Travel Lemonade: Hyatt Saved the Day for a Last-Minute Vegas Birthday Party

I have always emphasized planning to get the best award redemptions and savings for your vacations. But what happens when your best friend plans a last-second weekend getaway to Vegas for his wife’s 50th? When missing the party isn’t an option, you need to map out the options quickly or face a $5,000 weekend. This is precisely what happened to me this spring, but luckily Hyatt saved the day for this last-minute Vegas birthday party. 

Given Hyatt and MGM terminating their relationship for MGM to participate in Marriott Bonvoy, I wanted to write this story dedicated to how I benefited from it while it lasted. I just hope Marriott can offer great perks in the future in the same way Hyatt did for me. 

Travel lemonade is a new feature of Nonstop Points, discussing ways to turn a negative situation into a positive one. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, as the saying goes. 

Lemons: Hotels in Vegas are More Than $500 Per Night

The surprise trip was only two weeks away, and the hotels were packed due to many significant events. There was an NCAA tournament game, a Taylor Swift concert, and a premier boxing match, just to name a few of the events being held in Vegas the weekend of the trip.

My friend decided to host the weekend event at the MGM Grand, with rooms running $500 per night. Further, we needed to book at least two nights (Friday and Saturday). Of course, staying at another hotel when you have a large group of friends staying in one place was not a viable option for planning and convenience. Not to mention that other possibilities were not remarkably cheaper either.

To make matters worse, we were also starring in the face of $1,000+ plane tickets for the economy. I’ve been to Vegas at least 20 times and have never paid more than $500 from the East Coast. This was a little bit different than the “Free” flights I had gotten via email marketing from Frontier on their Baltimore (BWI) to Las Vegas (LAS) route, minus paying taxes and fees (sub-$30).

In Vegas terms, it was similar to being dealt a 16 in blackjack with the dealer showing a picture card.

Making Lemonade: Transferring Points to Hyatt

I knew that the MGM Grand, and other MGM properties, were associated with World of Hyatt. Although I have not used Hyatt as my primary chain throughout my travels, I know that Hyatt often has some of the best redemption rates in the business. 

Before booking the $500 rate from MGM, I checked Hyatt.com to find that the MGM Grand rooms were offered at 23k points per night via Hyatt. Unfortunately, this availability was only appearing for Friday night and not Saturday. 

Moving quickly, I locked in a Friday night redemption and waited. Luckily, my waiting paid off a few days later, and jackpot! The award space for Saturday night appeared, and I locked in a second night. At $600 per night, including all taxes/fees, I redeemed Hyatt points for just over 2.6 cents per point.

Unfortunately, my account did not have enough Hyatt points, but Chase Ultimate Rewards saved the day. They transfer at a 1:1 ratio to World of Hyatt and show up instantaneously. I moved 46k points to Hyatt and secured two nights free.

Further, We found seats leaving late Thursday night for the airfare, which brought the cost down. We purchased two tickets to Vegas in the $500 ballpark (with a connection), which was okay, considering Friday was closer to $1,000 each. Of course, I looked into points options, but nothing made sense compared to the $500 rate. 

Sweet Summer Lemonade

To improve things, we also scored a nice upgrade to first class for the second segment of the itinerary to Vegas, a nice surprise for my wife.

Since we were arriving late on a Thursday and the festivities were not starting till Friday, we decided to check out the Virgin Las Vegas, which was listing rooms at $150 for that night. With my diamond status at Hilton (the property is part of Hilton’s Curio Collection), we scored a room upgraded at this, plus complimentary breakfast.

All in all, planning swiftly (no pun intended for the concert in town) saved us a few thousand dollars. It was a magical weekend, including watching Maroon 5 in concert and going to an NCAA game, not to mention that it was a weekend that we wouldn’t have missed.

Rather than being a $5,000 weekend, we brought it down to just about $1,200 for nearly the same experience. Not cheap, but doable, not to mention that we did not break the points bank either.

The Last Point

For good friends, there are certain life moments that you simply can’t miss. There was no way we would not show up for this last-minute Vegas birthday party. Sometimes you simply have to roll with it and make the most of it.

Luckily for us, we knew our options, and we got lucky, pulling a five and turning that 16 into a 21 to beat the dealer. While the Hyatt-MGM partnership was still around, points via World of Hyatt saved the day for a last-minute Vegas birthday party.

Nonstop Points would like to hear from you. What would you have done differently? Comment below!