I was reminded of an interesting dilemma last evening, which I thought deserved a blog post of it’s own. My friend Ed from Pizza in Motion had a reservation booked at the Hyatt Regency DFW, but instead opted to spend an additional 4,000 points for a night at the Grand Hyatt DFW, where he’d be able to get 15t extra minutes of sleep, by avoiding the necessity to take the shuttle bus in the morning, to get to the terminal, and to security.
The elaborate more on this, let’s look at the all-points rates for both of these properties, and where they’re located. If there’s a standard room available, you’re allowed to book it with Hyatt points, so these nights are effectively free.
- The Hyatt Regency DFW is a category 2 hotel at 8,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points a night. This property is within the airport complex, walking distance from Terminal C (though, through a parking garage with several steps), and provides complimentary shuttle service to the other terminals.
- The Grand Hyatt DFW is a category 3 hotel at 12,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points a night. This property sits directly at Terminal D, with an escalator leading you right into the areas of check-in and security. There’s no need to take a shuttle here.
So, assuming you had a 7am departing flight, is the 15 minutes extra of sleep worth 4,000 points? Ed agrees it is. Me, not so much.
The Grand Hyatt DFW Lobby
What Can 4,000 points get you?
Aside from upgrading to the Grand Hyatt DFW, 4,000 points is almost enough for a free night at a Category 1 property, and if you’re a Diamond member the free 1,000 points at check-in will make this complete. I’m not so sure giving up 15 minutes of sleep is worth it to lose out on a free night that I could use elsewhere.
I can say I’ve had this very dilemma before, and it’s one that’s crossed my mind several times. Actually, I almost had an opposite experience not too long ago in Minneapolis; I opted to stay at the more expensive Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, than downgrading to a Hyatt Place by the airport, even though it would have saved me points, and cut down on travel time to the airport for an early flight departure. In this case, I opted for comfort and the nice-ness of the hotel over convenience, though it certainly relates to the original argument of whether spending more points for better access and less travel time in the morning is worth it.
Would you spend more points for only 15 minutes of extra sleep in the morning?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
At face value, the answer is no. As a pure value proposition, fifteen minutes of sleep is not worth 4,000 points. However, staying in the terminal offers a number of benefits and makes it harder to miss your flight. You don’t have to worry about traffic, missing a shuttle or car service screw up, etc. If you can’t afford to miss your flight, staying at the airport and getting an extra 15 minutes of sleep is worth 4000 points.
Yes would opt for Grand Hyatt much nicer hotel with a phenomenal breakfast which I get for free as a diamond. Plus as I get 20 percent of points back during this promotion not as big of a deal.
The only other benefit you haven’t mentioned is that the Grand Hyatt allows you to use the Diamond Breakfast as room service where the Regency doesn’t…so while you get 15 minutes extra sleep, no shuttle, if the flight is early enough you can still eat breakfast.