With Hyatt’s elite status program changes going into effect Monday I am liking them more and more. All awards like upgrades and free nights become transferable, and more benefit choices are being added as members stay every 10 nights – all the way up to 150 nights.
The ability to transfer any earned award (other than having a designated concierge) is huge for me.
- I can gift use of my elite status for a single stay, and it’s no longer limited to when I’m redeeming my points for someone else. When my wife would stay somewhere without me, I’d redeem points so I could apply my status – even when I would have rather paid cash. A cousin doesn’t need to offer to transfer their points to me so I can book an award for them, I can simply apply the status to their stay.
- I tend not to use my free nights, allowing them to expire and asking to convert them to points. That’s because my work stays are paid in cash, and my vacation stays are with family where I want to confirm a suite. Hyatt is unlike any other chain allowing elites to confirm suites at time of booking, but it isn’t possible to use more than one award at a time – so no mixing free night certificates and suite upgrade certificates. Now I’ll be able to give away these free nights easily.
Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris
The number of these transferable ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates is now limited, but more flexible, and most members will earn enough for their purposes.
- It’s initially earned after 40 nights. So you don’t even need to reach Globalist status (60 nights) to use it for the first time. If you don’t yet have that status yourself, you can use it for one of your own stays – granting yourself Globalist on a single stay of up to 7 nights.
- When you give a Guest of Honor stay to someone else, you earn an elite qualifying night when they complete their stay. So introducing the benefits of status to a friend or family member helps you earn your own status too.
- An elite member with 60 nights will typically earn just 3 uses of the benefit per year, as opposed to having unlimited uses (1 is earned at 40 nights, and 2 at 60). Additional ones are earned at each of 70; 80; 90; 110; 120; 130; and 140 elite nights.
- Hyatt will be giving existing Globalists, including Lifetime Globalists, 5 Guest Of Honor certificates in January to start 2024. These will be valid through February 2025. Each March lifetime Globalists will receive 5 more every March as well, regardless of how many nights they stay, though they can continue to earn more through Milestone Rewards.
- As a transition for this year as well, Globalists who use all of their certificates can fall back on the unlimited benefit through February 28, 2025.
Alila Marea
But it’s not just Guest of Honor that’s more flexible, and free night awards that are more flexible! I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to gift a confirmed suite to a co-worker for their honeymoon. And I’ll finally have a use for the club lounge upgrade awards, too, that I earn and (since as a Globalist I receive lounge access at hotels which offer them automatically on my stays) I’ve had no use for. I can give those away, also!
The value and flexibility, to me, in being able to share my benefits with people that I like and care about makes the value of the World of Hyatt program much greater. And it was already best among hotel status programs for top tier elites, in my view.
- Upgrades: the only program that offers confirmed at booking suites, without capacity controls. If there’s a standard suite available it can be claimed with a suite upgrade awards, or using points. And Hyatt also has a program to redeem points for premium suites, also, or full free night awards in premium suites.
- Breakfast: instead of just offering continental breakfast, Hyatt’s offering is full breakfast, and they even define what that means making it harder for hotels to play games (and clearer when they are indeed playing them). Breakfast is either the hotel’s standard buffet (no elite-limited buffet) or an any entrée plus juice and coffee or tea and includes tax, gratuity and service charges.
- Late checkout: 4 p.m. is guaranteed (only subject to availability at resorts) and I’m usually pro-actively offered it at check-in. They also actually offer priority for early check-in starting at 9 a.m. In contrast, Hilton and IHG do not guarantee late check-out at all.
Free Globalist room service breakfast at Park Hyatt Vendome, Paris
Free Globalist room service breakfast at Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
There are still opportunities for Hyatt to improve – things I’d love to see, that seem like reasonable adds.
- Free night awards (whether category 1-4 or 1-7) have become less valuable with inflation, and with category inflation. I’d love to see the categories expanded, or at least the option to ‘top off’ towards the free night you want with additional points like Marriott and IHG offer.
