Travel Hacking Success at the Park Hyatt Tokyo

Nick and I have been wise to travel hacking for a year or two, but have never really attempted any of the strategies.  But now we’re hooked!

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is travel hacking?  Basically, it’s making travel more budget friendly.

On our first travel hacking experience, we successfully stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo for $12.50/night.  Yes.  That’s right.  A room that would normally cost at least $400 per night for only $12.50.

Here are the basics.

1. You need a Hyatt Visa credit card.  It provides 2 free nights at any Hyatt for first year members once they put $1000 on the card.
2. The card has a $75/ year fee, but we were able to get a $50 statement credit, so we were really only “out” $25. (it’s possible that the fee is now waived for the first year….these details change often, so just check)

Here are the details.

1. A simple internet search will find you many blogs describing how to get the hyatt credit card with the $50 statement credit.  I found this one, by travelsort to be quite informative.
2. First you make yourself a hyatt profile (I actually don’t recall if I made one or not, but it’s free, so no biggy).
3. Then you start making a reservation.  Before you actually book the room, there will be an offer at the bottom of the screen asking if you want to apply for a Hyatt Visa with a  $50 credit. (images are in the link above)
4. She mentions that some people did not get the $50 credit if they didn’t finish booking the room.  But I had no problems.  Proceed at your own risk (but honestly, even without the credit, it’s still a screamin’ deal!)
5. Once you get approved for the credit card, you’ll need to put $1000 on it.  This wasn’t a problem for me (oops!) but there are some ways around it if $1000 over 3 months isn’t in the budget.  Let me know if you’d like more info on how to do it.
6. After you’ve charged $1000, your 2 free nights will appear in your Hyatt account – it took about a week after we reached $1000 for the 2 free nights to show up.
7. I tried booking the Park Hyatt using the 2 free nights.  But wasn’t able to.  Super bummer!  But we called the hotel and it ended up being no problem.  Yay!

So there you have it.  Park Hyatt Tokyo for $12.50/ night.