Rocking Hyatt’s overlapping promos: How to claim 2 years of top tier status.

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UDPATE: Since this post was written, Hyatt has cut in half their elite status requirements for 2021. Instead of reading below, please see the all-new post: Ludicrously easy path to Hyatt Globalist status (top-tier status for 2 years!).

I’ve completely updated this post to include everything you need to know to get the most out of Hyatt’s many overlapping 4th quarter 2020 promotions.  This post is now features how to leverage the promos to get to top tier status, tools to help you decide whether it’s worth doing, and many questions answered.

a swimming pool with umbrellas and chairs on a beach

Hyatt has a ton of overlapping promotions going on right now!  Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion is really good.  It offers triple or quadruple point earnings and bonus tier qualifying nights.  On top of that, Hyatt has extended the Free Nights on Sale Promo (up to 25% back and free parking on award stays).  Both promotions run until January 4th 2021.  Both promotions additionally overlap with the Miraval Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer, Hyatt’s Work from Hyatt (WFH) offer, Earn 500 points per night at select hotels, and the targeted offer to earn 3X American Airlines miles on paid Hyatt stays.

Taken together, the promos described here make it not just possible, but relatively easy to earn Hyatt top tier elite status for far less cost than usual.

Promo Summaries

Here’s a summary view of all active Hyatt promos (make sure to register for each!):

  • Bonus Journeys: October 1, 2020 through January 4, 2021 (Register by Nov 30th)
    • Earn double elite nights, with base elite nights credited to the check-out year and bonus elite nights credited towards 2021.
    • Earn triple points (15 points per dollar) at all Hyatt properties, participating MGM Resorts, Small Luxury Hotels of the World locations, and Lindland Expedition experiences.
    • Earn quadruple points (20 points per dollar) at select properties (Find the full list here). Hyatt cardholders only.
  • Free Nights on Sale (Up to 25% back): July 8, 2020 – January 4, 2021 (Register by December 1)
    • Points rebate: 25% back for Hyatt cardholders; 15% back for everyone else
    • Free parking on award stays
    • Triple base points per dollar spent on dining at Hyatt properties.
  • Work from Hyatt: August 25, 2020 to September 12, 2021 (Use offer code WFHYAT — Minimum stay of 7 nights). No registration required.
  • 500 Reasons to Stay Somewhere New: Earn 500 points per night at select new properties. Both paid and free night awards count.  Valid dates vary by property.  No registration required.
  • Miraval BOGO: July 15, 2020 through December 31, 2020 (call and Use offer code World of Hyatt Miraval BOGO at time of booking). No registration required.
  • AA 3X Miles (targeted): September 22, 2020 through December 31, 2020 (Register by Oct 31)

Stays in October, November, or December completely overlap all of these promotions.  That said, some of these offers primarily reward paid stays whereas others reward point stays.  The primary piece that overlaps all promotions is the Bonus Journeys’ bonus tier qualifying nights.  This is the key to reaching elite status faster and it works for both paid and points stays.  The two key promos that make these stays significantly more rewarding (in the form of points) are the Bonus Journeys triple or quadruple points for paid stays and the Free Nights on Sale promo which offers up to 25% back for points stays.

What are tier qualifying nights?

Tier qualifying nights are often referred to as “elite nights”. With many hotel chains, you can earn elite status by acquiring a number of tier qualifying elite nights each year. For example, Hyatt requires earning 30 elite nights per year to achieve mid-tier Explorist status, or 60 elite nights for top-tier Globalist status. Additionally, Hyatt offers “Milestone Rewards” which are perks like free lounge access, free nights, bonus points, etc. Milestone Rewards are earned within a calendar year when you achieve 20 elite nights, and every 10 elite nights after that up to 100. Read more about Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide.

