Formerly called Diamond Suite Upgrades, now simply “Suite Upgrades” are the very best benefit of top tier status with Hyatt Hotels and their new World of Hyatt loyalty program. These are issued in batches of four with each upgrade good for up to seven consecutive nights. Transitioning from Gold Passport to World of Hyatt meant a change in how this was awarded. As Scott pointed out, Hyatt had separated the benefit from being associated with status to now getting issued when a milestone is achieved:
“Suite Upgrades are awarded 4 after 60 qualifying nights or 100,000 Base Points each calendar year”
Right. So it’s no longer associated with Globalist specifically, but rather a benefit received when you cross 60 nights or 100,000 base points in a year that also happens to be the qualifier for Globalist status but the two are no longer related.
That’s confusing to me for a few reasons. First, Hyatt used to give out the suite upgrades upon hitting status or March 1st of the following year depending on when you qualified – in other words it was part of the status and not a milestone reached by completing the requirements under the rules [then] of 25 stays or 50 nights. Hyatt also awarded those Suite Upgrades to status challengers who demonstrated top-tier status with a competing chain and completed a pro-rated requirement of 12 nights in a 60 day period because again, the status came with the benefit.
Except
Hyatt has been very clear that the two are now unrelated, except when they aren’t. I asked Hyatt for some clarification, and for the purposes here, I want to outline the five ways that one could achieve Globalist status:
- Staying 60 nights in 2017
- Staying 55 nights in 2018 (and onward)
- Being a Diamond member in 2016 for the 2017 status year
- Lifetime Diamond members now Lifetime Globalist members
- Qualifying prior to March 1st, 2017 under old Gold Passport rules (25 stay, 50 nights) with status through February 2019
Following Hyatt’s announcements and their clarifications that having Globalist will not necessarily come with four Suite Upgrades I wanted to make sure I understood properly. It seemed that only a literal interpretation of the rule had to be assumed and that only those staying 60 nights will get Suite Upgrades. Interpreting the rule as written with no exceptions or exclusions (as they do not appear on the website or in Hyatt’s documentation) would mean that the following may have Suite Upgrades:
- Staying 60 nights in 2017 – YES!
- Staying 55 nights in 2018 (and onward) – NOPE!
- Being a Diamond member in 2016 for the 2017 status year – NOPE!
- Lifetime Diamond members now Lifetime Globalist members – NOPE!
- Qualifying prior to March 1st, 2017 under old Gold Passport rules (25 stay, 50 nights) with status through February 2019 – NOPE!
And in fairness, since the benefit is separated from the status this is the way they intended it to be.
Exceptions
This week we found out about exceptions. First, there was the “gift” email. Matthew covered it here, how Diamonds that qualified in 2016 (perhaps before he even broke the story about World of Hyatt changes) didn’t earn the benefits of their status (four diamond suite upgrades) but they were being gifted four upgrades by their gracious program executives. I find this a particularly insulting way of giving a benefit that was earned through 10 months of the year, and then “gifted” by Hyatt. Words matter because they can convey feelings and attitude, and those were poorly chosen words.
Then we found out that Lifetime Globalists, regardless of how many nights they accrue, will also have four suite upgrades to use, and should they complete 60 nights or 100,000 base points in a year — they will get a second free night certificate and another four suite upgrades. That’s certainly a generous exception to their milestone rule and makes the status and reasons to stay with the brand even more valuable.
I reached out to Hyatt’s Corporate Communications executive for clarification with the simple question,
“If Globalist status and the milestone are separate, then there will be Globalists without upgrades right?”
Specifically, if the 60 night requirement is a milestone and the benefit is not attached to status; AND all returning Diamonds this year still need to stay 60 nights to hold Globalist for next year despite the 55 night waiver – then presumably there would be a contingent with status but without upgrades. This would be a limited group for sure, but I can see how it can happen. Imagine a Globalist member in 2017 reads the rules of the new program, sees that they re-qualify at 55 nights not 60 expecting the benefits that are listed in the Globalist column on the website. They do their best but land just 55-59 nights and believe they are Globalist next year and have the upgrades. But this would be wrong because you have to hit the milestone to achieve the benefit – according to their website and several clarifications prior to today.
