If you hold either of these cards, you will earn an
annual free night certificate on your account anniversary, which can be used at Category 1 through 5 hotel properties.
It offers great value for
redeeming free night certificates or points at some very nice hotels and it's not subject to strict application rules that make getting approved for it much more difficult.
The extension
of free night certificate expiration from 120 to 180 days is great for those members who reach elite tiers and earn these certificates.
There will be cardholders who are still in their first year of card membership and who have therefore not yet had their
first free night certificate.
When looking for free nights at premium properties, it's generally best to focus on cards that
give free night certificates rather than points.
One additional benefit that doesn't fit in with the others is an
extra free night certificate every year you spend $ 10,000 or more on the card.
Many other hotel cards offer
annual free night certificates, but these usually come with a high spending requirement, or your stay is limited to a lower category hotel.
We had booked an award stay,
using free night certificates from our IHG Rewards MasterCard — a great use of the free night during the very expensive New Years Eve!
I recommend if you're doing miles and points in «two player mode» (aka with a spouse or partner) that you should both get the card, and at approximately the same time, so that you can use the anniversary
IHG free night certificates on the same trip
Overall, this isn't a major loss for everyone but it's definitely a big loss for those people who were planning on redeeming
free night certificates at top Hyatt properties, since it's going to take more work to cover two nights at top Hyatt properties.
Update: Chase has changed the annual free night benefit, sending out a letter indicating that annual
free night certificates issued after 5/1/18 will be capped at properties costing up to 40K per night.
Chase is now informing cardholders that if they opened their card between 1/1/18 and 4/5/18 then they would receive the normal
unrestricted free night certificate in the first year.
As a general rule of thumb, sign - up bonuses
offering free night certificates (like the Hyatt Card) offer you the best potential to maximize value by redeeming them at top properties that can go for $ 1,000 or more a night.
Free night certificates awarded via the sign - up bonus of the Hyatt Visa Card or its anniversary night are not eligible nor are other free nights described below.
Personally I've been very lucky here as my card membership year starts on 28 April so I should get my
next free night certificate 4 days before the rules on how the certificate can be used change....
You can
combine free night certificates into one stay (or connect your itineraries) so that you don't have to switch rooms, but you'll need to call in to make such arrangements.
One final thing to note: You can use points to upgrade your room on both paid stays and reward stays (basically like booking a premium room reward) but not on stays
utilizing free night certificates (like those offered during the Q4 promo last fall).
But if you're the sort of person who would let the «anywhere in the world» IHG
free night certificate trick you into booking an expensive stay at one of their properties, instead of one that's far cheaper using Hyatt, Club Carlson, or Hilton points, you may well decide you'd be better off staying away.
In addition to the 5,000 - point authorized user bonus, the 1
free night certificate per year, the automatic Discoverist status, and the category bonuses, Hyatt also advertises the following perks for the Chase Hyatt Credit Card:
For every year you own the Marriott credit card, you will receive one
free night certificate good at any Marriott category 1 - 5 hotel.
My personal recommendation is to use this method when trying to meet minimum spend requirements or achieve another spend requirement (i.e. $ 30K for BA Travel Together ticket, $ 10K HHonors
Reserve free night certificate, etc.).
Phrases with «free night certificate»