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Travel to Europe, especially during the peak summer season, can be a costly endeavor. However, leveraging travel rewards whenever possible can offset the costs, sometimes significantly.
On a recent July trip to the English countryside, I was able to spend a weekend at a historic estate about two hours west of London using Hyatt travel rewards and a credit card benefit. My out-of-pocket costs for the room for two nights? Zero dollars.
No, this was not your cookie-cutter Hyatt Regency or roadside Hyatt Place. Instead, I checked in to a boutique Small Luxury Hotel (SLH) in a quaint town with rolling hills and pastoral farms. And I have two things to thank for it: Hyatt’s partnership with SLH and a benefit of my World of Hyatt Credit Card.
Here’s how my two-night stay at The Retreat at Elcot Park, a Hyatt SLH hotel, was entirely covered using travel rewards.
Booking boutique hotels using Hyatt points
One of the more unique — and frankly, overlooked — partnerships that Hyatt has is with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH). While not a brand in the traditional sense, SLH is a collection of independent boutique hotels that offer elevated amenities for all World of Hyatt members, even if you don’t have elite status.
Currently, Hyatt has collaborations with over 200 SLH properties around the world. In Europe, these can include everything from stately castles to extravagant châteaus to historic estates. Hyatt members are able to not only redeem points and awards at these properties but can also earn rewards when paying with cash (or charging incidentals to the room) when you book your stay through Hyatt.
While I’m a top-tier World of Hyatt Globalist elite, you cannot take advantage of elite benefits at SLH properties. Instead, all members — yes, even those who joined without spending a single night at Hyatt — receive exclusive privileges, including complimentary continental breakfast for two, free Wi-Fi, early check-in, late checkout and a room upgrade (all based on availability). To take advantage, you must book through Hyatt’s website.
Best of all, SLH significantly improves Hyatt’s relatively small hotel footprint in many parts of the world, Europe included.
Using a free night certificate and points
Hyatt’s partnership with SLH might sound great in theory, but how about a real-world example of booking a stay? First, let’s lay a bit of the groundwork from both a hotel planning and travel-rewards booking perspective.
On the hotel planning side, my travel companion and I wanted to find a rural English property where we could immerse ourselves in the patchwork hills and winding country roads the region is best known for. It needed to be within driving distance of London, our next destination, as well as within an hour’s drive of at least an attraction or two.
On the travel rewards front, I’m an avid World of Hyatt member and the $95-per-year World of Hyatt Credit Card has a place near the front of my wallet.
One big perk of this credit card is a free night certificate for a Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel that’s awarded on the card member’s anniversary. That can be used at any property in the world, including an SLH, so long it’s a Category 1-4 and has standard room availability.
Since I passed the yearly anniversary of my Hyatt credit card in March, this certificate was active in my account. Great, so that’s one night right there. But what about the second?
With a number of actual stays and spending on my Hyatt credit card in 2023, I also have over 30 Hyatt elite nights accumulated. At the 30-night mark, Hyatt awards members — you guessed it — receive another Category 1-4 free night certificate. By combining these two certificates, my complimentary weekend stay was born.
Why the Retreat at Elcot Park
The Retreat is a reimagined 18th-century country house and hotel with gorgeous grounds, two on-site restaurants, a full-service spa and two pools — all in the heart of the rolling West Berkshire countryside. While a rental car is needed to explore this area, you have iconic sights like Stonehenge and the thermal-spring-fed town of Bath less than an hour’s drive away.
Even better, this SLH property is a Hyatt Category 4 hotel. That meant, instead of spending nearly $300 per night, I was able to redeem both my Category 1-4 free night certificates. No additional taxes, fees or service charges on top. That’s nearly $600 in savings in one fell swoop.
If you don’t have a Hyatt free night certificate available, you can book a night at the Retreat at Elcot Park for as few as 12,000 World of Hyatt points on off-peak dates.
In a world where it’s increasingly hard to use Hyatt’s Category 1-4 certificate (thanks to yearly changes to where hotels are positioned), there are still SLH gems like the Retreat. The only issue? You have to seek them out on Hyatt’s website, as SLH properties are more under the radar than your average Hyatt stay.
How to earn World of Hyatt points
If you’re looking to earn World of Hyatt points, there are two proprietary credit cards to consider:
- World of Hyatt Credit Card.
- World of Hyatt Business Credit Card.
Alternatively, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Bilt Rewards points to World of Hyatt. Both programs transfer to Hyatt quickly at a 1:1 transfer ratio, so 15,000 Chase or Bilt Points are equal to 15,000 Hyatt points. Some cards to consider include:
Bottom line
Hyatt has one of the strongest loyalty programs around, with the potential for getting truly outsized value out of your points. Its relatively small footprint compared to other major players, though, can hamper its usefulness for some travelers.
However, there are some ways to get around that, especially when searching for properties in Europe. The SLH partnership is one such tactic, and if you can find a low-category level property, like the Retreat, it makes it even better. $600 in savings using two free night certificates may not necessarily be the most exciting, but in a time when European travel is more expensive than usual, every dollar saved matters.
Looking for a credit card that earns travel rewards? Check out CNN Underscored’s list of the best travel credit cards currently available.