By Shawn Gallagher
World of Hyatt members frequently hear about Category 1-4 free night awards. There are several ways to get them, and you can get some sweet deals by putting some thought into how you redeem them.
Before you immediately book your next Hyatt stay using this award, let’s take a step back and discuss some of the best ways to use them.
How to Get a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award
First, here’s a brief look at the ways you can get yourself a Category 1-4 free night award:
The World of Hyatt Credit Card
The credit card will get you a category 1-4 free night award in a few different ways. First, you’ll get one when you renew your annual membership every year. This is arguably the easiest way to earn this free night award. No spending requirement or anything; just renew the $95 fee.
You can easily book hotels that go for more than $95 a night with your category 1-4 free night award, so it’ll immediately make that annual fee worth it. In addition, you’ll get another free night award when you spend $15,000 or more on the card in a year.
The World of Hyatt credit card will sometimes have a welcome offer with a certain number of category 1-4 free night awards after you meet certain spending requirements. They had one going towards the end of 2024 last year; be on the look out for another one this year, although their regular welcome offer is a good one too.
Related: World of Hyatt Credit Card, a review
Hyatt Brand Explorer
The Hyatt Brand Explorer promotion gets you a free category 1-4 award for every 5 different Hyatt brands. There are no spending or elite status requirements; anybody can stay at 5 different brands and grab a free night.
This is one of the most straightforward ways to get a free night. Just make sure to book directly through Hyatt.
Related: All about Hyatt Brand Explorer, an easy way to earn free Hyatt stays
Milestone Rewards
The Milestone Rewards that are part of the World of Hyatt elite status program also has a Category 1-4 award as part of it. You will get one once you hit 30 nights (or 50,000 base points) in the year, or in other words, once you hit Explorist status.
The rewards do get more appealing as you climb the Milestone Rewards ladder; you’ll start seeing free Category 1-7 awards once you hit 60 nights (Globalist status).
Best Ways to Redeem a Category 1-4 Award
My take on this reward is that it’s more about when you book instead of where you book. Because this award is available for use as long as a hotel has availability, you’ll get much more worth out of your free night booking during a peak season instead of a quiet time of the year.
For example, let’s say that I want to book a stay at the Thompson Washington D.C. to take a trip and see the cherry blossoms in D.C. The bad news for me is that seasonal events tend to up hotel prices. As you can see in the above photo, a night in the beginning of April is going for almost $600.
However, this would be a perfect time to utilize my category 1-4 free night award. The Thompson Washington D.C. is a category 4; I’ll be getting a lot of worth out of my award. I can enjoy my cherry blossoms trip to D.C. without hurting my wallet.
Scenarios like this are when it’s perfect to take advantage of this reward. Seasonal events, large conventions, concerts, sports games, and airport stays are all great times to use them when hotel prices can be higher than usual.
Utilize the “Find Your Hyatt” page
The Find Your Hyatt page is a useful place to search for potential hotel stays based on category. Since we’re restricted up to Category 4 with this award, it’s helpful to be able to see based on location and think about potential properties you could go to using this award.
Bottom Line
The Category 1-4 free night award from Hyatt can offer great value when used correctly. You may not get much out of it for booking a stay during an off-peak time, but utilize it when you have a concert, a seasonal event, or other peak periods and you can enjoy your trip without hurting your wallet.
Featured image by Hyatt.