Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards are one of of the Hyatts Milestone Rewards that you can choose after hitting eligible qualifying nights. These awards are useful, especially if you are not a World of Hyatt Globalist member, because you can use them to redeem for up to 7 nights and have access to the club lounge for free food, non-alcoholic drinks, and inexpensive alcoholic beverages. However, before you get all excited about earning and using these awards, it’s important to understand certain restrictions regarding these Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards.
You Cannot Use Hyatt Club Access Awards With Free Night Award Stays
The World of Hyatt program clearly outlines a rule regarding the use of the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards. While you can use each club access award for a stay you pay with cash, redeem points, or points plus cash, you cannot use the club access award for a stay that you use the Hyatt Free Night Award certificate, for example, the Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award.
Club Lounge Access Awards are valid on nights for which the Member has paid an Eligible Rate or has redeemed points for a standard-room Free Night Award, Suite Free Night Award, or a Points + Cash Award, up to a maximum of seven (7) consecutive nights. Not valid in connection with any Free Night Award other than those identified above, including, without limitation, Hyatt-branded Credit Card premium and anniversary Free Night Awards, Brand Explorer Free Night Awards, Category 1-4 Free Night Awards, Category 1-7 Free Night Awards, Ultimate Free Night Awards, or any other promotional Free Night Award.
Not All Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Have A Club Lounge
Another thing to keep in mind is that not all Hyatt properties have a club lounge for Globalists or the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards.
A couple of things to note:
- Hyatt brands that generally have a club lounge are Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt.
- Even so, some Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt properties do not have a club lounge or decide to close the club lounge if they used to have one.
- Furthermore, certain Hyatt brands also do not accept Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards. See below:
Club Lounge Access Awards are redeemable only at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts that have a Club lounge and are not valid at Caption by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Miraval, Destination by Hyatt Residences, or Hyatt Vacation Club hotels and resorts.
Unable to Use the Hyatt Club Access Award Even Though the Hotel Has A Club Lounge
Similar to the things I mentioned above, certain Hyatt properties have a club lounge, but it won’t allow you to redeem the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards. For example, Hyatt Regency Malta has a Regency Club for Globalists and paid Club Access guests, but it is not possible to redeem the Hyatt Club Access Award.
This is a terrible practice on the property side, and hopefully, Hyatt will receive enough feedback to change this.
Unable to Use the Hyatt Club Access Award Due to Capacity Control
Certain Hyatt hotels and resorts have a capacity control for the number of guests they allow into the Club Lounges. This is necessary to avoid lounge crowds and create a more enjoyable atmosphere and experience. While Globalists are guaranteed club access, the next club access priority is given to paid or redeemed guests with club access rooms before guests wanting to redeem the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards. In other words, you may request to use a club access award to redeem for your upcoming stay, but it may not be available for redemption. Therefore, the Hyatt representative cannot apply the award accordingly and you cannot access the club lounge.
A good example of this scenario is the popular Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. The hotel has the capacity control when it comes to its amazing Grand Club. As a result, you may run into an issue not being able to redeem the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards at that hotel. Moreover, there’s no way to see which dates the hotel has available for club access redemption without calling and checking directly with the hotel, or you can keep checking with Hyatt agents until availability opens due to cancellations, etc.
