Use Gift Cards To Top Off Hyatt Elite Status – For This Year Or Next

by Gary Leff

Six months ago Hyatt announced the acquisition of Mrs. and Mrs. Smith, a booking platform of nearly 2,000 premium hotels that previously partnered with IHG One Rewards.

While Mr. and Mrs. Smith isn’t yet integrated into World of Hyatt, there are (2) promotions to introduce guests to these properties.

  1. Earn elite nights for buying gift cards. 1 elite night credit for every $300 spent on Mr & Mrs Smith gift cards, up to 60 elite nights, plus points-earning of 5 World of Hyatt base points per dollar spent (which is the normal base earn, without elite status bonus, for Hyatt stays). These gift cards do not expire and the offer is valid through March 31, 2024.

  2. Discounted room rates. “Up to 40% off” on stays through December 31, 2024 available through November 6, 2023. Available dates will vary by hotel.

Here’s the trick. Since these gift cards don’t expire, you can choose when you want future stays through the Mr. and Mrs. Smith group to count towards status.

  • If you need to top off status this year, buy gift cards now and hit your status goal

  • Or get a head start on next year. If you qualify for status early in 2024, that status will count for the rest of 2024 and for 2025 (through end of February 2026).

And of course there are additional benefits at each 10 incremental elite nights, for instance earning a couple of confirmed suites at 50 elite nights (even before hitting Globalist status) and a choice of benefits inclusive of more confirmed suites at 70, 80, 90, and 100 nights. So if you find yourself at 68 or 69 nights, a gift card transaction could put you over the top at the end of the year.

This only works well if you plan to stay at Mr. and Mrs. Smith properties at some point in the future, although it wouldn’t surprise me – given the points-earning and elite night credits – to see a decent number of gift cards become available on the secondary market going forward as people buy their status and resell the gift cards.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is like Small Luxury Hotels of the World which Hyatt partners with already. Some of the participating properties are also connected to other platforms and brands – you may see Relais & Châteaux, Leading Hotels of the World, and even some Design Hotels (which are part of Marriott) included in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The Mr. and Mrs. Smith moniker references checking in for an illicit stay under a pseudonym.

There are some absolutely crazy properties here, for instance several Virgin Limited Edition hotels like Moskito Island are part of the platform, including places like the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard where it’s tough to use points and there’s even overlap with Aman Resorts though I don’t expect all hotels to eventually participate with Hyatt.

Just as the Small Luxury Hotels partnership has opened up fantastic redemption opportunities (albeit only for base rooms) I anticipate that this partnership will as well.

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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Comments

  3. I already achieved Global for this year with stays and CC spend. Since this promotion goes till March, I can get a head start on the year in January. The only concern is that the gift cards have to be used at Mr and Mrs properties. Which as of now I do not know if that is a big deal or not

  5. @ Gary — My bigger concern is gift card theft bu hackers. Been through that multiple times with Hyatt already.

  6. will you get hyatt globalist benefits when you go through their website and book reservation using gift card?

  7. I was thinking the same thing @leonard ! I wonder if the gift cards are Mr. and Mrs. Smith specific or can be used at any Hyatt.

  8. Gift cards are specific to Mr & Mrs Smith – check the T&C.

    Does anybody know where you could resell these gift cards?

    At a 15% discount, $45/night for Globalists status plus a min of 5 Hyatt point per dollar makes it pretty cheap to keep/get status.

  9. I wonder if these work with the “stay 3 nights, get XXX points” promotion running right now. I have a 5 night stay planned this month, so I’ll get one bonus. But if a $300 gift card will yield 1500 base points plus 3000 bonus points, I might do this (I’m also working on a Venture X sub, so…you know…synergies). Any guesses?

  10. @alex,

    It seems not. Another travel blog has what appears to be more complete info on this.

    These can only be used on Mr. and Mrs. Smith website, as you note.

    Such stay DI NOT count for Hyatt status, so highly unlikely to get status benefits.

    Cheers

  11. Can these be used for the American Airlines status ptomoyiomnfor elite pliers for the 10 or 20 night requirements?

  12. If I book a Marriott through me and Mrs smiths, can I get Marriott points and credits in addition to the Hyatt points and stay credits?

  13. If I purchase Mr and Mrs Smith gift cards through a IHG portal using my Hilton credit card and attach my World of Hyatt number, can I use the gift cards at a Wyndam resort but credit the nights toward Marriott status and would it double-dip toward my United frequent flyer status?

    Or would it be better to re-sell the stay through AirBnB to boost my rating level there?

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