Hotel Valencia, A Preferred Hotels and Resorts “I Prefer” loyalty program member hotel

Santana Row shopping district

I first became aware of the Santana Row high end shopping district of San Jose when the original buildings burned down in a huge fire just as the shopping street was soon to open in 2002. The street Santana Row reminds me of the shopping centers of the fashionable shopping centers of Las Vegas with the palm trees and Disneyesque facades. There is a Borders bookstore amid the Gucci and Burberry shops. The real pleasure of the street is the Hotel Valencia, a member of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts. and a participant in the “I Prefer” hotel loyalty program.

Hotel Valencia courtyard fountain

This hotel is urban boutique and chic. I could try to think of descriptors for the rooms, courtyard, bar, and public spaces, but their website is accurately descriptive in parts I reviewed and the hotel is impressive for an urban boutique hotel as may be seen in photos. This is the premier hotel in the San Jose area as far as I have seen in the Silicon Valley. I guess there is also the Four Seasons in East Palo Alto if you really seek a luxury hotel in Silicon Valley, and the Four Seasons is within walking distance of IKEA or a ride to Stanford Shopping Mall. Hotel Valencia is a comfortable hotel getaway in the middle of the city.

Even the reviews on TripAdvisor are mostly highly favorable of the Hotel Valencia experience.

View to west from 7th floor Cielo restaurant patio

5th floor Ayoma Spa. The pattern effect on the walls is created by metal grate covering ceiling lights and is featured on all room floors. The lighting design is so inexpensively clever.

Rooftop 5th floor swimming pool and hot tub overlooks Santana Row on the right and the hotel courtyard on the left.

Mood lighting in the VBar.

Hotel Valencia, Santana Row, San Jose, California
Member of “I Prefer” hotel loyalty program.

Embassy Suites, LAX North, Los Angeles

My conversation with the Hilton HHonors service center this morning made me think of the movie “The Interpreter” and a scene with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
“Tobin Keller: How do you feel about him?

Silvia Broome: I don’t care for him.

Tobin Keller: Wouldn’t mind if he were dead?

Silvia Broome: I wouldn’t mind if he were gone.

Tobin Keller: Same thing.

Silvia Broome: No it isn’t. If I interpreted gone as dead I’d be out of a job, if dead and gone were the same thing there’d be no UN.

Tobin Keller: Your profession is playing with words Ms. Broome.

Silvia Broome: I don’t play with words.

Tobin Keller: You’re doing it right now. “
from IMBD http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373926/quotes

A Hilton HHonors promotion has me wondering what is really meant by “double base points“.
I am referring to the promotion at http://www.embassysuitessocal.com/specials.php.
The wording of the promotion follows and I bolded the wording I question:

“Double HHonors Promotion
Travel to Sunny Southern California and Earn Double HHonors Points! Come and enjoy all the attractions, shopping and dining Southern California has to offer and stay at one of sixteen Embassy Suites in the area! Hotel locations range from Ventura to San Diego and include spacious accommodations in a two-room suite, complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast for each registered guest and nightly Manager’s Reception.* Plus, earn double Hilton HHonors Base points and work towards the HHonors rewards you want twice as fast – from free nights to once-in-a-lifetime vacation experiences! Click on your desired property below and make your reservations between now and December 31, 2008 to earn your rewards. Stay must include a Sunday night. “

I called up the HHonors service center and pointed out the wording shown here and the fact there are no terms and conditions associated with this offer.

The interpretation of the wording “double base points” is critical for elite status consideration.

HHonors Gold is earned with 60,000 base points which is equivalent to $6,000 in eligible hotel charges (10 base points earned per eligible $ spent). Double base points would mean $3,000, rather than $6,000 in eligible spending would earn 60,000 base points.

HHonors Diamond would be earned with $5,000 in spending compared to $10,000 to earn 100,000 base points.

Interpreting double base points in this way is a strategy for attaining elite status on spending rather than stays or nights.

