One of the hotels I visit most frequently is the Hyatt Place hotel near London’s Heathrow Airport. There’s nothing at all special about this airport hotel except: It is the only Hyatt-branded hotel near Heathrow airport – somewhere I often stay due to overnight layovers It is a Category 1 hotel usually costing 5,000 points per night However I noticed recently that it is now nearly impossible to book an award stay using points. Digging into the possible reasons for this, I noticed that the hotel has reclassified its rooms, so that very few, if any, can be considered as “standard” rooms. (nee ..read more

You can now benefit from World of Hyatt’s latest promotion, “Bonus Journeys”. Note that registration is required by April 30th and you can do that here. Starting with your second stay, you will earn 3,000 bonus points for every two nights (they don’t need to be consecutive) until May 26th. Remember that with Hyatt, reward nights still count for these sort of bonuses. You can earn a maximum of 45,000 bonus points during the promotion. If you have a World of Hyatt credit card, you might also be able to earn an additional 500 points for every 2 nights, depending on where you are staying. B ..read more

Marriott and United Airlines have a “preferred partnership” that has been made slightly more lucrative. When you convert 60,000 Marriott points into United miles, you now receive a 10,000 mile bonus.   What Has Changed? Old Method Previously, Marriott Bonvoy points could be converted at a ratio of 3 Marriott points to 1.1 United miles. You would also earn the standard 5,000 mile bonus when converting exactly 60,000 Marriott points. Because it only ever made sense to convert in chunks of 60,000 Marriott points, conversions of that amount would have become 27,500 United miles. New Method T ..read more

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has made a small, but MAJOR, change to its award chart overnight. Without notice, Flying Club has increased the cost of First Class redemptions on All Nippon Airways from 120,000 Virgin points to 170,000 Virgin points. (both figures on a return basis) Going forward, Flying Club members must pay: Economy return flight (Europe & Central/Eastern USA to Tokyo) – 65,000 Virgin points Economy return flight (Australia & Western USA to Tokyo) – 60,000 Virgin points Business return flight (Europe & Central/Eastern USA to Tokyo) – 95,000 Virgin points Business re ..read more

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is offering a bonus of up to 70% when buying points. You can take advantage of this promotion between now and March 31, 2023. The bonus is tiered – the more you buy, the higher your bonus… Buy 5,000-20,000 points, get a 20% bonus Buy 25,000-60,000 points, get a 30% bonus Buy 70,000-100,000 points, get a 50% bonus Buy 125,000-200,000 points, get a 70% bonus How much do Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points cost? The cost to purchase Flying Club points varies based on where your account is registered: If your account is registered in the United States, you’l ..read more

World of Hyatt has announced its annual award category adjustments. The changes will take effect on March 28, 2023. Although the news isn’t good, it’s worth pausing to remember that no other major hotel chain makes these announcements – because they have already moved to “dynamic award pricing”.  (which allows them to increase award pricing at any time – which they do!) 372 hotels will be changing categories, with 214 hotels moving to a higher category and 158 hotels moving to a lower category. You can find a full list of hotels changing categories here. How Can I Avoid The Increases? A ..read more

With the recent announcement of a Hyatt status challenge aimed at American Airlines elites – click here for details – I am reminded of how easy it is to retain that Explorist status, thanks to the partnership between World of Hyatt and MGM Rewards. If you play your cards right – bad pun intended – you can keep that Explorist status indefinitely… Hacking Hyatt Status from Scratch Step 1 – Obtain Trial Explorist Status If you are approaching things from the perspective of an American Airlines elite member, you can now apply for the Hyatt status challenge. During 90 days, you will enjoy Exploris ..read more

Like many miles & points bloggers, I am a huge fan of World of Hyatt. In particular, I consider Hyatt’s Globalist status to be the only major hotel chain elite status truly worth making an effort to earn. Of course, 60 nights per year in a Hyatt hotel is a tough target to reach, with credit cards of limited help. But because Globalist status is so hard to reach, its benefits remain substantial. 2022 was not a big travel year for me, though, and I came nowhere close to the 60 elite nights needed to retain my Globalist status. Fortunately, I was eligible for a fast track available to America ..read more

International Airlines Group – the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus – has finally concluded a deal to buy 100% of Spanish airline Air Europa. This deal was first announced before the pandemic, although there was substantial political pushback, given the near monopoly it would give IAG of the Spanish domestic market. Iberia, Vueling and Air Europa make up 70-75% of all domestic flights in Spain… But with Air Europa not far from collapse – IAG already purchased 20% of Air Europa’s shares in 2022 via a convertible loan – it looks likely that the deal will be waved ..read more

Roughly two years ago, I wrote that Marriott Bonvoy should just get rid of its “Points Advance” feature. Marriott is finally taking my advice and ending the “Points Advance” feature on March 28, 2023.   What is Points Advance? Points Advance allows members to book an award stay without having the points in their account yet. Members have 60 days from booking or up to 14 days prior to arrival (whichever comes first) to earn enough points to cover an existing Points Advance reservation. At first glance, this is a useful feature. If you’ve booked an award stay several months in advance, you ..read more