Hyatt is cutting elite status requirements in half for 2021. They are giving extra elite nights to people who get their credit card by the end of the year. They are running double elite qualifying nights for the first two months of 2021 (and stays at the end of 2020 will also earn an elite night for 2021). Spending points transferred from Chase or the initial bonus on their credit card on free nights count towards status and they’re even rebating points.
Taken together Hyatt status is going to be very easy to earn in 2021 for the rest of that year and all of 2022. However Hyatt has decoupled some elite benefits from status, and reserves those for people staying a specific number of nights. The nights requirements for ‘Milestone Rewards’ have not been reduced.
That means while you can qualify for top tier Globalist status with just 30 nights, doing so will not get you confirmed suite upgrades bookable in advance (you’ll still be eligible for suite upgrades if available at check-in), for a free category 1-7 night, or for a ‘My Hyatt Concierge’ dedicated to assisting you with all of your Hyatt needs.
Here are the benefits that are awarded every 10 nights in the World of Hyatt program:
| # Nights | Or | Benefit |
| 10 | 25k base points or 3 meetings | Discoverist |
| 20 | 35k base points | 2 club lounge access awards |
| 30 | 50k base points or 10 meetings | Explorist, 2 club access awards, cat 1-4 free night |
| 40 | 65k base points | 5k points or $100 Hyatt gift card or 10k points off FIND experience |
| 50 | 80k base points | 2 confirmed suite upgrade awards |
| 60 | 100k base points or 20 meetings | Globalist, 2 suite upgrade awards, cat 1-7 free night, concierge |
| 70 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 80 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 90 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
| 100 | N/A | 10,000 points or suite upgrade award |
Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives
What’s notable to me here, and feels off, is that a Hyatt concierge doesn’t come with Globalist status, as it did prior to the introduction of Milestone Rewards.
At the time it made sense – comped or matched status wouldn’t receive all of the benefits of Globalist. But I’m not sure this makes sense in a world of extended status or reduced status requirements.
When Hyatt extended 2020 elite status for 2021, they extended access to Hyatt concierges as well. However people who earn status in 2021 based on reduced requirements will no longer have a concierge. That’s still reserved for people staying 60 nights. Existing Globalists whose travel is down because of the pandemic can still retain status, but unless they qualify under the old rules they have access to their concierge terminated.
As Hyatt explains,
Globalists who had a My Hyatt Concierge and were extended tier status through February of 2022 were also extended access to their My Hyatt Concierge through February 2022. Members will need to stay 60 qualifying nights or earn 100,000 Base Points in 2021 to qualify for My Hyatt Concierge beyond February 2022.
This may not matter for some people, and will matter a lot to others. I definitely prefer sending an email to my concierge for all of my requests, whether trying to combine a free night in the same reservation as paid or award nights or applying confirmed suite upgrades to a reservation. I ask my concierge to follow up on missing points and to get me missing hotel bills. Others prefer to call and do these things themselves.
If I lose access to my concierge in 2022, I suspect I’ll be direct messaging Hyatt on twitter more often for help.
The concierge is extremely by the book and slow to respond so I find them useless.
@ Gary — I agree with Omar. I think we have one, but it is useless.
Agreed with Omar. I have heard from my concierge twice in three years, and they were clearly form letters. When I ask for special things (like reaching out to a hotel to ask about hidden inventory… which I know exists but it’s troublesome for me to navigate the reservation process on another continent), it’s like “good luck!”
@ Gary — Or perhaps I should say “never used”. I have been able to handle everything I need myself. If I really want extra service for a specific trip, I will use my travel agent to book through Hyatt Prive.
My Hyatt Concierge is fantastic.
@ toomanybooks – how do they help? Genuine curiosity!
Andrew:
She signs me up automatically for all promos
She had a choice of which clients to give AA EXP some months back and gave it to me.
If I want to reserve something with CC or WOH free nights (with or without additional paid nights), set up Guest of Honor for a friend, whatever, I send her an email and it is done very fast, as long as she is working.
On my request, she calls hotels to try to get me upgraded
Any time I wonder about the accuracy of some WOH transaction, she either explains it or corrects it.
Etc.
toomanybooks – Wow! You have a good one! Thanks for the clarification – I guess this can be a good program. I may inquire to see if I can change my concierge.
My concierge is fantastic as well. I would be sad to lose her in 2022 if I don’t meet requirements next year. She has accomplished all manner of odd reward booking shenanigans for me when I’m traveling with a large group, need multiple rooms, mixed award/revenue bookings, suite upgrades, etc. She is also very quick to respond.
Mine is also fantastic. In addition to everything Andrew has stated, every time I check in, I receive amenities like chocolates or wine and fruit platters, even in the current environment. Without even my asking, she calls hotels to get me upgraded. She also comped me AA EXP when the partnership first began and it’s the gift that keeps on giving, having been automatically extended through 1/22
My concierge has also helped resolve issues with hotels playing games with award inventory, and allowed me to book award rooms even if I do not have enough points in my account. They will facilitate points transfers between accounts, automatically register me for promos, converts reservations to GoH as needed, and on and on.
I’ll hit 60 nights if only to ensure I get to keep the same concierge.
@ toomanybooks @ Luke @ Gavin — OK, maybe it is time to use that concierge!
Wow, I’m jealous of all of you with great concierges. I gave up on mine a year ago; it seemed to take days to get an answer to my emails. I found it much quicker to just call the general Hyatt number and get what I wanted done. Never got anything special from the concierge. When I saw Gary’s mention of possibly losing it, I thought “so what?”.
Another one here with a great concierge.
I will add my two cents that my Concierge is a waste of (my) time.
It’d be funny if everyone with a great concierge all had the same one.
One superstar, while the rest are trash.
If you check your account in the Hyatt app and click the 60 night milestone reward, you’ll clearly see that Concierge access is a milestone benefit. We all assumed it was coupled with Globalist status but it was something we never thought about. While it may be disappointing, it should not be a surprise given the current T&C’s of the program and is a very clean explanation of why they can lower status requirements while maintaining the milestone levels.
Another fantastic vote.
Same with the AA EXP
Gets me endless free items, any special request is a given as I don’t overuse the requests…part of this is that I employ the utmost gratitude at all times for the assistance.
I have walked into rooms only bloggers write about for life events when needed.
Definitely not ‘by the book’ and has absolutely changed my travel habits for the better.
Twice I’ve stayed in the manager’s apartment…they used to have them live on site and the rooms are not even listed or book-able.
I’ll mattress run early 2021 for him and for the suite upgrade awards I max out and get ridiculous value out of.
Does this apply to Lifetime Globalists as well. I really appreciate my Hyatt Concierge!!!
But just stay 30 nights between now and feb 28 and you’ll have it! Looking around at Hyatt’s in certain places , that’s VERY DOABLE financially!
Have to agree with the others who say that their Hyatt concierge is useless. Not only is mine slow to answer emails, many emails have gone unanswered. In the past 3 years, I have had 3 concierge’s. First one never responded to anything, and that’s when I gave up. The second one I never interacted with and the third one didn’t respond to an email that needed a quick turnaround, i.e, one week, and it took 2 weeks to respond. At that point I had already called the globalist number.
Our concierge has been awesome. We both have Hyatt accounts, but only one is Globalist. Our concierge has been successful in merging stays into one account. She helps with upgrades. It seems as if we use her for a lot more things. I know that we do, just can’t think. She has been so helpful that I feel the need to send her a thank you gift at least once per year.It is a benefit that I will truly miss.