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The World of Hyatt and Aeroplan have announced a new partnership which allows members of the Aeroplan and WoH programs to earn, convert, and redeem points across both programs. In addition, we have status challenges that are live right now and we’re told that there are other status challenges on the way.
Partnership details
To participate in the partnership, a traveler’s Aeroplan and World of Hyatt accounts must be linked (here).
Points offers
- World of Hyatt points convert to Aeroplan points at a ratio of 2:1 (minimum conversion is 5,000 points)
- Aeroplan Elite members can convert Aeroplan points to World of Hyatt points at at a ratio of 2:1 (minimum conversion is 500 points).
- Aeroplan and World of Hyatt members can earn 500 Aeroplan points per Hyatt stay in place of World of Hyatt points.
- Aeroplan cardholders with cards issued in Canada can earn World of Hyatt Bonus Points and additional Aeroplan points on the same Hyatt spend.
- Aeroplan Premium Credit Cardholders: earn 2 World of Hyatt Bonus Points + 2 Aeroplan points per eligible $1 CAD spent at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
- Aeroplan Premium Business Credit Cardholders: earn 2 World of Hyatt Bonus Points + 2.5 Aeroplan points per eligible $1 CAD spent at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
- Aeroplan Core Business Cardholders: earn 1 World of Hyatt Bonus Point + 2 Aeroplan points per eligible $1 CAD spent at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
- Aeroplan Core Cardholders: earn 1 World of Hyatt Bonus Point + 1.5 Aeroplan points per eligible $1 CAD spent at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
Redemption offers
- Aeroplan members can redeem Aeroplan points for World of Hyatt Free Night Awards from 25,000 Aeroplan points
- World of Hyatt members can turn 50,000 points into a 30,000-point Aeroplan flight reward certificate usable with Air Canada and its partners (up to 4x/year).
Elite status challenges/benefits
Aeroplan Elite members and eligible premium cardholders can run an annual 90-day World of Hyatt status challenge:
- Earn Discoverist status with 4 nights
- Earn Explorist status with 10 nights
- Earn Globalist status with 20 nights
Also, Premium cardholders get:
- Complimentary Discoverist status
- Five Tier-Qualifying Night credits a year
- Two 90-day challenge attempts a year
At some point in 2026, World of Hyatt Explorists and Globalists will be able to register for annual challenges to fast-track to Aeroplan Elite Status.
Also, World of Hyatt Discoverists, Explorists, and Globalists get a CA$20 (~US$14) Air Canada flight credit each year after linking.
Thoughts
There’s good and bad in here and most of the good stuff is heavily weighted in the direction of Aeroplan members (at least for now – we’ll have to see what the Hyatt to Aeroplan status challenges will look like).
Let’s start with the parts of this partnership most people should be avoiding – the points conversions/trades.
If you value Aeroplan points and World of Hyatt points at roughly the same level (I do, you may not, so apply your own valuation), then moving points either direction at 2:1 means throwing away half of your points in the process. You lose in both directions and that’s not a partnership benefit, it’s a mechanism designed to favor the rewards programs and not the members.
The 500 Aeroplan points per stay option is an equally bad “deal”. On most paid stays, anyone earning World of Hyatt points will be able to collect considerably more than 500 WoH points and as we value both currencies equally, choosing Aeroplan Points instead of Hyatt points would see us leaving value on the table.
Where I do see some value is in the World of Hyatt status challenges for Aeroplan elites.
Discoverist status isn’t really worth worrying about, but Explorist status can be useful and twenty nights to earn Globalist status looks very tempting. That’s a much faster path to top-tier Hyatt status than the standard route, and because this path doesn’t appear to be limited to the higher Aeroplan status levels, this should be an option that’s open to quite a few people.
Unfortunately, it’s not all great news because, a few years ago, Hyatt separated out a lot of the key benefits that Globalist status offered and put them into its Milestone Rewards program. This saw key benefits (like guaranteed suite upgrades) unlinked from Globalist status and linked directly to the number of elite nights that a traveler credits to the World of Hyatt program.
What this means is that an Aeroplan elite member who earns elite status through these challenges would still have to credit the same number of nights to the World of Hyatt program as a regular World of Hyatt member in order to enjoy the same benefits.
That’s not the end of the world, but it means that Globalist by challenge isn’t as rewarding as Globalist by the traditional route.
From a World of Hyatt elite’s point of view, this partnership looks like a big dull dud.
The CA$20 flight credit is better than nothing, but at roughly US$14 I’m not sure anyone is going to notice it and, for now, that’s it. There’s nothing else currently on offer to World of Hyatt elites.
The fact is that as things stand, this isn’t really a partnership is it? It’s a play by Hyatt for more Canadian guests/visitors/customers with barely an afterthought for World of Hyatt members, and I suspect that when we finally see what the Hyatt to Aeroplan status challenge is (at some point later this year), that will be as underwhelming as everything else this “partnership” aims at Hyatt members.
Bottom line
The World of Hyatt is trying to attract a few more Canadians through its doors and so it has cobbled together what it’s calling a “partnership” with Air Canada Aeroplan.
Through this partnership, it’s offering a few bad points transfer options, a poor “Aeroplan points instead of Hyatt points” option, a few bonuses to select holders of Aeroplan credit cards in Canada and a couple of tempting elite status challenges.
World of Hyatt members get a $14 credit for Air Canada flights and, for now, nothing else.
What do you make of this partnership? Let us know in the comments.
