Free night certificates are a key avenue to maximizing hotel loyalty programs and scoring hotel nights without paying anything out-of-pocket.
One of the best ways to get outsized value out of the lucrative World of Hyatt program is through Free Night Awards, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
In This Post
- How to Earn World of Hyatt Free Night Awards
- How to Redeem World of Hyatt Free Night Awards
- Strategies for Maximizing Hyatt Free Night Awards
- Conclusion
How to Earn World of Hyatt Free Night Awards
1. Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card
Entering the US credit card market and eventually applying for the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card is the best-value way to earn Free Night Awards with Hyatt every year.
As a cardholder, you’ll earn a Category 1–4 Free Night Award within the World of Hyatt program upon renewing the card for a second year and every year after that.
The annual fee on the card is $95 (USD), and it should be very feasible to redeem your Free Night Award for a Category 4 hotel that would otherwise cost much more than $95 (USD), making the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card worth keeping in the long run after collecting the welcome bonus in the first year.
Furthermore, you’ll also earn an additional Category 1–4 Free Night Award upon spending $15,000 (USD) on the Chase Hyatt Visa every calendar year.
This won’t be a realistic objective for everyone. However, if you have personal or business spending needs that outpace the minimum spending requirements you can make on new credit cards, then it can be a good idea to put the spend on the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card and earn an extra Free Night Award.
(Recall that Hilton’s Free Night Rewards can be similarly earned by spending $15,000 (USD) per calendar year on the Amex US Hilton Surpass and Hilton Business cards. Given the choice here with all else being equal, it’s best to spend towards the Hilton certificates first, since they can be redeemed on Hilton’s best luxury hotels, whereas Hyatt’s are limited to Category 4).
In addition, note that the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card has previously offered a Free Night Award as part of the welcome bonus, too. If that sounds appealing to you, it might be worth waiting for such an offer to return in the future before applying for this card.
2. World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards
If you haven’t made it far enough along your US credit card journey to apply for Chase credit cards yet, you can still earn Free Night Award certificates with Hyatt through the World of Hyatt program itself.
World of Hyatt offers members Milestone Rewards for every 10 elite qualifying nights they earn. There are four thresholds at which you’ll earn a Free Night Award:
- Upon reaching 30 elite qualifying nights or 50,000 base points, you’ll earn a Category 1–4 Free Night Award
- Upon reaching 60 elite qualifying nights or 100,000 base points, you’ll earn a Category 1–7 Free Night Award
- Upon reaching 100 elite qualifying nights, you’ll earn a Category 1–7 Free Night Award
- Upon reaching 150 elite qualifying nights, you’ll earn an Ultimate Free Night Award
It’s worth noting that the 30- and 60-night milestones are associated with achieving or retaining Explorist and Globalist status, respectively.
Furthermore, as part of changes on Milestone Rewards that took effect on January 1, 2024, upon meeting the 100- and 150-night thresholds, you’ll be awarded with a Category 1–7 Free Night Award and an Ultimate Free Night Award, respectively.
Ultimate Free Night Awards are a new offering from World of Hyatt. The fitting reward for true Hyatt loyalists, these highly coveted instruments can be used at any participating Category 1–8 hotel, Category A–F all-inclusive resort, or Miraval resort.
It goes without saying that they open up even the most sought-after properties in the World of Hyatt portfolio, such as the Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono and the Park Hyatt Kyoto.
Keep in mind that you’ll earn Milestone Rewards by mostly staying at Hyatt properties. While you can earn qualifying nights with Chase World of Hyatt Credit Cards, you’ll need to spend $5,000 (USD) to earn two qualifying nights.
3. World of Hyatt Brand Explorer Award
In addition to the above opportunities to earn up to four Free Night Awards on an annual basis, there’s also a one-time opportunity to earn up to five more Category 1–4 Free Night Awards through Hyatt’s Brand Explorer promotion.
Under your World of Hyatt account, you’ll find the Brand Explorer tracker, which keeps track of how many of Hyatt’s 28 hotel brands you’ve stayed at. Upon staying at five different Hyatt brands, you’ll earn a Free Night Award.
This is a fun way to incentivize members to try out different brands, and it’s something that Marriott and Hilton should offer, too.
Note that the nine brands under the “Inclusive Collection” are all-inclusive properties, so they may be more challenging to collect unless you visit all-inclusives every now and then as part of your travel style.
How to Redeem World of Hyatt Free Night Awards
Free Night Award certificates are deposited into your World of Hyatt account within 10 weeks of earning them, although typically they’ll be deposited sooner. You’ll find your Free Night Awards listed under the “My Awards” section of your World of Hyatt dashboard.