I called Hilton HHonors Service Center and the representative stated that double base points means double base points for elite status qualification. I even pointed out the terms and conditions from another promotion offering “Double Base Points”. Yesterday, I received the Conrad Hotels email newsletter and here are the “Terms and Conditions for the Conrad Istanbul and a double base points promotion:

“Double Base points” means you will receive a bonus equal to the number of Base points earned during a stay. Bonus points earned on Base points do not count toward VIP tier qualification.

The HHonors customer service representative stated since the Embassy Suites offer does not have terms and conditions, then the double elite points do count for VIP tier qualification.

Past Case Examples of Mis-Interpretation:
United Airlines 500% frequent flyer miles 2004 Promotion

It is not uncommon for an airline or hotel loyalty program to change the terms or clarify terms after a promotion has been released. Case in point was the 2004 United promotion offering triple bonus miles. The original terms stated triple miles would be earned in addition to regular base miles and elite bonuses. The terms were changed before the promotion actually started.

There was an uproar from the members on FlyerTalk. A FlyerTalk campaign to honor the original terms for people who signed up while those terms were published was ultimately successful. As a United Mileage Plus 1K member I earned 5x miles from that promotion to earn over 90,000 miles on a single $543 ticket from California to Bangkok. Two weeks after Bangkok I redeemed 80,000 United miles for a Business Class ticket to Europe.

Maybe this “double base points” is a strategy for cheaper elite, but I wouldn’t bank on a favorable interpretation of the terms by HHonors. Loyalty Traveler reads the promotion as currently displayed on the website as meaning double base points that should count for VIP elite status.

I have serious doubts HHonors will give double base points for VIP elite qualification.
I will have to wait for written clarification from HHonors or evidence from qualifying stays to see how the promotion bonus is credited.

Double points is still a good deal and provides a high added value (about a 25% rebate in potential value of points earned) for a HHonors members collecting Points & Points.

Priority Club has one of the best promotions available for travel in Europe with the Stay 2 nights for the Price of 1 Night. This promotion takes rates down to as low as $50/night for some locations and even 5-star properties like the InterContinental Carlton in Cannes can be under $200/night using this promotion.

There is a discussion on FlyerTalk on whether these rates earn points or not. It seems that some members always get points and some members need to request points for the 2-for-1 stay, and some members are refused points for the 2-for-1 stay.

“No Points Given for “2 Nights for the Price of 1” is a good FlyerTalk thread to read regarding IHG 2-for-1 promotional rates in Europe. Regardless of the points situation , this 2-for-1 offer has some incredible deals for hotels in Europe. There are some InterContinental hotels participating in this offer.

One of the more interesting FlyerTalk posts in this thread states that back-to-back 2-for-1 reservations at the same hotel have been honored for an extended discount stay.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

I am a fan of Diners Club for using Club Rewards points to keep airline and hotel accounts active. Case in point is my wife’s Air Canada Aeroplan account. The Aeroplan website had a notification warning my wife that her miles would be deleted on April 13 if there was no account activity. She also received an email warning. This is good customer service to give advance warning before simply deleting miles.

April 2007 we had a flight on United to Las Vegas and inserted her Aeroplan number in the reservation. Now, a year later, I needed to get some account activity and I transferred 1,000 Diners Club Rewards (the minimum transfer allowed) to 1,000 Aeroplan miles.

I made the transfer on April 2, 2008 and hoped the miles would register in the Aeroplan account before April 13. I decided to check today to see if the transaction had gone through. The website stated 2-6 weeks and my wife has too many miles to let expire. My fall back plan was simply to buy Aeroplan miles.

The Diners Club transaction posted 1,000 Aeroplan miles on April 4, 2008. The process was completed in 48 hours.

I use my Diners Club primarily to top off frequent flyer accounts for premium awards. There is a $0.95 charge per 1,000 points transfer. It is a small price to pay when 20,000 points exchanged for 20,000 miles can mean the difference between an economy award flight and a business class award flight (although the differences between economy and business or business and first tend to be more in the 40,000 mile range these days for most airlines).

Starwood American Express is also good for airline transfers, however, I find the Starpoints much more valuable as hotel points than airline miles, even with the 25% bonus on transfers of 20,000 Starpoints.