- I’d love to see stacking of awards on the same stay, so that free night awards can be upgraded to suites in advance, and the option to use two confirmed suite upgrades to go from a regular room to a standard suite to a premium suite. The program already has the premium suite inventory from hotels, and a compensation model with hotels where the compensation model would work for the program.
- Upgrades should be possible into a broader array of rooms, not to dilute the suite benefit, but because there are popular properties where suite demand is high and premium rooms are still desirable, or because there are some hotels exempted from the suite upgrade benefit but that could offer premium rooms instead.
- The top tier points-earning bonus, at just 30%, is weakest in the industry. Heavy staying guests should earn more points comparable to Marriott, IHG and Hilton.
- A stronger mid-tier. Hyatt offers the best top tier, but is not competitive at the mid-tier (Explorist). However with suites and Guest Of Honor available before reaching Globalist, overachieving Explorists do begin to see some benefits this coming year.
- My Hyatt Concierge should be improved. There’s not enough staffing, the concierges are overloaded, and the quality of the agents are quite variable. There are some fantastic ones out there, but they aren’t all doing a fantastic job, with too much on their plate.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Suite Outdoor Deck
Seabird Resort, Grand Estate Suite Balcony
Hyatt’s footprint doesn’t work for everyone though it’s grown substantially (about double where it was a decade ago, not counting partnerships). Hilton, Marriott and IHG don’t have to be as rewarding because it’s easy to stumble into one of their properties wherever you go. It takes more effort to be loyal to Hyatt, and so Hyatt has to offer members a reason to do so.
It was already the best status program among the major hotel chains. It’s getting even better for 2024. I’m excited to see they’ll be onboarding Mr. and Mrs. Smith Hotels which offers amazing luxury and boutique properties. I love the places this will unlock for me to spend my points. So I’m excited about the direction Hyatt is headed.
Does Hyatt have an official policy in allowing expired free nights to be convrted to points? I have had mixed results with these types of requests, depending on hotel status and the origin of the free night awards (whether from Chase or Hyatt milestones). The lack of clarity is a bit annoying.
I am only Discoverist and have a two night stay before my Gate1 tour and another night stay after my tour at the All and Me, Hyatt hotel in Mainz, Germany, booked. Unfortunately, breakfast is $25.00/per person/night. I find that very expensive for a breakfast roll and 2 cups of coffee. I know nobody who is a Globalist with Guest of Honor certificates. Thanks for explaining how the program works.
Hyatt does indeed have a very generous loyalty program but their program alone isn’t enough for me to commit given their small footprint and lack of variety in lots of places.
Traveling 100+ days a year for work, I’d much rather stay at a Courtyard than a Hyatt Place even if Marriott lacks in loyalty where Hyatt shines.
Chase free nights cannot be converted to points, only WoH milestone awards. Gary is being a bit loose with his claim on this.
I’m seeing a lot more negative than positive about the changes, largely because I use the Guest Of Honor so often for friends and family. I’d estimate I used GOH between 15 and 20 times this year. Starting tomorrow the limited number that can actually be used for paid rooms are the first to go so those likely won’t last long, hurting my allocation for 2025 use. If Hyatt is requiring the use of a GOH certificate to transfer a single award night, that makes things even worse.
There are some people who’ll come out ahead with these changes but it’s most certainly not everyone. I just think that making clear that this is a devaluation of the program for some top members (75 nights this year) rather than presenting the changes as being largely good would be a more fair assessment.
To clearify a point. “Hyatt will be giving existing Globalists … 5 Guest Of Honor certificates in January to start 2024. These will be valid through February 2025.”
I will be losing my current Globalist status Feb 29, 2024.
Is it correct to interpret that I would receive and retain said GOH certificates through Feb 2025?
Be careful about wishing for more bonus points for Globalists. When rewards programs hand out more points, devaluations follow shortly after. Award nights cost less at Hyatt than other hotel programs. Basic Hampton Inn’s can be 40k+ in small towns along an interstate. We don’t want Hyatt to be like that.
