World Of Hyatt: The Complete Program Guide

Hyatt’s roots stem back over 60 years, beginning as a single Hyatt House located near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1957. Through growth initiatives by founder Jay Pritzker and his brother, Donald Pritzker, Hyatt expanded in an attempt to reach a more extensive market base. The brothers broke international ground in 1969 when the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong opened for business. Today, as a public company with a portfolio of over 1,300 hotels and resorts, Hyatt is a staple brand in the hospitality industry.

In the late 1980s, Hyatt launched its frequent guest program, aimed at fostering brand loyalty. Even with its smaller footprint, World of Hyatt sets the bar for loyalty programs with multiple ways to earn and redeem points, complimentary features such as room upgrades for elites and a comprehensive rewards program catered to its members.

Hyatt currently has over 20 different brands under its umbrella. These brands include:

Hyatt has also acquired Dream Hotels, Mr and Mrs Smith, The Chatwal and Unscripted Hotels brands, which include properties in the Americas, Europe and more. These new additions now participate in the World of Hyatt program as well.

Status Benefits

Joining World of Hyatt is as simple as heading over to Hyatt.com and clicking “Join.” From there, adding details such as your name, email, state of residence and a password will put you on your way to earning World of Hyatt points. Signing up also automatically gives you access to the Member tier of benefits, which includes:

• Earn 5 base points per eligible dollar spent at the hotel
• Member-exclusive rates
• Resort fees waived on award stays

While these base benefits are limited, Hyatt offers more benefits with increasing tier status.

Earning Elite Requirements

World of Hyatt has multiple ways to earn elite status. Excluding promotional offers, elite-tier status is determined by nights stayed or base points earned or meeting and events in a calendar year.

If you’re a meeting and event planner or a travel advisor, you have the opportunity to earn towards tier status and earn Milestone Rewards. For every $5,000 (up to $150,000 per year) in eligible spend on events or room rates at participating hotels and resorts, you will earn two qualifying night credits. This is enough to get you all the way to Globalist status.

Milestone Rewards

Separate from elite status, Milestone Rewards are earned annually based on the number of nights stayed or base points earned during the calendar year.  Rewards start at 20 nights or 35,000 base points, with additional rewards every 10 nights up to 150 nights or 100,000 base points. Various rewards include bonus points, free nights, suite upgrade rewards and other benefits.

Guest of Honor

One of Hyatt’s most unique perks is its Guest of Honor (GoH) benefit. This perk is available as a milestone reward to any members who stay a minimum of 40 qualifying nights or earn 65,000 base points a year with Hyatt. You will have further chances to select additional GoH rewards as you progress up the loyalty ladder, with the ability to earn up to 10 Guest of Honor rewards per year.

Perhaps the most valuable facet of the Guest of Honor perk is that it can be applied to stays of up to seven nights on either award or paid stays.

Members can use this benefit for their own stays or gift it to any other World of Hyatt member to enjoy all of the Globalist in-hotel perks like free breakfast, lounge access (depending on property), suite upgrades based on availability, late checkout, free parking on award stays and more.

The Guest of Honor is a “giftable” benefit and can be booked two ways. You can either book a points or cash reservation in someone else’s name and apply the GoH benefit, or you can gift your Guest of Honor your benefit—think of it as a voucher—for them to book their own reservation. Members who gift the benefit will receive one elite night credit (regardless of the duration of the stay) for extending their benefits whereas the Guest of Honor will receive elite night credits and points for the eligible duration of their stay.

Lifetime Globalists will receive five Guest of Honor awards each year on or around March 1.

2K Next Stay Award

When you reach 20 nights or 35,000 base points you will have the ability to choose a 2K Next Stay Award. Once you have selected one of these awards and you complete an eligible stay—whether a paid rate or using a Free Night Award—at a participating hotel within the Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Caption by Hyatt or UrCove brands, you will receive an extra 2,000 World of Hyatt bonus points upon completion of your stay.

The bonus points will be automatically granted, but you must complete a stay at those properties within 180 days of choosing this award, otherwise your award will be forfeited. Only one 2K Next Stay Award can be used per stay, so there are no opportunities for multiplying the amount of bonus points even if you have multiple 2K Next Stay Awards in your account.

Club Access Awards

You will be able to select two Club Access Awards as soon as you reach 20 nights or 35,000 base points. Using these awards will grant you access to the Club Lounge at the property you’re staying at, where you can enjoy amenities like free daily breakfast, afternoon happy hours and other perks that vary by property.

You can enjoy this benefit provided the hotel has a lounge and you have applied this award to your reservation prior to check-in. Not all properties feature a lounge, and most resorts restrict access.

