One of the problems I often run into with hotel reservation is that I’m trying to maximize several different loyalty program benefits. I’ve got a couple free night certificates, some points, and some cash. Different nights have different award availability and different paid rates. To optimize both out-of-pocket expense and the value of my points, I might end up booking three or four separate reservations to create a week-long stay.
This generates new problems: Will I get moved around, or will the hotel let me stay in the same room? Am I less likely to receive an upgrade? Did I correctly include my preferences in every reservation?
Hyatt is trialing a new service called “Pay My Way” (HT to One Mile at a Time) that enables users to book a single reservation and then pay for it in multiple ways. You could pay one night with points, one night with cash, and so on without having separate reservations for each. You can do this now, but you have to call in, which I find that annoying.
Ben says the trial is limited to only a few World of Hyatt members and only on the mobile app. Expanding it to other customers and to the standard web experience is a few weeks away.
I can imagine this would be particularly useful for those of us with promotional free night awards. You can use them if you book one night at a time, but even if you have multiple awards to cover the whole stay, the option disappears on a longer reservation. I actually overlooked thee opportunity to redeem mine at the Hyatt Regency Seattle for exactly this reason.
