Hyatt’s latest category reshuffling is painful, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hyatt offers the best top-tier elite benefits of any major hotel chain. The problem is that you need to spend 60 nights each year at Hyatt hotels in order to earn and keep top-tier Globalist status. Many of us who want top tier status aren’t likely to actually stay 60 nights per year at Hyatt hotels. That’s where “mattress running” comes in. If you can book nights cheaply enough, it can be worth checking into a hotel just to earn elite qualifying nights. Fortunately, Hyatt’s latest promo makes that possible for people who live near qualifying category 1 hotels.
Hyatt elite status overview
Hyatt’s low and mid-tier elite status levels aren’t very exciting, but top-tier Globalist status is. Top tier status offers free parking on award stays (that’s huge in cities like New York!), free breakfast, waived resort fees on paid stays (all Hyatt members get waived resort fees on award stays), and more.
| Elite Status Level | Requirements Per Year | Key Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Member | Free to Join | Member rates Waived resort fees on award stays SLH Benefits 5-Brand Free Night Award |
| Discoverist | 10 Nights or 25K base points or 3 hosted meetings |
10% point bonus Free Premium Internet Elite check-in Free bottled water 2PM late check-out Earn Hyatt points w/ AA spend |
| Explorist | 30 Nights or 50K base points or 10 hosted meetings |
20% point bonus Match to M life Gold Room Upgrade Fast track to AA elite status |
| Globalist | 60 Nights or 100K base points or 20 hosted meetings |
30% point bonus Waived resort fees on all stays Room upgrade, including suites 4PM late check-out Club access or free breakfast Free parking on award stays Guest of Honor Book awards w/ insufficient points |
| Lifetime Globalist | 1,000,000 Base Points | All of the above |
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 usually 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.
Bonus Journeys Promo
Hyatt’s latest Bonus Journeys promotion offers 3,000 bonus points for every two nights you stay starting with your second stay, as well as 500 bonus points for every two nights you stay in 10 major cities if you’re a Hyatt cardholder. The coolest thing about this promotion is that award stays count. The least cool thing is that you need to complete a stay during the promo period before you’ll earn bonus points.
Key details:
- Register: You must register by April 30, 2023, and then complete your stays between March 20 and May 26, 2023.
- Award stays count: The terms clearly state that both paid and award stays are eligible for this promotion. We reached out to Hyatt to confirm that Points + Cash bookings are eligible too.
- 3,000 bonus points per 2 nights: Beginning on your second eligible stay after registration and during the Promotion Period, you will receive 3,000 Bonus Points for every 2 Eligible Nights at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide, participating MGM Rewards destinations, Small Luxury Hotels of the World (“SLH”) properties, and Lindblad Expeditions.
- 1 stay w/out bonus: You must complete a stay (even a one night stay) between March 20 and May 26 before you’ll start earning bonus points.
- Max 45K bonus Points: A maximum of 45,000 Bonus Points may be earned under this promotion.
- 500 bonus points per 2 nights for Hyatt cardholders: Beginning on your first eligible stay after registration and during the Promotion Period, World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers will receive 500 Bonus Points for every 2 Eligible Nights at participating Hyatt hotels in 10 cities only.
- Participating hotels are in the following areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington D.C. Stephen notes that these areas are much broader than expected: “Baltimore, MD and Bethesda, MD are included as part of Washington D.C., while New York stretches as far north as Shelton, CT and as far south as Princeton, NJ.”
- Find participating hotels here.
- Max 7.5K Bonus Points: A maximum of 7,500 Bonus Points may be earned under this World of Hyatt Consumer and Business Credit Cardmember bonus offer.
- Max 31 elite qualifying nights: The bonus limits described above mean that a maximum of 30 nights will earn bonus points from these promotions. And since you need 1 stay before you’ll start
Mattress Running Award Stays
Hyatt’s category 1 hotels cost only 3,500 points per night off-peak. If you can find a category 1 Hyatt near you that has a lot of off-peak dates during the promo period, then you can earn elite qualifying nights cheaply thanks to the rebate you’ll get from the Bonus Journeys promo.
Below are a few example scenarios and the total cost per tier qualifying night. Each scenario assumes that you start with a 1 night stay so that your following stays will trigger bonus point earnings. Each scenario also assumes that all stays cost 3,500 points per night (i.e. you always book an off-peak category 1 hotel).
Scenario 1: Mattress run 11 nights
- Start with a 1 night stay to trigger future bonuses.
- Cost: 3,500 points.
- Bonus points earned: 0.
- Stay 10 more nights (it doesn’t matter if this is in one or many separate bookings).