I use Starpoints for extending the miles in frequent flier accounts where I have had no activity. I have Mexicana miles I have been holding since 2002 (how I wish I had redeemed this two years ago when the redemption options would have allowed a First Class ticket to most anywhere in the world from the USA for 100,000 miles) and each year I simply transfer 10 or 100 Starpoints to Mexicana to extend the mileage expiration.

SPG Platinum members have no minimum transfer requirement for Starpoints to airline miles. Gold members have a 1,500 Starpoints minimum transfer and non-elite members have a 2,500 Starpoints minimum transfer. That is why I like the Diners Club card since 1,000 Diners Club points to airline miles is a transfer option I favor over spending 2,500 Starpoints from my wife’s account.

We can better use 2,500 Starpoints for a Cash and Points hotel room or a free night at a category 2 hotel on the weekend. (Technically, 3,000 points for SPG Category 2 weekend award night, but as a platinum member using an award booked with my wife’s points, I get 500 points back as a platinum amenity and therefore 2,500 points for a weekend stay.)

The Diner’s Club card is expensive at $95/year, however, for loyalty travelers the Club Rewards program offers many hotel reward options using Club Rewards points that are not available with SPG AmEx (although a regular American Express Membership Rewards card does have hotel transfer options).

Diners Club is a useful card to have for the exchange options of points into airline miles or hotel points.

St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort,
a Starwood Family Fun Rate participating property.

Starwood has made a concerted effort to provide a kids-oriented resort package for vacationing families with the introduction of Family Fun Rates. The program is starting in 29 Starwood Resorts in the US, Canada, and Caribbean, and anticipated to expand to other properties globally. The centerpiece of the program is the “Fun Team” and a Director of Fun at participating properties.

The Family Fun Rate includes a $100 daily resort credit that can be used for kids activities, spa, or recreational activities. The resort credit is not valid for food purchases which is a huge limitation in my opinion.

The rates I checked were all at least $100/night more than best available rate. The Westin Kierland Resort was $178/day more for the Family Fun Rate than the AAA rate for dates I checked in April with AAA rate at $335.20 ($376.33 after tax) and the Family Fun Rate at $494 ($554.61 after tax).

The Westin Maui Resort provides a better value.
Westin Maui Resort 7/8/2008-7/14/2008 (6 nights)
$455/night best available rate; $555 Family Fun Rate

The discounted meals, free drinks for kids poolside, and entertainment activities for children may make this a slight savings for some families.

Amenities included in Family Fun Special include:
$100 per day resort credit to be used on kids activities, spa, or recreational activities. (Appears this credit can’t be used for food purchases.)
Kids 5 and under eat free from kids menu items.
Kids 6-12 receive 50% off regular menu items with purchase of adult meal. Two kids eligible per paying adult per room.
Age appropriate amenity for each child in the room.
Souvenir cup for unlimited juice, milk, soft drinks (T&C specifically states poolside bar).
Complimentary crib or roll-away bed, if needed.
Single guaranteed connecting rooms or suite.
Orientation with Fun Team member.
Evening family or kid-centered counselor-led activity on hotel property.
Separate adult and kids seating areas in main dining restaurant with child supervision provided at least 3 nights a week.

Terms & Conditions from Starwood:
“The offer also includes free kids meal from the kids menu with purchase of adult meal at select restaurants (one child 12 years old and younger per paying adult; up to two children) per room per day; one welcome amenity per child per stay; a kid’s cup that can be filled up with juice, milk and soft drinks for free at the pool bar; complimentary rollaway subject to availability; evening ritual (varies by property) separate kids and adult seating area (kids area is supervised) at dinner in the main dinning room (offered at least 3 times a week); and guaranteed connecting single rooms or suites.”

Maximum Stay is 14 nights.

Find out more about this package: http://www.familyfunspecials.com/

Club Regency, Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero
San Francisco

I have qualified for Hyatt Diamond Status

This past weekend I completed my 25th eligible stay for Diamond elite Hyatt Gold Passport status. Plus, I saw Bruce Springsteen put on another high energy show Saturday night in San Jose (tickets I won from KFOG 104.5 driving home from my first Hyatt stay of 2008 on March 14th.) With the luck of the drive home to Monterey, I won another radio call-in and picked up two free tickets for Crowded House at the Fillmore San Francisco in May. An added benefit of my Hyatt hotel runs is $400 in concert tickets for a couple of phone call-ins while driving on the freeway.

