One of the reasons we love staying at Hyatt hotels?  The World of Hyatt program offers a family plan discount rate at select Hyatt locations.  When you book the first room on points, you can book a second room for half off the cash rate.  For larger families, this is a great way to save some cash, and points!

In less than three weeks, we will be heading to the Bahamas.  We’ll be staying at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar – we have two rooms to accommodate our family of five.  We are very excited for this upcoming vacation – it’s our first luxury resort stay after we added our new addition to the family in December of 2020.  Our older two kids are very excited to finally have their own beds, and room!

This resort may not show up on the list, but after confirming and booking two rooms – the family plan discount rate is available at this location.  I booked our first room for 17,000 points/night for four nights, thanks to points earned from my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.  I transferred them to my World of Hyatt account, and booked directly with Hyatt (Hyatt is a 1:1 partner of Chase).  I booked a second room, receiving half off the going cash rate at time of booking, charging the expense to my The World of Hyatt Credit Card.  Remember – booking directly with an airline or hotel will always cost you less points, than booking in a bank’s travel portal.  Out of curiosity, I even checked the price discrepancies – you can read more here on how I saved points (and cash!) by booking directly with Hyatt.

While initially receiving conflicting information, I was able to confirm by email and phone, that a Hyatt family plan discount rate is available at this location.  You are not able to make these reservations by email, and have to call the World of Hyatt Global Contact Center.  If I’m interested in staying at a particular Hyatt location, I start by emailing them asking if this program is available.  It’s important to note that the second room is meant for children 12 and under – this cutoff can vary by location.  Also, the second room must be paid for in cash, and not points, in order to qualify under this program.

This week I booked two nights at Hyatt Regency Manchester, for part of spring break 2023, and ran into this issue.  My oldest, who is currently 12, will be 13 in just a few short weeks (but how?!).  I booked the first room for a total of 17,500 points (total for two nights), and the second room for half off the current cash rate.  Tip: Book as soon as you can – just in the few weeks I kept putting off this booking (because, life), the cash rate/night went up – ergh!  I had also been looking at Hyatt House Manchester, which also has a family plan discount rate available.  

I was on the phone for two hours trying to find someone who understood the program, and could accommodate us as my oldest daughter will be 13, by the time we travel next March.  The Global Contact Center representatives kept trying to put us in a larger room that would accommodate us all or convince us to book a suite.  Both of those options would require us to pay fully out of pocket – and that was not an option.  I ended up going with Hyatt Regency Manchester, because I was finally able to find someone who verified (again) that the family plan discount rate was available at this location, and allowed us to book two connecting rooms – using my daughter’s current age of 12.

Being upfront, nice, and (somewhat) patient paid off!  I can’t promise this will happen everytime – as it truly varies by location, and the individual you speak to at the call center.  I was ready to give up and accept that it wouldn’t happen, and that I would need to find another option for our short stay in Manchester next year.  I’m glad we will be able to make use of this Hyatt perk soon enough!