value on 2,000 Radisson Rewards Points).  I then went even further down the rabbit hole and looked at other hotel programs (Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham) to see if they offered better value in terms of resetting airline mile expiration dates than Radisson Rewards.  Here are my results…

To get started with the conversion of Radisson Rewards Points into airline miles, I started here.  As you can see, 2,000 Radisson Rewards Points = 200 airline miles.  The transfer ratio is the same regardless of how many Radisson Rewards Points you want to transfer.  10 Radisson Rewards Points = 1 airline mile.  According to Frequent Miler’s Reasonable Redemption Values (RRV), 1 Radisson Reward Point is equal to 0.38 cents per point (CPP), which would make 1 airline mile worth 3.8 CPP (which is unrealistically high).  But look at it a different way.  2,000 Radisson Rewards Points would be worth $7.60 (2,000 x $0.0038 = $7.60).  In reality, I get 40,000 Radisson Rewards Points every year when I pay the $60 annual fee on my US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Credit Card, so that comes out to a 0.15 CPP value ($60 / 40,000 = $0.0015).  The new calculation would make 2,000 Radisson Rewards Points worth only $3.00 (2,000 x $0.0015 = $3.00).  So would you redeem $3.00 in Radisson Rewards Points to reset your frequent flyer miles expiration date?

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