The bolded part is a fabrication, a lie.
Here is the actual WoH T&C: “When staying at a participating hotel or resort that has a Club lounge, Globalists will receive access to the Club lounge. When staying at a participating hotel or resort that does not have a Club lounge (or if Club lounge is closed), Globalists will receive daily complimentary full breakfast (which includes one entrée or standard breakfast buffet, juice, and coffee, as well as tax, gratuity and service charges).”
From that humble offering, this site has elevated what is one the weakest elite breakfast offerings out there to be the best thing since sliced bread! Whereas WoH Globalists get complimentary full breakfast only at properties without a club lounge (where they get continental breakfast), IHG Diamonds and Hilton Diamonds get complimentary full breakfast even at properties with a club, all extra charges included. How does that make WoH elite breakfast the best?
I could go on, but the picture should be clear: if WoH were as good as claimed, then the embellishments and fabrications would not be necessary, would they? Tiny footprint, no 4th or 5th award night free…no wonder.
Could use some help with this. If I am booking a second room for my kids and extend GofH to the second room, how do I book the reservation to get one elite night awarded to me? Can I book the reservation using my points in the name of one of my kids (who is a WofH member) and then use GofH on that second room? I understand both room reservations can’t be in my name so that wouldn’t trigger the elite night credit but don’t fully understand how this works.
@DCS Professor, Happy New Year, but as far as Hyatt suites, it is not a lie or a fabrication–it is completely correct. I book my reservations 11 months out. If I look on the Hyatt website and see a standard suite available for cash, I can use a Suite Upgrade Award and get that suite assigned to me. If it is not available, I change my dates to dates where the standard suite is available for cash. In any event, I know I will be in that suite when I arrive.
You could argue that some Hyatt hotels play games with what is considered a standard suite (sometimes they call it a “Junior Suite”, which is nothing more than a large room), or classify relatively few of their suites as standard, which would be correct.
You could argue that the percentage of Hyatt hotels where I can book a standard suite using a SUA compared to the number of hotels that I can book using Hyatt points is painfully small since a SUA cannot be used at a Hyatt House, a Hyatt Place or a SLH hotel–that’s correct too.
However, I believe Hyatt is unique in that I can book a hotel suite months out using a SUA and I KNOW that I will receive that suite when I check in, even though I am paying for the cheapest room using points or cash. I have received gorgeous suites around the world for many years using Hyatt SUAs that were guaranteed. Once I apply that SUA, all capacity controls are irrelevant, even 11 months from my stay. I have never been disappointed no matter how full the hotel is.
You can knock Hyatt on many grounds (you listed some, but there are certainly others), but this is a wonderful benefit of the Hyatt program. Neither Marriott nor Hilton have it. I cannot book a Marriott or Hilton 11 months out, pay for the cheapest room, and KNOW that I will have a suite when I check in. Just for clarity (since I’ve seen your arguments so many, many times), capacity controls don’t matter at a Hyatt when a use a SUA after I book the room, even months out. Capacity controls matter at Hilton until the moment I check in (or, if I get lucky, I’ll see the upgrade at Hilton the day before).
Other programs excel at other areas–I am LT Titanium on Marriott, Diamond on Hilton and Globalist on Hyatt, so I engage with all three rather heavily.
@DSK — Your post is so full of caveats that they nullified whatever counterpoint you tried to make, and then when it all failed, you trotted out the catch-all excuse for why everyone cannot have nice things: “some Hyatt hotels play games with what is considered a standard suite”!
Well, I have news for you, pal: Hyatt hotels or hotels in practically every program are allowed to “play such games” because per every program’s T&C, individual hotels have full discretion to decide which room is “a suite” and whether it is available for booking with points !!! If Hyatt offered “confirmed at booking suites, without capacity controls, or every standard suite available can be claimed with a suite upgrade awards, or using points then wouldn’t the easiest thing be for the program to make it possible for members to confirms suites online instead of making them jump through hoops to confirm ???!!!
