Idea Time: What Should I Do With My Dozen Free Night Certificates?

a swimming pool next to a body of water

Holy moley. A dozen free nights. I think this is more than I’ve ever had at one time. What does one do with this many?? Maybe it’s time to drop a few of the hotel credit cards.

With enough of 2021 penciled in, I’m not sure if or how I’ll be able to use all of my free night certificates. It always hurts to use a free night for less than the value you’d like to get, but I have also used them for otherwise expensive airport free nights. If I get sufficient value, then I’m at least content. But I’ll need to do a better job analyzing my “keeper” cards this year, in case it makes more sense to drop some.

Let’s see what I can put together with all my free nights.

My Dozen Free Night Certificates

Typically, I earn a handful of free night certificates per year from a few different credit cards. The most common have been IHG and Hyatt free nights, where I get at least two of each per year. But this year I have quite a few more. Here’s what currently shows in my AwardWallet account:

  • 2 Hyatt Category 1-4 free nights
  • 1 Hyatt Category 1-7 free night
  • 3 IHG 40k free nights
  • 5 Marriott Bonvoy 50k free nights
  • 1 Radisson U.S. free night

Maybe I shouldn’t have applied for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless last year after all? Now I’m sitting on five Marriott free nights that I have no immediate plans for. And my time to use them is half over. Some of the others should be easier to use.

hotel free night certificates
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill

Mapping The Nights to Upcoming Travel

My next trip includes staying at a Category 1 Hyatt that is otherwise going for $60 USD per night, so there is no way I’d want to use a free night certificate there. I’d only do this if they were literally going to expire without another use. Even then, planning a last-minute local(ish) weekend getaway to the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country would be preferable to letting them go for $60 each.

The next potential trip is to Mexico City, which offers the opportunity to use the Marriott certificates at either the St. Regis or Las Alcobas hotel. Both properties require 50,000 Bonvoy points per night. However, without Marriott Platinum or higher status for breakfast or other benefits, and with plenty of other cheap points hotels in the city, I’m not super keen on this idea. But it wouldn’t be a bad use.

This summer I plan to attend a miles and points meetup in Denver. Right now, I have the Grand Hyatt booked on Hyatt points. It is a Category 3 property, going for 12,000 points per night. If I don’t have any other use for my Category 1-4 Hyatt nights, I could definitely save some points and book two of the three nights with the certificates.

Then there is the planned Oktoberfest trip with friends. The best use of the Marriott nights is likely for Roomers Munich, an Autograph Collection hotel. Nights are going for over €400, and I have locked in two nights here with two Marriott certificates. Given the COVID-19 situation, though, I’m not sure how likely this is going to be for me. My total time in Europe is only about a week, and if there are still testing or quarantine protocols in place at the time, this trip may be canned.

Potential trip ideas that are unplanned as of yet:

  • Two or three midweek nights in Las Vegas at the Palazzo to use the IHG certificates, assuming I can find nights where offered for 40k points or fewer. This would be an easy trip to plan, and I’d be very down to enjoy the luxury hotel (and eating Sushi at the Cosmo), but I’m otherwise not thrilled with the idea of visiting Las Vegas.
  • Long weekend in Seattle with one of my friends. This idea just came up last week. I’m not sure we’ll be able to make it happen, though. This would easily use both Hyatt Category 1-4 certificates. Or I could use the IHG certificates at a Kimpton, assuming rates fall under 40,000 points, which they do sometimes. Or we could pick another IHG property.
  • Gifting the Hyatt Category 1-7 to my sister and her husband for a stay at the Alila Napa Valley. They live (roughly) in the area, and this is a new add to the Hyatt portfolio. I think it would make for an excellent night away from the kids. Need to still broach the idea.
  • Summer and fall trips with one or more kids. Nothing is even close to locked in, and for one we may be visiting friends and not staying in a hotel! Unhelpful for burning my free nights.

That Radisson night I’m not sure how to use. I had hoped to nab two for a weekend in Chicago at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, but I didn’t spend enough to earn a second. I could always hotel hop. Not against that. I visited Chicago with one of my boys in 2019 and we had an excellent time.

Final Thoughts

The upside of COVID-19 is that a few of my free night certificates have had their usage dates extended. Even so, I need to figure out how to use the bulk of them by the end of 2021. I’ve traveled some over the past several months, but it has been less than previous years. Maybe what needs to change is my willingness to shoot for earning these certs or keeping credit cards that continue to offer them as a benefit. Points are so much easier.

Anyone else sitting on a bunch of free nights that need a use? 

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Gene

Give them away to blog readers.

Rena

Yup, I have quite a few free night certs as well (although not as many as you!). I booked Alila Napa for the Hyatt Cat 1-7, decided to use two of my Hyatt Cat 1-4 for the Denver meetup, then had 1 Cat 1-4 Hyatt left over that expires at the end of July so I booked one night at the Hyatt Regency Monterey. I’m thinking we can go down, hopefully visit the aquarium, and hang out in the area for the day. I also have a couple of Hilton free night certs that are expiring at the end of… Read more »

DaninMCI

Good luck finding award space at the Palazzo and even more luck at 40k. You might have luck with IHG Munich. They have a lot of locations. I personally like the Unterhaching locations. It’s in the suburbs but right by the train station, plus easy free parking if needed.

tim

Won’t Hyatt still allow you to cash in the 1-4 certificates for 12,000 points after the expiration date passes?

Adam

Between myself and P2, we found ourselves with 9 Hyatt cat 1-4 certs, 8 Marriott 35k certs, and 5 Hilton free night certs. We just used 4 of the Marriott at Springhill Suites Truckee, will use 2 others in Eugene, OR this summer, and the remaining 2 will probably be date nights away from the kids. 4 Hyatt certs will go to Hyatt Centric Portland, 3 to HP Santa Cruz, which leaves 2 left over (maybe HR Sonoma Wine Country). The 5 Hilton were supposed to go to Grand Wailea in Maui last year, but we’ve canceled that trip repeatedly,… Read more »

Pam

Just used all 5 of my Hilton’s at the Casa Marina Key West, Otherwise $1k+/nt after Diamond Suite upgrade

Claire

Having the worst time with Marriott FN. I only have 2 left but they are 35K and all the category 5 hotels that I’m looking at have premium pricing for everyday in June-August and every weekend before that. Not helpful when trying to travel around school schedules.

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