One Hyatt Stay Has Changed My Impression Of The Brand

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In 2019, I applied for the World of Hyatt Visa card from Chase. It was my first jump into the Hyatt universe and I was looking forward to using the points I earned from the sign-up bonus along with the free nights provided each year to learn more about Hyatt.

I’d stayed at a few Hyatt properties before, with mixed experiences. We had a stay that exceeded our expectations at a Hyatt Place property, a perfectly acceptable stay at a Hyatt Residence Club in Sedona, and an amazingly disappointing stay at a Hyatt Centric in Key West. For all of those stays, I transferred points from our Chase Ultimate Rewards accounts to make the reservations. Getting a co-brand card and earning Hyatt points was a jump to saying we’d have a use for Hyatt points.

The free nights at a category 1-4 hotel we earned in 2019 for spending $15,000 on the card and the annual free night certificates since we signed up for the card were still sitting in our account. It was in September of this year when I said I tried to like Hyatt but I wasn’t sure if we were a good fit. Since Hyatt has made no indication they would extend free nights earned through the co-brand card past the end of 2021, Sharon and I needed to find a use for 3 free nights at a category 1-4 Hyatt hotel.

I started to look for places nearby where we could make a road trip. This was several months ago, when Delta was rampant in the south, so Sharon suggested we look somewhere where cases were lower. It had been over 18 months since we visited New York City and the area seemed to have a better handle on COVID than we did in Florida.

I found the only category 4 Hyatt hotel in Manhattan (which won’t be a category 4 for much longer, but at the time it was) and booked a three-night stay.

The only (current) category 4 Hyatt hotel in Manhattan is Gild Hall, a Thompson Hotel located in the Financial District. Doing a quick Google search, I found that the hotel is only a few blocks walk from a subway station with links to JFK airport and to the Times Square/Theater District.

While we’d prefer to stay in Midtown Manhattan, we’ve discovered that it’s only a 15-minute subway ride to get from Wall Street to Times Square. That’s almost the same amount of time it takes to walk from Hell’s Kitchen or Penn Station to the theaters.

It only took a few minutes to realize what a goldmine we’d discovered in the Financial District. I let our fellow BoardingArea blogger Ed from Pizza in Motion know how I may have become a Hyatt convert.

I’m starting to understand the appeal of @Hyatt. Maybe @pizzainmotion is right. pic.twitter.com/InZKOqX3bZ

— YourMileageMayVary (@YourMileageVary) December 11, 2021

While we’re usually only looking for a comfortable bed to sleep in when visiting Manhattan to see Broadway shows, this California King was exactly what we needed after a day of walking.

We had a room on the 10th floor, which was plenty high to keep us away from the street noise, while we’ve stayed at hotels in Midtown where we’ve been on the 35th floor and heard sirens all night.

While we would prefer to be able to walk to our hotel from the theater, having to take a 15-minute subway ride to get to our luxury hotel room which was paid for with a free night from the World of Hyatt credit card was a small inconvenience for the value we received.

This one stay at a Thompson Hotel is making me reconsider if I want to break up with Hyatt or if I want to spend $15K on the credit card in 2022 for an additional free night if this is the type of hotel where I’ll be able to redeem a free night.

I have another stay coming up in 2022 which will decide if I’m willing to stick with Hyatt or if I’ll cut ties and only book a room when it makes sense to transfer Chase points.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary