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To attain World of Hyatt Globalist elite status, you have to accrue at least 60 qualifying elite nights in a year. Even after factoring in the help from the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card that gives you automatic complimentary 5 qualifying elite night credits each year, there still remains quite a few nights left to earn and reach Globalist status.
If you are heavily invested in Hyatt stays, that makes perfect sense to chase the Globalist status. However, I try to diversify my stays through several hotel rewards programs, including MARRIOTT, HILTON, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), Choice Hotels, Wyndham Rewards, Best Western, etc. So for me to reach the Hyatt Globalist elite status through qualifying stays every year, it may not be as simple as it sounds.
Therefore, I decided to develop strategies to maximize the Hyatt milestone rewards and status match between MGM and Hyatt to get a few Globalist benefits that matter most to me when traveling and staying at Hyatt property.
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World of Hyatt Globalist Status benefits that are important to me
Globalist is the highest elite status in the World of Hyatt program, and therefore, you can expect all the best benefits that the program offers. Hyatt Globalist elite status benefits are among the most valuable benefits compared to other hotel rewards programs.
For me personally, the following Globalist benefits are essential to me when I stay at a Hyatt property most of the time:
- Club lounge access for food and beverages
- Room upgrades, mainly for the views and not space
- Late checkout in case needed
- No resort fees on award stays
- Free award night(s) with Hyatt each year
Your priorities may be different, but for the most part, when I travel, I like to save money on food and get room upgrades if all possible. Having a Suite upgrade is nice but not required because I am not usually traveling as a family.
With the goals mentioned above in mind, how do I do that every year with Hyatt? Here’s how I do it with a couple methods:
- Hyatt Milestone Reward
- MGM & Hyatt Status Match
Maximizing Hyatt Milestone Rewards & MGM Status Match For “Lite” Globalist Benefits
I refer to the Hyatt Globalist as “Lite” Globalist in this post because the following strategies that I will be doing do not get me to reach the actual Globalist status and enjoy all its benefits. Instead, I am utilizing the Hyatt milestone rewards and MGM status match to receive a few of the Globalist benefits that I value the most.
Club Lounge Access
You hit a Hyatt Milestone Reward after reaching 20 nights, and you’ll get two (2) Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards.
You get another two (2) Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards plus 1 Category 1-4 Free Night Award after reaching 30 nights.
Here’s the basic information on how the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards work:
- Each club lounge access award is valid for a stay of up to 7 nights
- The number of nights per stay has to be consecutive
- The standard award club room must be available for Hyatt to apply the club lounge access award to a reservation.
- You must contact Hyatt to use club lounge access awards.
Compared to the actual Globalist benefit that offers complimentary breakfast at all Hyatt brands, not all Hyatt hotels and resorts have a club lounge. You can find a club lounge typically with the Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt brands. But if you have access to a good Hyatt club lounge, you can save a lot of money on food and non-alcoholic drinks, including cheap alcoholic beverages from the club lounge Honor Bar during your entire stay. I tend to look for a Hyatt resort with a club lounge to avoid paying for ridiculous resort food and drinks, especially when there are no restaurants within walking distance of the resort.
It’s worth also mentioning my cash bookings are mainly around affordable Hyatt properties such as Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, and those two Hyatt brands offer complimentary to all Hyatt members.
Shortcuts to Earn Hyatt Qualifying Elite Nights Faster to Reach Hyatt Milestone Rewards
Below are ideas to rack up Hyatt qualifying elite nights quicker to get the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards:
- Earn 5 Qualifying Elite Nights & Free Night: Simply hold on to the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card:
- Receive five (5) elite nights every year.
- Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award every account anniversary.
- Earn 6 Qualifying Elite Nights: Spend $15,000 on the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card:
- Receive six (6) elite nights (2 elite nights per $5,000 spend).
- Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award after $15k spend.
- Chase World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers 5 elite nights after $10k spend each time on the card.
- Check out any available Hyatt Promotions and Offers for double elite nights bonus, etc.
- Do cheap stays at MGM hotels and resorts such as Las Vegas to rack up Hyatt elite nights. Thanks to Hyatt & MGM Partnership, MGM Rewards Gold elite members receive waived resort fees on bookings directly with MGM.
- Do organic stays including points + cash and points stays are all eligible qualifying elite nights.
Room Upgrades
Hyatt Explorist status is just one below the Globalist status. When it comes to the room upgrades benefit for this particular tier, the upgraded room is based on availability but excluding Suites and Rooms with Club lounge access.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not traveling in a big group or as a family, so while getting a Suite upgrade is nice, it’s not required in my situation.
Moreover, I’d rather have the ocean view if I had to choose between an ocean view room or a suite ground floor without an ocean view. The same thing for a city view skylines view room.
As far as the rooms upgrades with club lounge access go, that won’t be necessary because I will use the Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards for the resorts with a lounge, mostly Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt.
My strategy to be Hyatt Explorist every year is simple, more below.
Late Checkout
Explorist status gives me 2 PM Late checkout. It’s 2 hours earlier than Globalist’s 4PM, but that should suffice. I do not use this benefit very often, but it’s something that I certainly value when my flight is not leaving later in the day.
Maintaining Hyatt Explorist Status Every Year
Thanks to Hyatt & MGM Partnership, you can request the status match between the two programs each year to maintain each program’s elite status level.
Hyatt’s elite status expires at the end of February, and MGM Rewards’ elite status expires at the end of January.
- In February, match your Hyatt Explorist or Globalist to get MGM Rewards Gold elite status.
- When your Hyatt elite status expires in March, match MGM Rewards Gold back to get the Hyatt Explorist status.
With this technique, you can strategically keep Hyatt Explorist status every year without having to worry about collecting enough qualifying tier elite nights. Here is the detail on how to do that.
Suppose you do not want to deal with status match requests. In that case, you can collect 30 qualifying elite nights, and that’s enough to get you the Explorist status, plus two (2) Hyatt Club Lounge Access Awards and one (1) Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award.
Pay No Resort Fees
I am not a fan of resort fees, and I always think that hotels and resorts should just have those resort fees calculated into the room rates to be more transparent to guests. Fortunately, the World of Hyatt program is one of the most generous programs as the resort fees are waived on award stays for all World of Hyatt members, regardless of Globalist or non-elite members.
Living the points life, my traveling expenses for hotels and resorts mainly are done with the help of rewards points. So having the resort’s fees waived on award stays is beneficial that fits my traveling style.
Free Hyatt Night(s) Each Year
My goal is also to take advantage of the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card and Hyatt Milestone Reward to earn at least one Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award each year.
- Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card offers one Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award every account anniversary.
- Earn an additional Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award after spending $15,000 on the card every calendar year.
- Earn one Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award after reaching 30 night Hyatt Milestone Reward, which also gives you Explorist status.
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Globalist benefits that I won’t have
- Room upgrades, including Standard Suites upgrades
- Globalist breakfast when a Hyatt property does not have a club lounge
- Free parking on award stays
- Guest of Honors bookings
It’s worth noting that Hyatt Suite Upgrade Awards can be obtained when you reach Hyatt’s 50 nights milestone reward. However, if I am going for 50 nights, I might just go for the Globalist elite status level because I only need 10 more nights.
Free parking on award stays is another valuable Globalist perk; however, I often find myself staying at luxury Hyatt resorts and don’t need to drive anywhere.
