How I Found "Hidden" Hyatt Award Availability
I love Hyatt Gold Passport. No award program is perfect, but time and time again Hyatt Gold Passport and their properties have been a great fit for my family and our points earning strategy. However, in recent months I have noticed some issues surrounding award availability that have gotten my attention in a not as flattering a way. When I recently realized I booked the wrong date at a popular summertime Hyatt resort, Hyatt Lost Pines, and tried to re-book for the correct date closer in to our dates of travel, I stepped into a bigger beehive of unfriendly games with award availability.
As you can see below, we have had a five year love affair with this property, and really look forward to our summertime visits...
I wrote some about this here, but the problem got even more complex when the rooms that even they describe as "standard" became available with cash, but they were only available via a "Double Points Package" instead of the "Hyatt Daily Rate", so they still weren't bookable with points. I tried my hardest via the normal channels to get the award booked, but hit wall after wall.
We literally had one set of dates this summer that would work for this little close-to-home getaway thanks largely to the impending arrival of our second traveler, as well as some other commitments. Given our extremely limited window, I was determined/obsessed to keep trying to find a way to use points to stay at the resort on the date we originally wanted. I checked multiple times per day for any changes in availability without any success and then....
While all of the other room types were still only available via a "Double Points Package", when I clicked the button to include a search for ADA rooms a "standard" ADA room displayed as available via the "Daily Rate", and thus also available on points. This room did not display when I did a general search unless I specifically clicked the check box to include ADA accessible rooms.
Now, we don't need an ADA room, and honestly don't prefer an ADA room, but I vastly prefer it over no room at all. I did include in the comments section of the booking that we don't need the ADA room if they want to give it to someone who does need that room type, but when certain Hyatt properties are going to get creative with how award rooms are displayed, sometimes you gotta take what you can get. To be clear, I don't love taking that room type when someone else might truly need it, and will continue to follow-up with the hotel to try to switch us to a truly standard room if one becomes available.
Once upon a time I believe that ADA rooms displayed along with the award room types automatically, but now you may want to try pushing that button and see if any "hidden" award availability displays. Of course this won't always solve your award availability issues, especially if the hotel truly is sold out, but perhaps it will work every now and then to display a room option that otherwise wasn't there.