- Cost: 35,000 points
- Bonus points earned: 3,000 x 5 = 15,000
- Net point cost: 3,500 + 35,000 – 15,000 = 23,500 points
- Cost per elite night = 23,500 points / 11 nights = 2,136 points per night
- 500 bonus points per 2 nights for Hyatt cardholders. If you have a Hyatt card and if your stays were at eligible Hyatt properties, then you would earn more points:
- Extra bonus points earned: 500 x 5 = 2,500
- Net point cost: 23,500 – 2,500 = 21,000
- Cost per elite night = 21,000 points / 11 nights = 1,909 points per night
Scenario 2: Mattress run 21 nights
- Start with a 1 night stay to trigger future bonuses.
- Cost: 3,500 points.
- Bonus points earned: 0.
- Stay 20 more nights (it doesn’t matter if this is in one or many separate bookings).
- Cost: 70,000 points
- Bonus points earned: 3,000 x 10 = 30,000
- Net point cost: 3,500 + 70,000 – 30,000 = 43,500 points
- Cost per elite night = 43,500 points / 21 nights = 2,071 points per night
- 500 bonus points per 2 nights for Hyatt cardholders. If you have a Hyatt card and if your stays were at eligible Hyatt properties, then you would earn more points:
- Extra bonus points earned: 500 x 10 = 5,000
- Net point cost: 43,500 – 5,000 = 38,500
- Cost per elite night = 38,500 points / 21 nights = 1,833 points per night
Scenario 3: Mattress run 31 nights
- Start with a 1 night stay to trigger future bonuses.
- Cost: 3,500 points.
- Bonus points earned: 0.
- Stay 30 more nights (it doesn’t matter if this is in one or many separate bookings).
- Cost: 105,000 points
- Bonus points earned: 3,000 x 15 = 45,000
- Net point cost: 3,500 + 105,000 – 45,000 = 63,500 points
- Cost per elite night = 63,500 points / 31 nights = 2,048 points per night
- 500 bonus points per 2 nights for Hyatt cardholders. If you have a Hyatt card and if your stays were at eligible Hyatt properties, then you would earn more points:
- Extra bonus points earned: 500 x 15 = 7,500
- Net point cost: 63,500 – 7,500 = 56,000
- Cost per elite night = 56,000 points / 31 nights = 1,806 points per night
Finding Category 1 Off-Peak Hotels
Hyatt has a huge portfolio of category 1 hotels in North America, and you can use this map to find them. Unfortunately, they’re not equally spread out. So, depending upon where you live, you may find it easy or impossible to get to a category 1 hotel (sorry west coasters):
The harder part is finding off-peak dates. In order to see the peak-off-peak calendar, search for a room at a hotel of interest and then click on “Points Calendar”. The check-in dates of interest are the ones marked as 3,500 Points (Off-Peak). Note that the calendar doesn’t show whether or not rooms are actually available.
Watch out for category changes
On March 28th, in the U.S., 24 category 1 hotels will move to category 2, and 9 category 2 hotels will be drop to category 1. For the one’s going up to category 2, you’ll want to book all of your mattress runs before March 28th (even if the actual stays are March 28 or later). For the ones dropping to category 1, you’ll want to make sure not to stay before March 28th. It’s okay to book now, though, since Hyatt will refund the difference when the category drops.
24 category 1 hotels in the U.S. moving to category 2:
Hyatt Place Birmingham / Hoover, Alabama
Hyatt Place Huntsville / Research Park, Alabama
Hyatt Place Rogers / Bentonville, Arkansas
Hyatt House Hartford North / Windsor, Connecticut
Hyatt House Shelton, Connecticut
Hyatt Place Milford / New Haven, Connecticut
Hyatt Place Jacksonville Airport, Florida
Hyatt House Chicago / Oak Brook, Illinois
Hyatt Place Bloomington / Normal, Illinois
Hyatt Regency Deerfield, Illinois
Hyatt Place Lexington, Kentucky
Hyatt Place St. Louis / Chesterfield, Missouri
Hyatt Place Albuquerque Airport, New Mexico
Hyatt Place Albuquerque / Uptown, New Mexico
Hyatt Place Florence / Downtown, South Carolina
Hyatt Place Memphis / Wolfchase Galleria, Tennessee
Hyatt Place Nashville / Hendersonville, Tennessee
Hyatt Place Austin Airport, Texas
Hyatt Place San Antonio-North / Stone Oak, Texas
Hyatt Place San Antonio-Northwest / Medical Center, Texas
Hyatt House Provo / Pleasant Grove, Utah
Hyatt Place Provo, Utah
Hyatt Place Salt Lake City / Lehi, Utah
Hyatt Place Fredericksburg-Mary Washington, Virginia
9 category 2 hotels in the U.S. dropping to category 1:
Hyatt Place at Wichita State University, Kansas
Hyatt Place Minneapolis / Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Hyatt Regency Rochester, New York
Hyatt Place Nashville / Franklin / Cool Springs, Tennessee
Hyatt House Dallas / Frisco, Texas
Hyatt House Dallas / Las Colinas, Texas
Hyatt House Dallas / Lincoln Park, Texas
Hyatt Place Dallas / Grapevine, Texas
Hyatt House Herndon / Reston, Virginia
Is it worth it?