And I have already booked my first Hyatt Gold Passport free stay award with a $302 value on a Category-2/8,000 points free night at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix later this month.

My Hyatt Diamond elite hotel run took advantage of the “Stays Count Double” promotion that ran from January 1-March 31, 2008.

The research question I have posed is “What added value to hotel stays can be expected based on Hyatt Gold Passport diamond elite membership?”

Hypothesis: The Hyatt Gold Passport elite diamond member can expect to receive about $100 in added value per night stayed with Hyatt through benefits of diamond membership including bonus points and complimentary hotel room upgrades and amenities.

Assumption: Added value will primarily be through stays at full-service Hyatt hotels. Lesser added value will result for stays at Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites locations (I base this hypothesis on the data and my hotel experiences over several years with Hilton HHonors Diamond and Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum membership.)

The simple design of the experiment is using myself as a sample guest starting with no status in Hyatt Gold Passport. I registered for the “Stays Count Double” promotion and booked my first stay of 2008 on March 14th. The 12th hotel stay on March 30 was the last eligible hotel stay I completed for “Stays Count Double” and I finished the promotion with 24 hotel stays. My 25th and diamond elite qualifying stay occurred April 5, 2008. My diamond membership elite status will last through February 2010. I have a minimum stay objective of 20 Hyatt stays by February 2010, with the likely possibility of having 50 to 80 nights at Hyatt during that time period.

Research data: The research plan is to tabulate the cost of attaining Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite status with “Stays Count Double” and compare to the added value received for my Hyatt hotel stays. I will have the benefits of Diamond status from April 2008 through February 2010.

Hyatt Diamond cost: $1,345 + 14% tax
(taxes ranged from 10% to 15% depending on location) =
$1,533 after taxes for 13 stays or about $118 total per Hyatt hotel stay.

Friday, March 14 Hyatt Place Fremont $71 (Stay 1 = 2)
Sunday, March 16 Hyatt Place Fremont $89 (Stay 2 = 4)
Wednesday, March 19 Hyatt Regency San Francisco $143.10 (Stay 3 = 6)
Thursday, March 20 Grand Hyatt San Francisco $152.10 (Stay 4 =
Friday, March 21 Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport $89.00 (Stay 5 = 10)
Saturday, March 22 Hyatt Regency Santa Clara $89.00 (Stay 6 = 12)
Sunday, March 23 Hyatt Place Fremont $89.00 (Stay 7 = 14)
Wednesday, March 26 Hyatt Regency Vineyard Creek, $125.00 (Stay 8 = 16) Santa Rosa
Thursday, March 27 Hyatt Regency San Francisco $179.00 (Stay 9 = 18)
Friday, March 28 Hyatt Place Fremont $71.00 (Stay 10 = 20)
Saturday, March 29 Summerfield Suites Belmont $98.00 (Stay 11 = 22)
Sunday, March 30 Hyatt Place Fremont $79.00 (Stay 12 = 24)
Saturday, April 5 Hyatt Place Fremont $71.00 (Stay 25)

(Stay 13 on April 5, after the end of the “Stays Count Double” promotion was my 25th and Diamond elite qualifying stay with Hyatt Gold Passport. Future stays will bring a 30% points bonus and complimentary upgrade to Regency Club room when staying at participating Hyatt properties.)

Total cost = $1,345 in base room charges +14% tax = $1,533 for Hyatt Diamond membership

Hotel Points earned: 8,288 points earned for base room charges and platinum elite bonus.

Booking Bonuses: 5,000 bonus points pending for booking reservations using bonus points links on Hyatt Gold Passport website. (Grand Hyatt San Francisco 2,000 points/stay; Hyatt Regency San Francisco 1,000 points x 2 stays; Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport 1,000 points/stay).

