Hyatt Status

January 31, 2011 - Rick

For those of you living on the west coast or anybody with easy access to Hawaii, the Hyatt card offering two free nights after first purchase is a steal in my book, even with the $75 sign up fee.

Granted I am in a suite courtesy of the Diamond status, but here are some sample room rates. A non suite oceanfront room has a AAA rate of $571 per night. The suite adds $200 more. Rack rate is $870 for oceanfront room here.

So my math is 4 nights at $571 = $2,284 (not that we would ever spend that much) for 2-$75 application fees and 2-5 points off your credit score. Somehow I gotta figure how to keep my Hyatt Diamond status. It runs out tomorrow based on my comped status of one year ago. I’ve been told no more status matches available.

Anonymous

For those of us that are awaiting the arrival of the card and have not yet transferred the points, should we hold off or just go ahead and transfer anyway? FYI, I do show that the 60000 points are available to borrow.
Angik Sarkar

Having seen a lot of these families let me assure you, they dont even feel the need for the things you mentioned. They are perfectly happy with a one meal a day, no shoes, no sanitation even. Having worked 2 years in such villages, I realized, sympathy is not what deserve. They deserve to be patted for their courage. They wont even fret if they go without a meal for a day; while our FFs panic over not getting upgrades. Kiva is exactly the type of help they need. To feel sorry for them and donate something to them is to insult their fortitude.

Once again a salute to the FT Kiva team.
Alan aka RecessRampage

I just got my Amex card and it offers me 60,000 advance points. Is the reason you guys are recommending 50,000 transfer only because that only requires the spending of $1,000 (as opposed to additional $10k for the 10,000 pts)?
Anonymous

Haven't got the 30%yet, keeping my eyes open for it but the 50K and the 25K + silver were added with in seconds of transferring the miles. By the time I opened a new browser and logged in to delta account they were already there. I will advise when/If I get the 30% and how long it takes.
Thank you for keeping the Blog going and passing the latest and greatest.
Anonymous

i like your thoughtfulness re the picture.
bunchafool

Rick,
I appreciate your realistic and pragmatic approach to this site! The fact that you remind us how grateful we should be and to not take too much for granted is spot on. Asides our charity its also our duty to impart these qualities onto our kids….We can tell that you have done a good job at that end too. keep up the good work hope to run into you some day.
2mg of FT

thanks for laying out the DL AMEX play. Waiting for my card to set it into action.
Anonymous

How long between card approval and card being mailed to you for the people who already have it?
gtg007w

So I applied for both personal and business previously to take advantage of the 45k Gold offer right before the New Year, I'm pretty much on course to get 90k through the 2 cards. Is it too soon to try to apply for this Platinum card to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to get silver and 90k additional miles? Anyone have any thoughts?
Denis L

I absolutely agree with Angik Sarkar that instead of being grateful for all we have we should be pitiful for making our internal happiness depend on our FF status, number of miles flown and proximity of airport to our home.
Let's face this inconvenient truth – the entire American culture is focused on burning our own lives and the brighter we burn them, the cooler we think we're.
I was fortunate to meet people in my life that are probably not even aware that FF miles ever exist yet I truly envy their internal sense of peace and happiness. Without second thought I would exchange all FF miles I have earned and will ever earn for what these people have within.
Chris G

gtg007w,
I got a personal and business Delta card at the end of last year and had considered NOT applying for the platinum because of the recent cards. I also have an SPG and Gold card with AMEX. After thinking it over for a bit, I applied for the platinum and was instantly approved. I am going to go ahead and transfer the points regardless of whether or not the 30% Delta bonus works. I made screenshots, but I doubt that will hold up in Delta court.
David Pitkin

How does it work if you are without the 30% stack? Still a worthwhile deal?
Alan aka RecessRampage

David, without the 30%, you're just missing 15k miles (and based on valuation, $150). Clearly still worth it. 30% is just the icing on the cake, not the deal maker/breaker.
2mg of FT

For those of us that are awaiting the arrival of the card and have not yet transferred the points, should we hold off or just go ahead and transfer anyway? FYI, I do show that the 60000 points are available to borrow.

Anonymous, how are the available to borrow?
BobbyM

John – you are correct – wait for the card to arrive and then "borrow" miles. If you have a past relationship with Amex, you can do this instantly either by calling in or online.
2mg of FT

If you have a past relationship with Amex, you can do this instantly either by calling in or online.

I think you have to have a specific type of card, yes? I have a DL-branded card and it wouldn't allow me to get points.
gtg007w

I have accumulated close to about 10k points (at least by the next billing cycle) for Member Rewards using the Gold that I got at the end of 2010.

I'm guessing that if I sign up for Platinum, I might as well 'advance' 60k since I'll get 50k from the Platinum and tack on the 10k I have from my Gold anyway, right?

I'm sure that alone is worth the 50% bonus (will end up with 90k, the original 80% bonus estimate), if the 30% bonus can be combined, all the better!
BobbyM

2mg – you are right – you need to have an Amex MR Plat card to do this transfer. Your DL branded Amex cards will not work since they do not accumulate MR points – they accumulate DL SkyMiles directly.

My point was that *after* you get the MR Plat card, you will have an opportunity to borrow upto 60,000 MR points only if you have had a past relationship with Amex. If not, you have to wait 6 months to build that relationship to be able to borrow the MRs. In which case you might as well spend the $1K quickly and get the 50,000 MR points and then transfer them – all this in the 3 months time frame (US Mint purchase should do the trick).

gtg007w – Your calculations are correct. However be sure that you make one and only one transaction of the 60K MR points – not two of 50K, 10K. This promo is valid for only one transaction. Combining your Gold and Plat MR points would be the trick. Also – you should have not had any history of MR transfers to Delta.
Roy

I got instantly approved for the AMEX Plat card. However, when I tried to go to Member Rewards the website has been down all night probably due to the severe weather conditions in the mid-west.

I have a long standing relationship with AMEX so I called Customer Relations and actually had to have the representative call Memeber Rewards twice to confirm that I had the ability to borrow the 60,000 MR points immediately.

However, they are not able to transfer the points until the card is recognized by the Member Rewards system.

So I will try again tomorrow and report back.

Hyatt Status

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