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How do the World of Hyatt changes announced last week work in practice?

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If you are a member of the World of Hyatt hotel loyalty programme, you will have had an email last week outlining some changes to the scheme for 2024.

The changes are a little complicated so I thought I’d run through them today.

The good news is that the changes are broadly positive and there is no devaluation at all. How often do I get to write that?

World of Hyatt Guest of Honor changes 2024

You can see details of the changes on the Hyatt website here.

The changes can be summed up like this: the ‘Guest of Honor’ benefit will no longer be a top-tier Globalist benefit but will be available to all members as a ‘Milestone Reward’, starting at 40 nights, will be transferable and will now be usable on cash stays.

What is ‘Guest of Honor’?

At present, ‘Guest of Honor’ is a perk which is exclusively for top-tier (60 nights per year) Globalist members.

It allows a Globalist to use their World of Hyatt points to make a booking for anyone they choose. The person who stays is treated as if they were a Globalist themselves – free breakfast, club access, upgrade to the best available room, free parking, guaranteed 4pm check-out etc.

Since Hyatt points can be transferred freely between members, albeit via a paper form, a non-Globalist who knew a Globalist could benefit from Globalist perks on their own redemptions. You could transfer points to the Globalist who would then make your booking.

What is changing from 2024?

‘Guest of Honor’ is no longer a Globalist perk

Instead, you can earn ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates as Milestone Rewards:

  • you can earn one Guest of Honor voucher at 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points
  • you can earn two Guest of Honor vouchers at 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points
  • you can earn one Guest of Honor voucher at each of 70, 80, 90, 110, 120, 130 and 140 elite nights

This is good news for anyone who does 40 nights per year but doesn’t reach the 60 nights required for Globalist. It is bad news for Globalists who made huge numbers of ‘Guest of Honor’ redemptions as there is now a cap, based on how many certificates you choose as Milestone Rewards.

Certificates will be valid for the current year plus an additional 14 months. If you currently have Globalist status you will receive five Guest of Honor certificates as a one-off gift at the end of 2023, valid to February 2025.

My reading of the T&C is that even Globalists who are being downgraded in February 2024 will receive these five certificates. This will allow the ex-Globalist to effectively make themselves Globalist again on five stays in 2024 or early 2025.

World of Hyatt Guest of Honor changes 2024

You can pretend to be Globalist even when you’re not

From January you can apply a ‘Guest of Honor’ certificate to yourself. You would do this if you had earned one as a Milestone Reward for completing 40 nights, which isn’t enough to make you Globalist. Despite this, you could still get Globalist benefits on your next stay.

You can transfer ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates to others

In fact, from January 2024 you can transfer ALL Hyatt certificates, such as Suite Upgrade Award vouchers, to other members via hyatt.com.

If you have a friend who wants to get Globalist benefits on a stay, you can simply send them a ‘Guest of Honor’ certificate online and they can handle all the paperwork themselves.

‘Guest of Honor’ now works on cash stays as well as rewards

This is a big change. You don’t need to be making a redemption to give someone ‘Guest of Honor’ benefits. It’s useful if you want to treat a friend who is planning a cash stay at a Hyatt hotel but doesn’t have any World of Hyatt points.

You will be rewarded for letting your friends use your ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates

Here’s an interesting one. When someone else uses one of your ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates, you will receive one elite night credit per STAY (note stay, not night). The person who actually stays will receive their points and elite night credit as usual.

This means that it is in your best interests to ensure that your certificates are used. Oddly, we may find the HfP forum full of Globalists who are desperate to find people who want a suite upgrade, free breakfast and a 4pm check-out on their next stay, because they want the elite credit towards requalification!

‘Guest of Honor’ stays will be bookable online

One block to making a ‘Guest of Honor’ reservation at the moment is the need to do it over the phone. This will change in early 2024.

World of Hyatt Guest of Honor changes 2024

How will Milestone Rewards look in 2024?