Only two hotel programs offer “any-time awards” that are not capacity controlled: Accord ALL awards and Hilton Honors “premium” awards for which there is a direct equivalence between cash and points. Until Hyatt established such an equivalence to where paying with points is exactly the same as paying with cash, it will simply be a pipe dream to claim that “Hyatt offers confirmed at booking suites, without capacity controls. If there’s a standard suite available it can be claimed with a suite upgrade awards, or using points
In fact, what @Gary did in making that claim was to simply transfer to Hyatt awards a claim he’d manufactured about SPG awards (some cockamamie concept he called “true redemption”) after the latter’s demise.
Straw man argument. The problem is that most hotels would be reluctant to confirm suite upgrades 11 months before stay when the chances that they could still sell suites for cash are high. It is why Hilton (and airlines) confirming upgrades within days (72 hr in Hilton’s case) makes perfect sense…
@DCS – I do it all the time. All the time. It’s hard for the Hilton Diamond mind to comprehend, but it’s a required part of the Hyatt program and they execute on this Every. Single. Day.
@Gary — What do you do all the time and what are you referring to?
confirm suites at time of booking, including 6 months or a year out, with hyatt
@DCS–BINGO. Most hotels are reluctant to confirm suite upgrades 11 months out–that is why that aspect of the Hyatt program is so incredible! If they are selling the suite for cash, they MUST give it to you with a suite upgrade award–even if booking 11 months out. As personal examples, Park Hyatt Zurich, Hyatt Centric Milan, Park Hyatt St. Kitts, Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, Hyatt Regency Nice, Hyatt Centric Dublin, The Seabird Resort (southern California), Grand Hyatt Berlin, Hyatt Regency Sarasota, Grand Hyatt Vail, Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, Hyatt Regency Maui. I could go on–there are a lot more. All booked with guaranteed suites 11 months out.
How is this a straw man argument?
Just saw your next comment. Hyatt’s IT is notoriously bad, so you have to call in. I heard that may change soon, but we will see.
Also, please re-read what I said. Some Hyatts may play games with suite categorization, but if there is a suite available that I want 11 months out for cash and I have a suite upgrade award, I can claim it, and capacity controls don’t matter after I do. As far as the argument that this will never happen, please see above. Do you really believe I am the only one who can do this?
@DCS has shared that he has a good experience with upgrades from Hilton, (1) in Asia, where every chain hotel is generous with elites more or less, (2) pushing hard at the front desk in ways that would make many people uncomfortable. Unquestionably an outlier.
Read the Hilton terms and conditions. There is no commitment to late checkout. There is no commitment to upgrade to suites. If a hotel fails to provide either one they haven’t fallen short of the program’s commitments in any way.
In contrast I am proactively offered 4pm check-out by Hyatts nearly ever single stay. And there are fewer carveouts from the benefit than at Marriott. I am entitled to an available standard suite at check-in, and I can confirm one in advance using suite upgrade awards (I currently have 9 in my account): each one valid on a standard suite, up to 7 nights, bookable out of revenue inventory – if the room is for sale it can be confirmed as an upgrade. And that is true regardless of how far in advance it is requested.
That is unmatched in the industry, and @DCS will spew a word salad trying to obfuscate it because of some sort of Honors Stockholm Syndrome. But it’s the simple truth.
@Gary — I never said that it does not happen. I just said it is tough for hotels to agree to confirm suites that far in advance. I would say that the frequency is likely about the same as for clearing complimentary suite upgrades, both of which are based on capacity control.
More to the point is that the whole notion that anyone with a SUA can confirm a standard suite whenever one is available for sale is simply ridiculous. Consider the number of Hyatt Globalists with SUAs and the number of available standard suites worldwide. It would mean that practically every standard suite at Hyatt hotels would be confirmed with a SUAs and never sold for cash….No wonder some hotels decide to “play games with awards” ! 😉
ROTFLMAO! Checkmate. Error…error…error…
@Gary — Your shtick is to call yourself “thought leader in travel” and just make up “standards of excellence” that you peddle around as must-haves for every program, except that so-called standards all bogus or self-serving:
— You’ve made claims about Hyatt’s wonderful breakfast offering for years, and, yet, it is one of the weakest offerings out there.
