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New Hyatt promotions have suddenly made it reasonable to consider booking Hyatt stays even if you have no intention of sleeping there. The objective is to earn bonus points and enough elite nights to get top tier status. This is called mattress running. In this post, my goal is to answer all of your questions about mattress running with Hyatt’s overlapping promos. Many of the Hyatt Mattress Run answers shown below are with thanks to Glennie Janssen, Hyatt’s Associate Manager of Global Communications.
Background
Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion offers triple or quadruple point earnings plus bonus tier qualifying nights. In parallel with that, Hyatt has extended their previous awesome promotion for Free Nights on Sale (up to 25% back and free parking on award stays). Both promotions run until January 4th 2021. Both promotions additionally overlap with the Miraval Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer, Hyatt’s Work from Hyatt (WFH) offer, and the targeted offer to earn 3X American Airlines miles on paid Hyatt stays.
I previously covered the Hyatt mattress running topic in these posts:
- Rocking Hyatt’s overlapping promos. Top tier status is easier than ever.
- A 30 night mattress run?
- Hyatt cash or points? Use the Frequent Miler worksheet.
The key to maximizing the overlapping promotions is this: If you book a qualifying stay that starts in 2020 and ends in 2021 (on or before January 4th), you’ll earn double tier qualifying nights in 2021 for your stay. Therefore, with a 30 night mattress run one can earn top tier 60 night Globalist elite status. And that status will last for more than two years: through Feb 2023.
Of course, most people will want to do less than 30 nights. Those with the World of Hyatt credit card automatically get 5 elite nights each year plus 2 elite nights per $5K of spend. So, you wouldn’t need to get all 60 nights with the mattress run in order to earn elite status next year. My recommendation (if you’re interested in doing this at all) is to estimate how many nights you’ll earn next year through the credit card and actual stays and reduce the number of mattress run nights accordingly.
Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (general)
This section answers questions about Hyatt mattress runs, in general. The next section addresses questions specific to the Bonus Journeys promo.
Q: What are elite nights or “tier qualifying nights”?
Tier qualifying nights are often referred to as “elite nights”. With many hotel chains, you can earn elite status by acquiring a number of tier qualifying elite nights each year. For example, Hyatt requires earning 30 elite nights per year to achieve mid-tier Explorist status, or 60 elite nights for top-tier Globalist status. Additionally, Hyatt offers “Milestone Rewards” which are perks like free lounge access, free nights, bonus points, etc. Milestone Rewards are earned within a calendar year when you achieve 20 elite nights, and every 10 elite nights after that up to 100. Read more about Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide.
Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check in?
Usually yes. Most mattress runs involve physically checking into the hotel. That said, if you’re lucky you may be able to find a hotel manager willing to process your check-in remotely. If so, you may have to fax them a photo of your ID and credit card.
Q: Should I speak with a hotel manager about my plans?
Yes! If you don’t speak with a hotel manager, they may find your room unoccupied and check you out early. If you’re not planning to actually stay at the hotel, then I think it’s critical to explain to hotel management what you want to accomplish and why.
Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check out?
No. You can check out with the Hyatt app or you can simply ignore it and the hotel will automatically check you out.
Q: Do rates with free nights (e.g. 3rd night free) earn elite nights for those free nights?
Hyatt Rep: No. Due to limitations of our program operations system, free nights applicable through a ‘BOGO’ offer, or the likes thereof, would not qualify toward earning Tier Qualifying Night credits.
Greg: I’ve spoken with someone who did the Miraval BOGO offer and says that he did receive elite nights for all nights of his stay. Miraval isn’t as tied in technically with Hyatt as most other brands, so this result might be dependent upon how the stay is keyed in after checkout.
Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (Bonus Journeys Promo)
Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion offers triple points for all eligible spend; quadruple points at select resorts (for Hyatt credit card holders only); and double elite nights, with base elite nights being credited the year in which you check-out and bonus elite nights credited to 2021. To qualify for the promo you must register between Oct 1 and Nov 30, 2020. Offer is valid for stays with check-out between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 4, 2021.