Top Tier Hyatt status: Why chase Globalist?

a kitchen with food on the counter
Breakfast at the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht. Breakfast is free for Hyatt Globalist members.
Membership Level Elite Nights Required Key Benefits
Discoverist 10 2PM late check-out; Earn Hyatt points w/ AA spend
Explorist 30 Match to M life Gold; Room Upgrade
Globalist 60 Waived resort fees on all stays; Suite upgrades, 4PM late check-out; Club access or free breakfast; Free parking on award stays; Guest of Honor bookings

In my opinion, Hyatt offers the best top-tier elite perks of any hotel chain.  Top tier Globalist elites get free upgrades including standard suiteswaived resort fees on paid nights (resort fees are waived on award nights for all members), free breakfast or club accessfree parking on award nights, etc.  Mid-tier Explorist status, meanwhile, offers very few meaningful perks.  In my opinion, Globalist status is worth a lot.  Explorist status is worth very little.

a table with plates of food and drinks
Room service breakfast at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris.  A number of top Hyatt properties offer free room-service breakfast as an option for Hyatt Globalists.
a patio with chairs and umbrellas
Hyatt lounges typically include a full breakfast, afternoon canapés, and evening dessert.  Often free wine and beer is available during set hours as well.  Shown here is the outdoor deck of the Grand Club at the Grand Hyatt NYC. Hyatt club access is always free for top tier Globalist elites. Those with club access awards can also get in free on points or cash stays, but not when a free night certificate is used.

How to earn 2 years of status

Hyatt’s top-tier Globalist status requires earning 60 tier-qualifying elite nights within a calendar year.  The key to earning 2 years of status is to earn 60 elite nights early in 2021.  Once you do, you’ll have Globalist status for the rest of that year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.  If you earn Globalist status early in 2021, you’ll keep that status through February 2023.

Here’s a high level view of how it can work:

  1. Book a long stay that ends Jan 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.  Example: Book at 30 night stay with check-out on January 2nd.
  2. Thanks to earning 3X or 4X points on paid stays or up to 25% back on points stays, this 30 night stay will be much more rewarding than usual.  Other overlapping promos can also make the stay more rewarding and/or less expensive.
  3. When you check out of the hotel in January (on or before January 4th), you’ll earn double elite nights if you are registered with the Bonus Journeys promo.  If your stay was 30 nights long, you’ll earn a total of 60 elite nights.
  4. With 60 elite nights, you’ll earn top tier Globalist status plus all of the Milestone Rewards that are offered at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 nights:
    • 1 category 1-7 free night certificate
    • 4 suite upgrade certificates
    • 5K points or $100 Hyatt gift certificate
    • 1 category 1-4 free night certificate
    • 4 useless club access awards (as a Globalist you won’t need them and can’t transfer them)
  5. Your status will be valid through February 2023

Bonus elite nights (details)

This is the part of the Bonus Journeys promo that is most relevant to all of the overlapping promotions and the key to accelerating your elite status quest.  With each elite night (tier qualifying night) earned during the promotion period (Oct 1 – Jan 4), you’ll be given a bonus elite night in 2021.  Here’s how Hyatt describes the deal:

For every Tier-Qualifying Night on stays completed during the Promotion Period, members will earn one Tier-Qualifying Night credit toward elite status the year in which they earn it, and one bonus Tier-Qualifying Night credit toward elite status in 2021.

For those interested in earning elite status in 2021, the best way to “play” this deal is to book a long stay that starts in 2020 with check-out in January by January 4th.  This way, both the regular and bonus elite nights will apply to the same year and you’ll effectively earn double elite nights.

Bonus Elite Night Q&A

  • Do award stays count? Yes
  • Do free night certificate stays count? Yes
  • Do Points + Cash award stays count? Yes
  • Do bonus elite nights count towards Milestone Rewards? Yes
  • Do elite nights from World of Hyatt credit card spend count? No
  • Are bonus credits awarded for a stay that is entirely in 2021? e.g If I were to stay Jan 1-4 (3 nights), would I earn a total of 6 tier qualifying nights for 2021? Yes. Nights completed between January 1 and January 4, 2021 will count twice in 2021.
  • What happens with stays that span December and January? For example, if I stay Dec 28 – Jan 4 (7 nights), how many tier qualifying nights would be awarded for 2020 and how many for 2021?  Elite nights are earned based on the checkout date. So, in this example, the 7 night stay would earn a total of 14 elite nights in 2021 and zero nights for 2020.