— You have repeated ad nauseam the bogus claim that Hilton makes no commitments to upgrade to suites when I have linked to where it tells Diamond — If we have a better room available it is yours, up to a suite — and you ignore that, as you have ignored Hilton’s innovative global automated upgrades that work just like airline cabin upgrades, only to keep regurgitating misinformation you have written about for over a decade.
— And, no, my suite upgrades have not happened only in Asia. I will be happy to post pictures of every single one of them, including in the US — as I did on MilePoint years ago and you even commented.
— You make late checkout as if it were some big perk that everyone must have, and yet it is a perk I do not value that much even though have never been denied it in 13 years as a HH Diamond and have gotten it approved for as late 6pm.
— You ignore the fact that Hyatt does not offer the 4th or 5th award night free, the single most valuable perk in hotel loyalty.
How about the Hyatt point? Is still the single most valuable hotel points currency in the universe, ey, “thought leader”?
@DCS “More to the point is that the whole notion that anyone with a SUA can confirm a standard suite whenever one is available for sale is simply ridiculous.” But is true. It really is! Honest!
Know what else is ridiculous? I can earn Hilton free night certificates through credit cards and use those free night certificates at virtually every Hilton in the world. Marriott and Hyatt have free night awards, but it is tough (and in many cases impossible) to use them at their very top hotels (primarily for Marriott, but also Hyatt since it introduced a category 8 and the free night award goes up to category 7).
Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills–worked there for me. Saved me $1525. Used three for Paris Hilton Opera.
Conrad Midtown New York–just used one there (and got a very nice suite upgrade by the way at check-in). Many other examples of very nice hotels using Hilton free night certificates, and if I combine them with a five-night-pay-for-four points redemption, that is even better. Hyatt doesn’t have five-night-pay-for -four points redemptions.
I can also get Hilton’s top status just by having their credit card!
Ridiculous–absolutely! But that is also true. That is why I play in all three (Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt) programs. Each has advantages and disadvantages.
Alright, that does it. Anyone who believes what you do is not worth my time because just a little bit of common sense would show that there is no way Hyatt would be so stupid as to open its entire inventory of standard suites for confirming with SUAs. If that were the case, why don’t they just allow members to confirm them online!!!
I am done here.
Will we have the ability to gift things like club access online?
@DCS –
” You’ve made claims about Hyatt’s wonderful breakfast offering for years, and, yet, it is one of the weakest offerings out there.”
– Marriott promises only continental breakfast and not even at all brands. Hilton in the U.S. gives you a credit that isn’t even enough to pay for breakfast at most hotels. IHG finally has a real breakfast benefit for Diamonds. Hyatt is clear that breakfast includes the standard buffet or an entree of the member’s choice plus coffee/tea AND juice and inclusive of tax and gratuity.
“— You have repeated ad nauseam the bogus claim that Hilton makes no commitments to upgrade to suites when I have linked to where it tells Diamond — If we have a better room available it is yours, up to a suite — and you ignore that, as you have ignored Hilton’s innovative global automated upgrades that work just like airline cabin upgrades, only to keep regurgitating misinformation you have written about for over a decade.”
This is funny.
1. read the terms and conditions. MAY receive upgrades, there is no entitlement to an upgrade if a room is available whatsoever and the upgrade benefit is NOT to the ‘best available’ out of the eligible room types.
“Diamond Hilton Honors Members may receive upgrades to preferred rooms, based on availability at the time of arrival. Upgrades for Diamond Hilton Honors Members may include upgrades up to “junior”, “standard” or “one-bedroom” suites.”
