Hyatt’s top tier Globalist elite status is awesome. It offers suite upgrades, free full breakfast, free parking, waived resort fees, and more. No other major chain offers elite status that compares. But… getting Globalist status isn’t easy, as Hyatt requires staying 60 nights per year to get and maintain Globalist status.
That said, you can enjoy some top-tier benefits with only 40 nights under your belt and, as always, you don’t actually have to stay 40 nights to earn credit for 40 nights.
Here’s a list of shortcuts to Hyatt Milestone Rewards and elite status for those who don’t expect to spend two months in hotels.
Hyatt elite status overview
| Elite Status Level | Requirements Per Year | Key Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Member | Free to Join | Member rates Waived resort fees on award stays Brand Explorer Free Night Awards |
| Discoverist | 10 Nights or 25K base points |
10% point bonus Free Premium Internet Elite check-in Free bottled water 2PM late check-out |
| Explorist | 30 Nights or 50K base points |
20% point bonus Room Upgrade |
| Globalist | 60 Nights or 100K base points |
30% point bonus Waived resort fees on all stays Room upgrade, including suites 4PM late check-out Club access or free breakfast Free parking on award stays |
| Lifetime Globalist | 1,000,000 Base Points | All of the above |
The chart above shows the requirements to reach each level of elite status as well as the major perks that each level offers above and beyond the lower status levels. In our opinion, Discoverist and Explorist are nice-to-have statuses, but aren’t really worth going out of your way for.
Globalist status, however, is awesome. Here are the Globalist perks that we find most valuable:
- Waived resort fees on all stays: All members get waived resort fees on award stays, but Globalists also get waived fees on paid stays.
- Room upgrade, including suites: Even if you don’t use a suite upgrade award (see Milestone Rewards in the next section), you can get upgraded to a suite upon check-in (if you’re lucky).
- 4PM late check-out (not guaranteed at resorts)
- Club access or free breakfast: Globalists automatically get free access to the club lounge. If the hotel doesn’t have a club lounge, Globalists get full breakfast daily for each registered guest (up to 2 adults and 2 children)
- Free parking on award stays: Available where parking can be charged to your room.
Tier Qualifying Nights
Tier qualifying nights are often referred to as "elite nights". With many hotel chains, you can earn elite status by acquiring a number of tier qualifying elite nights each year. For example, Hyatt requires earning 30 elite nights per year to achieve mid-tier Explorist status, or 60 elite nights for top-tier Globalist status. Additionally, Hyatt offers "Milestone Rewards" which are perks like free lounge access, free nights, bonus points, etc. Milestone Rewards are earned within a calendar year when you achieve 20 elite nights, and every 10 elite nights after that up to 150.Read more about Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards in our World of Hyatt Complete Guide.
Milestone Rewards
Hyatt awards Milestone Rewards after every 10 nights stayed (beginning with 20 nights). Previously, earning 40 elite nights was somewhat of a nothingburger with your choice of a $100 Hyatt gift card, 5K points, or some FIND credit. Now, though, the 40 night Milestone Rewards are worth pursuing.
At 40 nights, you automatically get a Guest of Honor award and you can also select a suite upgrade as one of your choice awards. The Guest of Honor award can be used on any stay of up to 7 nights to make the hotel treat you (or whoever you give the award to) as a Globalist for the duration of that stay. That means daily free breakfast, a room upgrade even to a suite, waived resort fees, 4pm late checkout, and free parking on an award stay. And the Suite Upgrade Award can be used to secure a suite in advance when you pay for a standard room with cash or points. Unfortunately, the two awards can’t be combined for a single stay, but they’re each super-valuable on their own.
| Elite Nights Earned | Milestone Reward |
|---|---|
| 20 Nights (or 35K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 2 American Airlines Preferred Seat Coupons | |
| 30 Nights (or 50K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night Certificate |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 2 American Airlines Preferred Seat Coupons | |
| 40 Nights (or 65K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 2 American Airlines Main Cabin Extra Coupons | |
| 50 Nights (or 80K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 2 American Airlines Main Cabin Extra Coupons | |
| 60 Nights (or 100K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| My Hyatt Concierge | |
| 2 Guest of Honor Awards | |
| 70, 80, 90 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $300 FIND Credit | |
| AAdvantage Gold Status | |
| 100 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| AAdvantage Platinum Status | |
| 110, 120, 130, 140 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| AAdvantage Platinum Status | |
| 150 Nights | |
| Automatic: | Ultimate Free Night Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| AAdvantage Platinum Status |
Completely separate from elite status, Milestone Rewards are available to everyone and are based on the number of nights you stay in a calendar year. Most awards are valid for the rest of the calendar year in which they are awarded and through the following February. Free Night awards, the Miraval Extra Night Award, and the 2K Next Stay Awards are good for only 180 days.