This award can be applied to paid eligible rates as well as those booked using points for a standard room Free Night Award, a Suite Free Night Award or a points and cash reservation, and is good for stays of up to seven nights.

Note that these awards are not to be used in conjunction with any stays booked using Free Night Awards earned through the Hyatt credit cards, Brand Explorer Free Night Awards, Category 1 to 4 Free Night Awards, Category 1 to 7 Free Night Awards or Ultimate Free Night Awards.

You can use these awards for yourself, or you can treat any other World of Hyatt member by gifting it away and the awards are valid for the remainder of the year in which you earn them plus a further 14 months, but you must use them on reservation with a checkout date prior to each award expiration.

FIND Experience Credits

Starting with your 20-night or 35,000 base points milestone, you can choose FIND Experience Credits to use toward any of the hundreds of experiences available within the program. They range between $25 and $300 depending on the milestone you reach, and you can stack them to accrue more value against one such experience.

Once chosen, these credits will be sent to you via email and they are valid for the remainder of the year plus another 14 months. If you do not choose to apply the credit during checkout when booking an experience before their expiration date, you will forfeit the credit.

Once again, these awards can be gifted to any World of Hyatt member or you can choose to redeem for yourself.

Bonus Points

Starting at 40 nights or 65,000 base points, you’ll be able to select Bonus Points as one of your awards—ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 Bonus Points. These bonus points are good for future reservations, and they are deposited in your account just like any other points you earn through your stays within the World of Hyatt program.

Suite Upgrade Awards

Once you reach 40 nights or 65,000 base points, one of your award options will be a Suite Upgrade Award that will enable you to receive a free upgrade to a Standard Suite when you book a room at any participating property. This can be very rewarding, as they can be applied to reservations of up to seven days.

These awards are valid for the rest of the year you earn them plus an extra 14 months, and can only be used for reservations where your checkout date is before the award expiration. You can only apply a Suite Upgrade Award to eligible paid reservations or those booked using points for a standard room Free Night Award, a Club Free Night Award, or points and cash award.

You can apply a Suite Upgrade Award to your reservations, or if you’re feeling generous, give it to a World of Hyatt member friend.

Free Night Awards

As early as your 30-night or 50,000 base points milestone, you will have access to Free Night Awards, which are either good for a Category 1 through 4 hotel, Category 1 through 7 hotel or Category A through D all-inclusive resort. You can use these awards at any participating properties as long as there is standard room availability.

Free Night Awards can be used for yourself or any other World of Hyatt member’s reservation.

My Hyatt Concierge

Once you become a Globalist member by reaching the required 60 nights or 100,000 base points, you will have access to My Hyatt Concierge. Through this perk, members are assigned a dedicated Concierge that can help them with reservations, special requests and any customer service issues via a dedicated phone line, as well as via email.

You will enjoy access to your concierge service for the rest of the year in which you make Globalist status plus the following 14 months.

Miraval Extra Night Award

When reaching your 100-night milestone, you’ll notice that one of your award options includes a Miraval Extra Night Award. These awards are valid when you book a standard room up to double occupancy, and can be used to redeem for an additional consecutive free night at a Miraval property after you’ve booked an eligible paid stay, redeem a Free Night Award or use points and cash. This means that, if you collect multiple Miraval Extra Night Awards, you can redeem multiple per stay so long as you have an eligible stay for every award you redeem.

Miraval Extra Night Awards are valid for 180 days after they are issued into your account and must be used for a stay with a checkout date before the award expires. You cannot combine these awards with Room Upgrade Awards. Redemption of these awards is only possible by contacting your Miraval Experience Planner for the specific resort.

Miraval Extra Nights—those you receive for free by redeeming your award—do not qualify for night credits, but you will receive night credits for the other nights that you paid for or used an award to book. You can apply a Miraval Extra Night Award to your own reservations or give them away to another World of Hyatt member.

Ultimate Free Night Award

The most exclusive benefit is reserved for ultimate road warriors who stay a whopping 150 Nights at World of Hyatt properties. They will be handsomely rewarded with an Ultimate Free Night Award redeemable for a standard room Free Night Award at a Category 1 through 8 hotel or resort, at an A through F all-inclusive properties or at a Miraval resort.

These awards are valid for 180 days after they are issued and must be applied to a reservation with a checkout date prior to award expiration.

There are property-specific exclusions, as well as minimum stay requirements at certain hotels preventing the use of these awards, and can only be redeemed when there is standard room availability.

You can use the Ultimate Free Night Award for your own special stay or use it to treat a special person with this fabulous award.

Brand Explorer Award

Hyatt’s Brand Explorer is a unique promotion that lets any member earn free nights. A Hyatt member can get a Category 1 to 4 free night certificate simply by staying one night in each of five different Hyatt brands. With 26 brands, there’s the opportunity to earn five certificates if you stay one night in each of the brands. Any eligible stay counts—that includes paid, award and free night certificate stays.

