The free night promotion you have literally YEARS to complete ….. Hyatt Brand Explorer

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When Hyatt Gold Passport relaunched as World of Hyatt, it added an interesting new promotion which generally passes people by. It is called Hyatt Brand Explorer.

The way that Brand Explorer works is that you receive a voucher for a free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt property after staying at five different Hyatt brands.

What is intriguing about this promotion is that there is no time limit for completing it.

The promotion launched on 1st March 2017, so we are now almost five years in. This is what I have achieved so far (click to enlarge):

You will find a similar image when you log in to your own personal World of Hyatt account. It is under the ‘My Awards’ tab on the ‘My Account’ page.

As you can see, I have a ticks for Park Hyatt (multiple Hamburg stays, image below), Hyatt Place (Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga review), Hyatt Regency (Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights review) and Hyatt Centric (Hyatt Centric Madrid review). This only leaves me with one to go.

Getting the 5th one should be easy, because there are still three large Hyatt brands – Grand Hyatt, Hyatt and Andaz – which I haven’t done yet. Even better, redemption stays count.

Here are the detailed terms from the Hyatt site:

Offering a Free Night Award after staying at five unique Hyatt brands is a new benefit for all members of World of Hyatt. All members will start earning toward this new benefit on March 1, 2017.

A member may earn this Free Night Award after paying an Eligible Rate for and completing a stay (of one night or more) at 5 different Hyatt brands: Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, or Hyatt Residence Club. No other brand counts toward earning this award. (Hotels or resorts within The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, while independently branded, will constitute a single Hyatt brand for purposes of earning a 5-Brand Free Night Award.)

For example, a member would earn this Free Night Award after paying an Eligible Rate and completing five one-night stays as follows: one at a Park Hyatt hotel, one at a Grand Hyatt hotel, one at a Hyatt Regency hotel, one at an Andaz hotel, and one at a Hyatt Centric hotel.

What do you get when you hit five brands?

Completing the Brand Explorer award gets you a voucher for a free night in any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel. It is valid for 12 months with the stay to be completed – not just booked – within that period.

Standard reward availability is required in order to use the voucher.

You can in theory earn the Brand Explorer free night twice by staying at 10 different Hyatt brands, but that is difficult unless you live in North America. It is very unlikely you could earn it three times given how tiny and geographically dispersed some of the brands are.

Park Hyatt Hamburg

What is the voucher worth?

I value a World of Hyatt point at 1.2p but that is based on redeeming for in-hotel credit. A free night at a Category 4 Hyatt property is 15,000 points per night on a standard night which I would value at around £150, although you could get lucky and do better.

A free night potentially worth £150 is a decent return on five stays. It isn’t that simple, of course, since the 12 month restriction on using your free night means that you might not maximise the return.

There are some decent hotels in Category 1-4. Click here to see a list of Category 4 hotels. It includes such properties, in Europe, as:

Grand Hyatt Berlin

Hyatt Regency Dusseldorf

Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid

Hyatt Centric Milan

Hotel Reisen Stockholm

Luton Hoo

Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile

Park Hyatt Istanbul

Hyatt Regency Kiev

There are also some decent European hotels in Category 3, including Hyatt Centric Venice, Hyatt Centric Dublin, Hyatt Regency Birmingham and Grand Hyatt Athens.

Conclusion

If you have done any Hyatt stays in the last five years, it is worth having a look at your Brand Explorer chart on the World of Hyatt home page to see how many you have ticked off.

It is a fun and long-term way to, eventually, earn a free night.

World of Hyatt update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion.

New to World of Hyatt? Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Until 30th December, you will receive a 30% discount, equivalent to a 43% bonus, when you buy Hyatt points – click here.

Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

World of Hyatt

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

HPN-HRL says:

2 Nov2 November 05:59

Your 1p valuation for Hyatt points may be reasonable in the UK, but in the US it is usually valued a bit higher, with bloggers like One Mile at a Time and View From the Wing at 1.5 cents (so 1.1 p), and others valuing above that. Some redemptions do far better; I easily found nights at Great Scotland Yard priced at either 550 pounds or 25000 points.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 08:19
  
  In our main article on what Hyatt points are worth, we say 1.2p because you can get that redeeming for in-hotel credit.
  
