Private dining at Park Hyatt Maldives at the rooftop terrace

Finally Going for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge

ByThe Miles Professor

One of my favorite parts about the Hyatt program is being able do the Diamond Challenge. With the Hyatt Diamond Challenge, you are given full Hyatt Diamond status for 60 days. You get to keep the status if you stay 12 nights within those 60 days. The best part is that if you sign up for the status after May 1 and meet the challenge requirements, you will keep it until February of 2016. Svetlana just signed up for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge and definitely has plans to go for it. That way, we’ll be able to enjoy full Diamond benefits when we stay at the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires later this year.

Private hot tub at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells
Private hot tub at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells in our two bedroom villa suite!

Hyatt Diamond Benefits

There are some really amazing Hyatt Diamond benefits:

  • Best available room upon arrival, excluding suites.
  • Exclusive access to the Regency Club or Grand Club lounge featuringcomplimentary continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres. Daily complimentary full breakfast in hotels without a club lounge.
  • Complimentary internet access.
  • Welcome bonus point amenity (1,000 points in North America).
  • Four annual confirmed suite upgrades on paid stays up to 7 nights (Yes, you get these with the Challenge!).
  • 1.5 extra Hyatt Gold Passport point earned per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels (on top of the usual 5 points per dollar)
  • Extra 1,000 points per night for the first 6 nights during the challenge 60 day period.
The $46 breakfast I had at the Andaz Maui for free with Diamond status
The $46 breakfast I had at the Andaz Maui for free with Diamond status

Getting the Hyatt Diamond Challenge

To get the Hyatt Diamond status, all she had to do was send an email to goldpassport@hyatt.com with a screenshot of her Hilton Gold status and statement showing a few stays and ask to be matched to the Hyatt Diamond Challenge. Within 24 hours, she received a reply stating the terms of the Hyatt Diamond challenge match and was asked to accept.

Hyatt will match status from competing hotels with an equivalent status. This includes Hilton Gold/Diamond, Marriott Gold/Platinum, Priority Club Platinum and Starwood Platinum. The easiest way to earn one of these comparable statuses is to sign up for the

It offers Hilton Gold status as long as you hold the card as well as two free weekend nights (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) in any Hilton property worldwide as soon as you spend $2,500 on the card. I personally used mine at the Hilton Bentley South Beach Miami last October, a hotel right in South Beach that otherwise would have cost $700 a night for the one bedroom suite we got.

Qualifying for Diamond: The Plan

Last year, I signed up for the Diamond Challenge myself, but decided not to go for it. Although I enjoyed all the breakfasts and benefits, I just wasn’t staying 12 nights in Hyatt properties and would have had to book some extra stays just for the challenge. That was expensive and I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it.

However, this year is different. We realized we can redeem Citi ThankYou points for Hyatt gift checks to pay for stays (10,000 points = $100 gift check). She will have to book some extra stays, but she happens to be visiting her parents in Kansas during the challenge period. Hotels are very cheap there and she plans to check in for a 6 night stay costing about $550 after the room taxes.

So here’s the full plan for the 12 nights:

  • We both just attending the Mile Madness Charlotte Seminar in North Carolina and spent two nights at the Hyatt House Charlotte City Center. It was a very nice property and we definitely enjoyed staying there.
  • She’ll be checking in for six nights at a Hyatt Place in Overland Park, Kansas. This will cost $550, but we figure it’s worth it.
  • Svetlana is going on a family trip to San Diego and will spend two nights at the Park Hyatt Aviara near San Diego.
  • At the end of my family trip to Prague and Vienna, Svetlana is meeting me in Vienna. I am going to be staying at the brand new Park Hyatt Vienna opening in June for five nights. The first three were booked with suite certificates and the last two were using the 12,500 Hyatt Gold Passport points + $150 rate, which is eligible for the challenge. She is going to use one of her four Diamond suite upgrades to upgrade to a suite!

She is going to be using 55,000 Citi ThankYou points extra to earn the status… but I’ll help out with some of that, of course, as I’ll be benefiting from the Diamond status as well. Svetlana already has six nights planned in Buenos Aires. If she ends up staying just 14 nights at a Hyatt next year, then that’s 20 nights. Paying now just under 3,000 points for each night of status later on is well worth it… we’ll have complimentary breakfast, complimentary internet, plus four more Diamond suite upgrades.

Anyone else doing the Hyatt Diamond Challenge this year?

31 Comments

  1. How can you apply for Diamond trial again? I thought it was a once in a lifetime trial.

    2. Hyatt Diamond Challenge offer technically changes every year. When the new challenge period begins (this year it started from May 1st), you may receive a challenge if you qualify even if you have already received one in the past.

  3. Hey, hoping MP or anyone that has experience can answer. Do the benefits of Diamond status cover more than one room if you book it? 2 rooms, 3 rooms, is there a limit?

    And the benefits cover both paid and award stays, right? Except that you can’t use the suite upgrades on award stays, only cash and cash and points stays.

    Did I cover it all?!?

