Diplomat Suite at Grand Hyatt, Shanghai. Now readily bookable with Premium Suite Upgrade!
One hidden gem of World of Hyatt is the ability to redeem points for a suite and get a confirmed room at the time of booking. By comparison Marriott will only begin processing the request five days prior to arrival, and IHG and Hilton do not offer such options
Typically you could achieve an outsized value of points this way, given that there is a wide gap between the prices of a standard room and a suite but the point difference is fixed. To do so, two options are available:
- use points to book a suite;
- use the points to “upgrade” from a standard room.
Historically, however, Hyatt hasn’t been very user-friendly in terms of materializing such upgrade opportunities. You have to call a Hyatt customer representative or send a DM to a World of Hyatt concierge on Twitter. Both methods take time, and in the era of COVID-19 wait time can be long.
During a recent search, I found that Hyatt has made possible the online redemption of suite as well as suite upgrade by points. This is a screenshot when I tried to look for a room in Hyatt on the Bund, Shanghai yesterday. The Bund Suite River View Twin came as a premium suite option!
Below is the view from the suite. Isn’t that nice?
I checked other nearby properties, and not all of them offer upgrade options. Park Hyatt Shanghai, for example, is known for its stinginess in standard suites (because there are so few of them). Not surprising that no way of confirmable suite upgrade there.
I did some more test on properties in the UK and the US. Both return positive results—I mean good result; positive may not be the word people want to hear now 🙁
Andaz London
Gild Hall, New York
You could find upgrade availability on World of Hyatt App too, although the rate display looks fishy. It seems like Hyatt’s Mobile App cannot correctly recognize the rate for suite redemption. Nevertheless, you can book it without any issue.
And a Park Suite at Park Hyatt Hangzhou looks like this.
Understandably, it is perhaps a bit too early to talk about hotel booking when the threat of coronavirus is still there, but I am positive that one day travel will return. At any rate, Hyatt has made online point redemption of suite possible, and technologically this is a nice step forward. So when you plan your next dream getaway in the near future, you could burn your hard-earned points and make a great memory!
I think overall this is a good news for all non-Globalist members at Hyatt. Finally suite is no longer an exclusive perk that only Globalist can enjoy. Note many suites come with Lounge access, meaning you also get free breakfast. Sweet double-dipping.
For Globalists such as me myself, the reaction can be a mixed. On the plus side, I really, really like the ability to have a confirmed suite at the time of booking. On the other hand, it means fewer suites available for upgrade at the time of check-in. But still, if the number of people who are better off due to a policy is greater than those who are worse off, this is a good policy. I would very much rather use points to book a suite for important occasions than gambling for a suite on the day of arrival.
Will you use your World of Hyatt points to book suite directly?