Some Clarifications About Hyatt’s New Benefits

by Gary Leff

Hyatt Gold Passport posted the following clarifcations to their new benefits this morning.

Greetings MilePoint members,

We are looking forward for our members having different ways to redeem awards. Diamond suite upgrades will be available for the MyElite rate; however, it would not be available for the Points + Cash rate as it is considered an award stay. The MyElite rate & Points + Cash will be valid for stay/night credit at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts excluding all inclusive properties, Hyatt Residence Club, and Mlife properties. The MyElite rate and the Points + Cash option will count towards the Diamond trial offers. Cancellation policies will still apply, and as long as you cancel outside of the policy, all points will be returned. If you cancel inside the policy, the points will be returned but you would be charged per the cancellation policy of the hotel.

Sincerely,

Gold Passport Concierge Team

Two answers about respond to questions asked in the comments here and that I got by email from readers.

  1. Cash and points awards do count towards elite status, but in other ways are considered an award stay — so you cannot upgrade them with Diamond confirmed suite upgrades.

  2. Since cash and points will count for elite status, you can use cash and points rates towards a Diamond trial (challenge) offer where Hyatt gives you temporary Diamond status and an accelerated qualification criteria based on your status with another hotel chain. This was something of a question, because Hyatt excludes MGM M Life stays in Las Vegas from the Diamond trial offer, so it was unclear whether they could exclude these too — but they do not.

As long as there’s reasonable availability for cash and points — which we won’t know until it’s rolled out January 7 — I anticipate I will be using this new benefit quite a lot.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Gary:
    Could you confirm whether the cash copay is subjected to tax?
    In addition, will cash and points stay be subjected to resort fee? Regular award stay will not incur resort fee, right?

  3. I believe all award stays are subject to Resort Charges (at all Hotels). Which is what makes the Resort Charge such an awful thing that had been levied on customers.

  4. Am I correct in understanding that the category changes and addition of C&P is simultaneous? So we can’t get C&P at PH SYD or PH TYO at Cat6 C&P rate, right?

  5. This is potentially not great. You have to call in for cash and points, meaning you can’t easily see in advance what days they are available. Given the SPG calendar, I plan some of my stays around availability.

  6. Regarding the cash co-pay, it is specifically listed in USD, but “to be paid at the hotel”. So for international properties: 1) will my cc be charged 125 USD (which has been converted from local currency and based on what exchange rate?- I see signs of forced DCC here- confirmation of details?) – OR 2) will my cc be charged the equivalent of 125 USD but in local currency, and again based on what exchange rate?

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