Mattress running Hyatt’s Q2 2023 promo

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.

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:

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.

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