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Hyatt’s Category 1-4 free night certificates can be earned in several ways, most commonly as an anniversary perk of the Chase World of Hyatt Card, as a 30-night Milestone perk or by spending $15,000/year on the Chase card.
One of the easiest, and perhaps least-noticed, ways to earn Cat 1-4 certs is through World of Hyatt’s Brand Explorer promotion. Brand Explorer allows WOH members to earn category 1-4 certs each time that they stay at five unique brands within WOH’s portfolio.
Hyatt now has 30 brands, so for the first time it’s possible to earn up to six free night certificates through Brand Explorer alone. The reason is that Hyatt’s total number of brands recently increased by two, thanks to the addition of Mr and Mrs Smith as well as the launch of a new brand: Hyatt Studios.
The Deal
- World of Hyatt’s Brand Explorer Program now has 30 total brands, allowing WOH members to receive up to six free category 1-4 certificates.
Terms and Conditions
- This is not an annual benefit, each brand is once-in-a-lifetime. For example, you can stay at 2 different brands in one year and then 3 additional brands in a later year in order to earn a free night.
- No registration required. Any qualifying paid or award stay counts.
- Free night award details:
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- Valid for one night at any category 1-4 Hyatt (including during peak rates). Not valid on all-inclusive properties.
- Valid for one year from when it’s issued. You must complete the stay by the expiration date.
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Quick Thoughts
I’ve always enjoyed the Brand Explorer promotion and am surprised that it’s not emulated by some of the other hotel chains. It provides a gamified incentive to try out brands that I might otherwise not prioritize…in fact, there are times that I’ve specifically chosen a hotel in a given city in order to add it to my BE count.
In case you’ve never seen it before, you can find your total Brand Explorer count under WOH account information, either in the app or on desktop:
As you can see, there’s a lot of possibility here for me. Even though I’m a Globalist and have been staying at Hyatts for years, I only have fifteen total brands. It actually should be higher, but there’s 3-4 brands that I stayed at years ago that aren’t listed, perhaps before Brand Explorer was active. I never thought to look at it then and now no one can find the stays on my account.
There’s a few brands that will be tricky:
- Although Caption is now added, there are only three locations: Memphis, Osaka and Shanghai…a list that defines the word, “random.” There are several more supposedly in the works.
- You’d think that regular Hyatt, being the namesake of the entire brand, would have locations all over the world. That would be incorrect. There’s only 15 left: 5 in India, 1 in France and 9 in the US.
- Hyatt Vacation Club is exclusively a US timeshare brand, with twenty-two locations in the US and Puerto Rico. For members based outside of the US, it can be quite difficult to get there. I have my sights set on The HVC Carmel Highlands, which I’m going to pair with my next trip to Ventana Big Sur.
- Miraval, Ziva and Zilara can also be difficult for members outside of North America, as there’s only three Miravals, three Zilaras and five Zivas…all of them on this continent. There are two new Zilaras and one new Miraval (in Saudi Arabia) on the way. Zilara is actually one of the brands that I’ve been to and isn’t credited, unfortunately.
- UR Cove is a brand that is specific to mainland China. Currently, there are 34 locations, but there are over 30 more in the pipeline and the brand has designs of eventually getting to above 300 locations.
- Ten of the thirty total brands are now all-inclusive. There’s a fair amount of overlap in footprint as well. I don’t find the idea of property-surfing between Caribbean locations of Dreams, Sunscape, Breathless, et al to be terribly tempting.
All in all, its fun to have even more opportunities at a bite of the Brand Explorer apple. It’s a fun and no-risk promotion that can, over time, lead to quite a few free nights with very little effort.
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Bummer that SLH bookings still don’t count for brand explorer.
Yeah, that would certainly be nice!
I’m currently sitting at 12. I’ve picked up a couple of brands using cat 1-4 certs. I might pick up 3 more this year while I’m Globalist and can enjoy the benefits at the higher end brands.
Nice!
@Tim
Wow didn’t realize that so few actual Hyatt’s still existed.
Used to visit the Hyatt Terraces Baguio (RIP) for special occasions as a teenager when I lived in Baguio City. That Hyatt it meet its demise In a 7.7 earthquake in July 1990.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Terraces_Baguio_Hotel
Wow, I had never even heard of that, but fascinating…I’m certainly glad you weren’t there when it happened!
I thought I read somewhere (T&C?) that the Brand Explorer cert can only be earned up to 3 times. Are you you sure you can do it 5 times?
The only reason it used to be confined to 3 was because Hyatt had less brands. You get one for every five. Now that they have more brands, you can earn more. If they hit 30 at some point, you’ll be able to earn 6.
@ Tim — Why anyone would go out of there way to earn these free nights is beyond me. You have your entire life to complete this promotion and then the certificates expire quickly. I almost always end up using Hyatt Cat 1-4 certificates on some lame property, like an airport Hyatt Place because why would I go out of my way to stay at a better Cat. 1-4 hotel and then not be able to confirm an upgrade?. Yawn…
Their not there…
I’d be on your side of the fence if all I got for them was airport Hyatt Places and agree that it doesn’t make much sense for you. I’m usually able to get $250-300+ value out of them, so they’re totally worth it for me…although I wouldn’t arrange a trip simply to grab a new brand or stay at a hotel that I wasn’t interested in either. Different strokes…
Are you sure FNC’s expire within 6 months? I got one in April and it doesn’t expire till next April.
There’s two different types of FNC’s: those that are earned via Chase have 12 months validity. Those that are earned from Hyatt (via Milestone Rewards or Brand Explorer) are only valid for 6 months…drives me nuts.
Tim-
1) per your statement, “there are two new Zilaras, one new Ziva on the way”…can you tell me where these will be located and what the scheduled opening date is?
2) The Now Emerald Cancun, one of the AMR all-inclusive hotels, is showing up to book a stay by redeeming point and a cash purchase (which I assume also EARNS) points. However, it is not listed as part of the Inclusive Collection for use/tracking on the Brand Explorer Awards. Is this one not eligible/participating? The webpage states: “A hotel must participate in World of Hyatt when an eligible stay occurs to be counted toward earning a Brand Explorer award.”
1) Zilara – Puerto Vallarta and Riveria Maya, Ziva – Riveria Cancun (I believe it’s now available for reservations) Check out this site: https://www.hyatt.com/development/explore-hotels/map
2) I’m not certain what’s happening with the Now brand…I’m wondering if it’s going to be folded into one of the others. In the meantime, if it’s not listed in brand explorer, my assumption (and it’s just that), would be that it won’t count.
Thanks for the location info on the upcoming, new Zilara Riviera Maya. FYI, The Ziva Riviera Cancun opened last Fall (Sept/Oct) and is quiet nice.
Update on my chat outreach with WOH…they said that the remaining Now hotel that’s listed/bookable on the Hyatt and AMR website is actually part of the MGM group of hotels. If that’s the case, it’s not publicized anywhere as far as I can see. You are right, that it (The brand) is most likely going away, much like the Reflect Krystal brand; all other Now properties were made into Dreams and there was a disclaimer noticed that I saw somewhere that AMR was still going to manage some things (e.g. sales, mkt. etc.) for it now, but there is no brand presence anymore on either website alluding to it. Would have been a cheap and easy stay to get another brand badge.