It’s no secret that Hyatt is our favorite program to earn points for because of their outsized value. When you can stay at a luxury Hyatt for 40K points per night versus paying double or triple that for a Hilton, Marriott, or IHG hotel of the same caliber, it only makes sense. Many of our readers feel the same but often complain that they can’t find Hyatt availability at the more popular hotels. Yep, we feel your pain. It happens to all of us. Let’s go over some workaround tricks to finding Hyatt award availability.

 

Look at Hyatt Stays One Day at a Time to Find Award Availability

Nobody likes this dreaded screen:

 

 

This can happen frequently for two reasons:

• You aren’t looking far enough out.
• You are looking at a whole week, and maybe there is just a day or two that doesn’t work.

 

In this instance, I was looking at Nov 14-20th when I got that dreaded screen. When I looked one day at a time, the 19-20 were unavailable and caused the whole stay to say they weren’t accepting World of Hyatt points. By cutting my stay short by one day, I can book it. Additionally, the 13-14 is available, so I can adjust my dates a bit and stay as long.

 

Some Hyatt Brand Hotels Don’t Show Availability Early

Some of our favorite hotels, particularly the Small Luxury Hotels, don’t open up availability as early as the regular Hyatt hotels. Two of my favorites, the Canaves Oia Suites and Grand Hotel Victoria Concept Hotel and Spa, are pretty random in showing availability. I haven’t figured out when they show their availability, so the easiest thing is to set a hotel alert for the times you are interested through Open Hotel Alert or Maxmypoints. Additionally, when looking at SLH hotels, make sure you are signed in, or you won’t see availability either.

I booked a hotel for a Greece trip coming in May. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that the Canaves Oia Suites and Canaves Oia Boutique were two different hotels. You know where this is going 😜- I booked the latter. I want to stay at the Canaves Oia Suites, though, so I have an alert set with Maxmypoint for availability.

 

 

 

Here is my hotel alert for this hotel and the one in Lake Como:

 

 

Looking for Too Much Hyatt Hotel Occupancy

Let’s say you have a family of five and want to stay in the Grand Hyatt Kauai. In looking at May 6-13, I find availability for four people. When I switch it to five, I get this dreaded message:

Unfortunately, this hotel is not accepting World of Hyatt points or award during those dates. Explore our other rates or modify your search.

However, I know that my 2-year-old will sleep in a pack-and-play. I also know that some rooms come with a chair that makes into a small bed for a young one. In this instance, I would call the hotel and ask some more questions. It is highly likely that you can book for six people, and they will let you bring more in the United States. It is also possible for many hotels that you can get a rollaway bed. (Forget about this plan in Europe, as they have very strict occupancy rules and this just won’t work).

You will routinely have trouble when booking the Hyatt Zivas when you put in 4 people. However, you will find the following rooms are available for two people with two queen beds or a queen and sofa bed.

 

 

In this case, you need to call Ziva after booking a room for two and let them know you are bringing two other people so that they can charge you the nightly all-inclusive charge. If you have more than four people at this particular all-inclusive, you must book two rooms.

 

Bottom Line

Finding Hyatt award availability can be tough at times, especially for the most popular hotels. You may be doing small things that make it even harder, though. We hope these simple tips will help you have more success. And remember, flexibility is key!