Mistake story: I booked the wrong airport hotel – here’s what happened

When I booked the room in October Honeymoon in Madagascar About six months in advance, I knew my journey to the East African island would include an 11-hour stopover at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD). As a Hyatt loyalist, holder Hyatt World Credit CardI booked a one night stay Hyatt hotel near the airport with points. Then I sat back and got excited about my trip, knowing that the plan was complete.

Imagine my surprise when on the morning we were scheduled to depart for the trip of a lifetime, I received an automated email asking me to check in online – at Hyatt Place Chicago Airport/ Midway, 45 minutes drive from ORD. How could I make such an obvious mistake? And can I rebook us at the right hotel without losing points?

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What happened?

To save ourselves some delays, the booking process for our flights is quite difficult. After booking a flight to Madagascar based on points, we had a lot of trouble finding a flight home due to a difference in the flight award policy of our partner Ethiopian Airlines. It took several days of searching online to locate our return flights – and in the meantime, I’d forgotten the details of our outbound flight. I know we flew through Chicago but I forget which airport.

This is one of the few downsides to 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 easy to overlook small mistakes like these.

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

Related: Chicago O’Hare vs. Midway: Which Chicago airport should I fly to?

Hyatt cancellation policy

I immediately logged into my account to see my booking information. I redeemed 8,000 World of Hyatt points for a “standard” night at the category 2 Hyatt Place Chicago/Midway Airport. There is an almost identical property near ORD: Hyatt Place Chicago/O’Hare Airport. This hotel also belongs to category 2, but it looks like it classify my date as “peak”, so the cost per night is slightly higher at 9,500 points.

I had no problem paying a few extra points to get a hotel where we could easily crash after our flight landed around 11pm. However, according to the hotel’s cancellation policy, if I cancel within 24 hours of 23:59 local time, I will be charged one night. Oh, well – I think I’d rather pay 8,000 points for my mistake than the $264 I had to pay in cash.

But when I called the World of Hyatt representative, I was told the cancellation policy was a little different than what I expected. Obviously, 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 a night’s stay. Sorry.

Related: Your guide to booking refundable travel

Help from Hyatt

But just in case there was some way to avoid paying this cancellation fee, I tried to explain the situation to the representative. I don’t exactly want to cancel my reservation; I want to move it to a place closer to the airport on the right.

The representative begins by checking with the second hotel to confirm that they have available rooms. She then called the first hotel to explain that I was rebooking at another Hyatt and they agreed to waive the cancellation fee. They canceled my original reservation and the 8,000 points immediately appeared back in my account. Thanks, Hyatt!

I didn’t have enough points in my World of Hyatt account for the agent to book the new 9,500-point hotel (I had already spent all of those points on my upcoming trip). European Christmas trip), but I told her I could transfer them from Chasing the ultimate reward account. Thankfully, because Chase (typical) Extremely fast transferThe additional points I needed were in my World of Hyatt account a few minutes later and I was able to book a night at Hyatt Place Chicago/O’Hare Airport. The cash rate is $295 before taxes and fees, giving me a great value of 3.1 cents per point (compared to TPG’s December 2024 rate). valuation is 1.7 cents for Hyatt points).

The whole process took less than an hour and I had the rest of the morning to pack and prepare for our Madagascar trip before we headed to the airport. Overall, I’m glad that Hyatt sent me the check-in email and that I soon realized my mistake. If I hadn’t realized it until we got to the airport at 11pm, it might have been even more difficult – and stressful – to fix.

What happens if I can’t get my points back or the Hyatt hotel I want is full?

My husband and I won’t have to start our honeymoon by spending the night at ORD, Tom Hanks-style. There are many hotels nearby. I could have Chase points transferred such as going to Marriott Bonvoy to book an awards night at the Marriott Chicago O’Hare or paying cash at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport. Worst case, if there are absolutely no available rooms around ORD, I can simply pay for a 45-minute Uber ride to and from my original Midway hotel.

But thanks to Hyatt’s customer service and some extra Chase points, I was able to make our night in Chicago as affordable as possible without spending a dime.

Related: Last-minute strategies for achieving World of Hyatt status

Bottom line

Lesson learned: Don’t assume that a city has only one airport or only one international airport. Don’t book the first hotel named “airport” like I did. And when you’re done booking your trip, double-check all your reservations to make sure the dates and locations are right.

Also, if this happens to you, don’t just rebook online and pay the cancellation fee. You should try the phone helpline first — they may be more generous than you expect.

Finally, it’s always a good idea to have a little extra Points are transferable Save for situations like this. And we recommend it Set up any hotel and airline account you can use them in the future and link them to your transferable points account now, as this will speed up the process if you end up needing to transfer your points at the last minute.