The primary reason to mattress run with Hyatt is to earn Globalist Elite status. You can’t earn all of the required 60 nights with this promo to earn Globalist status, but if you think you’ll earn enough nights throughout the rest of the year to get there, then I think that this could be worth doing. But… it’s only worth doing if you’re confident that you’ll make good use of that status once you get it.
Another reason to consider mattress running is if you need nights to reach the next Milestone Reward. Milestone Rewards start to get interesting once you get to 30 nights and above:
| Elite Nights Earned | Milestone Reward |
|---|---|
| 20 Nights | 2 Club Access Awards |
| 30 Nights | 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night and 2 Club Access Awards |
| 40 Nights | 5K bonus points or $100 Hyatt gift card or 10K Find Experience Savings |
| 50 Nights | 2 Suite Upgrade Awards |
| 60 Nights | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night and 2 Suite Upgrade Awards and Access to My Hyatt Concierge |
| 70, 80, 90, and 100 Nights | 10K Bonus Points or 1 Suite Upgrade Award |
In the scenarios, above, I showed that your net cost per elite night would be around 2,000 points. Because of the requirement to do a one night stay without earning bonus points, the more nights you do after that, the lower the cost per night turns out to be. Still, I find it convenient to simplify the cost as being “around 2K points per elite night”. If you value Hyatt points at 2 cents each, that comes to around $40 per elite night. That’s not bad!
On the other hand, if you have a World of Hyatt card, you can earn elite nights with spend. With the Hyatt consumer card, you can earn 2 elite nights with each $5K spend and with the Hyatt business card you can earn 5 elite nights with each $10K spend. If your “cost of spend” is 2%, then earning elite nights with the consumer card would cost you $50 per night; and the business card would cost you $40 per night. But remember that you earn points with that spend too, so if you value Hyatt points at 2 cents each, the cost of earning elite nights through spend drops to zero. Of course if your cost of spend is substantially higher, that math would change.
Conclusion
Hyatt’s latest promotion makes it possible to earn nights towards elite status for a net cost of around 2,000 Hyatt points per night. This could be a nice way to round out the nights needed to earn top tier status and/or to earn Milestone Rewards. That said, anyone with the ability to put big spend on a World of Hyatt card, would do better to earn elite nights through spend.
FAQ
What are the valid dates of the promotion?
You must register by April 30, 2023, and then complete your stays between March 20 and May 26, 2023.
Do award stays count?
Yep.
Do cash+points stays count?
Yep.
If my first stay is for 3 or more nights, will I earn the promo bonus for that stay?
No. You need to complete a stay during the promo period before ANY nights count towards the promo. Yes: ick. So, ideally you’ll complete a one night stay first. That way, all subsequent stays will count.
What are the limits of the promo?
Limit = 30 bonused nights.
- With the 3K bonus for every 2 nights: A maximum of 45,000 Bonus Points may be earned under this promotion. In other words, you can max this out with 30 nights (after your first stay).
- With the 500 bonus points per 2 nights for Hyatt cardholders: A maximum of 7,500 Bonus Points may be earned under this World of Hyatt Consumer and Business Credit Cardmember bonus offer. In other words, you can max this out with 30 nights.
Do I need to book stays in two-day increments?
No. Starting with your second stay you could (for example) have two separate 1 night stays and you’ll still earn the 3,000 bonus points.
What is a mattress run?
A “mattress run” is where you book a stay just for the rewards earned.
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.
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.
Should I speak with a hotel manager about my plans?
Yes! If you check in, but don’t stay, the hotel staff 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.
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.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Unfortunately there are no 3.5K available to book except for a couple of nights during the promo period in our area, Northern VA.
I’m so happy I no longer have to worry about achieving Globalist status anymore… I achieved lifetime as of 1/1/23…. I strongly agree the top tier benefits for the Hyatt loyalty program is the best!
My math ain’t mathing.
First of all, if you need to toss a 3.5K night just to get the mattress running started, then you probably don’t need status… because you’re not spending enough time in hotels. Let’s assume the first stay would happen anyway and let’s assume away the start up cost. So now it’s a simple 2,000 points per night. I’m assuming away the 10 cities thing as that is very niche. 2,000 points = $30.