Fortunately, there are many ways to earn Hyatt points beyond hotel stays. Let’s take a look at some of the earning methods that can help you boost your Hyatt points balance and get you on your way to redeeming award nights.

Hotel Stays

The most common way for travelers to earn World of Hyatt points is to stay in a Hyatt hotel. In order to qualify as an eligible stay, reservations must be made directly through an official Hyatt booking channel, whether it’s calling, online or via the app. Third-party bookings are not eligible stays and do not earn points or elite night credits. Eligible Hyatt stays yield 5 base points for each U.S. dollar spent plus standard elite tier bonuses.

Hyatt Credit Cards

Hyatt offers both a personal and business co-branded credit card through Chase. Both credit cards have a feature allowing you to earn tier-qualifying night credits through credit card spending. Those few extra nights might be all you need to get past the finish line for elite status. Before you run to apply for a new card, though, make sure to familiarize yourself with Chase’s strict application rules to ensure you are eligible to open a new card.

Hyatt Personal Credit Card

The World of Hyatt Credit Card is an excellent way to accelerate your points building. Currently, the World of Hyatt Card has a welcome offer of 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening, plus up to 30,000 more bonus points by earning 2 bonus points per dollar spent in the first 6 months on purchases that normally earn 1 bonus point on up to $15,000 spent.

This card also offers one free award night every year on your card anniversary for a Category 1 to 4 property with the opportunity to earn an additional award night each calendar year when you spend $15,000. While this card does carry a $95 annual fee, your free night can often offset this fee and then some, so long as you use it.

You can also earn bonus World of Hyatt points with this credit card when spending in select categories: 9 points total per dollar spent at Hyatt - 4 bonus points per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels and 5 base points per dollar from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member. Earn 2 bonus points per dollar spent at restaurants, on airline tickets purchased directly from the airlines, on local transit and commuting and on fitness club and gym memberships and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

The card gets you off to a good start to requalifying for status each year by depositing five tier night credits in your account. Subsequently, for each $5,000 in purchases, you’ll earn two tier qualifying nights.

Hyatt Business Credit Card

Hyatt also offers a co-branded business credit card. The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is a no-brainer option for small-business owners and Hyatt loyalists looking to maximize their points earnings on Hyatt stays. You’ll get 60,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, as well as earn 9 points total per dollar spent at Hyatt - 4 bonus points per dollar spent at Hyatt hotels and 5 base points per dollar from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member. Earn 2 points per dollar spent in a cardholder's top three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/24, then the top two categories each quarter, 2 points per dollar spent on fitness club and gym memberships and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

And while the annual fee of $199 is on the higher end, cardholders can earn up to $100 in annual statement credits for purchases made at Hyatt properties which helps to offset the fee. In addition, you’ll earn five tier qualifying nights for every $10,000 charged to the card.

Hyatt Points Through Ultimate Rewards

Chase issues select credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. These transferable points allow you to exchange your Ultimate Rewards points for World of Hyatt points at a 1:1 ratio.

You’ll need to have an Ultimate Rewards card version that allows transfers to partner programs. These cards include:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card*
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®*
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
• Chase Ink Plus (no longer available to new applicants)

FIND Experiences

FIND experiences are a collection of events designed to create a fun and unique experience. There are over 200 unique experiences in various destinations around the world like hunting for truffles in Budapest or exploring aerial yoga at sunset. If adventure is your thing, how about a four-wheel-drive jeep tour of an active Indonesian volcano? You can earn 10 base points per dollar spent, plus the standard elite tier bonus and an additional 4 bonus points when paying with your Hyatt credit card.

Travel Partners

American Airlines AAdvantage is a World of Hyatt partner. By linking your World of Hyatt and AAdvantage accounts, elite members can earn 1 bonus point for every eligible dollar spent on qualifying American Airlines flights. If you’re elite in both programs, you can get bonus points, whether Hyatt points or AAdvantage miles, when either flying AA or staying at a Hyatt.

Hyatt members can earn 500 bonus points and save up to 25% off car rental bookings with Avis. Staying with Hyatt isn’t required to earn this bonus and discount. Simply make a reservation on Avis using the Avis Worldwide Discount number K817700 and add your Hyatt membership number to the reservation.

Purchasing Points

Hyatt allows members to purchase up to 55,000 World of Hyatt points per calendar year in 1,000 point increments. Periodically, Hyatt runs promotions where more bonus points are awarded based on the number of points purchased. For example, if purchasing 5,000 or more points yields a 30% bonus, you’re actually purchasing 6,500 points for the cost of 5,000. Points purchases are processed through a third-party vendor called Points.com, which means you will not receive any Hyatt credit card category bonus for your purchase.

