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A reader commented on a post over the weekend with a piece of information that was news to me: Hyatt offers a family plan rate that includes up to 50% off a second room when you reserve a second room for children 18 years old or under. What’s more, our reader claimed it could be applied to rates like AAA — and this appears to be true. Unfortunately, you won’t earn Hyatt points on the 2nd room, but you will still be eligible for points/elite credit on the first room and items charged to your room. Furthermore, it looks like this rate can be used with award stays.
Hyatt Family Rate
According to the Hyatt website, the Family Vacations Plan offers “up to a 50% discount on a second guest room for the kids”. The catch is that you need to call in for the discount at 1-800-55-HYATT.
Reader Greg Z’s comment was about a straight half off the price of the second room, though as you can see the terms state “up to 50% off”. I tried to test this out by calling for a reservation for the same dates that Greg used as an example in yesterday morning’s post about the booking the 4th night free online vs over the phone. Unfortunately, the Hyatt he used in that example did not have any Hyatt family plan rates available for those dates. In fact, I asked the agent about any other dates and she said that she did not see the family rate available at any point on the schedule at that property. However, I called on another hotel and was successful in finding a discount.
Hyatt Regency Monterrey example
I was looking for availability at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands that Greg has reviewed before, but came up empty on my first few searches. I settled on dates in September for the Hyatt Regency Monterrey Hotel & Spa on Del Monte Golf Course as an example property. I looked up a 4-night stay from September 6th-10th, 2017 and found these rates:
As you can see, the AAA rate, which can be canceled up to 48hrs in advance, is equal in price to the non-refundable Advance Purchase rate and $10 less expensive than the Member Rate. I called and asked about a Family Rate for the same dates and was quoted the following:
Room #1: $179.10 per night (plus taxes and fees)
Room #2: $139.30 per night (plus taxes and fees)
As you can see, that’s not half off on the second room. More precisely, it’s about 22.2% off of the AAA rate for the second room. That’s definitely not as good as I’d hoped, but it sure beats paying full price. It’s worth noting that according to this old Flyertalk thread, the discounted room can only have children registered in it. It’s also worth noting that I called more than once and verified that the rate was the same whether for 2 adults and 2 children or 3 children. Over the course of four nights, the savings on the second room is $159.20. The downside is that the second room will not earn Hyatt points on the room rate. According to the old Flyertalk thread, food and other charges made to the room can earn Hyatt points (provided they would normally earn points).
How to maximize it
There are two ways I would consider maximizing this family rate.
Option #1: Combine with 4th night free
The first choice that comes to mind is to combine the family rate with a Citi Prestige 4th night free booking via the Prestige Concierge (see our Complete Guide to Citi Prestige 4th Night Free for more information on how to do so). When booking via the Prestige Concierge, you should be able to attach the AAA discount. After you make your booking with the Prestige Concierge, I would try to call Hyatt and see if they would attach the family rate to the existing booking that you made through the Prestige Concierge. While we haven’t tried it, Greg and I suspect it would probably work since we know that the second room family rate discount can apply to a AAA rate. Assuming that works, you would get back $179.10 from your Citi prestige card and save $159.20 over the full cost of your second room — nearly getting a second 4th night free benefit out of the family plan room.
While the savings may not be amazing in that specific circumstance, I imagine that Greg Z has found some instances where the family rate is more competitive. You might do much better — though saving $338.30 between the Citi 4th night free and the family rate isn’t bad compared to paying the AAA rate for both rooms.
Option #2: Combine an award stay reservation with the family rate
Interestingly, in the Flyertalk thread, the Hyatt rep confirmed (several years ago) that this rate is valid at most Hyatts worldwide (excluding Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites, a brand they’ve since discontinued in favor of Hyatt House, which may still be excluded). They go on to also confirm (in the second response below) that the family plan rate can be used in conjunction with award stays.
