The Hyatt Gold Points rewards scheme gives you 5 points per dollar spend at the restaurant or for overnight accommodation.

The website says that only published rates will accrue points. So, bookings made via Expedia or other 3^rd party sites are excluded.

But what if you are a business traveller paying a reduced – negotiated – corporate discounted price?

We’ve checked, and the Andaz sales people say that these rates are eligible for reward points

3 nights at £330 per night should earn approx 3,000 points in total

https://goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp/en/benefits/join.jsp

Hyatt Rewards can be redeemed for free nights but the cost depends on the category

Category 1 Cost 5,000 points           No Europe / UK Hotels
Category 2 Cost 8,000 points           Armenia, Egypt, Warsaw
Category 6 Cost 25,000 points         The Andaz London is in this category

So you’d need approximately 8 or 9 stays at the Andaz London in order to earn just 1 night but by my calculation that is equivalent to a 4% cash-back which is pretty good is it not?

Better still, until 31^st August, you can earn bonus Avios instead. Enroll with Hyatt Gold Passport using promotion code BA14S and select British Airways Executive Club Avios as the earning preference and provide their Executive Club membership number at time of check-in
More information here:
http://hyatthotels.hyatt.com/content/partnerlandingpage/en/14air-britishairways.html

Choose British Airways as your preferred airline at check-in and you can earn up to 21,000 Avios!

British Airways offers this promotion to most long-haul destinations (except to the Caribbean).

I use London to Dubai as an example of how the upgrade works;

The lowest business class return fare to Dubai is £2,310 but that fare is non-refundable and non-changeable – even for a fee. A minimum stay of 3 nights is required and availability is limited.

So for business travel, it is likely that the more flexible fare of £2,773 is the only available price for the trip. This fare has better availability and allows changes and refunds for a fee of £200. This is the price on ba.com

If you book through a travel agency however, you could be upgraded to First Class in one direction – at no extra cost!

This upgrade offer applies to reservations made up to Friday 23^rd May and is for departures up to 31^st August

If you are On Business members, you are entitled to a discount of 5% off the actual air fare, reducing the total to £2,660

And you’ll benefit from free cancellation and no change fees

On any of these fares the individual traveller will still receive the usual Avios and Tier points.

However, if you take the On Business discount, your company will not receive any On Business Points. The booking will appear on your statement as “ineligible corporate deal”.

The points you would normally receive for a Business & First Class trip total 1,920 and I suggest a value of between 7p and 15p for each point in redemption terms so you’ll lose between £134 and £288 worth of points. Use a BA American Express corporate card and you’ll earn a 50% bonus.

So it may be better to pay the additional £113 for the higher fare – but that depends on what degree of flexibility – if any, is required!