Milestone rewards

One cool aspect of Hyatt’s loyalty program is that they offer rewards each time your reach a number of milestones.  This chart shows the details:

Elite Nights Earned Milestone Reward
20 Nights (or 35K base points)
Automatic: N/A
Pick 1: 2K Next Stay Award
2 Club Access Awards
$25 FIND Credit
30 Nights (or 50K base points)
Automatic: 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night
Pick 1: 2K Next Stay Award
2 Club Access Awards
$25 FIND Credit
40 Nights (or 65K base points)
Automatic: 1 Guest of Honor Award
Pick 1: 5K Bonus Points
1 Suite Upgrade Award
$150 FIND Credit
50 Nights (or 80K base points)
Automatic: N/A
Pick 1: 5K Bonus Points
2 Suite Upgrade Awards
$150 FIND Credit
60 Nights (or 100K base points)
Automatic: 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night
2 Suite Upgrade Awards
My Hyatt Concierge
2 Guest of Honor Awards
70, 80, 90 Nights
Automatic: 1 Guest of Honor Award
Pick 1: 10K Bonus Points
1 Suite Upgrade Award
$300 FIND Credit
100 Nights
Automatic: 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night
Pick 1: 10K Bonus Points
1 Suite Upgrade Award
Miraval Extra Night
110, 120, 130, 140 Nights
Automatic: 1 Guest of Honor Award
Pick 1: 10K Bonus Points
1 Suite Upgrade Award
Miraval Extra Night
150 Nights
Automatic: Ultimate Free Night Award
Pick 1: 10K Bonus Points
1 Suite Upgrade Award
Miraval Extra Night

Completely separate from elite status, Milestone Rewards are available to everyone and are based on the number of nights you stay in a calendar year. Most awards are valid for the rest of the calendar year in which they are selected and 14 months beyond.  The Ultimate Free Night award, Miraval Extra Night Award, and the 2K Next Stay Awards are good for 180 days.

More details about Milestone Rewards, including value estimates, can be found here.

World of Hyatt Credit Card

a credit card on a table

Chase’s World of Hyatt credit card is important to consider when chasing status.  The card offers 5 elite nights every year plus 2 elite nights with each $5K of spend.  It also offers a free category 1-4 certificate with $15K membership year spend.  As a result of the latter, I recommend that cardholders always make sure to spend $15K on the card each membership year.  If you plan to spend $15K and can do it early in 2021, then you’ll get the certificate along with a total of 11 elite nights from the credit card (5 automatic plus 6 through spend).

Strategy: How many nights do you really need?

Unless you’re eager to spend 30 nights at a cheap Hyatt hotel, it doesn’t make sense to book a 30 night stay if you know that you’ll earn elite nights in 2021 through other means.  For example, you are likely to earn elite nights in 2021 through the following:

  • World of Hyatt credit card: 5 automatic elite nights
  • World of Hyatt credit card spend: 6 elite nights (if you spend $15K on the card)
  • Use your free night certificates, such as:
    • 1 annual certificate from your Hyatt credit card
    • 1 certificate from $15K spend on the World of Hyatt credit card
    • 1 Milestone Reward certificate from achieving 30 elite nights
  • Points or cash stays that you would have done anyway

Before planning a long “mattress run” booking, figure out how many elite nights you’re likely to earn next year anyway.  If you have any planned stays where it will be important to have Globalist status, then only consider planned or likely stays that will happen before that time in order to figure out your “baseline”.

For example, suppose you were planning a trip to a luxury Hyatt hotel for July 2021 and you really want to enjoy Globalist status benefits during that trip.  And further suppose that you have 7 nights of planned or likely Hyatt stays before that trip, but you’re OK not having Globalist status for those.  And, finally, suppose you also have the World of Hyatt credit card and strategically plan to spend $15K on the card early in 2021.  With all of those considerations, your “baseline” for 2021 is 18 nights:

  • 7 nights from stays that take place before your luxury stay in July
  • 11 nights from the World of Hyatt credit card (5 automatic plus 6 from spend)
  • Total Baseline: 18 nights

With the above 18 night example baseline, you now know that your goal is to earn 60 – 18 = 42 elite nights early in 2021.  With the double elite night promo, you can do that with a single 21 night booking which starts in December and ends in January, on or before January 4th.

