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Hyatt Brand Explorer Guide
Hyatt Brand Explorer is a program that was launched in 2017 after the Hyatt loyalty program changed from Hyatt Gold Passport to World of Hyatt. This is a rather underrated perk, and earning a free night takes such little effort. Best of all, the counter never resets. Let’s dive into this Hyatt Brand Explorer Guide, shall we?
How Does Brand Explorer Work?
Brand Explorer allows you to earn a Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate (aka Free Night Cert/FNC) after you stay at 5 out of the 28 brands in the program. So in total, you can earn up to 5 free night certificates throughout the life of your account. And best of all, the clock never expires. This means there is no rush to earn the certificate.
In addition, there is no requirement to pay in cash for each brand, meaning you could even use points for every brand that you check off.
What Brands Are Part of Hyatt?
While I don’t like when other chains add brands, it is always good when Hyatt does for the chance of being closer to a free night! The following brands are part of Hyatt:
- Alila
- Alua
- Andaz
- Breathless
- Caption
- Destination by Hyatt
- Dream
- Dreams (non all-inclusive)
- Grand Hyatt
- Hyatt (Vanilla)
- Hyatt Centric
- Hyatt House
- Hyatt Place
- Hyatt Regency
- Hyatt Vacation Club
- Hyatt Vivid
- Hyatt Zilara
- Hyatt Ziva
- Impression
- JdV
- Miraval
- Park Hyatt
- Secrets
- Sunscape
- Thompson
- Unbound Collection
- UrCove
- Zoetry
UrCove and Zoetry are not listed as being eligible for the free night according to the brand explorer terms, but they appear as eligible on the Hyatt app.
Hyatt Brand Explorer Guide – How to Redeem the Brand Explorer Night?
Redeeming the brand explorer free night couldn’t be easier. After checking off 5 brands, the certificate appeared in my account about the same time as nights and points posted (which was about 2 days). Once it is in your account, use the “Pay My Way” feature to use the certificate as a payment method. If you want to use a combination of points, cash, or free night certs, then you can do that as well.
How Can You Earn More Brand Explorer Nights?
With a total of 29 brands, you can earn 5 free night certificates. Ideally, Hyatt adds another brand so it will be possible to earn 6 certs. However, until that happens, your best bet when you do all 5 is to make an account for your spouse, especially if they stay with you. That is especially good if you could rack up elite nights for them and they could earn Globalist. But if not, it may not be worth it.
What Hotels Do Not Count for Brand Explorer?
A couple of hotels/brands do not count for Brand Explorer:
- Hyatt Partner Hotels
- Mumian Shenzen Luohu
- Mumian Hangzhou
- Mumian Chengdu Dong’an Lake
- Mumian Chengdu
- Mumian Beijing Daxing International Airport
- Ventana Campground
- SLH Hotels (For the time being)
But besides that, any hotels booked through a Hyatt booking channel should be eligible for Brand Explorer.
Hyatt Brand Explorer Guide – What Brands Are Easiest and Hardest to Check Off?
Overall, some hotels are a lot easier than others. Hyatt Place is probably the easiest, followed by Hyatt Regency, Hyatt House, and then probably Hyatt Centric. But a lot of this depends on your travel habits, as some may find Grand Hyatts easy to stay at, followed by Hyatt Regencies if you go to a lot of conventions.
Alila is also going to be hard if you are not willing to travel outside of the U.S., as the only two choices are Alila Big Sur and Alila Marea Encinitas.
Nonetheless, I think the hardest brand is going to be Urcove, as they are found exclusively in China. Not only that, but many of the ones in China don’t accept foreigners and/or foreign credit cards. Crazy right?
What Brand at Each Property is Cheapest?