Here are the answers to questions relevant to this promo:
Q: Are there limits to how many bonus points or bonus nights can be earned with this promo?
Hyatt: There is no cap on the amount of nights a member can stay and earn on during this promotion. However, there is a maximum of 150,000 Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotion Period. An additional maximum of 75,000 Bonus Points (for a total of 225,000) may be earned as a Hyatt and World of Hyatt credit cardmember during the Promotion Period for eligible spend at participating resorts.
Greg: If I calculated correctly, the above translates to a cap of $15K spend at Hyatt during the promo period for earning triple or quadruple points.
Q: Which properties qualify for quadruple points?
The property list hasn’t yet been released. We will publish details once the list is available.
Q: Do award stays earn bonus elite nights?
Yes
Q: Do free night certificate stays earn bonus elite nights?
Yes
Q: Do Points + Cash award stays earn bonus elite nights?
Yes
Q: Do bonus elite nights count towards Milestone Rewards?
Yes
Q: Do elite nights earned from World of Hyatt credit card spend earn bonus elite nights?
No
Q: On an award stay, can I earn 3X bonus points for incidentals charged to my room?
Hyatt Rep: Yes, members may earn Bonus Points for eligible incidental spend charged to their guest room for eligible stays during the Promotion Period.
Q: What happens with stays that start before the promo period but where checkout is within the valid dates?
Hyatt Rep: If your first stay begins prior to the Promotion Period but has a checkout date within the Promotion Period, then you can earn Bonus Points on eligible spend and bonus Tier-Qualifying Night credit for that stay, provided you register for the promotion prior to both the registration deadline and checking out of the property on your first stay.
Q: Are bonus credits awarded for a stay that is entirely in 2021?
Yes. Example: If you were to stay Jan 1-4 (3 nights), you would earn a total of 6 tier qualifying nights for 2021.
Q: What happens with stays that span December and January (with checkout by Jan 4th)?
You will earn double elite nights in 2021. Example: If you were to stay December 28, 2020 – January 4, 2021 (7 nights total), you would earn 14 elite nights in 2021 (7 tier qualifying nights + 7 bonus elite nights)
Q: Why did a Hyatt representative tell me that part of my stay would credit to 2020 even though my checkout date is in 2021?
Hyatt Rep: There seems to be miscommunication taking place across our customer care team regarding nights being awarded based on checkout date. We’ve provided them with the updated statement and example below to ensure they are communicating accurate information to inquiring members.
Nights are always awarded based on checkout date. In the chance a member checks-in in 2020 and checks-out in 2021 – the member will earn Tier-Qualifying Night credits based on the checkout date.
For instance, if a member has a stay that spans December 28, 2020 – January 4, 2021 (7 nights total), they would earn based on the checkout date = 7 Tier-Qualifying Nights would be awarded in 2021 and 7 bonus nights would be awarded in 2021.
Q4: Does Hyatt give points and elite night credits for long term stays? [Some chains do not give points or elite credits for stays of 30 nights or longer]
Yes
Hyatt Rep: There is no cap on the amount of nights a member can stay and earn on during this promotion. However, there is a maximum of 150,000 Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotion Period. An additional maximum of 75,000 Bonus Points (for a total of 225,000) may be earned as a Hyatt and World of Hyatt credit cardmember during the Promotion Period for eligible spend at participating resorts.
Q: Award stays longer than 10 nights can’t be booked online. Is there a workaround?
Hyatt Rep: This is due to the number of night limitations to which we can issue an award stay. We issue awards in increments of 10 nights. If a member would like to redeem multiple free night awards for longer than 10 consecutive nights, they should contact the Global Contact Center to assist them in booking multiple awards under one reservation.
Q: If Hyatt strings together multiple point awards into one reservation that spans the new year, when will elite nights be credited?
Hyatt Rep: Since nights are always awarded based on checkout date, those awards under one reservation would be based off of the Jan checkout date, and therefore, earn Tier Qualifying Nights and bonus nights for 2021.
Greg: Some people are understandably nervous about this. The concern is that elite nights for the first increments may be awarded to 2020 rather than 2021. My advice: after booking the stay, contact the hotel and confirm with them that they see it as a single long stay with checkout in January. As long as this is the case, my bet is that this will work as Hyatt has said.