Strategy
If you’re thinking of pursuing Hyatt elite status, we believe that it’s only worth doing if you can get to at least 40 elite nights within the calendar year. 40 nights is where the really good stuff starts. If you’ll only get to 20 or 30 nights (including the shortcuts shown below), don’t bother seeking Hyatt elite status at all.
Tips for sharing Hyatt elite status
If you have friends or a significant other that have earned Milestone Rewards that they’re not going to use, it’s worth asking them to gift those rewards to you (or vice-versa if you have Milestone Rewards that you’re not going to use).
Here’s how some of those gifted rewards can help:
- Club Access Award: If you have a stay at a Hyatt with a club lounge, your friend can gift you one of these awards so that you can get free access to the lounge during your stay. Of course, once you hit 20 nights, you can get your own Club Access Awards as well. Be aware that many domestic US club lounges closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and have never reopened. You’ll have much better luck at international properties.
- Cat 1-4 Free Night: If a friend gifts this to you and you use it, that stay will add to your elite nights earned.
- Guest of Honor Award: If a friend gifts you this, that will help make one of your stays nicer and they’ll earn an elite night once your stay is complete. To be clear: if you use a gifted Guest of Honor Award on a 7 night stay, you’ll earn 7 elite nights and your friend will earn 1.
- Suite Upgrade Award: You can use this to upgrade to a suite in advance. Valid for a stay of up to 7 nights.
- January and February are key: The best time of year to ask friends for these awards is in January and February (or November/December of the previous year) since most awards they earned two years ago and haven’t yet used will expire by the end of February. Of course, this only helps if you plan to stay at Hyatt hotels before the end of February.
Shortcuts to Elite Status
Hyatt Credit Cards
There are two Hyatt credit cards currently available in the United States:
- Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card: This card offers automatic Discoverist status and 5 elite qualifying nights every year, automatically. Plus, cardholders earn 2 qualifying nights for every $5,000 of spend. If you spend $15,000 each year (in order to also earn a free category 1-4 night with $15K spend), you’ll have a total of 11 qualifying nights (5 automatic + 6 from spend) without stepping into a Hyatt hotel. And if you use the card’s annual free night plus the free night from $15K spend in the same calendar year, you’ll be up to 13 elite qualifying nights thanks to this card.
- Chase World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: This card offers automatic Discoverist status and 5 elite qualifying nights with every $10K of spend. After $50K spend in a calendar year, the card offers 10% back on redeemed points for the rest of that calendar year. If you spend the full $50K each year, the card will give you 25 elite qualifying nights.
It is possible to have both Hyatt cards. If you spend $15K on the consumer card and $50K on the business card, you’ll earn 36 elite qualifying nights from the cards alone. If you also use the 2 free nights from the consumer card, you’ll be up to 38 elite nights and will need only 2 more nights to get your 40 night Milestone Rewards or 22 more nights to get to Globalist status.
Elite nights earned from credit cards count towards both Milestone Rewards and elite status requirements.
Promotions
Sometimes Hyatt runs promotions where it’s possible to earn double elite nights for your stays, like this one in 2024.
Status Challenges
Hyatt sometimes offers status challenges during which you’re granted Explorist status for 90 days. Then, if you complete 10 nights during those 90 days, you get to keep Explorist status through all of the year after you registered and through February of the year after that. In most cases, if you complete 20 nights during those 90 days, you get Globalist status and keep it through all of the year after you registered and through February of the year after that.
Important: Only nights from actual stays count towards fulfilling a challenge. Elite nights earned from credit cards and bonus elite nights from promotions do not count.
Past Challenges:
- American Airlines has repeatedly offered Hyatt status challenges. Generally, only their high level elite members (Platinum Pro or higher) can qualify for Globalist status through these challenges.
- Qualifying Corporation Employees: Employees of certain large companies like IBM, Siemens, Accenture, etc. can sometimes enroll in Hyatt elite challenges.
- FoundersCard: FoundersCard has offered Hyatt elite challenges in the past.
- Bilt: Bilt has offered a Hyatt elite challenge in the past.
Ask Hyatt
Some people have reported success with signing up for a challenge simply by contacting Hyatt and asking. We’ve read successful reports of people doing this over the phone, by messaging Hyatt through Facebook Messenger, and by messaging the Hyatt Concierge with Direct Messaging on Twitter. Not everyone has reported success, though, so your mileage (and status) may vary.
No Milestone Rewards w/ Status Challenges
Status earned from a status challenge does not help you earn Milestone Rewards. So, for example, if you earn Globalist status by spending 20 nights at Hyatt hotels during a challenge, you’ll only qualify for the 20 night Milestone Reward and you won’t get the most valuable Milestone Rewards that are awarded at 40 nights and above.
