Good News & Bad News From Hyatt – Globalist Requalification Just Got Harder But New Rewards Are Coming Too

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Just as IHG appears to be doing with its Ambassador program now we have Hyatt adding benefits to its loyalty program with one hand while seemingly unable to resist the urge to make things a little worse with the other.

First the bad news….

Hyatt Increases Globalist Requalification Requirements

As things stand World of Hyatt members need to earn 60 elite nights in a calendar year to reach the dizzying heights of Hyatt Globalist status but, once at that level, they only need 55 nights in a subsequent year to requalify for the same status.

Not for much longer.

Per Hyatt:

Starting in 2020, all members, including existing Globalists, must complete 60 qualifying nights (including paid and award nights), earn 100,000 Base Points, or hold 20 qualifying meetings/events in a calendar year to qualify or requalify for Globalist status. The previous World of Hyatt benefit that allowed eligible Globalists to requalify for Globalist status with 55 qualifying nights will be closed to new Globalists as of 1/1/19 and discontinued for all members as of 1/1/20.

The way I read this is as follows:

• If you have had Globalist status throughout 2018 (i.e you are not a “new” Globalist status holder) you can still requalify for top-tier status with 55 nights in 2019. In 2020 you’ll need 60 qualifying nights just like everyone else.
• If you have not had Globalist status throughout 2018 but have earned that status though your activity in the year you’re considered a “new” Globalist in the eyes of Hyatt and you’ll need the full 60 nights to requalify in 2019.

Right….

So what Hyatt has done, in the period of a single year, is to offer 5 elite qualifying nights to everyone who holds the new version of the Chase Hyatt credit card…..and then increase the requalification requirements for Globalist status by 5 nights too.

Is the a better example of Newton’s 3rd law in action in the miles and point world? 🙂

Now the good news….

Hyatt Is Introducing “Milestone Rewards”

Hyatt is introducing a new set of Milestone Awards from 1 March 2019 but guest activity from 1 January 2019 will count towards reaching the milestones set.

The full details on the new Hyatt Milestone Rewards can be found on this Hyatt webpage and they’re summarised in the following table (click to expand):

So, what does this all actually mean?

Discoverist status holders (free with the Hyatt credit card or earned after 10 elite nights):

• Will now earn 2 Club Lounge access passes after reaching 20 elite qualifying nights.

Explorist status holders (earned after 30 elite nights):

• Will earn the same 2 Club Lounge access passes after reaching 20 elite qualifying nights that Discoverist status holders earn
• Will earn a further 2 Club Lounge access passes after reaching 30 elite qualifying nights
• Will continue to earn a “free” award night at a Category 1-4 property (expires 180 days after being issued)
• Will be given the choice of 5,000 bonus points, a $100 Hyatt gift card or the option to save 10,000 points on a FIND experience when they reach 40 elite nights
• Will earn 2 suite upgrade awards after reaching 50 elite nights

Globalist status holders (earned after 60 elite nights):

• Will continue to earn a “free” award night at a Category 1-4 property (expires 180 days after being issued) after reaching 30 elite nights
• Will earn 2 suite upgrade awards after reaching 50 elite nights
• Will continue to earn a “free” award night at a Category 1-7 property (expires 180 days after being issued)
• Will earn 2 suite upgrade awards after reaching 60 elite nights (on top of the 2 suite nights earned at 50 nights)
• Will continue to earn the choice of 10,000 bonus points or a suite upgrade reward upon reaching 70, 80, 90 and 100 elite nights in a year.

Thoughts

It looks like everyone who thought that Hyatt had made a mistake and culled its top-tier elite level too vigorously was wrong because Hyatt is clearly happy to continue making it harder to requalify for top-tier status – this is a negative for anyone who doesn’t have access to the Hyatt Visa card from Chase.

I’m not sure how many people this will end up affecting (mostly Hyatt Globalists from outside the USA I suspect) but this rule change has just made the Chase Hyatt Visa card a little less enticing for existing Globalist status holders in the US.

The Milestone Rewards look good and it doesn’t look as if Hyatt has slyly removed any benefits under the guise of introducing new rewards – I can’t see anyone being worse off under the new Milestone Rewards program.

The major change here appears to be in the space between Explorist and Globalist status which is a space I suspect a lot of people find themselves in towards the latter months of the year.

In the past there was a yawning chasm between Explorist and Globalist and not much incentive for Explorists to throw more stays Hyatt’s way if they didn’t think they could make it all the way to 60 nights and Globalist status….now there’s definitely some incentive.

I value World of Hyatt points at around 1.4 cents each so I’d probably choose the $100 gift card over the 5,000 points on offer at 40 elite nights….but it’s the 2 suite night awards on offer at 50 nights that’s the big prize.

I LOVE Hyatt’s suite night awards because a single award covers you for a stay of up to 7 nights and you can reserve a suite at the time of booking. I managed to use these awards to save a lot of money in the past (where otherwise I would have had to book two rooms) so this is a big incentive to spend more nights at Hyatt properties if you’re anywhere near the 50 night threshold.

Bottom Line

I’m not sure Hyatt needed to increase the number of nights required to requalify for Globalist status and, by doing so, I think they’ve robbed themselves of the opportunity to put out a statement full of purely positive news for World of Hyatt members.

Now, rather than having blog posts and articles talking just about how positive some of Hyatt’s new Milestone rewards are, we have blog posts and articles (like this one) tempering any excitement and positivity with negative news that I can’t imagine benefits Hyatt all that much…so why do it?

Are there really too many Globalists requalifying with 55 – 59 nights?

Still, I’m going to try to end on a positive note and say that the Milestone Rewards look promising and Hyatt has done a good job of incentivising Discoverists and Explorists to spend a few more nights at its properties that they may not have spent before these changes….and that’s a win-win situation for everyone.