Hyatt Platinum Extras awards are earned for every third stay. I have received two Platinum Extras awards to date and I redeemed these for 1,000 bonus points each. Platinum Extras Award already posted to my account for Stays 3 and 6. I anticipate receiving at least one more Platinum Extras award for Stay 9 that I can redeem for 1,500 points. I don’t know how Gold Passport will calculate the Platinum Extras awards for “Stays Count Double”. I may also receive a Platinum Extras award for Stay 12 (1,500 points), Stays 15 and 18 (2,000 points each), and Stays 21 and 24 (2,500 points).

I may receive as many as 15,500 points to my account through Platinum Extras awards.

Total Points Earned: 8,288 Hotel stay points, + 5,000 Gold Passport Hotel Bonus promotion points + 15,500 Platinum Extras award points (pending) = 28,788 points.

28,788 points are worth about $575 for the Gold Passport points at 2 cents/point base value when purchased.

I have already made a room reservation for the Hyatt Regency Phoenix for 8,000 points ($269 AAA rate was lowest available + 12.5% tax = $302) with an added value of $302 for a basic room. This value will increase if I receive some type of diamond membership amenity at the hotel. My award stay for the Hyatt Phoenix has a value of $302/8,000 points = 3.78 cents/point.

If I can use the other points for similar high value hotel stays, the potential value of the 28,788 points approaches $1,100.

Total points earning of about 29,000 points for my 13 Hyatt stays. Carefully selected redemption opportunities can make these 29,000 points worth around $1,000. And complimentary upgrades on future stays should quickly recoup my investment for Hyatt Gold Passport diamond status.

Loyalty Traveler knows and shows loyalty has privileges.

Sheraton Libertador, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Presidential Suite stay, June 2007

An article I read earlier this week keeps coming back to my thoughts. “Travel Editors Gather to Rap about the issues du jour.” appeared on http://www.travelweekly.com/ April 1, 2008.

The editors were asked about how the economy will impact travel. Erik Torkells, editor, Budget Travel stated something I keep remembering:
“There will always be people who want to continue to spend money, and if travel’s their No. 1 priority, they will continue to do it. And there will always be people who want a deal, and an incredible part of the experience for them is finding that deal. People tend to do what they do unless they absolutely can’t.”

Last week I was hanging out in San Francisco. I woke up in my lovely hotel room at the Hyatt Regency and read the paper. I read about an old man who was beaten to death around Mission and Fifth Street the day before. The murder happened by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper building, just around the corner from the new InterContinental San Francisco hotel.

When I made the comment in my blog a couple of weeks ago about the InterContinental pushing the slum boundary another block south and west, I was not intending to make a slur against the InterContinental. The fact is the SoMa (South of Market Street) district is a scary place if you wander into the wrong streets. I approached the new InterContinental hotel coming from Sixth Street and Howard and I had to walk the gauntlet at 9am in the morning around hundreds of homeless, some mentally ill, some drunk, some sleeping, some bathing on the curb, but I wasn’t bothered by anyone.

A couple of years ago, I exited a restaurant at midnight across the street from the W Hotel San Francisco, and witnessed a couple of street people harassing tourists in a threatening manner. I was glad the hotel entrance was so close.

Last summer, outside the Westin Seattle, a crazy man threatened my wife and I with a large piece of lumber on his shoulder if we didn’t give him $5. We ran into the street and took our chances with cars rather than risk being clobbered by a nutcase an hour before embarking on a cruise. And this was at noon time on a sunny Saturday.

Westin Seattle

A luxury hotel in the slums is all fine as long as you stay in the hotel. To me it is like being in a Caribbean or South American hotel where the world is kept outside and inside luxury abounds. I’d rather be in the nicer parts of San Francisco and for me that means Union Square (Grand Hyatt, Westin St. Francis, JW Marriott), the Financial District (Hilton Financial District, Le Meridien), or Nob Hill (InterContinental Mark Hopkins, Renaissance Stanford Court, Fairmont, Ritz-Carlton). Fisherman’s Wharf hotels are in a highly touristed area, but unless the price is lower at Fisherman’s Wharf (which it usually isn’t) than downtown, I would opt for the larger downtown hotels. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes by cheap public transportation ($1.50) to reach Fisherman’s Wharf.