2. Hilton doesn’t even honor upgrades at all at NINE brands: “The following brands do not offer complimentary upgrades: Embassy Suites™, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hampton by Hilton™, Tru by Hilton™, Spark by Hilton™, Homewood Suites by Hilton®, Home2 Suites by Hilton®, Hilton Grand Vacations®, and Motto by Hilton®.”
“You make late checkout as if it were some big perk that everyone must have, and yet it is a perk I do not value that much even though have never been denied it in 13 years as a HH Diamond and have gotten it approved for as late 6pm.”
I’m glad you at least concede the obvious that unlike Hyatt and Marriott, Hilton does not guarantee late checkout as an elite benefit.
“You ignore the fact that Hyatt does not offer the 4th or 5th award night free, the single most valuable perk in hotel loyalty.”
That’s about the earn and burn proposition not the value of the elite program, why do you conflate this?
“How about the Hyatt point? Is still the single most valuable hotel points currency in the universe”
You clearly misunderstand what I’ve written on the subject (not surprising).
A single Hyatt point is worth more than a single Marriott, IHG or Hilton point. That doesn’t mean Hyatt is a richer earn and burn program than others. It reflects that the scale their points operate on is lower/less inflated. For instance, base earn in the Hyatt program is 5 points per dollar spent, and 10 points per dollar in many other programs. So you’d expect a single Hyatt point to be worth more, and in fact it is.
What you’re sensitive about is that the rebate value of the Marriott, IHG and Hyatt programs are all stronger than Hilton… which is generally the worst program both for elite benefits AND for earn/burn.
@DCS ” I would say that the frequency is likely about the same as for clearing complimentary suite upgrades, both of which are based on capacity control.
More to the point is that the whole notion that anyone with a SUA can confirm a standard suite whenever one is available for sale is simply ridiculous. Consider the number of Hyatt Globalists with SUAs and the number of available standard suites worldwide. ”
No, there are no capacity controls on standard suites with Hyatt. You can claim those with confirmed suite upgrades and in fact any member can claim them with points. That is just how the program works, and how it has worked for 15 years.
You really can. Your Hilton mind may not comprehend this. But there are no capacity controls on standard suites like you’ll find at Marriott. Oh by the way there are no capacity controls at IHG now either!
@Gary — I just landed in Siem Reap and have no time to respond blow by blow to your fabrications, all of which I have debunked ad nauseam but your keep regurgitating.
For instance, it is simply mindless to keep claiming that Hyatt hotels are required to confirn with a SUA any standard suite that they can sell for cash. You made similar claims about SPG awards and SPG suite upgrades and they were all bogus. After the demise of SPG, you simply switched and began applied the same bogus claims to your new top program to make seem better that it is! Where in the WoH T&C does it say that properties are required to confirm with SUAs any suites that they can sell for cash? Does the claim even make sense???
Anyway, it is okay to have strong opinions, but to hold onto bogus opinions in the face of clear evidence to the contrary or countless debunkings is nothing short of “Trumpian.” No amount of info would make you see the light until it is pounded so hard in you, like the bogus claim about the relative values of points currencies, that all resistance crumbles. That is what I will keep doing with every single one of your manufactured claims. The next one to die will be Hyatt’s purportedly superior breakfast offering. That’s dead…I guarantee it.
G’day from Cambodia!
BTW, @Gary, you were doing so well avoiding to claim that a Hyatt point was worth more than any other. Now that you’ve claimed it again, I am sure you would not mind making it clear to your loyal readers why you still secretly believe that a Hyatt point is worth more than any other? Hint: it’ll just how clueless you are…really.
I meant use “real math” to prove that a Hyatt point is worth more, because what you wrote earlier about points scales, earn and burn, etc, was just nonsense.
DCS should go on the Misinformation Mount Rushmore with Baghdad Bob and a few other Trump spokespeople.
It’s the same mouth diarrhea year after year. Confirming a suite a year out with Hyatt is one of the best benefits in all of Lodging loyalty.