Partnerships
It’s possible to earn elite nights and base points (another way to earn status) through stays with certain Hyatt partners.
Meetings & Events & Business Travel (Hyatt Leverage)
Meeting & Event Planners, Travel Advisors, and Hyatt Leverage Administrators earn 2 tier qualifying night credits for every $5,000 USD in eligible spend per year (up to a maximum of $150,000 / 60 tier qualifying nights). These tier-qualifying nights DO counts towards Milestone Rewards.
Many readers are small business owners who have signed up for (or can easily sign up for) Hyatt Leverage. With Hyatt Leverage, you and your employees can get up to 15% off standard rates at participating Hyatt hotels, which by itself can be enough reason to sign up. While Leverage has minimum spend requirements to maintain your account, that requirement is waived for World of Hyatt Business Credit Card owners.
When you join Hyatt Leverage, you’re given a code for you and your employees to use when booking hotels. Using that code gives you and your employees up to 15% off standard rates. Additionally, the Hyatt Leverage administrator can earn 2 tier qualifying night credits for every $5,000 USD:
- For your own hotel stays, you will continue to earn only 1 tier qualifying night per night of your stay (i.e. you won’t earn 2 qualifying nights per $5,000 as well).
- You will earn 2 tier qualifying nights for every $5,000 USD for stays booked by your employees when they book hotels using your Leverage code.
- Your employees will continue to earn 1 tier qualifying night per night of their stay.
Mattress runs
A mattress run is where you book a stay solely to earn points and status. With Hyatt, you could book either cheap paid stays or cheap point award stays. Point prices start at only 3,500 points per night for off-peak category 1 hotels, so that’s not too bad. You can find a map of category 1 hotels here. Here are a few tips:
- Check-in is usually required: Most mattress runs involve physically checking into the hotel. That said, if you’re lucky you may be able to find a hotel manager willing to process your check-in remotely. If so, you may have to fax them a photo of your ID and credit card.
- Speak to a hotel manager for multi-night stays: I recommend speaking with the desk manager when you check in to explain what you’re doing. If you don’t speak with someone, they may find your room unoccupied and check you out early.
- No need to go to the hotel to check out: You can check out with the Hyatt app or you can simply wait and the hotel will automatically check you out.
Elite Benefits w/out Status
While Hyatt has an awesome elite program, they also offer multiple ways to get many of the same perks without status.
Guest of Honor
The best way to get Globalist benefits without status is to ask friends if they have earned any extra Guest of Honor Milestone Rewards. If so, they can gift you that reward and you can book your paid or rewards stay using that reward and you’ll be treated as a Globalist for the length of your stay (up to 7 nights). Your friend will also earn a single elite night once your stay is complete.
Note that Suite Upgrade Awards cannot be applied to Guest of Honor stays.
Use points to book or upgrade to suites or club access
Hyatt’s award charts (found here) include point prices for club access rooms, suites, and premium suites. So, when available, you can simply book the upgrade you want from the get-go.
Alternatively, you can often book standard room paid rates and upgrade with points:
- Upgrade paid night to include club access: 3,000 points per night
- Upgrade paid night to a standard suite: 6,000 points per night
- Upgrade paid night to a premium suite: 9,000 points per night
Book paid stays through luxury booking services
There are many ways to book hotels through booking services that offer elite like perks: room upgrade, free breakfast, property credit, late checkout, etc.
For Hyatt stays, you can get these benefits by booking through Hyatt Privé, Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, or several other programs. We have a full round-up of such programs here: Getting the elite experience without elite status via credit card & preferred partner hotel booking programs
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[…] This is a good recap: Shortcuts to Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards. […]
Last year I signed up for the globalist challenge but due to the Florida hurricane ended up with no stays for 2024. With the challenge out again for 2025, am I eligible or do I have to sit it out for 3 years?
I don’t know, but if you think that you could complete the challenge, it’s worth trying to sign up to see what happens. if that doesn’t work. You could also call Hyatt and ask them to enroll you given the hurricane situation.
To help others, I did contact WoH and they did allow me to attempt another globalist challenge this year but started it at the beginning of Jan and must be completed at the end of Mar. Also giving me temp. explorist status. Unfortunately, all my existing travel plans this year are after march so reaching globalist status will be unreachable this year.
Do you know if the terms limit the challenge per household or per Hyatt account? I was thinking I can have my wife sign up for the challenge. I can move all our bookings to her name if that is doable.
just to be clear, if I have both the consumer card and the business card I get 10 Elite nights?
No. Only the consumer card gives you five nights automatically.
