This Point & Center update is heavy on Hyatt news from the past week, so let’s get to it!

1) Free Internet at Hyatt & Starwood Hotels – Following the lead of Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood hotels both separately announced they will begin to offer free internet to all guests! For Hyatt, free internet will begin in February 2015 for all guests while elite guests (Platinum & higher) will be entitled to a faster, premium internet for free.

Starwood will work a little differently and more resemble the Marriott model in which in order to receive the free internet, you must book through Starwood directly via their website, the individual hotel’s website or their mobile app. Any stay booked on travel agency websites (Hotels.com, Orbitz, Priceline etc.) will not entitle the guest to free internet. Elite members will receive a faster internet for free, similar to Hyatt.

2) Bonus $50 Gift Card for Buying Hyatt E-Gift Cards – Similar to the promotion earlier this month, Hyatt is running a special promotion that expires TODAY (12/24) that by using code SANTA14, you can earn an extra, free $50 bonus gift card when purchasing $500 or more of e-gift cards ONLY. If you order a $500 e-gift card exactly, this $50 bonus gift card represents a 10% bonus. If you rather take 10% off the purchase of gift cards, you can use promo code GPGIFT14. Since these are Hyatt E-Gift cards, there is no waiting time involved to receive these certificates. Remember to use an American Express Business Open Card to save an additional 5% (in the form of a statement credit).

Use PromoCode SANTA14

3) The Hyatt Diamond Challenge is Returning! – This is possibly the most exciting news to me as per One Mile at a Time, the Hyatt Diamond Challenge will be returning sometime in early 2015! For those who don’t know the Hyatt Diamond Challenge allowed you to status match to top tier Diamond status at Hyatt if you had at least mid-tier status at competing hotel chains, such as Hilton, Starwood etc., Hyatt would give you temporary Diamond status for 60 days, along with 4 suite upgrade certificates, and if you stayed 12 nights in that 60 day period, you could keep Diamond status for the next year. While nothing has officially been announced from Hyatt, this time for the challenge it appears anyone could be eligible and no prior status at other hotels will be required!

Hyatt Diamond status provides you with free breakfast, free upgrades (when available), guaranteed 4pm late checkout, free internet and 30% bonus points so what a lot of people did (including myself) was enroll in a Diamond Challenge right before a long stay at Hyatt hotels. I did my challenge last year for a 6 night stay at the Andaz Maui and for a 4 night stay at the Park Hyatt Paris. With breakfast costing $44 a person at the Andaz Maui and 49 EUR (~$61 USD) a person at the Park Hyatt Paris, doing the Diamond Challenge saved me over $1,000 in breakfast costs!  I definitely maximized my Diamond Challenge even though I did not complete the challenge since some of those nights were award nights. Here is to hoping I can re-register for the Diamond Challenge this year for stays at the Andaz Maui (yes again as this is my new favorite hotel) and the Park Hyatt Maldives.

Lastly, posts might be less frequent over the next few days with the holidays. Happy Holidays to all!