Using this logic you could then surmise that in perpetuity some Globalists will retain their status at 55 nights but not have the upgrades to go with it. But for those in the small minority of returning Globalists with 55-59 nights in a calendar year, there is good news:
55 Nights Requalification Milestone
When a member achieves 60 nights or 100k Base Points in 2017, the member receives the following “more ways to be rewarded” benefits at that time in 2017:
- Free Night Award in a Category 1-7 Hyatt hotel or resort (valid for 120 days from issuance)
- 4 Suite Upgrade Awards to use at the time of reservation at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts (valid for one year from issuance when paying an eligible rate or when redeeming points for a free night award)
- Access to My Hyatt Concierge agent for reservations and personalized service
- Maintain Globalist status after 55 qualifying nights each subsequent year
If this same member then achieves 55 nights or 100k Base Points in 2018, the member would receive the following “more ways to be rewarded” benefits at that time in 2018:
- Free Night Award in a Category 1-7 Hyatt hotel or resort (valid for 120 days from issuance)
- 4 Suite Upgrade Awards to use at the time of reservation at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts (valid for one year from issuance when paying an eligible rate or when redeeming points for a free night award)
- Access to My Hyatt Concierge agent for reservations and personalized service
- Maintain Globalist status after 55 qualifying nights each subsequent year
(Bolding is mine)
That’s yet another fantastic, unpublished waiver for the 60 night milestone requirement! As you can see from this official statement from Hyatt they have (in essence) married the status and the benefit back together just as they did with Lifetime status, and with “gifted status” – so is it separate or not? Let’s look back at our five ways to qualify for Suite Upgrades with an update as to where it stands now:
- Staying 60 nights in 2017 – YES!
- Staying 55 nights in 2018 (and onward) – YES!
- Being a Diamond member in 2016 for the 2017 status year – YES!
- Lifetime Diamond members now Lifetime Globalist members – YES!
- Qualifying prior to March 1st, 2017 under old Gold Passport rules (25 stay, 50 nights) with status through February 2019 – NOPE!
Since the beginning of last week there were four cases of Globalists that would not receive Suite Upgrades out of the five possible. Slowly, through multiple channels, now including my own communications with them regarding renewing Globalists that did not hit 60 nights but did re-qualify at 55 or more, four out of five will receive upgrades, three of which did not earn the milestone.
The only remaining exception is [definitely me and a few other bloggers] for those who have an early travel load and have already qualified or are most exuberant for the brand:
Suite Upgrade Awards for Members Who Qualify for Diamond Status in January/February
A member who qualified for Diamond with 25 stays or 50 nights (or a combination of nights + HyCard earning) between January 1 and February 28, 2017 will have received Globalist status through February 2019 on March 1, 2017. This member would have received 4 Suite Upgrade Awards on March 1, 2017 as the member transitioned to Globalist with tier expiration date of February 2019. In accordance with the new program, in order to receive additional Suite Upgrade Awards, the member will need to reach 60 nights (including those from January and February) or 100,000 Base Points after March 1, 2017.
Confused and a Little Disappointed
I love Hyatt. Their hotels consistently impress (Regency and higher), their program has been generous to my family for years – Hyatt just feels like home. With the shift to World of Hyatt they made a bold choice to separate the benefit that was traditionally included with their top tier and align it instead with a milestone of nights, that in and of itself is odd but fair enough — it’s their program not mine.
What is confusing to me is why they have chosen to separate out the benefit with its own requirement (something I don’t believe another loyalty brand has done) but then put that requirement the same as achieving the status. There won’t be any recipients of the upgrades that are not also Globalists, so why complicate the matter and insist they are now separate? Additionally, if exceptions are made for Lifetime Globalists, Renewing Globalists and Transitioned Globalists then is it really separate from status?
Unfortunately they have only opted not to grant an exception to their ‘separate but unequal’ rule to those that have spent nearly every night with Hyatt in the first two months of the year, or at minimum, nearly every other night.
You can call me jaded for feeling a little singled out, but I guess my enthusiasm wasn’t matched by the brand. Perhaps I should have spent some time in the new program before securing my status in a program before it’s been rolled out. Instead of being granted the same exceptions given to all other categories of Globalists that would not meet the hard and fast rule of 60 nights, my (and others) willingness to dive fully into the brand early in the year was treated more like cheating the system, then showing an undying confidence in the program.
