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At the beginning of the year, we a saw Hyatt push through a few changes to the World of Hyatt program and most of these centered around its Milestone Rewards. Mostly, the news was positive (even if not all the changes went far enough) and two of the changes that were introduced means that it can now pay to be patient when it comes to redeeming a couple of Hyatt’s Milestone awards.
This is what Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards look like following the changes that went live at the start of 2024:
The awards that I want to focus on here are two of the new ones. Specifically, the “2K Next Stay Award” and the “Miraval Extra Night Award“.
Two of the new Milestone Rewards
The 2K Next Stay Award appears as an option twice. Once when a Hyatt member has credited 20 nights to their World of Hyatt account and and once when they have credited 30 nights.
When selected by a World of Hyatt member, 2K Next Stay Award, will see them earn 2,000 bonus points when they complete an eligible stay at a Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption by Hyatt, or UrCove hotel.
The Miraval Extra Night Award appears at every Milestone from 100 nights onwards and when selected, is redeemable for an additional (consecutive) night’s free accommodation at a Miraval property when the guest pays an eligible rate or redeems any Free Night Award(s) or Points + Cash Awards for a night on the same stay.
An important aspect of redeeming Milestone Rewards
The key thing to keep in mind here is that when a Milestone is reached, a World of Hyatt member doesn’t have to select which award to request straight away.
A member gets 90 days from the moment Hyatt sends them the email confirming they have earned a Milestone Reward before they have to choose the award they wish to use.
This is true for all Milestone Rewards, but as Club Access Awards, Suite Upgrade Awards, and FIND credits are all valid for the remainder of the calendar year in which they are issued + an additional fourteen months, this 90-day grace period doesn’t really make a huge amount of difference to them.
With the 2K Next Stay Award and the Miraval Extra Night Award, things are a little different.
How the 2K Next Stay and Miraval Extra Night Awards are a little different
The important way in which the 2K Next Stay and Miraval Extra Night Awards are different from the other awards is that they only have 180-day validity periods from the moment they are selected.
To earn the 2,000 bonus points from a 2K Next Stay Award, a World of Hyatt member must have an eligible stay at a participating hotel and the stay must have a check-out date within one hundred and eighty days of them choosing this award.
The Miraval Extra Night Award is valid for one hundred and eighty days from the date the World of Hyatt member selected it and it must be redeemed for a reservation with a checkout date on or before the expiration of the award.
These terms mean that the 90-day grace period can be useful because unless you’re 100% sure that you will definitely make the most of whichever of these awards you’re selecting, there’s little point in making your choice before you absolutely have to. Why hurry the decision?
I, for example, passed the 20-night Milestone a few months ago, but I didn’t select the 2K Next Stay Award until a couple of nights before I was due to check-in at a Hyatt Place property (over two months after I could first select the award).
Since then I have also passed the 30-night Milestone but I have yet to make my 30-night Milestone award choice because I don’t have to. At least not yet.
I know that I will probably be staying at a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House property in the coming months (the reservation has already been made), but I also know that plans can change when you least expect them to so I see no reason to commit to selecting the 2K Next Stay Award from the 30-night Milestone before it becomes very unlikely that the stay will be cancelled.
Bottom line
None of this information is complicated and I’m not exactly being insightful here, but I know how easy it can be to make an unnecessarily hasty decision when you receive an email offering you a choice of awards, so I think this is something worth highlighting.
Most of the World of Hyatt Milestone awards can be selected (mostly) risk free as soon as they’re earned, but in the case of the 2K Next Stay and Miraval Extra Night Awards, a little patience may sometimes be a good idea.