Elite-like stays

With Hyatt, there are many ways to enjoy Globalist-like perks before you achieve status.  The advantage to doing so is to have more of your stays in 2021 count towards your Globalist status, so that you can book a shorter end of year “mattress run”.

Here is a quick summary of your options:

  • Apply Club Access Awards to your stay: If you book a stay with points, the resort fee will be waived, regardless of your status.  Next, as long as you’ve earned 20 elite nights beforehand, you’ll have Club Access Awards that can be applied to your stay.  If the Hyatt you stay at has a club (and if the club is open — many are closed due to COVID-19), then you can apply your certificate to your stay in order to enjoy the club for free.  Note that you can’t use club access awards along with free night certificates.
  • Stay at a participating Small Luxury Hotel of the World (SLH): When you book a SLH property through Hyatt, you’ll get free breakfast plus the chance for early check-in, late-check-out, and a room upgrade.  More details here.
  • Book through Hyatt Privé: Stays booked through Hyatt Privé travel agents qualify for many benefits that are often as good as or better than Globalist benefits.  Details here.
  • Guest of Honor: If you have a friend with Globalist status, they can book the stay for you as a Guest of Honor.  This gives you all of the same benefits as if you had Globalist status yourself.  Hyatt lets members transfer points to others for free so it’s not difficult to move your points to a friend for a booking like this.  Details here.

Decision Tools

I’ve created a number of tools to help you figure out how much Hyatt elite status is worth to you; whether to earn elite nights through credit card spend or stays; and whether to book stays with cash or points (or both).

To use these tools, do the following:

  1. Open the worksheet by clicking here: FM’s Hyatt Worksheet
  2. Copy the sheet so that you can make changes. Within Google Docs, go to the File menu and click File.. Make a Copy
  3. In your copy of the sheet, on each tab, edit all of the cells in blue, but don’t touch other cells.
  4. You’ll find answers at the bottom.

The rest of this section explains how and why to use each tab of the worksheet…

How much is status worth?

If you plan to stay often at Hyatt hotels, Globalist status can be worth a lot both in terms of cost savings (free breakfast, waived resort fees, free parking) and luxuries (suite upgrades, welcome amenities, club lounges).  If you don’t plan to stay at all at Hyatt hotels over the next two years, then status is obviously worth nothing at all.  If you’ve read this far into the post, I expect that your answer is somewhere in-between.  The question is whether it’s worth spending extra money (or points) to get to top tier status.

A good way to answer this question is to look at each elite status benefit, as well as the Milestone Awards that you’ll earn along the way, and determine how much you’d be willing to pay for each one if it was available to purchase in advance.  For example, it’s possible that you would save many hundreds of dollars thanks to getting free breakfast, but you shouldn’t pay that much in advance.  The only reason to pay in advance is if you’d be then likely to save much more than you spent.  When valuing things that save money, as a rule of thumb, I recommend valuing them less based on how uncertain you are about getting those hoped-for savings.  For example, with Globalist status I might save $2,000 on breakfasts over the next two years, but that’s an extremely random guess.  I’d be willing to pre-pay only $200 or so for this benefit.  On the other hand, one Milestone Reward choice at 40 nights is a $100 Hyatt gift certificate.  I’m nearly 100% sure that I’ll use it during my next Hyatt stay.  In this case, I’d be happy to prepay $80 for the $100 gift certificate in order to lock in 20% savings.

Use the “Elite Night Value Worksheet” tab to figure out how much each of the Milestone Rewards and elite perks are worth paying for.  At the bottom you’ll find summary results.

a screenshot of a website

In the above example results (and this is just an example, your results will differ), you can see that the cumulative value of earning Globalist status is $940.  If considering an end of year mattress run, I should spend no more than $940 to get to Globalist status.

Points or Cash (or both)?

The Bonus Journeys promo and the Free Nights on Sale promo are similar in that they both offer a way to earn a lot of points.  Via Bonus Journeys, you’ll earn triple or quadruple points on paid stays.  Via Free Nights on Sale, you’ll earn either 15% or 25% points back based on the points price paid and whether or not you have a Hyatt credit card.

Figuring out whether you’re better off paying for a stay with points or with cash is always complicated.  These two promos make the decision even harder.