Perhaps I will hit the remaining nights I need this year to qualify (31) and perhaps I will not. Despite my commitment to the brand, and despite qualifying already for 2018, 31 nights will be a tough accomplishment given my travel schedule and their limited footprint. That being said, we will give it a college try.
But to Mr. Zidell and the Corporate team at World of Hyatt, there is one more exception you could make to the suite upgrade program for your biggest fans…
Haha, come on. So you can do 29 nights in a 2 month period, but not 31 more nights in 10 months (average of 3 nights/ month). With their ‘limited footprint” you still managed to find a property to stay in every other night for the first 2 months of the year. Obviously you were mattress running (not unlike many others) to requal through Feb 2019. We knew this (getting 4 vs 8 DSUs) was the downside of doing 25 stays in Jan/Feb. Why beg and whine now? Be happy about capitalizing on this loophole while it lasted
Ditto!
Kyle, are you seriously complaining about disappointment a loophole wasn’t big enough??
In the post I linked to previously above (http://bit.ly/2loDm3V) I clearly state that I was mattress running. In that post I state that 17 of the nights were generated, while five were carry-over from a once per year trip so of 29 nights; in essence 22 were out of the ordinary for my travel patterns. The distinction that I dispute is that status and the benefit have never been differentiated before and I reject the notion that they are now. If there are five instances where one can qualify for status and receive the benefit where four of them are exceptions that disprove the separation, then yes I believe that it is still confusing and the fifth should be granted the exception as well.
Because Hyatt earns more revenue from you on 60 nights vs. only 55 nights, that’s why the two have been separated.
Unless you managed to do 25 stays or 50 nights during the 01 Jan-28 Feb 2017 window, 60 total nights/100k base points are now what is required during the 12-month calendar 2017 period to have Globalist status for the 01 March 2018 – 28 Feb, 2019 period.
Globalist status still has perks (yet-to-be-evaluated-as-realistic space-available complimentary suite upgrades being one), even without the upgrade Certificates. And maintaining Globalist status for 01 March 2019 – 28 February 2020 (and it’s commensurate perks) will only require 55 nights/100k base points during the 01 Jan – 31 December, 2018 calendar year. While not everyone will care about (or be able to use) the Certificates, those Certificates are the main draw of what was Diamond/ is now Globalist, and Hyatt knows this. They figure if you really want them, you’ll do those extra 5 nights.
If you want things to be normal, you need to embrace the fact that 60 is the New Normal.
Can I reluctantly embrace that?
Obviously totally contradicts this :
World of Hyatt is built on the simple idea that a little understanding goes a long way. Listening, noticing others, extending a meaningful gesture can make all the difference in helping you be your best.
Understanding also inspires loyalty. Your new loyalty program connects you to the people, places and experiences at the heart of your world.
Agree. I really do love the brand, I just feel like their roll out of the exceptions to the qualifier and lack of communication regarding it made for an unnecessary confusion.
When “Understanding” is as clear as mud. Nice move Hyatt. Do they even realize that their “incentive” of free nights by reaching certain nights beyond status causes disloyalty. As Lucky stated so clearly….http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/02/24/world-hyatt-backfire/
We will see what happens. Maybe I will hit the 60 nights anyway. But if the benefits aren’t there, I have to say that Hilton has been very generous to me recently and I may focus my efforts there.
2 questions: 1. Does World of Hyatt still have the HGP Diamond Fast Track (12 qualifying nights in 60 days)? and 2. if yes, can we do a WOH Diamond Fast Track more than once? Meaning if we have done it before, can we still do it again?
HBG – Thanks for reading. Currently, there is no fast track, and if there was, there would not be any Suite Upgrades as a result. As far as being able to fast track again, I think you could successfully argue that it’s a new program and if they offer it you should be able to participate. By their own language, they “gifted” the status for those who earned it last year in the program, and still require a full re-qualification this year which suggests to me as though they see them as two completely separate programs. Without having a running status challenge it’s impossible to know for certain. There is a pending lawsuit (I haven’t seen an update in some time so it may have been settled or dropped) by a member who used Hyatt Gold Passport’s own language that they terminated the program without providing their own notice period as stated in their program legalese. Whether a judge sees this as two separate programs is yet to be seen, as is the effect from that ruling.