    1. You’re correct on the Diamond suite upgrades – only on stays that earn points (so third party booking sites often don’t count). Not on award stays. In terms of benefits for multiple rooms, it’s only technically covered according to the program in the room of the Diamond member. However, hotels have the discretion to provide benefits to both rooms – The Andaz Maui did when I was there last December :)

  4. Oh one more thing, do you get to keep the suite upgrades after the 60 days even if you don’t complete the challenge?

    Thanks

  5. Awesome post TMP!! I am planning to go for the diamond trial in Sept. I hope it’ll still be around then so crossing fingers! I will be in Hawaii and would like to stay at the Andaz Maui. Your review inspired me! I know you can’t use the suite upgrades on awards, but can you use them on the two free nights you get for opening the CC? Also, I just want to confirm that we no longer get the two free nights in a suite if we open a CC if we are diamond? I’m trying to figure out when to apply for the CC.

    One last question, can I book my hotel first and apply the suite upgrade afterwards or I need to do it at the same time? Thanks so much =)

    1. Unfortunately, the two free nights from the credit cards are the same as award nights and not eligible for the upgrades. As of sometime last year (I believe September), the Chase Hyatt credit card offers two nights in a regular room, not a suite… though that was a nice perk :) I loved the Andaz Maui and cannot say enough good things about it. An absolutely amazing hotel in an absolutely amazing location!

      1. Awww boo, that sucks the two free nights are like award nights =( That sucks too that the two free nights are just regular rooms now. It’s okay, I will make the most of it. I plan to use them at Park Hyatt Tokyo next year along with diamond status (I hope). I thought about using the two free nights at Andaz Maui, but I figure I’ll get more value out of them if I used them at Park Hyatt Tokyo since I need to meet the 12 nights min requirement anyway when I am in Hawaii.

  6. Why not use points and cash for all 5 nights in Vienna and then apply one suite upgrade cert for all 5 nights? That Vienna hotel looks nice, too. And, so I can be clear, you receive 4 upgrade certs this year AND 4 upgrade certs next year, in addition? One more quest., none of the Park Hyatt’s have executive lounges?

    1. That was also an option, you’re absolutely right! However, the free suite nights do expire in August and the hotel in Vienna is the most expensive hotel I’ll be staying in before then. The first two suite night awards actually belong to my parents and this is the only Hyatt they’re visiting this year.

      I’ve only stayed at one Park Hyatt and there was no lounge. I know none of the Andaz have a lounge. Yes, basically, if she qualifies for the status, she’ll get another set of four Diamond suite upgrades next year. Not bad for spending just 12 nights!

  7. You will love the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires. We stayed there 5 nights in our recent trip to Argentina. We even got an upgrade. Also thinking about going for the Diamond trial since in November well be staying mostly in Hyatt properties in our trip to Asia!

  8. I booked 2 rooms at Hyatt Regency Hong Kong using my Hyatt account since 4 of us will be staying there. Could I apply suites upgrade to both rooms, using just one voucher?

  10. I did the Diamond Challenge with $19 nights at Excalibur (they wouldn’t take off the $20 resort fee) and never stayed in the room. I had to do three Monday-Thursday periods between Thanksgiving and Christmas , which is the slowest time of the year. They honored it because it was before they said they were excluding MGM hotel stays from the trial, but I screwed up and ended up with only about 6 months as a Diamond. I think I would have gotten almost another year if I had done it earlier.
    Just one suite upgrade was worth it. I ended up with 3 at Feb 28 and booked Hyatt Ziva in Cabo, an all-inclusive, and ate there only for breakfast (Food is average,but you might consider it the best vacation of your life if you are from a a small farm town).
    The upgrade at the Park Hyatt in S Korea was def worth it and I wish I had realized I’d end up in The Maldives a few months later.
    So, if you live in Southern cal , this could be a fly in, spend a weekend, fly out strategy and just pay for fri and Saturday . It was $59 or $79.

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  12. Hi, just curious. I have the Hilton Reserve, and got my Hilton Gold Membership card. It shows the card expires in 2016. If I can cancel my Hilton Reserve today, will I still have Hilton Gold till 2016?

    Thanks.

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  17. I was just in Vienna a few weeks ago for the Lifeball. I went by the Park Hyatt in Vienna. Vienna has many top hotels in the 4-5 star category. I was at Le Meridien and Hotel Imperial. I am SPG Diamond so I did ok once I had a chat with the manager at Le Meridien. They tried to jam me up. I am thinking about the Diamond challenge because it would carry into 2016. I was in the Park Hyatt as a Diamond with a monster suite. I was not a Diamond at the time though.
    It was the most amazing stay in my life!!! 1500 square feet of luxury. I miss the Wienerschitzel. That was my second stay in Vienna in the past year. The cake there is great. And the Vienna hot dog…WOW.

  18. Are points & cash still available? I was looking into booking several hotels and it doesn’t seem like an option. Hopefully this isn’t one of the “changes” they were implementing

    1. Points & Cash is still available and can be a great deal :) The one unfortunate thing is you can’t see availability online and cannot book online. You have to call customer service for that, but hopefully they’ll have the dates you want!

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