That sounded a little too good to be true — and the thread is nearly 7 years old. I called Hyatt to confirm whether or not this is correct. The phone rep told me no — he said that the family rate can not be booked in conjunction with an award stay. However, I wasn’t convinced that the rep with whom I spoke was sure — he stayed firm that it couldn’t be used with an award stay, but I got the feeling that he was saying what he thought made sense rather than what he knew to be true. I got on Twitter and contacted the Hyatt Concierge for more information. This was our exchange:
While I’ve had phone reps give me incorrect information before, the Hyatt Concierge on Twitter hasn’t failed me yet. Based on the Flyertalk thread and the Hyatt Concierge response, I feel confident that the family rate can be applied to award stays. You may have to HUCA (Hang up, Call again) if the first rep tells you no. However, I expect it can be done. Greg recently wrote about the challenge of hotel booking for three in London — this trick could certainly come in handy in Europe.
Bottom Line
If you already have a family vacation planned and were going to require two rooms, it’s certainly worth calling to ask about the family plan rate. I don’t know if it was due to my Globalist status, but each time I called (and I called several times), a representative picked up within 20 seconds of completing the automated menu with the name of the hotel, check-in date, number of nights, and number of people. It was very efficient — I don’t think I spent more than 3 minutes on the phone with each call. I can’t guarantee amazing savings, but if you’re traveling with a family, every little bit counts.
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Do you think its worth trying to get this discount for group family travel where the kids don’t need separate rooms but we’d still like the discount? So, 6 moms are traveling with our kids. We need 6 rooms, but we could get 3 for 50% off if we register the adults in the first 3 rooms and the kids in the second 3 (even though we intend to stay with our own kids)
I think the discount exists to make family travel more affordable, which is what you’re trying to do. Makes sense to me.
Do you know if the resort fees are waived on the second room at resorts that charge them? We have a stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar and instead of booking two rooms online, I would love to take advantage of this perk.
Oh wow! Great plan. I had two rooms booked at a points and cash rate (headed to PH Mallorca) and was able to get a 2nd rm at the family rate for the same as only the cash portion on points n cash rate. Nice little rebate.
Awesome. I have a stay booked there as well, but just one room. Definitely looking forward to it. That’s an awesome deal you got on the second room.
So how old can the kids be? Say a couple is traveling with their 29-year old daughter and her husband. Would this fly?
[…] Hyatt has a ‘family rate plan’ up to 50% off a second room at many hotels, and it should be usable in conjunction with award stays too. […]
Nice post
I wonder if there is a minimum age for the kids to book that second room? We can really use that second room at half off! But my kids will only be 3.5 years old and 1 year old. Lol
Thanks for the article! I called and was able to convert my reservation for two club level rooms at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch for three nights at 72,000 points total. The new Family Rate booking is for 36,000 points for one room, and $524.43 ($149.50 a night) for the kids room. I am getting 3.27 cents per UR point this way! More info here:
http://www.derpreport.com/2017/07/26/hyatt-family-rate-with-points/
Thanks for the tip!
Awesome! Glad it worked out so well – sounds like you did great on that.
I’m trying to think how this would work. I hadn’t realized that kids could even have their own hotel room without a parent. Would the rooms be connecting, or is this intended for families with responsible teenagers?
In the example I used, they said it would be connecting rooms. I would assume a hotel wouldn’t intentionally split you up when they see the guest ages on the reservation (though it wouldn’t hurt to email the hotel a couple of times during the week of arrival to be sure they keep connecting rooms blocked off for you). They ask the children’s ages when making the reservation, so I imagine it is common practice to keep the rooms connecting. I’d certainly ask when calling to make the reservation.
I would hope so, but we always request connecting rooms and only manage to get them about 30% of the time. Guess we’ll have to give Hyatt a try!
@ Nick — Very helpful info. Fortunately, it is no use to me 🙂 , but good to know!
Thanks for the shout out on my comment from the weekend! I must have had the same Hyatt rep. as you when I tried to do this in conjunction with an award night a couple of years ago that said “no”. 🙂
I currently have a family rate stay booked at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. I have a family of four, but the hotel does not have a standard room that accommodates four. So I gave them a call and asked. The Customer Service Rep would not let me book it with a points reservation, but did let me book it with a cash+points reservation.
1st room is $75 + 6,000 points per night. 2nd room is $114 per night. Given my stay is between Christmas and New Years, I thought this to be a decent rate for two rooms. Current prepaid rate for one room is $200 a night.