Chase Hyatt Visa annual free night not valid at Mlife resorts

My Chase Hyatt Visa just renewed, and I received the annual award for one free night in a category 1-4 hotel. I noticed the following in the fine print:

"Free Night Award is valid for one (1) night in any available standard room at a Hyatt hotel or resort designated as Category one (1) through four (4) at worldofhyatt.com. Not valid at hotels or resorts in any other category, Hyatt Zilara or Hyatt Ziva hotels or resorts, or M life Resorts."

This is my first renewal, so I don't know if this is a change from prior years. Combine this exclusion with the fact that having the Hyatt credit card no longer qualifies for a tier match to Mlife gold, and I'm not sure it's worth the $75 annual fee for me.

 

Why don't you get a tier match?

The Hyatt card gets you Hyatt platinum status, which then gets you mlife gold status.

What's not working?

 

Program just changed a few days ago. Hyatt Credit Card which gives you Discoverist status will get you Pearl tier match now.

Personally, using the free reward night in Vegas at a Category 4 hotel (MGM, NYNY, or Monte Carlo) isn't the best use of the reward.

 

Yes, using it for any of the cat 1-4 hotels in Vegas would be a terrible use of the anniversary night. It might not even be worth more than the annual fee. The tier match doesn't matter to me since I make Gold anyway, but it does match to Pearl now.

Last year, I used my anniversary night for the Hyatt Place Portland, Maine. Rate for that night was $409. 24k in points plus anniversary night gave me a value of $1200 for the 3 night stay. There's still good value to be had.

 

Hyatt has a deal with Mlife - but the are NOT Hyatt hotels. Free room is at Hyatt hotels.

 

They only just changed it this year regarding the anniversary night. You still can use Hyatt points to book free nights at Mlife hotels (even though they are almost always a terrible value).

 

Damn even Globalist (formerly Hyatt Diamond, which matched to mlife Platinum) only gets you Gold now. I guess they had too many status matching Platinums and are trying to weed out the nonplayers.

 

Good to know.

Do you still have to pay the hotels resort fee if you use Hyatt points for a free night(s)?