To answer this question, use the “Cash or Points?” tab in FM’s Hyatt Worksheet to figure it out.  After filling out your copy of the worksheet, you’ll find an answer at the bottom like this:

a yellow and blue rectangle with black text

This result will tell you two things:

  1. Which type of booking is best (points, cash, or points+cash); and
  2. Whether it’s worth booking this stay at all.

For example, if we compare the shown results to the previous example showing how much I would pay to earn Globalist status, you can see that the cost for this mattress run ($1,482) is much more than I’d be willing to pay for status and Milestone Rewards ($940).  Based on these example results, I shouldn’t book the proposed stay if my only objective for the stay was to earn status (if I valued the stay itself, then it would still make sense).

World of Hyatt Credit Card Spend Instead?

Even if you find a way to earn status through a long booking, and if it was cheaper than the amount you’d be willing to pay for Globalist status, it’s worth checking if there’s a better option…

If you have the World of Hyatt credit card, then you always have the option to earn elite status through spend.  Is that a better option than booking a stay?

Use the “Credit Card Cost of Spend for Elite Nights” tab in FM’s Hyatt Worksheet to figure this out.  After filling out your copy of the worksheet, you’ll find an answer at the bottom showing you your opportunity cost per elite night.  In my case, the answer was $34.  This means that if I put the same spend on my best “everywhere else” card instead of my Hyatt card, I would come out $34 ahead per elite night (e.g. per $2,500 spend).

This result will tell you two things:

  1. Whether its worth spending on your Hyatt card in general (by comparing to how much you value elite nights); and
  2. Whether you should pursue elite status through credit card spend or stays.  If the cost per elite night is less with credit card spend, then that’s your best option.

Can you start from scratch and spend nothing out of pocket?

Suppose you sign up for the World of Hyatt credit card now.  Could you turn its perks and welcome bonus into Globalist status?  I found that you can’t really but you can get a huge leg up.  You can easily do so by adding in the Sapphire Preferred 80K offer (since Chase points transfer 1 to 1 to Hyatt), but I really wanted to see if it was possible with just the Hyatt card and a bit of spend.  Here’s what I dreamed up…

1) Sign up now for the World of Hyatt card, and spend $6,000.

Assuming that none of the $6,000 spend will be in bonus categories, you’ll end up with the following:

  • 56,000 World of Hyatt points (50,000 welcome bonus + 6,000 from spend)
  • 7 elite nights (these do not roll over into next year)

2) Make sure to sign up for all of the promotions!

Note that the double elite night promo is not yet open for registration.

3) Book a 11 night category 1 Hyatt stay with points

Category 1 hotels cost only 5,000 points per night.  With your 56,000 points (above), you can book a 11 night stay and have 1,000 points leftover.  The key is to make sure that this stay starts in December and ends in January on or before the 4th.  From this stay, you will earn 22 elite nights in 2021.

4) Collect your rebated points

As a Hyatt cardholder, you will get a 25% points rebate (as long as you register for the rebate promo by December 1).  So, after your 11 night stay, you’ll get back 55K x .25 = 13,750 points.

5) Spend $9,000 on your World of Hyatt card in early 2021

You already spent $6K in 2020.  To get to $15K (and a free night), you need to spend $9K more. Assuming that none of the $9,000 spend will be in bonus categories, you’ll end up with the following:

  • 9,000 World of Hyatt points
  • 9 elite nights (5 automatic + 4 from spend as you reach the $10K and $15K thresholds)
  • 1 category 1-4 free night certificate

6) Add it up

At this point in 2021, you should have the following:

  • 31 elite nights
  • 2 category 1-4 free night certificates (one from credit card spend and 1 is a Milestone Reward at 30 nights)
  • 23,750 Hyatt points
  • 4 Club Lounge Access Awards
  • Explorist status

7) Use your two category 1-4 certificates

These two nights will hopefully result in a nice stay, plus they’ll get you 2 more elite nights for a total of 33.

8) Book a 4 night category 1 stay with points

Use 20,000 of your points to book a 4 night category 1 stay.  After this stay, you’ll have 37 elite nights in 2021.  You’ll still need 23 nights to get to Globalist.  This can be achieved through paid stays, point stays if you have other sources for Hyatt points (such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points), or through credit card spend (every $5K spend results in 2 elite nights).