Here is a summary of how Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards will look in 2024 (click to enlarge):

World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards 2024

As well as adding ‘Guest of Honor’ options from 40 nights, you will see other changes:

  • additional options are available from 20 nights, including a ‘double points on your next stay’ award valid at the ‘limited service’ brands
  • rewards can be earned up to 150 nights per year – although given Hyatt’s small footprint, the number of people doing 150 nights per year must be tiny
  • if you do get to 150 nights you can select a new ‘Ultimate Free Night’ award, valid at any Hyatt property

As I mentioned above, you will be able to gift these Milestone Rewards online. This means that some the options which previously had little value, such as club lounge access (which a Globalist would get anyway) can be shared with others.

Conclusion

This is an impressive set of changes by Hyatt which, taken together, will genuinely benefit those doing enough nights to trigger Milestone Rewards.

Some may have gone too far. Are we going to see a lot of backdoor selling of Suite Upgrade Awards, now they can be electronically transferred? After all, they have a LOT of value – you are upgraded to a suite at the time of booking, and one certificate covers up to seven consecutive nights.

We are also likely to see Globalist members desperate to give away their ‘Guest of Honor’ certificates in 2024, because each one used earns the giver one elite night credit. This is one fewer night that the giver needs to stay to retain status for the following year. For 2025+ this will be rarer as members could choose more valuable Milestone Rewards instead.

You can find out more about the changes on the Hyatt website here.

World of Hyatt update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: World of Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion

New to World of Hyatt?  Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

World of Hyatt

Comments (23)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Kowalski says:
    10 Dec10 December 08:27

    Hopefully one day they’ll be a World of Hyatt credit card in the UK or at the very least they’ll do a deal with Amex or HSBC to allow points to be converted to Hyatt. As things stand, it seems Hyatt aren’t too bothered about the UK market.

    • Steve says:
      10 Dec10 December 08:35

      Think there’s a pretty good mix of Hyatt properties/options in London/South East now, particularly compared to just a few years ago with more slated to open in 2024.

      I agree the footprint nationwide is pretty poor, particularly north of Brum.

    • Bernard says:
      10 Dec10 December 10:23

      Or perhaps a hotel scheme where you actually have to stay in the hotels is not such a bad idea?
      Otherwise it gets flooded with credit card points – and it’s clear from elsewhere that devaluation and benefits reductions then follows

      • Kowalski says:
        10 Dec10 December 10:34

        That would be fine if that was the chain’s policy, but it isn’t is it.

      • Stu_N says:
        10 Dec10 December 11:17

        I do well out of Hyatt via actual stays, their promos are strong and redemptions are attainable.

        As Discoverist (10 nights) I’ve done very well in Europe for upgrades and freebies and I will hit Explorist this year.

      • Camille55 says:
        10 Dec10 December 12:49

        From the hotels perspective, being flooded with credit cards isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like restaurants wants bums on seats, hotels want people in rooms. If a percentage are via redemptions, then great. We we sat on a points redemption, we are far more likely to eat on property, so redemption bookings do drive revenue for the hotel (that they otherwise would not get).

        Agree with OP, a WoH credit card in the UK would be great. If not, some sort of points transferability from Amex or HSBC.

        Any update on this Rob?

        • Rob says:
          10 Dec10 December 14:07

          Nothing heard.

          There is a big failure here to understand scheme economics. IHG forces hotels to make 5% of rooms available for reward and pays them peanuts ($25-100). At the same time IHG sells points for high prices to card companies. If you assume 0.5c, it gets $200 for 40,000 points sold to Chase etc which you redeem for a room where (unless hotel is nearly full) it gets $50 cleaning fee. Great margins.

          • Bernard says:
            10 Dec10 December 17:12

            Just perhaps Hyatt thinks in different terms to IHG?
            I think the lesson is that if you want an IHG scheme then use IHG.
            Personally, the Hyatt scheme works well, and am happy that Hyatt actually focuses on rewarding points on those that use the product.
            I’d have thought other hotel devaluations and the Delta changes point to what happens when the credit card points become an uncontrollable monster that has to be tamed through huge devaluations.
            So if we’re talking about earning points that won’t devalue then Hyatt seems to be far better so far.
            PS if I did happen it’s likely to be through Chase, as in the USA (selectively – and even there, there are some interesting/clever thresholds put in place).