I spend $10,000 on my Hyatt biz card and earn $150 of Hyatt points and 5 nights. But I could have earned $262.50 in BofA cash. So I’ve lost $112.50 but earned 5 nights. That’s $22.50/night. I’ll take that over losing 2,000 points. Especially by having to travel to Tijuana for a couple hours.
Can you explain a little more?
Two great minds… Isn’t that exactly the same conclusion as what I wrote?:
“That said, anyone with the ability to put big spend on a World of Hyatt card, would do better to earn elite nights through spend.”
I’m sure the definition of a stay is somewhere, but I can’t find it. Can I do the the first stay in one state, then the *next* night in another state, and that second night/stay starts the promo?
Answering my own question: “Back-to-back nights at the same hotel will be considered one Eligible Stay.” So I should be ok.
I have several kids so we book 2 rooms everywhere we go. I know the second room doesn’t count for tier qualifying but would it count to get the 3k bonus? IE if I book 2 1 night stays together for the same night would I get a 3k bonus?
You only get credit for one room per night under your name.
Please explain when it is best to get the 60th night to regain Globalist for 2023, 2024 (until 02/28/2025), if possible
The Cat 1-7 cert is good for 6 months. So I would time it so you can take advantage of this cert.
You have to earn 60 nights on or prior to 12/31 to keep Globalist.
thank you both!
It makes no difference to when your Globalist status will expire. As long as you get all 60 nights within a calendar year, you’ll get status for the rest of that year, all of the next year, and through Feb of the year after that. The suite upgrade awards that you get at 50 and 60 nights work the same way. The thing that matters, though is the Cat 1-7 cert which is valid for 6 months (180 days) from the date of issuance. So the one reason you may want to wait to complete the 60th night is if you have a good use for the cert that is more than 6 months from now.
Not easy to find consecutive nights at the lower 3500 rate, so to get 10 or 20 nights this way you’d have to book pretty much every Friday or weekend for the next few months. (Also haven’t seen an open ‘Club’ in US hotels for 3 years now, so those ‘awards’ are pretty useless here).
Wah wah my Hyatt status is now hard to get with my MS wah wah, keep crying FM team.
Interesting that the Bonus Journeys FAQ specifically outlines (quoted below) how to spend your 1st night stay to start earning the promo. Fortunately, I had 8 cheap nights at Excalibur MGM already booked during this promo period and plan to book an additional Cat 1 hotel to trigger the promo.
9. I have registered for the promotion and have a stay on March 19 with a checkout on March 20, 2023. Will the night count towards the promotion?
Yes, Eligible Nights completed between March 20 and May 26, 2023, will count toward the promotion. This would count as the first stay needed to start earning. However, it will not earn Bonus Points.
Three Hyatts on the north side of Columbus, OH have some off-peak availability for this period.
It’s worth noting that, in a previous article Greg published, he determined the most economical method for mattress running was using the ink cash to earn 5x points at staples during fee free gift card events. That method is much better than using the Hyatt credit card. It’s much more hassle, but for those looking for the absolute most efficient and effective way to earn qualifying nights, that’s the way to do it.
Earning Hyatt status with your Ink card is next level.
Do you have a link to that article? I tried to find it but wasn’t able too.
https://frequentmiler.com/manufacturing-hyatt-status/
You should update the map in your article for Cat 1 hotels to include Eden Prairie Minnesota. This property will be Cat 1 starting March 28th. Yay for me as this will be where I mattress run 🙂
That would be more work than I’m interested in taking on. The map is directly from Hyatt’s website filtered to category 1.
It can be our secret, Lars. Swing by the Hyatt place, check out United Health, it’ll be amazing.
It’s all good and well assuming you can find a Cat 1 hotel with off-peak dates.
I have 10 hyatts within 1.5 hours of me, and only 1 of them has ANY off-peak nights while this promo is running. And this hotel that does have off-peak nights, has a total of 2 off-peak nights within the promo dates.
True! What area are you looking in? I randomly picked the Atlanta area and found that the one shown in the post had about 18 or 19 days off-peak during the promo period.
I am in NC. It seems like the bigger cities (ATL, Chicago) have some availability during this promo at 3.5k/nt.
Does the hyatt website not yet show the post-March 28 prices?
No, you wont see the new prices until March 28. That’s good because it makes it easy to lock in lower prices now for hotels that are going up.
Could you combine this with a fast track offfer?
Yes that’s a great idea
How do you get the fast track offer?
I talked to a manager of a hotel.
What his email?
I believe that specifically in the UK, you do not need to present ID and can therefore check-in online. The airport hotels are Cat 1 and would also get the cardholder bonus
Good tip. Unfortunately I only see one category 1 there and it doesn’t have any off-peak dates this year.
Great write up Greg! I was initially confused by the first night doesn’t count but now I see.
Question – does MGM stays count?
Yes