What will I do?

Since I currently have Globalist status, the opportunity to earn status for 2 years isn’t as compelling for me.  I already have status through February 2022, so there’s no point in my hurrying to get to 60 nights early in 2021.  I have all year to get there…

Before the double elite night promo was announced, my wife and I planned to take advantage of the Miraval BOGO (2 nights for 1) promotion and so had booked 4 nights at the Austin property and 4 nights in Arizona.  Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Austin trip and so we’re down to 4 nights in Arizona.  I’ve received mixed reports about whether or not elite nights are earned on Miraval free nights.  If I assume that I won’t earn elite nights on the free nights, then our Miraval plans will contribute only 2 elite nights to 2021.

I recently also booked a 7 night Hyatt stay that spans the new year.  This will give me an additional 14 elite nights in 2021.  There’s also a possible 2 night Hyatt stay in early December.  That would give me another 2 elite nights in 2021.

So, here’s what I expect to have going into 2021:

  • 4 elite nights from stays that happen during the Double Elite Night promo, but which complete in 2020.
  • 14 elite nights from my 7 night stay that completes January 4th.
  • 5 elite nights from the World of Hyatt credit card
  • 6 elite nights from spending $15K on the World of Hyatt credit card (in order to earn the free night certificate)
  • Total: 29 elite nights

I’ll be just under half way to earning Globalist status again for 2022 without breaking a sweat.  And since I’ll have Globalist status (which was earned this year), I won’t feel the need to hurry and earn it again early in 2021.  I expect that most of the rest of the elite nights earned in 2021 will be from enjoyable stays.  Fortunately, if stays don’t get me there, I always have the option to increase spend on my World of Hyatt card to fill the gap.

Questions and Answers

Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (general)

This section answers questions about Hyatt mattress runs, in general. The next section addresses questions specific to the Bonus Journeys promo.

Q: What are elite nights or “tier qualifying nights”?

Tier qualifying nights are often referred to as “elite nights”. With many hotel chains, you can earn elite status by acquiring a number of tier qualifying elite nights each year. For example, Hyatt requires earning 30 elite nights per year to achieve mid-tier Explorist status, or 60 elite nights for top-tier Globalist status. Additionally, Hyatt offers “Milestone Rewards” which are perks like free lounge access, free nights, bonus points, etc. Milestone Rewards are earned within a calendar year when you achieve 20 elite nights, and every 10 elite nights after that up to 100. Read more about Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide.

Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check in?

Usually yes.  Most mattress runs involve physically checking into the hotel.  That said, if you’re lucky you may be able to find a hotel manager willing to process your check-in remotely.  If so, you may have to fax them a photo of your ID and credit card.

Q: Should I speak with a hotel manager about my plans?

Yes!  If you don’t speak with a hotel manager, they may find your room unoccupied and check you out early. If you’re not planning to actually stay at the hotel, then I think it’s critical to explain to hotel management what you want to accomplish and why.

Q: Do I have to physically go to the hotel to check out?

No.  You can check out with the Hyatt app or you can simply ignore it and the hotel will automatically check you out.

Q: Do rates with free nights (e.g. 3rd night free) earn elite nights for those free nights?

Hyatt Rep: No. Due to limitations of our program operations system, free nights applicable through a ‘BOGO’ offer, or the likes thereof, would not qualify toward earning Tier Qualifying Night credits.

Greg: I’ve heard mixed results from people who did the Miraval BOGO offer. Some reported that they did receive elite nights for all nights of the stay, others said no.  Miraval isn’t as tied in technically with Hyatt as most other brands, so this result might be dependent upon how the stay is keyed in after checkout.

Hyatt Mattress Run Q&A (Bonus Journeys Promo)

Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys 4th quarter promotion offers triple points for all eligible spend; quadruple points at select resorts (for Hyatt credit card holders only); and double elite nights, with base elite nights being credited the year in which you check-out and bonus elite nights credited to 2021. To qualify for the promo you must register between Oct 1 and Nov 30, 2020. Offer is valid for stays with check-out between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 4, 2021.

Here are the answers to questions relevant to this promo:

Q: Are there limits to how many bonus points or bonus nights can be earned with this promo?

