15
Dec
Hyatt announced this morning that they’re rolling out Gold Passport earning and redemption at Hyatt property restaurants and spas even when you aren’t a registered guest.
This may seem like a small matter, but it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. Starwood Preferred Guest offers points earning at hotel restaurants when you aren’t staying, and that’s great. In my home town of DC there’s the J&G Steakhouse at the W and Adour at the St. Regis that are worth visits in their own right. And since my office is right smack next to a Westin, that’s really convenient. Now, I’ll have one of my favorite restaurants in DC as a points-earning option, Blue Duck Tavern at the Park Hyatt.
They’ll be rolling out this benefit at some properties beginning this month, to be chain-wide by August, and with participating hotels updated at hyatt.com/diningandspa. Elite bonus points will apply.
Interestingly, Hyatt says they’ll require a photo ID to earn points. Starwood doesn’t, and you don’t even have to provide your number at a hotel restaurant, you can always forward your receipt later for retro-credit (or the receipts of your friends, hah!). Unlike Starwood, if points don’t post Hyatt says you’ll need to work the issue through the venue where you earned the points rather than through Gold Passport.
I’m a big fan of the earning option. This is a big incentive to choose a Hyatt restaurant, or head over for happy hour. And for those of you choosing a business reimbursable venue, your choice is obvious. Especially when it’s a good venue, like Blue Duck Tavern.
I haven’t yet looked into the redemption rates, though I’m skeptical they’ll be attractive, redeeming airline miles for anything other than airline flights is almost never a good value and redeeming hotel points for anything other than hotel room nights (or transfers to miles for some programs) is almost never a good value. That’s because airlines ‘sell’ award seats at a deep discount, and hotels sell their marginal room nights to their loyalty programs at a deep discount. But when redeeming points for merchandise or for in-hotel charges, the hotel program is effectively just buying the meal or service from the property, and generally not at anything close to a similar discount. I’d love to be wrong on this one.
So go forth and earn, like Starwood (and many don’t know that benefit exists!) you’ll be able to claim points for dining, drinks, etc. as a local or when meeting up out of town at other than your own hotel. More earning options are, of course, better!
TheBeerHunter said,
Very cool option. I like options!
mommypoints said,
Awesome new way to earn points – you are right that the redemption rates are not good. 5,000 Gold Passport points for a $25 credit. No thank you, but I will happily earn extra points using this program.
mark said,
You say: “This is a big incentive to choose a Hyatt restaurant, or head over for happy hour.” Just be careful about earning points for happy hour. Isn’t it illegal to earn points for buying booze in some states? I thought I always read that in the T&C. Not sure….
bbbb said,
This is great but GP has enough problems just getting the points credited correctly for hotel stays.
Gary said,
@mark it does indeed vary by state.
Joe said,
Looks like the link is dead – was this a misfire on their part?
Scott said,
Do you have the link for the Starwood rules/how to credit credit?
Hamurabi2001 said,
Interesting change!
Clicked on your link. URL looks strange. Also cannot find a list of properties (yet). Hope they roll this out internationally…
Hyatt introduces option to earn and redeem points for spas and restaurants - One Mile at a Time said,
[...] But for the hotels that have great restaurants, like the Blue Duck Tavern in Washington that Gary mentions, this is a great [...]
mike said,
I know when I tried to earn points at SPG at the dining option it was a huge pain. Nobody at the hotel resturant knew how to put my SPG number on the bill and I would always have to fax it to SPG and even then they would take their time posting it or end up messing up the posting or worse yet try to persuade me to give the hotel time to post it even though I told them the hotel didn’t even bother to write down my SPG number because they didn’t know how to post points. I hope the Hyatt program has their act in order better than SPG and at least trains the dining staff how to post points.
Hamurabi2001 said,
I never ask SPG restaurants to post the points. I always take the receipt, scan it and email or fax it to the service line of SPG (Plat). This works for me every time and only takes a few moments of my time plus a few days until the points post. To go through each Hyatt restaurant could take long time and could be potentially embarrassing if you are with guests, clients or friends…
Hyatt Hotel Happenings - Mommy Points said,
[...] Another notable Hyatt announcement that was made within the last week was that in the near future Hyatt will be introducing a program similar to the one that Starwood has in place where you can earn Hyatt Gold Passport points for dining at the hotel restaurants without being a registered guest of the hotel. I think that is awesome! Hyatt points are not handed out as freely as some other types of points, so having another way to earn them is a big victory in my book. Hyatt also announced they would be introducing the option to redeem points for restaurant charges, but the redemption rates looked pretty crummy. The rate I saw was 5,000 points for a $25 credit – no way. To me, 5,000 points are often worth at least $100, so there is no way I would redeem them for $25 for food. But, I guess having the option is better than not having the option. Interestingly enough, the Hyatt website that announced some of the details of this upcoming promo is currently not operational. You can read more about this upcoming program at View From the Wing. [...]
A Whole Suite of Starwood Preferred Guest Benefit Improvements Rolling Out March 1 - View from the Wing said,
[...] But Hilton and Priority Club have cash and points now and I anticipate Hyatt will eventually, Hyatt has introduced a similar earn and burn option when not a registered guest, and late checkout benefits have improved (most recently, and significantly, by [...]
Growing List of Eligible Hyatt Hotels for Earning Points for Dining and Spa Services (without being a registered guest) - Mommy Points said,
[...] can read some details of this program at View From the Wing, but in a nutshell this program is designed to work a bit differently than the similar SPG [...]
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