Do Award Stays Count For Hyatt Brand Explorer Perk?
Hyatt made a lot of changes a year ago when introducing the World of Hyatt program, most of the changes were bad. But they did add in an interesting perk called the Brand Explorer perk.
The Brand Explorer perk awards you 1 free night, at a category 1-4 Hyatt, after you have stayed at 5 unique Hyatt brands. There are 13 Hyatt brands so you can actually earn the award twice.
When Hyatt changed their policy on award stays counting towards status this year I wondered if they would also count towards the Brand Explorer perk.
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UPDATE: It has been confirmed by numerous readers that award stays do count towards the perk!
Hyatt’s Response
I decided to reach out to Hyatt and see what they had to say about it via Twitter. They confirmed that award stays still do not count towards the perk. I took their response at face value and I didn’t really think about it again.
My wife recently got back from the the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. We have always used my account for all of our Hyatt stays so this would be the first time she would be staying under her own account. I booked the room as an award stay. She did charge a small $19 amount back to the room. That was the only charge on the bill outside of the mandatory service fees they charge even on award stays.
I was checking out her account today while reviewing our upcoming stay this weekend and that is when I saw this:
At this point I am confused, the Grand Hyatt is marked as completed. I conferred with Shawn and he is pretty sure he had it happen once before where he was awarded the stay credit towards the perk on an award stay. He can’t remember if he billed anything back to the room or not.
Conclusion
I am still up in the air on this, I have no idea if award stays are supposed to count or not. All that I can say for sure is that they sometimes do but Hyatt says they shouldn’t. A charge back to your room could be the deciding factor on whether or not it works. I should know for sure after our stay this week and I will update the article accordingly.
Until then let me know of your experience with the Brand Explorer perk. Have you received credit for an award stay in the past? And if yes did you charge anything back to the room?
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Explorist only. Stayed at a Hyatt Place (points) Hyatt House (points +cash) and a Hyatt Regency (chase free night in the last month.. No charges to rooms. All 3 posted to brand explorer. And no parking fees or resort fees for the 2 applicalbe stays. Hyatt is my new BFF.
Excellent, thanks!
Is this benefit suppose to renew each year or once you reach ten brands and get two free nights you’re done?
DP: Multi-night Andaz award stay counted, charged about $200 to room.
My understanding is that you can only earn two free nights total, it does not reset/renew. Hope I am wrong though.
I think you are correct.
It is set up as a lifetime achievement award – it does not reset each year.
Got brand credit for an Unbound points stay. Did have to private message Chase to get Hyatt Hotel stay “bonus” points because the hotel ran my food/bev charges as “Hotels and Lodging — Not Elsewhere Classified,” which the Chase offshore braintrust doesn’t know are Hyatt Hotel charges. [Citi had similar problem with Hilton. I expect Amex to be a lot smarter.]
Thanks for the DP
We were short one night for this free award. We stayed on points at Hyatt Zilara a couple of weeks ago. No charges to our room. I was surprised to get an email the following week congratulating me on staying at 5 brands and earning a free night. I had stayed at Hyatt House and Hyatt Place on points the year before and those stays didn’t count. Maybe they really did change it this year.
Awesome – thanks Chelle
Someone else reported that Hyatt on Twitter confirmed award stays would count towards brand explorer.
Interesting – not surprising they told me different since the twitter dept has gone down hill lately
Last week I used a
* credit card anniversary award stay
* 30 night tier award stay from last year.
Spent two nights Hyatt Centric Woodlands. Both award nights counted toward status. One night I did have about $40 charged to the room
I received my brand explorer free night already, solely from award nights. Sucks it wasn’t on last year but it certainly works this year!
Excellent – thanks for the DP
I have received credit for points stays at Hyatt House and Hyatt Place in the past few months.
Awesome thanks! Did you bill anything back to the room?
I actually did not charge anything at either hotel – $0 owed at both hotels upon check out.
Awesome – Thanks Will!