Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond members receive (4) confirmed suite upgrades each year, valid for stays up to 7 nights each and valid on discounted room rates.

My strategy is to confirm suites, when available, on stays of 4 nights or less using points if I am paying the “Hyatt Daily Rate” since it’s just 6000 points for the entire stay and anyone can do it, status or not.

And save the confirmed suite upgrade certificates for stays on discounted rates, like AAA or on a corporate rate.

Not all hotels have a ton of suites, and some suites that you’ll get are better than others of course. I absolutely loved the base-level suite at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur.

Remember that Hyatt’s diamond confirmed suite upgrades expire February 28. So if you have any in your account you’ll need to apply them to a reservation today.

• The suite upgrades just have to be confirmed before they expire. The stay does not have to be prior to expiration. So you can book today for a future reservation.
  
• But if you have to change your reservation at all you are likely to lose the suite, you aren’t allowed to (although some have reported success, do not count on it) book a room in a suite and change dates or even hotels later. After February 28 if you change or cancel your plans the suite upgrade is supposed to be forfeit.
  
• Even if you did not requalify for Diamond status, you can still use them on future stays. You received them for Diamond status but do not have to be a Diamond to stay in the suite. In fact, Hyatt Platinum members who apply for their co-branded credit card receive two suite upgrades as well — so the certificates aren’t strictly for Diamond members.
  
• The suite upgrade is supposed to be used by the member only and is not transferable. If two people are traveling together I’ve never seen a hotel deny the second (non-suite upgrade holder) denied the ability to check in first, as long as that person was named on the reservation. But the suite upgrades do require that the person who ‘owns’ the upgrade be staying on-property.

The suite upgrades cannot be used on award stays, and they apply only to standard suites.

Now is the time to ring up Hyatt Gold Passport to make at least speculative bookings into the future using confirmed suite upgrades, rather than letting those upgrades go to waste.