Redeeming these awards can be done online. You’ll need to tick the “Use Points” search option and ensure that your chosen hotel has standard room availability for redeeming World of Hyatt points; if so, then it’ll also be eligible for a Free Night Award redemption.
Free Night Awards from the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card are issued with a one-year validity period, whereas those issued from Milestone Rewards or Brand Explorer have a six-month validity period. The stay must be completed, not just booked, within that period.
There are a few restrictions to be aware of when redeeming Hyatt’s Free Night Awards: you can’t apply Suite Upgrade Awards, Club Access Awards, or the Guest of Honor benefit to the reservation (which are earned as part of Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards for staying frequently).
If you’d like to apply a Suite Upgrade Award to secure a suite well in advance of your stay, it’s best to book with cash or World of Hyatt points instead in order to deploy the instrument.
Strategies for Maximizing Hyatt Free Night Awards
Most participants in the World of Hyatt program can expect to earn one, two, or three Category 1–4 Free Night Awards per year, depending on whether they stay with Hyatt enough to reach the 30-night threshold and whether they hold the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card.
If you’re a dedicated Hyatt member who pursues Globalist status every year at 60 qualifying nights, you’ll also earn a more powerful Category 1–7 Free Night Award as a reward for your loyalty.
The Brand Explorer promotion can also boost your balance of Free Night Awards in your first few years of Hyatt membership, but this won’t necessarily be a reliable source of free nights in the long run.
As Category 4 falls squarely in the middle of Hyatt’s eight hotel categories, this means that non-Globalist members should expect to use these awards for relatively upscale hotels at best, rather than properties that represent the pinnacle of luxury in Hyatt’s portfolio.
You’ll definitely want to redeem each type of Free Night Award for its highest award category (Category 4 and 7, respectively), and in particular the top-tier brands like Park Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, Thompson, and Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
You can visit Hyatt’s Explore Hotels page and filter by category, brand, and geographic region to find Category 4 and 7 hotels that might work best for your travel goals.
Conclusion
The World of Hyatt loyalty program can take some work to get involved with, especially from a Canadian perspective. But the rewards are generally regarded as highly worthwhile once you do – and the Free Night Awards are a major part of that equation.
Whether you’re aiming for Milestone Rewards, applying for the US-issued Chase Word of Hyatt Credit Card, or planning out your stays across Hyatt brands in groups of five, the Category 1–4 Free Night Awards can help you extract even more value out of the program and score some very nice hotel stays while paying nothing out-of-pocket.
Furthermore, for true Hyatt loyalists that rack up plenty of qualifying nights each year as Globalist members, the Category 1–7 and Ultimate Free Night Awards await, unlocking complimentary stays at many of Hyatt’s most aspirational luxury properties.
Just a comment-correction. Free night awards earned by threshold or brand explorer have a 6 month expiry. Not one year. There have been extensions due to COVID, but it is six months normally.
Thanks – gave the article and update.
Can confirm the brand explorer free night has a 1 year expiry.
Just keep an eye out for the upcoming annual category changes. Last year the PH Zanzibar was going to be bumped back up to 5, but the award chart changes were suspended until 2021/TBA.
Thanks for the heads up. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but if what I’ve been hearing about Hyatt’s good treatment of its members is correct, I’d expect them to take the high road and avoid increasing categories during a pandemic year – and perhaps even decrease some. 😉
Is it even possible for a Canadian to get a Chase Visa?
For Canadians with strong ties in the US, yes: https://wp.princeoftravel.com/blog/getting-us-credit-cards-for-canadians/
Excelent article. Hope you can add to it as to how to spend or use the up to seven night Comfirmed at reservation Suite Upgrade. I recently moved to Hyatt and will have Globalist this week and hopefull the 60 nights (with Suite Upgrades)in 2 months.
In short how does one book these and are these good for standard or premium suites (or are there others) and how do you know?
Also similar info on the way to try for Suite Upgrades upon check in with Globalist.
Thanks for helping me learn about Hyatt.
To use a suite upgrade award, you need to call hyatt (if upgrading a points stay, they have to also call the hotel to do the upgrade). I think Ricky mentioned it in an article, but you can see which suites qualify by looking for the “this is a standard suite” wording in the room description.
I am having doubts the Park Hyatt Toronto will open anytime soon.
I think it’s pretty far behind schedule.
I guess they aren’t in much of a rush anyway, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s delayed. Hopefully still allows me to use my certs before they expire.
I think there’s a good chance it won’t open this year.
I am in a similar situation like you, so I am just hoping Hyatt would extend the certs one more time till next year.
One can keep hoping…