Hyatt has announced some changes to the World of Hyatt program that will take place as of January 1, 2024. Changes are being made to Milestone Rewards, Guest of Honor, Award Transfers and more opportunities for travel professionals
Milestone Rewards Changes
With Milestone Rewards, the program will now provide additional milestones for every 10 qualifying nights between 100 and 150 nights per calendar year. Currently the program only offers them up to 100 nights.
- More Milestones & Rewards: Members will be recognized more frequently and choose whether to use their award or gift eligible awards. Milestone Rewards will begin after 20 qualifying nights (or 35,000 Base Points) and continue for each 10 qualifying nights, up to 150 nights per calendar year. At almost every milestone, members can choose from three awards or decide to gift eligible awards to someone special:
- Earn points for future stays across the globe.
- Enhance their next stay with benefits like suite upgrades.
- Enjoy experiences designed to support and complement their wellbeing.
Next they are adding some new options to the Milestone Rewards that you can select from:
- New Milestone Rewards: Throughout their journey, members can earn new rewards:
- 2K Next Stay: Earn 2,000 Bonus Points on their next stay at a Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption by Hyatt or UrCove hotel.
- FIND Experience Credit: Choose between a $25-$300 FIND credit to use on any FIND experience around the globe, depending on the qualifying number of nights.
- Guest of Honor Award: Give someone they care about – including themselves – Globalist benefits on either award or paid stays, starting at 40 qualifying nights.
- Miraval Extra Night: Stay one night at a Miraval resort to receive a complimentary second night
- The Ultimate Free Night Award: Enjoy one free night in any participating Category 1-8 hotel, Category A-F all-inclusive resort or participating Miraval resort (earned at 150 qualifying nights).
Guest of Honor
The changes to Guest of Honor are the sore point of the updates as this will no longer be a standard unlimited benefit for Globalist but rather one that has to be earned through Milestone Rewards:
- Guest of Honor: Guest of Honor, which historically enabled Globalists to share their valuable in-stay membership benefits, will become a new Milestone Reward, extending this unique benefit to more members.
- Members can give the Globalist experience to someone they care about (including themselves for non-Globalist members) on stays up to 7 nights.
- As a Milestone Reward, Guest of Honor can be earned up to 10 times/year, beginning at the 40 Qualifying Night / 65,000 Base Point milestone.
- Guest of Honor can now be enjoyed on both award and paid stays.
To soften the blow to this part of the program, current Globalists will receive five Guest of Honor awards to use in 2024 and Lifetime Globalists will then continue to receive five every year after that.
Award Transfers
Hyatt members will be able to transfer (gift) most awards like Suite Night Upgrades or Club Access Awards to other members:
We are also making it easy for you to share awards with those you care about–either by transferring the award itself or by making an award reservation for another World of Hyatt member. You will be able to gift nearly all awards to another World of Hyatt member from your account page on the site or app, or by calling Guest Services. You will need the member’s last name and World of Hyatt member number of the person you choose to gift an award.
More opportunities for travel professionals
Meeting and event planners, travel advisors, and qualifying small-business owners can earn Tier Qualifying Night credits based on eligible spend:
Starting in 2024, Company World of Hyatt accounts will also be able to earn Tier-Qualifying Night credits based on eligible event spend billed to a Group Master or Master Account. For every $5,000 (USD) in eligible event spend billed to a Group Master bill in a calendar year, the Company World of Hyatt Account associated with the applicable event will earn two (2) Tier Qualifying Night credits – up to a maximum of sixty (60) Tier-Qualifying Night credits each year. Spend can be associated to only one (1) World of Hyatt Account per event, and spend is accrued across events throughout the calendar year.
By accruing Tier-Qualifying Night credits in a calendar year, Company World of Hyatt Accounts will be able to earn Milestone Rewards and gift eligible Milestone Awards to other Members. (Company Accounts will also remain able to redeem Bonus Points earned for program awards.)
Wrapping it up
The additional Milestone levels are a welcome addition for those who spend a good portion of the year in Hyatt hotels. The Guest of Honor program does take a hit as Globalists will no longer have unlimited access to it but overall today’s news from the World of Hyatt program could be seen as a positive.