Earlier today I wrote about the Hyatt-MGM status match. Since MGM lets you give your status to someone you live with at the same address, you should be able to match your status to MGM, give MGM status to a spouse, and then have them match their MGM status to Hyatt. Read the whole thing.
One of the changes Hyatt is making March 1 is going from a three-tier program (Base Member, Platinum, Diamond) to a four-tier program. Effectively Platinum splits into two levels: Discoverist and Explorist.
Restaurant at the Hyatt Olive8 in Seattle
Hyatt co-brand cardmembers and those with fewer than 30 nights in 2016 (or the beginning of 2017) will get Discoverist status. That means they keep 2 p.m. late checkout. 30 night members will get a perk of four club lounge upgrades per year.
But what if everyone that’s a Platinum today could give themselves Explorist status in March?
Currently, I’m Hyatt Platinum through their credit card. Since World of Hyatt starts in March I’ll go down to Discoverist. But I’ll have M Life Gold through October, so could I match my Mlife Gold to Hyatt in order to upgrade to Explorist before October?
Match your Hyatt Platinum status to MGM Gold today if you haven’t already done so.
Water Villa at the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives
Then after March 1, match your MGM status to Hyatt — MGM Golds get Explorist status.
We don’t know that this will work, of course (terms and conditions aside even) since the ‘World of Hyatt’ program changes haven’t launched yet. The program begins March 1. But it seems like reason to match your status to MGM M life Rewards if you’ve yet to do so!
I was going to say that there’s a soft landing anyway and why go through the trouble, and then realized the Platinum != Diamond. There should be some ANSI standard for these tiers =P
I’m Mlife Platinum through September, 30, 2017. What status do you think I could match to Hyatt. My Hyatt Diamond expire February, 28, 2017.
Got the M-Life match, you call M-Life at 1866-761-7111 with your Hyatt number, not The Hyatt number above FYI.
Good luck all!!!
Any other status matches I should do this month before my Hyatt platinum status turns into ‘Discoverist’?
@David You would match to Explorist
Hey Gary, just a heads up to any readers interested in making this happen still; MLife sends matches to Hyatt in “bi-weekly batches,” so don’t just ask for a match or it might not actually happen in time. I ran into this problem earlier today but think I managed a work-around. http://www.thorpetravelsite.com/travel-blog/2017/2/last-minute-match-hyatt-platinum-status-to-mlife-to-get-explorist-with-world-of-hyatt
Bad news. Called both programs this AM to match back from MLife Gold to plain Hyatt. Mlife made me call Hyatt. Hyatt said they are not matching MLife now, and that only MLife will match Hyatt status, but Hyatt would not match MLife status. Of course, will HUCA.
I tried matching my husband’s status this morning and Hyatt said there’s no status matching at the moment while they switch to World of Hyatt. Fingers crossed there’s a status match later…
I followed the instructions on the Hyatt site in the World of Hyatt Term’s and Conditions states (from website today) for Reciprocal Memberships which instructs to go to https://www.mlife.com/en/overview/preferred-partners.html and follow the instructions (which says: “Enjoy your matched status into the World of Hyatt loyalty program by emailing memberservices@mgmresorts.com with your M life Rewards and World of Hyatt membership numbers.”
So I emailed memberservices@mgmresorts.com today requested status match from MLife GOLD to World of Hyatt EXPLORIST. Let’s see what happens 🙂
T&C extract from World of Hyatt:
(b) Program Reciprocity for M life Rewards Members. M life Rewards members may receive a reciprocal Program membership tier by visiting https://www.mlife.com/en/overview/preferred-partners.html and following the instructions described on that page. A reciprocal Program membership tier may only be provided as described above and may not be provided through other Hyatt or M life channels. Reciprocal Program status will be valid for at least one calendar year.
The following table illustrates the reciprocal Program tier offered to M life Rewards members:
M life Rewards Membership Tier Reciprocal World of Hyatt Membership Tier
NOIR Membership Explorist
Platinum Membership Explorist
Gold Membership Explorist
Pearl Membership Discoverist
Sapphire Membership Membership
From Mlfe Rewards Partnerships site:
M life Rewards members, you’re in luck! The relationship with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts® provides members the ability to earn Tier Credits at over 600 hotels and resorts worldwide. From the exotic Park Hyatt Maldives to the chic Andaz West Hollywood, members now have even more places to live the M life.