  I value this voucher lower as it can only be used for a room.
Grant H says:

2 Nov2 November 05:59

Remarkable timing- just used my free night on a Hyatt Centric Waikiki (Honolulu) redemption for Jan 2022. Huge savings as the resort fee is also waived as a globalist perk.

We previously used our cat 4 certificate at the Culloden Hotel & Spa near Belfast but that seems to have been removed from the Small Luxury Hotel group now unfortunately.
Rob H says:

2 Nov2 November 06:57

Any sign of a worldwide Hyatt promo coming up? Have a stay over New Year in London and a dbl pts offer or similar would be nice. Pts are so tough to earn in the UK.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 08:26
  
  Nuffin …. which is a shame as I am keen to use my Amex Hyatt credits.
mr_jetlag says:

2 Nov2 November 07:33

property specific, but there’s a status challenge in Asian hotels right now, 20 nights to Globalist. Hotel has to sign you up and you get Explorist(?) during the challenge period. Currently expires 31st Dec.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 07:40
  
  Pretty sure that’s a global challenge
  - mr_jetlag says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 08:56
    
    could be, but the hyatt bod said I couldn’t enroll directly, via corporate or specific asia hotels only 🤷
Tonei Glavinic says:

2 Nov2 November 08:27

17 brands means you can theoretically get the bonus three times, not two. Though that’s going to be an exceptional feat.
John says:

2 Nov2 November 08:40

Just a little tidbit of extra information. I believe that with stays in the UK and continental Europe, you can tick off up to ten brands:

Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, Unbound Collection, and JdV.

Urcove you can only complete in China. Ziva/Zilara is Mexico, Carribean, and South America only at this point. A Caption has yet to open. Luxury brand Alila has international locations (e.g., Oman) but very few.
For the remaining brands, you gotta stay in the US. (Although I firmly expect Thompson to get quite a few international destinations within the next few years.)
BSI1978 says:

2 Nov2 November 10:15

Rob/Rhys – is your review of the Hyatt Place London City coming soon? Wondering if I have somehow missed it…?
- Rob says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 10:18
  
  Will check if Rhys managed to get down there during my hols.
MKB says:

2 Nov2 November 10:26

I used my free night at Luton Hoo last month, and I liked it a lot. The bedroom decor — Edwardian twee — won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the facilities, service and ambience are excellent. It was everything The Langley wasn’t.
- Chas says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 13:36
  
  I didn’t realise that Luton Hoo was part of Hyatt now – which brand? Did you stay in the main house or the new wing? What how did you find the restaurants (there used to be the main one, in the house, and a more casual one over by the golf centre if it’s still the same). It’s been a long time since I last stayed there, although I did go for afternoon tea a few years ago and the service was shocking…
  - MKB says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 13:53
    
    The base room was in the Country Club building, so a five-minute walk from the main house. Within this, my Globalist status got me a one-category upgrade. At first, I was disappointed at not being in the main house, but I came to realise it was preferable, being next to the spa, pool, Brasserie and two bars.
    
    Service in the Brasserie was a weak point — the staff needed to be chivvied along a bit — but the food was very good. Didn’t try the main restaurant.
    - Chas says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 15:31
      
      Sounds like the service in the Brasserie was similar to that which a friend of mine had there earlier this year when he went for a meal (not staying there) – he said he wouldn’t rush back.
    - Billy P says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 18:47
      
      “my Globalist status got me a one-category upgrade”
      
      All World of Hyatt Members get a one category room upgrade, regardless of tier status.
- Tarmohamed says:
  
  2 Nov2 November 13:44
  
  I’m member at Luton Hoo and just realised it’s part of SLH/Hyatt – everything is branded as Elite Hotels there. Would I be able to add my Hyatt Number to any room bookings made with my Luton hoo member discount?
  - Rob says:
    
    2 Nov2 November 13:56
    
    You need to book through Hyatt to earn points and get status benefits.
    - BSI1978 says:
      
      2 Nov2 November 17:52
      
      Rob – might be worth checking / clarifying this; I am not sure that any status benefits are available even when booking via WOH. Think it is base points for the room ‘only’….?
      - Rob says:
        
        2 Nov2 November 20:27
        
        Yes, apologies. No status benefits.