How to use the Hyatt Leverage program to get discounts on Hyatt stays for work
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Do you find yourself traveling for work, either as a freelancer or small business owner? Do you own a business where your employees travel for work and stay at hotels? It sure would be nice if you could get discounts on these hotel stays and control all spending in one place.
Enter Hyatt Leverage. Aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses, the program offers a one stop shop for business owners to control work-related hotel stays, such as bookings and tools to analyze spending. Even freelancers and independent contractors can take advantage of Hyatt Leverage.
Today, I'll walk you through the Hyatt Leverage program, including what it is and the benefits it offers, how to sign up and the tools you can use with the program. Finally, we'll look at how much of a discount you can really get with these bookings.
What is Hyatt Leverage?
Hyatt Leverage is a program for business owners with work-related hotel stays. To be clear, Hyatt Leverage is not a separate World of Hyatt membership account. Instead, it works with your existing account and offers the following benefits:
- Discounts of up to 15% off on hotel stays.
- Ability to book online or over the phone using your unique discount code.
- Tools to add/remove employees, control spending, view hotel bills and analyze reporting data.
As mentioned, Hyatt Leverage is a special discount code. You will still use your same World of Hyatt account number to manage your points, work toward elite status and enjoy all the other benefits you're used to.
As a Hyatt Globalist, I was worried about how using Hyatt Leverage might impact my status. Would I still accrue nights the same way, enjoy my perks at check-in and earn everything in my same account, rather than splitting my stays into two accounts and hurting my chances to re-qualify for Globalist status next year?
I emailed my Hyatt Concierge with these questions, and this was her response:
Concerning the Hyatt Leverage Program you will still only have one World of Hyatt account and all your stays will be credited to it. The main benefit is getting a discounted rate and you can use that rate for business or personal travel. You can see the details and join the program at https://www.hyatt.com/leverage
The FAQs state that businesses worldwide can enroll in Hyatt Leverage. Your business doesn't need to be headquartered in any particular location. Your employees can use the discount code for personal and business travel, and they can be asked for proof of employment by the company whose code they are using when checking into a hotel.
There's no fee for enrolling or participating in Hyatt Leverage.
How to sign up
Registering for Hyatt Leverage is simple. If you have the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card, you will be enrolled in Hyatt Leverage automatically. If not, you can head to hyatt.com/leverage to enroll.
Sign in with your World of Hyatt account, then all of the personal details should be pre-filled with the information from your account.
The terms from Hyatt Leverage say that some accounts will be approved instantly. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I got instant access. I also was surprised that I never had to provide an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or business registration documents for the LLC my wife and I have in our names. This means independent contractors and freelancers who don't have these documents won't have issues.
Related: Who qualifies for a business credit card?
There's also no requirement on what credit card you must pay with, so use your best-available hotel credit card.
After registration, you will see a confirmation that includes your discount code. This information will also come to you in an email.
Tools available with Hyatt Leverage
Several tools are available to the business owner or whoever has access to the account. While employees can use the code to book discounted rates, only those with the account password can log into the Hyatt Leverage site. You'll log in with the same World of Hyatt number you use for your personal travel, so be careful who you give this information to.
Within the portal, you have the following tools:
- Bills from previous hotel stays.
- Add/remove employees as eligible travelers.
- Year-to-date information on nights, average length of stay and overall spending.
- Upcoming bookings information, including cost, number of nights and average stay length.
- Email templates to send to your employees reminding them to use the program's special discount code.
- Breakdowns by employee to see how much each employee has spent, nights stayed or set limits on particular employees.
Analysis of discounts on sample bookings
In order to search for hotels using your discounted code, you need to click on the arrow next to "Corporate or Group Code" on Hyatt's home page. From there, enter your unique discount code into the box below. Without this code, you won't see your discounted rate when searching for a hotel.
Sample booking 1 - Miami on a weekend
Searching for a two-night stay on a weekend this August, my special discount code from Hyatt Leverage didn't offer any additional discount. My rate matched the "Book Now & Save 15%" rate. Both of these were $45 per night cheaper than the Standard Rate. This is a discount of 14.8% off the Standard Rate.
Sample booking 2 - New York City on weekdays
I searched for two nights from Tuesday to Thursday at the Park Hyatt New York. The Standard Rate is $1,095 per night during this sample booking. My discounted rate was $931 per night — a savings of $164, or 15% per night.
Sample booking 3 - Paris mid-week during the summer
A mid-week search for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile gave me a rate of $265 per night using my Hyatt Leverage code. That's a savings of $41, or 13.4% each night.
Other sample bookings
I attempted several other bookings to see what rates I would get. Here are the results:
| Name of hotel | Stay dates | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Zilara Cancun | July 2-9, 2022. | None. |
| Grand Hyatt Denver | September 1-5, 2022. | $33 or 13.3%. |
| Hyatt House Mexico City/Santa Fe | November 21-24, 2022. | $8 or 10.3%. |
| Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro | January 19-23, 2023. | $9 or 5.6%. |
There is no discount available at Small Luxury Hotels, unfortunately. Additionally, Hyatt Leverage does not offer any discounts on bookings at Andaz, Alila, Thompson Hotels, Joie de Vivre, Caption by Hyatt, Miraval, Destination by Hyatt, Hyatt Residence Club or UrCove properties.
Bottom line
The Hyatt Leverage program provides a way for small business owners and independent contractors to control their work-related hotel expenses while also enjoying discounts. These benefits are on top of whatever other benefits you may have, depending on your World of Hyatt status. That's because your membership number and your Hyatt Leverage discount work in tandem.
The discount you get on a stay can be "up to 15%" but you won't always get a discount above other available rates. Make sure to choose whichever rate is the best for you when booking.