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I have a reservation at the Hyatt Regency Bali in the New Year. It opens on January 2nd, and I’d written how you could stay at the resort for Category 1 prices beginning on the opening date and throughout the year. This is exactly what I did with my reservation – using a cash + points rate of 2500 + $50 ( when cash + points were fixed ). I’d assumed, since every category room was available, as well as the 3k point upgrades to club that I wouldn’t have a problem applying one of my Explorist certificates.
Wrong.
I recently contacted Hyatt via Twitter to see if they could apply the upgrade for me. You can read our twitter exchange below, but they gave me all sorts of reasons why they couldn’t.
I’ve NEVER been denied using a club access award if an upgrade with points is also available – which it is. Upgrade certs grant access to the club, but don’t necessarily give you a club room – much in the same way a Globalist may have access to the club but not stay in a club room. Essentially they’re saying they are capacity controlled – fair enough – but over my dates the hotel is selling every single kind of room type – so head’s up if you’re looking to stay at this resert in the future, or another – get your upgrades locked down.
I ended up calling in
The rep on the phone had to send me up the ladder and ultimately I changed my resevation from cash + points to all points as they had recommended that could potentially help me out. After more thought I wanted this anyways as it was only an additional 7500 points to save some $180 in fees, taxes, etc.
Now I have an all points booking that still cannot be upgraded using my cert. I may end up just changing the reservation to 7k a night and securing club level, and hope that this sort of capacity control is limited and not an omen for more widespread blockage
Anyone else try and apply their upgrade only to be told it was impossible?
*feature image courtesy of Hyatt.com
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.