UPDATE: This method no longer works. Hyatt Gold Passport does not count MGM stays for it’s accelerated Hyatt Diamond Trial Program
First of all folks, my apologies for the lack of recent content but things in my regular day job have been exceptionally busy over the past couple of months as I moved from closing one deal right into the thick of another larger one. This blog is very much a labor of love and when your day-job is taking 60-70 hours per week it becomes a lot harder to keep up!
Anyway over the past couple of months for me the single most interesting piece of news was the fascinating new partnership between Hyatt and the MGM group’s M Life program that allows for reciprocal earning and burning and status across programs. I have to say I have become quite a Vegas fan, we went there last Thanksgiving as a family which was fun and I go there quite regularly for conferences relating to the day job. So I am very happy I will now be able to earn valuable Hyatt points on those trips.
I wanted to highlight a strategy for obtaining Hyatt Diamond status that was first pointed out by Romsdeals. Hyatt offers a Diamond (top level) status challenge as long as you have an equivalent status in a set of competing programs. Those programs include Hilton (Gold or Diamond level) and IHG Priority Club (Platinfum). Note that you can get the required status level with both of those programs just by signing up for a credit card (the Citibank Hilton Reserve and the Chase Priority Club Visa). You can then request a status challenge from Hyatt which basically means having to stay 12 qualifying nights in a 60 day period, and some of the MGM properties have exceptionally cheap nightly rates as highlighted by Romsdeals (in particular Excalibur – which is a comical looking and apparently quite terrible hotel).
Anyway here are some pointers on how to maximize some very cheap stays in Vegas to combine with the Diamond challenge to get top Hyatt status very efficiently:
- Courtesy of the excellent FT thread on discount codes, there are some great rates at MGM properties that include sizable resort credits. Particularly eye catching is Aria Resort at $88 per night with $200 credit. With taxes and resort fees added you can get a two night stay at this awesome new hotel for $253 with $200 back in resort credit that you could use for some nice dining while there.
- From the same thread another great offer for low rates with rates at Excalibur starting as low as $21 per night, which comes out around $40 per night after tax and resort fees
I plan to make use of this one myself. This year more than ever I have been ignoring status levels as the cost of qualifying has far outweighed the benefits in many programs like SPG, and with status available by credit card in many programs, it just did not seem worth it. But Hyatt Diamond status is one of the most valuable out there (at least until they join the devaluation club at some point) and this puts it back within cheap reach. Given some nights I’d probably need to make anyway, I can probably get the status with an incremental $5-600 which would be more than covered by the points earned and additional benefits obtained.
So who’s up for a Vegas do?