Many of the new luxury hotels in San Francisco are on Market Street (Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton Residences) or South of Market (Westin Market, W Hotel, St. Regis, Marriott, InterContinental San Francisco) and it will take some time for this area to develop into a safer location.

Heidi Mitchell, editor of Town & Country Travel, commented that the advantage of travel writers is their experience in having a large inventory of hotel experiences to enable valid comparisons between one hotel brand and another and one location in a city compared to another.

My hotel comments in reviews and blog posts are based on having stayed about 500+ hotel nights over the past ten years with hotels in the major corporate chains in locations around Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Asia, Canada, and the USA. It is not a lot compared to many road warriors, however, as a leisure traveler it is a solid foundation for making hotel comparisons.

And I take travel seriously, even if I don’t take myself and my writing too seriously at times.
“Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.”
Anne Sophie Switchine

After more than two weeks of living, breathing, staying, and eating Hyatt, I was wanting to write about something else for a change. But I feel compelled to write another post about Hyatt. The most interesting hotel stay cost-cutting strategy on my mind today is the Hyatt Stay Certificate program.

The United e-fares weekly email yesterday had an advertisement for the Mileage Plus VISA card with an offer for 21,000 bonus miles and a free Hyatt stay certificate after charging $250 on your new card.

Visions of a luxury Hyatt hotel night in some exotic foreign city motivated me to investigate the details of this offer.

Frequent guests need to add Hyatt Stay certificates to the list of strategies for reducing the cost of hotel stays. There are some bargains to be had with Hyatt Stay certificates.

First, I will continue with a quick analysis of the Hyatt stay portion of the United Mileage Plus VISA offer. The fine print of the offer states the cardholder will receive a Hyatt Stay Certificate good for one night at a Choice selection hotel after spending $250 on the card.

What is a Hyatt Stay Certificate?

A Hyatt Stay Certificate is a prepaid hotel night certificate covering room and taxes for the length of the stay designated on the certificate.

Hyatt Stay Certificates are available in 7 types. There are 5 levels of a nightly stay certificate and 2 levels of weekend multi-night stay certificates (weekend certificates are only accepted in USA and Canada at most Hyatt Hotels).

Most Hyatt hotels participate in the program and each Hyatt hotel is designated as accepting a specific minimum level of certificate, or any certificate in a more expensive level.

Nightly stay certificates come in 5 price levels:

Classic $99 per night
Choice $135
Premier $165
Elite $249
Inspire $319

The United Mileage Plus Visa card offer will provide a Hyatt Stay Certificate-Choice Category free night.

What is the value of a Choice Hyatt Stay certificate?

About half of all Hyatt hotels worldwide will accept this level certificate for a free night.

The Hyatt Regency Monterey will accept Stay certificates in Choice level and above. The Hyatt Stay Choice certificate would have a value of $280 if used on July 21, 2008 for the Monterey Hyatt Regency (4-2-08 Hyatt reservationist found 7-21-08 available after two other dates in July and August were not available using a Hyatt Stay Certificate. Room rate $279/night + $11 resort fee). That is quite a valuable bonus on top of the 21,000 Mileage Plus frequent flier miles.

The limitations of Hyatt Stay Choice level certificates are only about half of the Hyatt Hotels in the world accept the Hyatt Stay Choice level certificate. The other half require a higher priced level Hyatt Stay certificate.

Other points to remember about Hyatt Stay Certificates:
- Hyatt Stay certificates are not valid at Hyatt Place or Summerfield Suites.
- There are only a handful of Hyatt hotels worldwide that do not accept Hyatt Stay certificates which improves their value.
- Hyatt Gold Passport points and stay credit are not earned for Hyatt Stay certificate hotel stays.
- Upgrade certificates can’t be used in conjunction with a Hyatt Stay certificate.
- Certificate is only good for a single stay. Imagine you buy a three night Premier Hyatt Stay Certificate and then you decide you can only make a two night stay. Your 3-night certificate can be used for a 2-night stay, but you lose the value of the third night.
- You can use a higher-priced Stay Certificate for a hotel that accepts lower priced certificates, but you don’t get any credit for the higher cost certificate. Assume you buy a 3-night Elite certificate because you had planned to use it in London and then cancel that trip. Your trip to Monterey could be booked with a Choice Hyatt Stay certificate at $135/night, but you are afraid the Elite certificate might expire before your next trip so you decide to use it for the Monterey Hyatt. Even though you paid $249 night for an Elite Hyatt Stay certificate and you may still be saving money on the cost of the hotel stay, you do not get any credit for the $114 extra your Elite certificate cost compared to the Choice certificate you could have used to book the Monterey Hyatt room.

