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Last week, Hyatt announced that it was extending its moratorium on points expirations, extending the expiration dates of various award instruments and extending elite statuses into 2022, and there have been four questions that I’ve been receiving from readers over and over again regarding Hyatt’s announcement so I thought I’d address them in this post.
- Does Hyatt’s decision to extend Globalists’ status mean that these elites will get a new set of suite upgrades next year?
- Will Hyatt be issuing members free night certificates as if they had hit their elite status targets?
- Will Hyatt be issuing members Club Lounge access awards as if they had hit their elite status targets?
- Will Hyatt roll over elite nights earned this year into 2021?
The first three questions all have the same answer and the same reasoning for that answer.
Will Hyatt Issue More Suite Upgrades, Free Night Certificates & Club Access Awards?
In a word, no.
Hyatt has de-linked elite status from a number of benefits that World of Hyatt members earn on their way to earning status which is why it calls those benefits “Milestone Rewards”.
Milestone Rewards are completely separate from elite status – they just happen to be earned on the way to elite status – so unless a World of Hyatt member actually meets the criteria for one or more of these milestones this year they will not be issued with any new rewards.
Will Hyatt Roll Over Elite Nights Earned This Year Into 2021?
Most people had at least three months of 2020 in which to rack up Hyatt elite nights and Hyatt base points so it’s not surprising that this is the one Hyatt-related question I’ve been asked more than any other. Sadly, the answer to the question is no.
Because I know how important this question is to some, I put it to Hyatt’s Global Communications team (who, you should know, have been amazingly helpful throughout this crisis) and they went away and checked very carefully before offering this response:
If an elite member has a few elite nights already credited to their account, those will not carry over with their status extension. For example, let’s say a member stayed 10 nights this year already – their balance will still start at 0 in January 2021.
It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
Quick Thoughts
I’m not at all surprised that Hyatt won’t be issuing more suite upgrades or any of the other Milestone Rewards because that would be taking generosity to a whole new (and unnecessary) level.
Most elite status benefits cost Hyatt (and its associated hotels) actual money when they’re used so Hyatt is already taking a hit by extending everyone’s status by a year. Milestone Rewards are by far and away the most costly of the benefits that Hyatt offers so I don’t think it’s fair to expect Hyatt to shoulder the cost of these as well…especially as they’re not actually linked to elite status.
I’m not sure what to make of the decision not to roll over nights earned this year into 2021.
On the one hand, Hyatt has been pretty generous with what it has been offering guests so far and the decision to delay the devaluation of its award chart was a move I didn’t expect the hotelier to make – expecting yet more generosity may be stretching things too far.
On the other hand, there will be people out there who spent a significant number of nights and significant sums of money with Hyatt in the first three months of this year and were well on their way to earning some significant Milestone Rewards before the world closed down. As things stand, those nights and that cash don’t look like they’re going to count for anything so I can understand why some may feel frustrated.
Based on nothing more than pure speculation on my part: Hyatt may revisit the decision not to roll over elite nights earned in 2020 if the world remains in lock-down for most of this year but I don’t think that should be something that anyone should be expecting to happen.
Bottom Line
Hyatt will not be issuing more suite upgrades, free night awards, club access passes, or any other kind of Milestone Reward just because people’s statuses have been extended. Milestone Rewards are not directly linked to elite status so the two do not go hand in hand.
At this point in time, Hyatt has no plans to roll over elite nights or base points earned this year into 2021. That may change in the future but Hyatt has given no indication that it plans to revisit its decision.
The fact that Milestone Awards exist makes the Hyatt elite status extension not that big of a deal in my mind. Sure it’s better than them not doing it, but it’s hardly a bold move by Hyatt in my opinion. Hopefully there will be some promos late in the year like double stay credit to help us earn some of these milestone awards once things open back up.
I think “Suite Night Awards” are a Marriott thing. They are certainly not a Hyatt thing.
Yes, I used the wrong phrase (I was drafting a post on Marriott shortly before I wrote this one) but that shouldn’t make difference to the message
Did you get any information about whether Suite Upgrade expirations will be extended from Feb 28, 2021 to Dec 31, 2021? The explicit terms said only upgrades expiring in 2020 would be extended, which made no sense since after Feb 29, 2020, nobody had any upgrades expiring in 2020. All expire in Feb 2021 (except for those already earned in this qualifying year, which would expire in 2022), which is outside the window.
I’ll see what I can find out
[…] has already confirmed that it will not be rolling over any elite nights earned this year into 2021 so if you’ve racked up some elite nights already this year and are part way to one of the […]
Same thing with club upgrade certificates