Enjoy your matched status into the World of Hyatt loyalty program by emailing memberservices@mgmresorts.com with your M life Rewards and World of Hyatt membership numbers.
Any success anyone?
I called Hyatt on 3/1 and requested the match. The agent filled out a “form” and said it should be matched in a week. I do not have a high level of confidence it will happen.
@RH do you mean you have Hyatt status and requested equivalent M Life tier? But higher value would be if one already has M Life Gold, then asks M Life to match to Hyatt Explorist I think? Anyway, that is what I did, following link referenced above, will report back.
I called Hyatt and provided my Mlife account number. the Rep said she filled out the “form” and it will take 7 to 10 biz days for the match to happen. She explained that the relevant department in Hyatt will call Mlife to verify I am a gold with Mlife, then match me to Explorist. Keep my finger crossed.
Same here, Hyatt rep was not too familiar with the process though said 7-10 business days my MLife Gold status would be matched to Explorist. Tried to add my wife to MLife though MLife rep said that needs to be done in person only at an MGM property.
Data point for anyone trying this – I successfully just matched mlife Gold to Explorist. I emailed on 3/1 and also called on 3/3 (called mlife). Got the same “submitted this, could take a while to update” so very glad that it happened already.
Gary – THANK YOU for this idea. Could never have had Explorist without it.
Gary, I also want to say THANK YOU for great idea.
I successfully matched Platinum to Mlife Gold to Explorist. Just emailed Mlife on 3/1. Upgrade to Explorist happened on 3/6.
I applied for Hyatt Card on Feb 20 something before the new changes, I called customer service at Hyatt to match Gold to M Life. My Hyatt account showed Discoverist. I received Gold at M life a few days ago and was automatically upgraded to Explorist yesterday without doing anything.
I finally got Hyatt match me to Explorist…but it is not a quick process. I emailed Mlife 2 times and haven’t received any replies from Mlife. I called Hyatt on March 4th…the rep said she filled out the form and it will take 7 to 10 business days. on March 13th, I called Hyatt again and talked to a supervisor and she can’t find any record on my March 4th request, so she filled out the request again and said it takes another 7 to 10 business. I tweeted Hyatt…they tweeted my back and said they forwarded my case to their management team. I got an email today saying I am an explorist now. it is definitely not a smooth process as I wished…but I am glad it works finally.
Thank you so much, Gary for this great idea!
My husband’s just came through today, too!
Match finally came through after almost 3 weeks, 2 calls and two emails. Hallijeuah!
Ooh I’ve been trying and getting nowhere. So I need to call MLife to get them to call Hyatt? My goal is to upgrade Hyatt status, I am already top tier MLife.
took a couple of weeks for MLife to respond to email match request. Less than a week later I got an email from Hyatt congratulating me on moving up to Explorist.
I had followed your tip and matched to M Life Gold in February – forgot about it until last night. Went to M Life website, clicked the link and matched. Went back to my Hyatt profile and I was moved to Explorist – got the email moments later. Super Simple: no emails, just a click to the link and now 4 club certificates in my profile. Thanks Gary!!!
Had previously matched Hyatt Diamond to Mlife Platinum. Received Hyatt Diamond from a match w/ my Hilton Diamond which I matched from my IHG Platinum. Matched Mlife Platinum to Borgata Black label. Borgata was absorbed by Mlife recently and my Mlife Platinum was extended thru 09/18. Also matched Black Label to Total Rewards Diamond which I matched to Wyndham Diamond. My Hyatt Diamond was matched to Explorist March 1st, 2017 which expires @ the end of February, 2018. I would think that I can status match from Mlife Platinum to Hyatt Explorist again in March, 2018. Will gift Mlife Platinum to my Wife next time we go to A.C. in September. My suggestion is, anytime you can status match, just do it. I received all these matches from having the lowly IHG Platinum which came w/ the credit card. You never know where it might lead.