          • Rob says:
            10 Dec10 December 18:00

            It’s a different game with hotels. Delta is vertically integrated so it needs to more carefully consider miles issuance vs the opportunity cost of giving up seats for miles.

            IHG doesn’t own its hotels. It’s a pure contractual relationship. It’s guaranteed profit when it pays the hotel peanuts for a room where the points have been bought for a chunky sum by a credit card issuer. If the hotel could otherwise have sold the room for cash then IHG doesn’t really care less.

          • Rob says:
            10 Dec10 December 18:03

            A Hyatt deal with Amex covering Western Europe should be a no-brainer. Oddly Amex is likely to be pushing back more (because it wants you redeeming points for statement credit at 0.45p vs miles which cost it 0.8p-1p) but my personal view is that adding Hyatt as a partner would actually get Amex extra card sign-ups. It’s not just about giving existing cardholders more options.

          • Track says:
            11 Dec11 December 05:13

            I can understand how a hotel feels out of pocket if forced to sell 5% rooms during a block out period.

            But I am sure, they recover by raising the rates on average.

            Through 2022-23, we have seen ridiculous pricing in Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon. Four Points charging 1300 EUR a night… don’t they have AirBnB or W tower is out free rooms.

            My bet is chain hotels learned a cartel behaviour and no longer trying to compete.

      • Azza says:
        10 Dec10 December 20:46

        Considering the bonus and earnings people in the US are able to make I don’t think they’d be too bothered about a ‘flood’ of new people from UK / Europe.

        • Camille55 says:
          11 Dec11 December 03:35

          Exactly.

          Reply to Bernard – except that in the US Hyatt don’t actually focus on rewarding points on those that actually use the product. They issue a card on the universally accepted Visa platform that even allows you to earn Globalist status thru card spend alone. Yet you still got your status thru stays. And you seem to value it. So flooding a scheme with points does not create the monster you fear.

          Fully agree with Rob that Hyatt would enhance the attraction of Amex to potential new UK customers. From another discussion, Amex seem more interested in annual fees, so anything that drives sign ups for them makes financial sense.

  • John says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:07

    Sounds like forums might be full of complaints about closed/frozen accounts soon – unless hyatt doesn’t care about people selling these certs?

  • Robert says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:12

    I’d be very grateful for a guest of honor certificate for an upcoming NYE stay, if it helps a globalist.

  • Lady London says:
    10 Dec10 December 18:03

    Looks like some smart thinking by Hyatt. Let’s hope the hyenas don’t ruin it.

    • Bernard says:
      10 Dec10 December 20:12

      Alas, you can already sense how it’s going to be as abused.

    • Camille55 says:
      11 Dec11 December 03:42

      Agree. I recently gifted a VS companion voucher to my millennial niece and it made a difference to a trip wherein she could fly premium instead of economy. She loved it!

      Smart thinking indeed. Likewise, great that Hyatt enable gifting of hotel perks to family/friends. Anyone ruining it by selling the benefit, which I’m sure the scheme would prohibit, could have their status withdrawn. That should be a deterrent. In theory!

  • Track says:
    11 Dec11 December 05:18

    I personally haven’t used GOH because it was a waste of redemption — nights credit to the person who is named on GOH stay, not you.

    It’s not simple to earn 60 nights. Especially in this post-Covid revenge travel and events madness.

    The new rules makes certificates useable, but the usual complaint of too many Globalists… Hyatt properties in the US do not strive to upgrade and best you get is Junior Suite.

    • Bernard says:
      11 Dec11 December 22:15

      But the upgrade isn’t to the best available Suite. The T&C clearly explain that. It’s space available and if they’re busy, they’re busy. Though as an Explorist you can get suite upgrade vouchers that will confirm.
      It seems that the personal concierge you get as an E also has different abilities to make things happen. Behind the scenes I suspect Hyatt have something like a CIV score.

  • RC says:
    13 Dec13 December 04:04

    Just really want to leave a comment to say: thanks for the summmary!!!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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