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World of Hyatt® launched back in March 2017 to replace the Hyatt Gold Passport loyalty program. This was revamped last year to add benefits, Milestone Rewards, and Guest of Honor gifting of Globalist benefits. Hyatt just changed the terms around sharing these benefits and after June 7th there will be a cap on how many times this can be used. I’m happy to see this change and honestly wish Hyatt would kill the benefit altogether.
What is the World of Hyatt® Guest of Honor Benefit?
The World of Hyatt® Guest of Honor benefit allows top-tier Globalist members to gift their benefits to other members of the loyalty program. This includes things like late checkout, lounge access, upgrades, free nights, and free breakfast at Hyatt properties worldwide. Guest of Honor awards are earned after passing certain thresholds in the World of Hyatt® program. These breakdown as:
- 40 qualifying nights or 65,000 base points: One Guest of Honor award
- 60 qualifying nights or 100,000 base points: Two Guest of Honor awards
- 70, 80 and 90 qualifying nights: One Guest of Honor award
- 110, 120, 130, and 140 qualifying nights: One Guest of Honor award
These awards are valid in the year that they are earned plus 14 additional months. Lifetime Globalist members receive five Guest of Honor awards each year.
What Do I Like About Guest of Honor Awards?
I think it’s cool that recipients actually earn elite qualifying nights for the donor of the award. I get why Hyatt wants to give guests a taste of Globalist status and this benefit makes it appealing to many benefactors.
What I Don’t Like About Guest of Honor Awards?
There are already too many elite members and this waters down the benefits given to each one. Sure, there are plenty of free breakfasts and late checkouts to go around, but lounges get more crowded and suites become harder to secure when there are more Globalists or essentially Globalists for the day vying for these spaces.
What is Changing on June 7th?
World of Hyatt® is instituting a cap on how many Guest of Honor awards a member can receive in a calendar year. This has been previously uncapped, but as of June 7th the number will be ten. From the recently updated World of Hyatt® terms and conditions:
As of June 7, 2025, a Member may be gifted a maximum of ten (10) transferred awards per calendar year in accordance with the process described above. This restriction applies only to the receipt of transferred gift awards. Members remain able to transfer as many eligible awards as they choose.”
I know some members will not be happy with this change, but I’m all for it. World of Hyatt® Globalist status is already pretty easy to attain. If you have a co-branded credit card you earn nights and can get more with additional spend. That coupled with frequent promos and Hyatt’s footprint continuing to grow make it a mountain that is not so high.
Anthony’s Take: I’m happy to see World of Hyatt® make its Guest of Honor awards more restrictive. I wish these would go away altogether, but this is a start.
(Featured Image Credit: Hyatt.)
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2 comments
While I agree with your headline I think your reasons – while arguably valid – come across as rather self serving. My reason to be glad for these limits and potential acceptance of more restrictions is that fraud (for some reason China seems to have rampant fraud for things like selling such awards) could make Hyatt inclined to worsen the program altogether rather than finding ways to address that fraud.
As to the number of Globalists, myself included, that’s more complex. You’ve spilled plenty of electronic ink writing about paid suites and paid business/first class flights and I’ve said before that that seems to distance your perspective from people in a lesser financial situation, making it tough for you to see things from the other side. That’s not a dig at you flying up front and staying at ritzy places since I suspect that you’ve earned what you’re enjoying and that’s your prerogative. In this context that just means that it sounds like you’re fine with culling the Globalist ranks as long as you make the cut and that’s not the best look.
To avoid – or try to avoid – hypocrisy, my Hyatt total head-in-bed past and future night count for the year is 49 so far with another 4 nights from Hyatt credit card spending so my status renewal is all but assured. I mention this not as a competition but to illustrate 1) My genuine loyalty to Hyatt and 2) That I’m not buying my way to status through MS or heavy credit card spend so 3) While I feel the pinch when there are lots of Globalists too, I’m leery of getting too vehement about tightening restrictions too much.
I always appreciate the gut check. I just feel if everyone is elite, no one truly is.