Mistake story: I booked an award stay at the wrong airport hotel — here’s what happened

12.12.2024 - 14:33 / thepointsguy.com

When I booked my October honeymoon in Madagascar roughly six months in advance, I knew my journey to the East African island would involve an 11-hour layover at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD). As a Hyatt loyalist who holds the World of Hyatt Credit Card, I booked a night in a Hyatt hotel near the airport with points. Then I sat back to get excited about my trip, knowing the planning was done.

Imagine my surprise when, the morning we were supposed to leave for our trip of a lifetime, I got an automated email asking me to check in online — at the Hyatt Place Chicago/Midway Airport, a 45-minute drive from ORD. How could I have made such an obvious mistake? And could I rebook us at the right hotel without forfeiting my points?

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To cut myself some slack, the booking process for our flights had been rather challenging. After booking our flights to Madagascar on points, we'd had a lot of trouble finding flights home due to a quirk in Ethiopian Airlines' partner award flight policy. It had taken several days of online searching to get our returning flights squared away — and in that time, I had forgotten the details of our outbound flight. I knew we flew through Chicago, but I forgot which airport.

This is one of the few downsides of playing the points and miles game. When you use points and miles to book free travel, things can get a little more complicated, making it easier to overlook small mistakes like this.

Thankfully, my flight left late in the afternoon, giving me plenty of time to address the issue.

Related: Chicago O'Hare vs. Midway: Which Chicago airport should I fly into?

I immediately logged into my account to look at my reservation. I had redeemed 8,000 World of Hyatt points for a "standard" night at the Category 2 Hyatt Place Chicago/Midway Airport. There was an almost identical property near ORD: the Hyatt Place Chicago/O'Hare Airport. This hotel is also Category 2, but apparently it classified my date as "peak," so it cost a slightly higher 9,500 points for one night.

I had no problem paying a few more points to get a hotel where we could easily crash after our flight landed around 11 p.m. However, according to the hotel's cancellation policy, if I canceled within 24 hours of 11:59 p.m. local time, I would be charged one night's fee. Oh, well — I figured I'd rather pay 8,000 points for my mistake than the $264 I would have paid with cash.

But when I called a World of Hyatt representative, I learned the cancellation policy is a little different from what I expected. Apparently, when you cancel a points booking after the deadline, your points will be refunded — and your card on file will be charged the current room rate for