Hyatt: There is no cap on the amount of nights a member can stay and earn on during this promotion. However, there is a maximum of 150,000 Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotion Period. An additional maximum of 75,000 Bonus Points (for a total of 225,000) may be earned as a Hyatt and World of Hyatt credit cardmember during the Promotion Period for eligible spend at participating resorts.

Greg: If I calculated correctly, the above translates to a cap of $15K spend at Hyatt during the promo period for earning triple or quadruple points.

Q: Which properties qualify for quadruple points?

The property list includes 160 Hyatt resorts, almost 200 Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties and 16 MGM Resorts properties.  Find the full list here.

Q: Do award stays earn bonus elite nights?

Yes

Q: Do free night certificate stays earn bonus elite nights?

Yes

Q: Do Points + Cash award stays earn bonus elite nights?

Yes

Q: Do bonus elite nights count towards Milestone Rewards?

Yes

Q: Do elite nights earned from World of Hyatt credit card spend earn bonus elite nights?

No

Q: On an award stay, can I earn 3X bonus points for incidentals charged to my room?

Hyatt Rep: Yes, members may earn Bonus Points for eligible incidental spend charged to their guest room for eligible stays during the Promotion Period.

Q: What happens with stays that start before the promo period but where checkout is within the valid dates?

Hyatt Rep: If your first stay begins prior to the Promotion Period but has a checkout date within the Promotion Period, then you can earn Bonus Points on eligible spend and bonus Tier-Qualifying Night credit for that stay, provided you register for the promotion prior to both the registration deadline and checking out of the property on your first stay.

Q: Are bonus credits awarded for a stay that is entirely in 2021?

Yes. Example: If you were to stay Jan 1-4 (3 nights), you would earn a total of 6 tier qualifying nights for 2021.

Q: What happens with stays that span December and January (with checkout by Jan 4th)?

You will earn double elite nights in 2021.  Example: If you were to stay December 28, 2020 – January 4, 2021 (7 nights total), you would earn 14 elite nights in 2021 (7 tier qualifying nights + 7 bonus elite nights)

Q: Why did a Hyatt representative tell me that part of my stay would credit to 2020 even though my checkout date is in 2021?

Hyatt Rep: There seems to be miscommunication taking place across our customer care team regarding nights being awarded based on checkout date. We’ve provided them with the updated statement and example below to ensure they are communicating accurate information to inquiring members.

Nights are always awarded based on checkout date. In the chance a member checks-in in 2020 and checks-out in 2021 – the member will earn Tier-Qualifying Night credits based on the checkout date.

For instance, if a member has a stay that spans December 28, 2020 – January 4, 2021 (7 nights total), they would earn based on the checkout date = 7 Tier-Qualifying Nights would be awarded in 2021 and 7 bonus nights would be awarded in 2021.

Q4: Does Hyatt give points and elite night credits for long term stays? [Some chains do not give points or elite credits for stays of 30 nights or longer]

Yes

Hyatt Rep: There is no cap on the amount of nights a member can stay and earn on during this promotion. However, there is a maximum of 150,000 Bonus Points that can be earned during the Promotion Period. An additional maximum of 75,000 Bonus Points (for a total of 225,000) may be earned as a Hyatt and World of Hyatt credit cardmember during the Promotion Period for eligible spend at participating resorts.

Q: Award stays longer than 10 nights can’t be booked online. Is there a workaround?

Hyatt Rep: This is due to the number of night limitations to which we can issue an award stay. We issue awards in increments of 10 nights. If a member would like to redeem multiple free night awards for longer than 10 consecutive nights, they should contact the Global Contact Center to assist them in booking multiple awards under one reservation.

Q: If Hyatt strings together multiple point awards into one reservation that spans the new year, when will elite nights be credited?

Hyatt Rep: Since nights are always awarded based on checkout date, those awards under one reservation would be based off of the Jan checkout date, and therefore, earn Tier Qualifying Nights and bonus nights for 2021.

Greg: Some people are understandably nervous about this. The concern is that elite nights for the first increments may be awarded to 2020 rather than 2021.  My advice: after booking the stay, contact the hotel and confirm with them that they see it as a single long stay with checkout in January.  As long as this is the case, my bet is that this will work as Hyatt has said.

