Good News! Two Positive Changes Coming to Hyatt’s Loyalty Program

Million Mile Secrets

7 years ago

Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

We have an update hot off the presses from World of Hyatt. And it’s all positive news!

Beginning January 1, 2018, Hyatt will make it easier for folks to earn elite status. And lengthen the validity of any free night awards you earn through Hyatt’s loyalty program!

Folks With Hyatt Globalist Elite Status Will Earn a Free Night Certificate Valid at Any Hyatt Category 1 to 7 Hotel. Including the All-Inclusive Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta in Mexico!

Here are the details.

1. More Time to Redeem Free Night Certificates

World of Hyatt is giving folks a larger window to redeem the free nights they earn with Explorist and Globalist elite status. You will now have 180 days (previously 120 days) to redeem the following free night awards issued on or after January 1, 2018:

Free night in a Category 1 to 4 Hyatt hotel or resort when you stay 30 qualifying nights or earn 50,000 Base Points in a calendar year (Explorist elite status)
Free night in Category 1 to 7 Hyatt hotel or resort when you stay 60 qualifying nights or earn 100,000 Base Points in a calendar year (Globalist elite status)

2. Award Nights Count Towards Elite Status

Previously, you would NOT earn elite night credits when booking an award night with Hyatt (though a Points + Cash reservation would count). But now, award nights WILL count towards earning elite status!

It’s already hard enough to earn elite status with Hyatt, because there are so few hotels worldwide (~740). So this could be incredibly helpful for some!

You’ll Generally Only Find Hyatt Hotels in Large Cities or Popular Destinations

This is an area Hyatt has been lagging behind in, so I’m glad to see them make this change. Other hotels, like Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood, already do this.

Want More Hyatt Points?

Link: All the Ways to Earn Hyatt Points

I love to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for free hotel stays.

Remember, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt to top-off your account for an award stay if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, or (no longer offered) Ink Bold card or Ink Plus card.

And if you have 1 of the cards listed above, you can indirectly transfer points earned from the Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited, and Ink Business Cash Credit Card, too!

Or, consider signing-up for the improved Chase Hyatt card offer. It comes with 40,000 Hyatt points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus a $50 statement credit after your first purchase!

Bottom Line

Nothing but good news from World of Hyatt today! Beginning January 1, 2018:

Award nights will count towards elite status
You’ll have a longer window of time to redeem the free nights you receive by earning Explorist and Globalist elite status

I’m glad to see these changes from Hyatt. Especially that award nights will count towards elite status! Perhaps this is the fruit of bringing Starwood executives to lead their loyalty program. 😉

What do you think about these improvements to World of Hyatt?

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)