Q: If I earn 60 elite nights early in 2021, how long will my Globalist status last?
Once you reach 60 nights, your status will last for the rest of that year, all of the next, and through February of the year after that. So, in this example your status will last until the end of February 2023.
More Info
Much more info about the Hyatt’s loyalty program can be found in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide:
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Maybe an odd question: I’d be more than happy to stay in a hotel room for free on someone else’s mattress run. Is it possible to book a room for a “friend”? Last month I took a week-long trip to Arizona, stayed in a Hyatt using my points, and I checked in and out on my phone, never talked to a receptionist. Seems like anybody could have stayed in my room.
Yes it is possible and it is done often. The only catch is that Hyatt doesn’t like people doing that so it could be a problem for the account holder if you were somehow caught. Safety tip: account holder should contact hotel directly to let them know that the friend will be arriving first and please allow them to check in. This is important in case mobile check-in doesn’t work.
Has anyone successfully done the ~30 night award stay (multiple awards in one reservation) before? I’d like to pull the trigger on this but it seems like there are a number of places this could fall apart.
I seriously think about doing 30 nights mattress run from Dec 3-Jan 4. I find a hotel at 80/ night in Sunnyvale ( Silicone Valley).
Shall I talk to the hotel about my mattress run?
Could anyone tell me your experience in doing this before?
I’m living in SF, which 30-45 mins away from the hotel I find in SV. It’s not a nice or new hotel so I may not plan to stay.
What I plan is go check in then leave. I will either go back to check out in person or electronically.
Shall I write to the hotel now?
I have heard Hyatt does not like it, and probably would check out the room without informing the guests. Is it true?
The hotel isn’t going to care but you definitely want to talk to the front desk to put a note on the reservation to NOT check you out early!
[…] If I did my calendar math correctly, a person who waits until October 2 to enroll would have until December 31st to complete the 20 elite nights. Unfortunately, the key to maximizing value from the Hyatt’s double elite nights promo is to check out on January 1, 2, 3, or 4. In other words, Hyatt smartly fixed this offer so that you can’t maximize the opportunity to earn double elite nights with the Bonus Journeys promo (see our Hyatt mattress running Q&A for details). […]
[…] Following last week’s posts regarding mattress running Hyatt to earn top tier status, there was a lot of interest and many questions. I did my best to answer the questions here: Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A […]
Hi Greg,
Are you going to come out with another post to talk about where it’d make sense to mattress run? Similar to your Bonvoy post. 0-60 in a Cat 1 and getting Globalist is obviously the most lucrative but that’s probably the most ideal situation. It’d be interesting to see if it’s worth it for other milestones this year (ex. 30, 50, 60).
Also, I’d like to point out that even with double elite night, this is not the most cost effective way to manufacture elite nights? Using an easy low hanging fruit: use the WoH card to pay taxes. The math for that is an elite night is worth $42.50:
$5000 * .019%fee = $95 for 2 nights or $42.50/night
5000 points from spend valued at 1.5 cents is $75.
If my math is correct, it’s better to max out the WoH as much as possible before mattress running with this promo. Obviously, it’s not feasible to get to Globalist just paying taxes on the WoH card but that could significantly change the math on number of nights and significantly reduce the cost of getting status. Baseline, you’d at least look at 11 night for 2021 from WoH and I’d argue that it’s worth calculating how much spend you can float to the IRS in 2021 on the WoH card before booking your mattress run.
I think with the WoH card, the ‘optimal’ value is $15k spend / yearly since you get the free night voucher + 6 EQNs; together with the 5 EQNs from holding the card, that’s already 11 EQNs, thus you’d only need to do a 25-night mattress run this year end. That’s exactly what I’m planning to do as well 🙂
Yep, I wrote this post to help with calculations like these: https://frequentmiler.com/hyatt-elite-nights-worth/
Thanks Greg! Exactly what I was looking for. I tried to figure it out on my own and it was hard to put things into numbers. Your spreadsheet makes it much easier. I guess they don’t call you The Frequent Miler for no reason!
