Hyatt Diamond Challenge: A Slight Bump, But Almost There!
Svetlana is currently working to complete her Hyatt Diamond Challenge. As a Gold member of Hilton HHonors, she was able to get a status match to Hyatt Diamond for 60 days. During those 60 days, she gets to enjoy Hyatt Diamond status and, if she manages to stay 12 nights during that time, she’ll be keeping Diamond status for all of 2015.
We planned the 12 nights for the Diamond challenge perfectly:
- Two nights at Hyatt House Charlotte Downtown for the MileMadness DO.
- Two nights on a family trip to Park Hyatt Aviara in San Diego.
- Two nights at the Park Hyatt Vienna.
- Six nights at Hyatt Place Kansas – Overland Park paid for with Citi ThankYou points specifically to meet the challenge.
At this point, Svetlana has ten of the twelve nights completed with a two night stay at the Park Hyatt Vienna remaining. However, if she weren’t paying careful attention, things could have gone very wrong!
She got a great deal booking the Park Hyatt Aviara for $223 and using one of four Hyatt Diamond suite upgrade certificates that came with the challenge to upgrade to a Park Suite. The suite would cost another $200 a night after taxes are included. In addition, she paid by redeeming Citi ThankYou points for Hyatt gift checks so the whole stay was paid for with reward points. What happened, however, was that the Park Hyatt Aviara accidentally processed her payment with those gift checks as an award stay. That means no points, no stay credits, no two nights toward the Hyatt Diamond Challenge!
Svetlana gave a call to Hyatt Gold Passport and explained exactly what happened. They confirmed with the hotel and fixed everything no problem, but it was important to pay attention. She now has ten qualifying nights and the Hyatt Diamond Challenge is back on track.
The final two nights of the Challenge will be in Vienna next week in a $1280 a night suite. This will certainly call for a celebration – a European vacation, a brand new hotel, a luxurious suite and the completion of the Hyatt Diamond Challenge!
im awfully curious, what is y’alls day job to be able to travel like this! sign me up please!
What is the purpose of this challenge?
To have Diamond Hyatt status for all our stays through the end of 2015 :)
And what does it give to you?
Have you encountered a situation where a person does a diamond challenge when the 12+ nights are already booked?
That’s no problem. Any 12 nights during the 60 day period will count. You don’t need to book them after you start the challenge.
i’m going to start my hyatt diamond trial next month. i know that points+cash reservations count toward eligible nights in the challenge through your blog. however, i noticed that the cash portion of my res is tacked on with extra taxes/fees. i booked a category 6 for 12.5k pts and $150 cash for 4 days. my total rate comes out to $700, meaning there’s about $100 worth of taxes/fees in addition to the $600 (4 x $150). Is this correct? I don’t recall any bloggers mentioning this when discussing hyatt p+c bookings.
This looks like it may be a resort charge of $25 a night, which points bookings also have to pay. You may be able to get this waived as a Diamond if the front desk is willing to do so, but I’d check with the hotel exactly what the charge is.
I’m staying at the PH Chicago and the fees appear to be state and city taxes. I just wasn’t aware P+C bookings are subject to taxes, unlike pure points award nights.
could you do a write up on how to request a Hyatt Challenge ? thanks
choi, it’s explained in detail here by her: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2014/05/14/hyatt-diamond-challenge-2014/