USA/Americas, 129 hotels

44 accept Classic Hyatt Stay certificates (or higher)

34 accept Choice Hyatt Stay certificates (or higher)

21 accept Premier Hyatt Stay Certificates (or higher)

20 accept Elite Hyatt Stay Certificates (or higher)

8 accept Inspire Hyatt Stay Certificates

2 hotels, Hyatt Regency New Orleans and Hotel Victor, Miami do not accept Hyatt Stay Certificates.

Europe/Middle East/Africa region has 34 Hyatt properties.

Of these hotels, there are no properties that accept the Classic level Hyatt Stay certificate.

7 properties accept Choice level Hyatt Stay certificates.
16 hotels accept the Premier level.
4 require the Elite level,
2 accept the Inspire level (Paris, Dubai), and
5 hotels do not accept Hyatt Stay certificates.

Asia/Pacific 51 Hyatt Properties

14 accept Classic Hyatt Stay certificates (or higher)
5 accept Choice Hyatt Stay certificates (or higher)
8 accept Premier Hyatt Stay Certificates (or higher)
17 accept Elite Hyatt Stay Certificates (or higher)
7 accept Inspire Hyatt Stay Certificates

214 Hyatt hotels worldwide

(Hyatt Stay certificates are not valid for Hyatt Place or Hyatt Summerfield Suites)
Of 214 Hyatt Hotels worldwide
17 hotels only accept Inspire certificates (7.9%)
41 hotels accept Elite certificates (19.2%)
45 hotels accept Premier certificates (21.0%)
46 hotels accept Choice certificates (21.5%)
58 accept Classic level (27.1%)
7 hotels do not accept Hyatt Stay certificates (3.3%)

Classic level stay certificate ($99) good for 58 of 214 Hyatt hotels
Choice level stay certificate ($135) good for 104 of 214 Hyatt hotels
Premier level stay certificate ($165) good for 149 of 214 Hyatt hotels
Elite level stay certificate ($249) good for 190 of 214 Hyatt hotels
Inspire level stay certificate ($319) good for 207 of 214 Hyatt hotels

Example savings #1:
Hyatt Regency Philippines May 15, 2008 $140 + 23.5% tax and fees = $172.90/night and this stay is only $99/night for a Classic Hyatt Stay Certificate.
Savings using Hyatt Stay certificate = $74/night

Example Savings #2:
Hyatt Regency London, The Churchill
May 15, 2008
280GBP + 17.5% tax = $658/night

Elite level Hyatt stay certificate is $249/night.
Savings using Hyatt Stay certificate = $409/night

Example Savings # 3
Hyatt Regency Monterey
July 21, 2008
$279/night compared to $135 night using Choice Hyatt Stay certificate.
Savings using Hyatt Stay certificate = $144/night

London on the Cheap

The Churchill, Hyatt Regency, London was available for a Hyatt Stay Elite-level certificate 7-night stay at the cost of $249/night. $1,743 for a 7-night hotel stay when I checked today.

What would it cost to book this hotel through a regular paid reservation for the same period?
1,815 GBP + 17.5% tax = $4,265 for a 7-night paid stay at the Churchill.

Remember that no Hyatt Gold Passport points are earned on a Hyatt Stay certificate hotel stay. For a savings of $2,522 by using the Elite Hyatt Stay certificate, I think most of us would be willing to forego the points for a 7-night stay in London. Get your ducks in a row, and with a little bit of luck and availability, the Hyatt Stay certificate option may have you flying off to a new land at remarkable savings for your hotel stay.

Participating hotels and details of the Hyatt Gift Cards and Certificates program can be found at https://www.certificates.hyatt.com/