Q: If I earn 60 elite nights early in 2021, how long will my Globalist status last?

Once you reach 60 nights, your status will last for the rest of that year, all of the next, and through February of the year after that.  So, in this example your status will last until the end of February 2023.

More Info

Much more info about the Hyatt’s loyalty program can be found in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide:

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wawa

Greg,
Sorry for the basic question. I have WOH card that I got when they gave out 10 EN to just sign up and from spending this year have 18 EN. Does that mean I only have 6 more nights mattress run to achieve 30 EN? Or I thought credit card EN doesn’t count towards next year? Thanks!

travel man

If one has Explorist status Thru Feb 2022 that’s 30 elite nights on the books for 2021. Plus 5 nights (WOH cc)=25 nights needed for globalist in 2021. Booking a 13 night stay ending 1/4/21 would yield 26 nights..one more than needed for 60 nights and globalist status?

MUSLIH HAMAD

Greg,
Please i need your Help. i made a booking from 3th December 2020 Until January 3 2021. i follow your article. I Spoke to Hyatt to confirm that i will earn Globalist for 2021 and 2022. they said NO. you will earn Explorist for 2021 and 2022. Pls help so i can cancel my booking

MUSLIH HAMAD

Hello Greg,

i call again and they confirm that i will be globalist for 2021 and 2022. thank you for your article help Greg

Frank

Greg, you say “If you earn Globalist status early in 2021, you’ll keep that status through February 2023.”

Surely, if I earn Globalist in late 2020 that will get me the status until Feb 2022. Then I still have all of 2021 to earn Globalist for 2022 up until Feb 2023?

Frank

Thanks, Greg. I thought so.

nguyen

Hi Greg,

Do you think i could double dip the bonus elite night with the fast track offer for AA Executive Platinum member (20 nights for globalist)?

Thank you

Nguyen

Thomas

hey greg, nice writeup. can you update for the new 10 EQN offer attached to WOH Card? 10 EQN for 2021

demflyers

I just completed a 4 night stay at Miraval Arizona (with the BOGO). All 4 nights qualified.

[…] Rocking Hyatt’s overlapping promos: How to claim 2 years of top tier status. […]

Ray

Hi Greg, I have booked 28nights with points (under 1 rsv) checking out 1/2/21. had to have concierge book it for me. It shows as one big reservation in my acct but in the confirmation email it does kinda show that they booked it as like 3 rsvs of 10+10+8 nts. Concierge did advise me that it depends on hotel and that they will merge it together as 28nts at check out. Any idea if booking this way should be okay or not?

[…] elite night credits in 2021. If you’ve been considering a Hyatt Globalist mattress run (see: Rocking Hyatt’s overlapping promos: How to claim 2 years of top tier status. and Justifying the big Hyatt mattress run: is it worth using points for a “cash” stay?), this […]

[…] Greg has written pretty extensively about this Hyatt mattress run opportunity and we’ve discussed it on Frequent Miler on the Air. For those who have missed previous discussion and are unfamiliar, a mattress run is when you book a hotel that you don’t really need for the sole purpose of earning points / elite credit / some promotional outcome that is worth more to you than the cost of the room. We don’t often see promotions so good to make it worth throwing money away on a hotel stay you don’t need, but it happens from time to time. Because of overlapping promos, there is currently the chance to earn 2 years of Hyatt Globalist status with a mattress run (See: Rocking Hyatt) […]

Anita K

A million thank yous for this article Greg! As a Hyatt Globalist beginning to think about 2022 status your info answered my prayers. A great use of my points with checkout on Jan.3 and mission accomplished!

Aaron

Easy question but one I didn’t see an answer for. What happens if I stay something like 12/29-1/7?

Will I still get the 25% point rebate and double nights for the nights that apply 12/29-1/4?

Michael

What happens if I book a 30 day stay in Dec/Jan but have another stay already booked for 4 days at another property?

Jay

Great analysis as usual. I booked 24 nights at the Hyatt Place in Los Cabos. I didn’t use your spreadsheet but my math suggested the $53 cash rate, stacking multiple promos (included targeted AA and paying with my Hyatt card) would be a better value than a 3,750/nt points stay.