Hello, newly-minted Globalist status

Update 1/8/21: I can confirm that I received the additional 30 bonus elite night credits from Bonus Journeys and now have 60 elite nights and all of the associated milestone benefits (free night certificates and suite upgrades) in my account as shown in the screen shot below. It’s awesome that Hyatt has got this posting so quickly!

Hyatt Globalist status is the hands-down best hotel elite status there is, so I was very excited this morning when I received the email welcoming me to Hyatt Globalist status based on my recent 30-night stay (from which I checked out yesterday). As expected, all 30 nights from the stay that began in December 2020 and ended January 3rd. 2021 have posted as 2021 elite qualifying nights. I still expect to receive credit for 30 more nights thanks to Hyatt Bonus Journeys, but I’m happy to report that the 30-night stay spanning the new year posted as we expected it would.

Keep in mind that Hyatt has reduced the requirement for Globalist status to just 30 elite nights in 2021. This means that the ludicrously easy path to Hyatt top-tier Globalist status only requires you to stay fifteen nights in January or February 2021 provided you have registered for Hyatt Bonus Journeys by January 15th, which will give you an additional elite night credit for each night you stay.

However, I had previously noted that I still intended to earn 60 total elite nights in 2021 because I want all of the milestone benefits that come with staying 60 nights. While you get 4 club lounge access awards at 20 nights and a Category 1-4 free night certificate at 30 nights, the best milestone benefits come at 50 and 60 nights: at 50 nights, you pick up 2 suite upgrade awards (good for confirmed upgrade to a suite at the time of booking on a stay of up to 7 nights each); at 60 nights, you receive a Cat 1-7 free night certificate and 2 more suite upgrade awards.

For that reason, I stuck with a 30-night reservation that began in December and checked out on January 3rd. As we had previously reported, Hyatt had confirmed with us that elite nights are earned based on the year of the check-out date, so even though most of my nights occurred during 2020, the fact that I checked out in early 2021 meant that I received elite night credit for all 30 nights toward 2021 qualification requirements. As expected, the 30 elite nights earned for my stay posted to my account today (the day after checkout) and as such I now have Hyatt Globalist status through February 28, 2023.

However, I have only earned the 20-night and 30-night milestone benefits thus far. That’s because the additional 2021 elite night credits from the Bonus Journeys promotion have not yet posted. The terms of that promotion indicate that the bonus nights (the next batch of 30 elite nights for this stay) will not post until after the promotion ends (i.e. within 2-3 weeks after February 28th). We don’t yet know whether it will actually work that way, so there is a possibility that I won’t receive the additional milestone benefits for a couple of months. That’s not a big deal to me as I don’t have any travel planned in the interim, but for folks who were planning a 15-night stay this month and hoping to have Globalist status in January or February, it could spell bad news in the short-term.

It is entirely possible that we won’t see the double-up until March. If that happens, it will be disappointing for some. I’d nonetheless argue that this is still a great deal: even if your Globalist status isn’t minted until March, you’ll still have nearly two years of top-tier Hyatt Globalist status and a Cat 1-4 free night certificate for the cost of 15 nights.  That’s still a hot deal. I’d also note that one benefit if it happens that way is that your Cat 1-4 free night certificate won’t be issued until March 1st. The milestone free night certs are only valid for 6 months, so the one that I earned expires July 3rd. If you don’t achieve Globalist until March, your certificate will be valid into September. I’d certainly not be unhappy to get all summer to use it.

On the other hand, just as I said in my recent post titled Relax: Your elite stuff will post, we often see things that post ahead of promotion terms. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the additional nights from Bonus Journeys post sooner than expected. If they do, it will be a nice bonus indeed.

Overall, I’m very happy with how this promotion worked out and thrilled to report that my elite nights posted in 2021 exactly as we expected. That’s a good piece of knowledge to keep in mind for future years as well: if you need an end-of-the-year stay to count for the current membership year, be sure you check out by New Year’s Eve — otherwise those nights will count in the new year.

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