Here’s a fun one. I wanted to see what the cheapest hotel was for each brand. Figuring out the cheapest property using cash varies and will likely be outdated, so I went off of the points cost for each hotel. Most if not all brands have multiple cheap Category 1s, so I’ll include the one (if applicable) easiest to get to from the U.S.. Using the Hyatt website, this table shows the cheapest Hyatt in each category:
| Brand | Hotel Name | Country | Points Price | Notes |
| Alila | Alila Bangsar Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Alua | AluaSun Doblemar | Spain |
Category A (12,000, 15,000, 18,000)
|
|
| Andaz | Andaz Delhi | India |
Category 2 (6,500, 8,000, 9,500)
|
|
| Breathless | Breathless Punta Cana | Dominican Republic | Category B (17,000, 20,000, 23,000) | Adults Only |
| Caption | Caption Namba Osaka | Japan |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Destination Hotels | Tempe Mission Palms | USA (Arizona) |
Category 3 (12,000, 15,000, 18,000)
|
|
| Dream | Dream South Beach | USA (Florida) |
Category 5 (17,000, 20,000, 23,000)
|
|
| Dreams | Dreams Calvia | Spain |
Category A (12,000, 15,000, 18,000)
|
|
| Grand Hyatt | Grand Hyatt Hefei | China |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Hyatt | Hyatt Ahmedabad | India |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Hyatt Centric | Hyatt Centric Campéstre Leon | Mexico |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Hyatt House | Hyatt House Houston – Energy Corridor | USA (Texas) | Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500) |
Cheapest Hyatt House in the U.S.
|
| Hyatt Place | Hyatt Place Columbus – Polaris | USA (Ohio) |
Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500)
|
|
| Hyatt Regency | Hyatt Regency Houston West | USA (Texas) | Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500) |
Cheapest Hyatt Regency in the U.S.
|
| Hyatt Vacation Club | Hyatt Vacation Club at Desert Oasis | USA (California) |
Category 3 (9,000, 12,000, 15,000)
|
|
| Hyatt Zilara | Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya | Mexico |
Category C (21,000, 25,000, 28,000)
|
|
| Hyatt Ziva | Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun | Mexico |
Category C (21,000, 25,000, 28,000)
|
|
| Impression | Impressions Isla Mujeres | Mexico | Category F (42,000, 50,000, 58,000) |
Tied with Impressions Moxché by Secrets.
|
| JdV | Wild Palms | USA (California) | Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500) |
Great for Bay Area Hyatt Fans.
|
| Miraval | Miraval Arizona | USA (Arizona) | Varies on number of people. Available here. |
Pricing is on WoH website and all 3 properties cost the same.
|
| Park Hyatt | Park Hyatt Chennai | India | Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500) |
The only Category 1 Park Hyatt in the world.
|
| Secrets | Secrets Huatulco | Mexico |
Category B (17,000, 20,000, 23,000)
|
|
| Sunscape | Sunscape Puerto Vallarta | Mexico |
Category A (12,000, 15,000, 18,000)
|
|
| Thompson | Thompson Washington DC | USA (DC) |
Category 4 (12,000, 15,000, 18,000)
|
|
| Unbound Collection | Hotel Kansas City | USA (Kansas) |
Category 3 (9,000, 12,000, 15,000)
|
|
| UrCove | UrCove Shanghai Jing’an | China | Category 1 (3,500, 5,000, 6,500) |
All but one property is a Category 1, so this is the probably the best one since there are flights to the U.S. (from PVG), its a solid location, and they accept foreigners.
|
| Vivid | Hyatt Vivid Grand Island | Mexico |
Category B (17,000, 20,000, 23,000)
|
Currently the only Vivid property. |
| Zoetry | Zoëtry Curaçao | Curaçao |
Category C (21,000, 25,000, 28,000)
|
Finally, the price to stay at every Hyatt brand for one night costs an eye-watering 432,000 points if we use the standard rate and double occupancy for Miraval. I would hope no one does this, because if you did, you “only” get 5 free night certs which at max value only equates to 90,000. You would also get another free night cert if you stayed one more night (from the 30-night milestone bonus), but it’s not at all worth it.
Hyatt Brand Explorer Guide – Final Thoughts
Hyatt Brand Explorer might be one of the best deals in travel. It allows you to earn free stays at some amazing hotels (that can be as high as 6 or $700 a night during peak times), and it is particularly easy if you travel to different countries where these hotels can be booked for quite cheap.
What are your thoughts on Hyatt Brand Explorer? Let me know in the comments below!
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