Buying points is generally not cost effective, but if there is a specific use in mind, a good bonus promotion is running or you need to top off your account, it may be worthwhile.

You’ve earned the points, now reap the rewards. Let’s take a look at how you can use those Hyatt points you’ve been collecting.

Hotel Nights

You’ll generally get the best value for your Hyatt points for hotel stays. Hyatt uses a combination of hotel category, room type and time of year (peak and off-peak pricing) to determine how many points are needed for an award redemption. The higher the hotel category or room, the more points per night it costs. Traveling during high season, such as visiting Hawaii during the winter holiday period, could mean more points required per night.

At the lowest level, a standard room in a Category 1 hotel during an off-peak time only costs 3,500 points per night. At a maximum, 90,000 points per night are required for a Category 8 premium suite during a peak period. Hyatt displays its booking calendar 13 months in advance for most properties, so you can usually check to see your targeted hotel prices for your own planning purposes.

A great feature of the Hyatt program is the ability to directly book standard suites, premium suites and Club level rooms at a reasonable points upcharge without having to use upgrade certificates. Other programs don’t allow this at all or charge an exorbitant rate if they do.

Note that Hyatt has a separate award chart for its all-inclusive properties. All-inclusive pricing is for one or two adults per room. Additional room occupants (including children 3 and older) must pay additional points. It’s also possible to pay in cash for additional people. You’ll have to contact the resort directly if you are planning to have more than two people in a room to arrange the extra payment, whether cash or points.

Standard Room

Standard Suite

Premium Suite

Regency/Grand Club

All-inclusive Resorts – Standard Room

Hyatt’s explorer tool is a handy way to see where Hyatts are located globally, along with standard room redemption rates. You have the option of enabling or disabling the “Points” feature allowing you to see the base cash rate.

Points + Cash

If you don’t have enough points to book your room or want to save some of your points for future use, you can opt for Hyatt’s Points + Cash booking. If there’s award redemption availability, you can spend 50% of the points required for a free night and pay 50 to 70% of the standard rate for the room type booked. Points + Cash is also available for both standard and premium suites assuming award space is available.

Other Ways To Redeem Points

Upgrade a Paid Stay

If you’re looking for more space or more luxe, use your Hyatt points to upgrade a cash stay. You can upgrade to a Club Floor room with Club access, a Standard suite or a Premium Suite. Upgrade cost is per night and subject to availability and property.

Meetings

Points can be redeemed for a credit to book meetings and events at participating hotels. Rewards start at a $200 credit in exchange for 15,000 points.

Experiences

You can redeem points for dining and spa experiences at the hotel even if you’re not staying the night. Effectively, you’re exchanging your points for credit to be used at the property and the more points redeemed, the higher credit per dollar you get.

FIND Experiences can also be booked using Hyatt points. The cash value of the experience will determine your points cost. Just like a hotel stay, when booking experiences using points, you will not earn points.

Sharing and Gifting

You can combine or share points with other World of Hyatt members, even if they’re not in the same household. A simple form filled out with both members’ information is all that is needed. Each member is limited to  transferring or receiving points once every 30 days.

You also can buy points outright for others provided you have their World of Hyatt membership number. Similar to buying points for yourself, you can purchase in increments of 1,000 points (up to 55,000) per calendar year.

Sharing your hard-earned Milestone Rewards is easy and can be done online through Hyatt’s website or mobile app. When sharing your awards with family and friends, you’ll be prompted to enter their World of Hyatt number and last name to validate the transaction and asked to confirm before it takes place. An email will be sent to the recipient.

Travel

If you have an abundance of World of Hyatt points or have a specific travel need, such as topping up an airline miles account to qualify for an award, you can convert your points into various airline miles. For every 2.5 World of Hyatt points you convert, you can get 1 airline mile. Transfers must be a minimum of 5,000 Hyatt points which results in 2,000 airline miles. When you convert 50,000 or more points, you get a bonus of 5,000 miles.

Hyatt is partnered with over 20 airlines, a handful of which include: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines and many more. Overall, converting your hotel points to airline miles is not a great use of Hyatt points, even if you receive the bonus of 5,000 points. You’ll get much better value redeeming for award nights.

World of Hyatt is a popular program in the travel community, especially for those who earn Globalist status. Rewards can be earned at lower status levels and any member can benefit from the Brand Explorer Award program. Award bookings are where Hyatt shines. Hyatt’s award chart can provide great value at all levels, and there are opportunities to get outsized value for your points. The only caveat is that Hyatt’s footprint is smaller than other major hotel chains, so be sure there’s a Hyatt where you want to go.