My company has decided (sensibly, given the economy), to cut back on business travel so I’m now back to trying to get Globalist by personal stays alone. Maybe the company will pay for a few trips to HQ this year, or maybe not, who knows. I can’t bet on anything. We do have around 25 nights organically this year, most likely – I’ve switched a bunch of our stays to Hyatt to max the numbers. We usually end up overshooting our Hyatt targets every year so I suspect in reality we’ll end up with 30-35 but who knows. We only have the consumer card so to get Globalist which is worth a huge amount to us every year, I’d say we have a ton of spend to put on the card. Looking at the opportunity cost it does seem worth it, despite getting only 1x or 2X on most of the spend. We will go back to what we used to do which was spend close to everything on the WOH card for most of the year until we guarantee Globalist then switch to other cards.
Ok
“ Only nights from actual stays count towards fulfilling a challenge. Elite nights earned from credit cards and bonus elite nights from promotions do not count.”
Not true.
I did a “double elite night” promo at some Florida hotels last year and the bonus elite nights counted towards by Bilt challenge .
Hi everyone, I received a new milestone award in December and need to choose between points and suite upgrade. If I choose suite upgrade now in Jan 2025 will it be valid until 2027? The terms say it’s valid the year it was earned not when selected but curious if this is the case.
Yes, if you select it this month, your expiration on the SUA’s will be in February of 2027
Good tip about phoning Hyatt for a status challenge. I now have it on my calendar to give them a call later this year just before I plan extensive travel.
Also, I was already planning on trying for AAdvantage Platinum status this year through spend on a couple AAdvantage credit cards, but now that I see that Platinum Status is available as a milestone reward for Hyatt at 100 nights, I’ll aim for that milestone instead. I do a lot more local travel so Hyatt perks and points are a lot more valuable to me than airline perks and points.
i am a globalist. i have some “gifted” GOH certs which mean i cannot transfer them. is there a way to use these to earn a night credit?
Great article. Thanks My strategy for Globalist with just 22 qualifying stays in 2025 is now set as I have both referred cards.
You included a link to a map of Cat 1 properties. Can such a map please be made available for those properties with working lounges?
Keep up the awesome work team FM!
Honestly, if you’re only spending 22 nights a year at Hyatt, that “spend” would probably be more lucrative elsewhere. It’s extremely difficult to find a lounge at a Hyatt in the USA, and certainly not at a Cat. 1 property. You’d have to go Asia or Africa for that..
Has anyone attempted to redeem “Status for a day” reward with Hyatt to use at American Airlines?
Frequent miler should have a GoH and Club Access exchange on the facebook page. Lots of people I know have these benefits go unused. GoH in particular is good for the recipient, but the giver also gets one night credit. So there is an incentive for both parties. Frequent Miler can play match maker
That’s such a good idea, we already did it! 🙂 Check out the sharing thread here.
Sharing thread is great thing. However, the posts are not in chronological order making it somewhat difficult to find the latest open “offer”.
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@ Greg — IC Diamond Royal Ambassador compares VERY MUCH to Hyatt Globalist. In fact, in many ways, IC RA is superior.
Royal Ambassador is an invite only status. That alone makes it not comparable to Globalist, in my opinion.
Do you guys know if the unlimited GoH legacy thing is continuing after February? I have heard mixed things.
I haven’t heard anyone (including Hyatt) say that it would last beyond the 2024 elite year. Where did you hear otherwise?
Just a rep on the phone- probably misinformed- Just wishful thinking on my part.
I will note that I have been able to still use them now for reservations after end of elite year( after making some dummy booking to which I applied all of my GOH certificates)
Can we have a post on effective flattery and networking tactics to befriend Globalists who want to gift their Guest of Honor certificates?
That seems far more cost/time-effective that jumping through all these hoops.
I say this as a current “Globalist Lite” whose status is expiring in Feb. ’25 after earning it from the BILT promo in 2023.
Problem is that whereas up until now Guest of Honor certificates were the perfect points and miles commodity — high in value (for non-Globalists) but infinitely cheap to produce (conditional on being a Globalist) — they are now comparatively rare.
That said, unloading superfluous Guest of Honor certificates is still in the interest of Globalists who need the qualifying night that comes with the use of these certificates by the Guest of Honor, so I imagine some market (including one of no further considerations attendant to free exchange) will develop, probably concentrated toward year’s end. Early in the year, well, the Globalist will have to be pretty lonely to be stroked into gratuitously ceding a certificate.
There are lots of Facebook groups for this purpose, and I see gifting and trading happening year-round.
I don’t doubt that.
I do doubt that the volume and terms of trade will remain the same as we move in 2025 into a situation of vastly restricted supply.
There, I said it, and simpler.
I’m sure our kind, generous, physically attractive hosts here at Frequent Miler, the best points and miles blog on the Internet, will jump on this suggestion with their usual extraordinary abilities.
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