Would this work on a negotiated rate, corporate rate or a AAA rate out of curiosity?
Corporate rates and AAA rates, yes. Some conference rates might not. It all depends whether elite nights are earned on the stay. If so, then you’re good to go.
Is there any way to overlap the 2x elite nights for 2021 with the 3x AA miles?
The 3X AA miles ends 12/31/2020.
If I prepay a Hyatt stay that starts in Dec and ends in, say, Jan 4, 2021 will that trigger the 3x AA miles? Or just forget about the AA miles?
Did I miss something?
Thanks!
I can’t think of any way to do that. Personally I’d sacrifice the AA miles
Is it possible to book multiple simultaneous stays, and collect points for each? For example; I already have a stay booked for the end of the year, in St Louis, from Dec 26 – Jan 3. Could I book another stay at a different Hyatt (or even a second room in the *same* Hyatt) for the same time period, and collect double elite nights?
Definitely not in the same hotel. The rule there is you can earn points for up to three rooms per night, but only stay credits for one room. As for a different hotel, I have the same question posted below.
I don’t think it would work, but I’ll investigate
WoH Concierge on FT just confirmed that this strategy would not work. Rollover nights would indeed go by the dates they happen.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32695546-post109.html
I believe that he’s wrong. I’m working on getting it cleared up.
The Concierge on Flyer Talk just posted an update this afternoon that matches what Greg was reporting:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32698386-post146.html
Thanks for posting this. It’s pretty funny that he wrote that there was a change to the promotion as opposed to admitting that they were previously misinformed about how it would really work.
Greg, yet another example of how FMiler is the definitive blog on manufactured spend and travel!
Some people just won’t admit they made a mistake lol
For stays that begin on Sep 30 thru Oct 31, would the double tier qualifying nights apply? Flyertalk seems to suggest that only starts beginning on Oct 1 applies. Thank you.
I was told that yes the double tier qualifying nights will apply. I don’t have any good way to determine which Hyatt rep is correct about this, but I do know that the person I’ve been communicating with has been checking her answers with others who hopefully know for certain.
I really need to sit down and calculate the costs of doing 60 nights before the EoY for the Milestone Rewards and the 500 pt/night promo for new hotels. I have local hotels that are $60/night and qualify for the new hotel promo. I need to compare it to doing a 30 night stay that goes into 2021 but I would forgo the 500 pt/night promo as that requires that the stay end on 12/30/20.
A different take: If i book an expensive stay that will run over $5k, and I have a WOH card, can I earn enough base points to achieve the $100k required to obtain Globalist status from that one stay during this promo period?
It’s only base points which is 100K/5 = $20K.
If you’re checked in to two different Hyatts at the same time, can you get points for both?
Example: I move into the Ciudad del Carmen Hyatt Place for December 15th to January 3rd registered in my name and my kid’s name, arriving just myself. My kid comes down for the period December 23rd to January 1st, maybe with a friend, and uses that room. During all or part of that time, I relocate to the Villahermosa Hyatt Regency (a Hyatt Regency with a $47 rate!!!), checking out the 1st of January.
I get 19 nights (x2) from the Ciudad del Carmen stay. Would I also get 7 nights (x2) from the Villahermosa stay?
I’m pretty sure that the answer is no. You’re only supposed to get points or elite nights for one night at a time even if you’ve booked at different properties. That said, I don’t know if they’ve coded it correctly for that.
If i my status with Hyatt is ‘Member’ and I decide to stay for 30 nights from dec 2020 to jan 2021, will the points that I get after check out be calculated as a ‘globalist’ (5 points per 1 USD spent plus 30% bonus points) or as a ‘member’ (only 5 points per 1 USD spent)?
Member. You won’t get Globalist status until after you check out and it will then (usually) take at least a few days to update in Hyatt’s system.
Thanks for clarifying! One more question, if i join the Hyatt status challenge for corporate employees that requires 20 nights to get to globalist, does it mean i only need to stay for 10 nights and the remaining 10 nights would be triggered from this promotion?
I think that would work but only if the conditions of the challenge allow you to complete the challenge in January