Update from Nick 12/27/21: Some people are getting 3,000 points per World of Hyatt Club Access award. That’s a fantastic deal for an award that is otherwise useless for Globalist members.
Personally, I chatted with Hyatt through the World of Hyatt app this morning. I am a Globalist (with more than 60 nights) and I had six Club Access awards expiring on 12/31/21 (All six of these had previously been extended. I earned 4 more this year, but those don’t expire until February 2023 and as such weren’t eligible for any points even though they are useless.).
The chat rep initially said she could offer me 2,000 points per upgrade, but I pushed back saying that a couple of my friends had gotten 3,000 points per club access award (which is true). The agent said she would have to check with management, but a few minutes later she came back and confirmed that she had issued me 18,000 points for my expiring club access awards. Considering the fact that those awards are entirely useless for Globalist members since a Globalist already gets club access and you can’t use the club access awards on a stay for anyone else, it was a nice surprise getting eighteen thousand points out of those. Stephen had heard that the 3,000 point offer may only be for Explorists, but I know a couple of Globalists who have gotten it.
I was then additionally able to get 10,000 points for a Category 1-4 award and 20,000 points for a Category 1-7 award that were set to expire on 12/31. While Hyatt has frequently offered points for those certificates after expiration (at least for top-tier Globalists), I was happy to be able to get the points a few days ahead of expiration. The unexpected score on the club access awards certainly eased the sting of accepting less than full value on the free night certificates.
In total, I redeemed 6 club access awards and 2 free night certificates (a Cat 1-4 and Cat 1-7) for 48,000 points this morning. It is kind of a bummer that Hyatt isn’t proactively offering this but only offering it to those who ask for it, but given that the points don’t expire and can be used as I see fit, you won’t hear me complain about the resolution I received. I don’t know if you have any recourse if you previously accepted fewer points, but I would be surprised if Hyatt retroactively offered you more than you had accepted.
It is worth chatting whether via the app or the desktop site if you have expiring awards. Stephen’s original post follows.
Marriott, Hilton and IHG have all done the decent thing and extended some free night certificates where guests hadn’t been able to redeem them yet.
Hyatt had been a notable holdout but there’s been a little movement on that front and, when it comes to Club Access Awards, they’re being unexpectedly generous. Their generosity might only be getting extended to Globalist members, but it’s still worth reaching out to them if you don’t have top-tier status.
There are a few different approaches Hyatt seems to be taking based on the type of awards, so here’s a breakdown of what you can hopefully expect to get.
Free Night Certificates
For category 1-4 certificates due to expire at the end of 2021, Hyatt is offering either a 6 month extension or 10,000 bonus points. For category 1-7 certificates, Hyatt is offering either a 6 month extension or 20,000 bonus points.
Suite Upgrade Awards
If you have hard-earned Suite Upgrade Awards expiring on December 31, 2021, Hyatt is extending those for 6 months from the date of extension rather than 6 months from the end of the year itself (the same might be happening with free night certificates too). That won’t make a huge difference for most people, although it’s something to bear in mind if you’re planning a stay for the last week of June 2022.
Club Access Awards
The most surprising aspect of all this is that Hyatt is also offering bonus points for Club Access Awards that are due to expire on December 31, 2021. Many Globalist members will have a full suite of Club Access Awards because a Globalist benefit is access to the Club Lounge and so those awards are moot once you move past Explorist status.
Initial reports were that members were getting 500 bonus points per Club Access Award, but reader Pam reports that she received 1,000 bonus points per Award. That’s excellent because if you still have all four Club Access Awards earned in 2020 (which are therefore expiring on December 31, 2021), that’s 4,000 bonus points which is almost enough for a free night at a category 1 property – not bad for an otherwise useless (for Globalist members) benefit.
Update: Some readers are reporting in the comments that they’ve gotten 3,000 points per Club Access Award which is an incredible offer, so it could be worth pushing them for more if you’re only offered 500 or 1,000 points per award.
Globalist Members Only?
One downside to this newfound flexibility from Hyatt is that it appears that they’re only extending generosity to Globalist members. If you only have Discoverist or Explorist status and have expiring certificates and/or Club Access Awards, in theory you’ll be out of luck.
Don’t assume that’ll be the case though. Even though you won’t have access to the concierge that 60 night Globalist members receive as one of their Milestone Rewards, you can reach out to Hyatt Concierge on Twitter. Although they’ve recently been constrained as to what changes they’re able to make, they’re still very helpful and you’ll hopefully get an agent who’s willing to either extend certificates and/or awards or give you some bonus points in exchange for them. The Twitter Hyatt Concierge team is available for all World of Hyatt members, not only those with Globalist status. Update: Readers are reporting success in using the Chat function in the Hyatt app too.
My Experiences
My wife had a category 1-4 certificate expiring on December 19, 2021. A couple of days before that I reached out to Hyatt Concierge on Twitter as she’s only Globalist-lite (i.e. 30 nights in 2021) and so doesn’t have a concierge of her own. That agent offered 10,000 bonus points which we gratefully accepted.
I then messaged Hyatt Concierge on Twitter last night for my own account as I figured I might get a swifter response from them than I’d get from my own concierge seeing as yesterday was Christmas Day and she might have Sundays off.
I have four expiring Club Access Awards and three expiring Suite Upgrade Awards, so I was hoping to get points for the former and an extension for the latter. I’m still waiting to hear back from them, but it’s only been 24 hours and I’m sure they’ve been getting a ton of similar requests since these changes were published on sites like Loyalty Lobby, Traveling Well For Less and The Points Guy.
Update: I’ve heard back from Hyatt Concierge on Twitter. They’ve awarded 1,000 points for each of my four Club Access Awards, but only extended one of my four expiring Suite Upgrade Awards. Looks like it’s time to try out the chat function on the Hyatt app.
Your Experiences
Have you had any luck getting extensions or bonus points for any of these certificates or awards? Let us know in the comments below, especially if you’ve had success without having Globalist status.
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Is this opportunity available again this year?
Apparently Hyatt will not provide points conversion for Club Access Awards and they will not comment as to why certain members received it or not which is very shady. Hyatt Consumer Affairs statement says: Hyatt is not offering a points exchange for any of the Regency Club Access awards. Our World of Hyatt Management team is aware of the continued issues with Covid and the need suspend service in the lounge’s to keep our guests and colleagues safe. I am sorry, but currently they have not authorized a points exchange for these type of awards.
This is very contradictory based on others that have posted here.
Were anyone successful getting points for expiring chase award certificates?
Explorist, had 4 club awards expiring. Waiting on the live chat for quite a while but once I got through I was offered 500 points. However, looking at my account I was given 12,000 points for my 4 club awards so it looks like I got 3k per. Pretty happy about that.
After waiting forever in the chat queue they offered nothing for the 2 expiring free nights and only 1k per club upgrade. Explorist. Really disappointed in Hyatt.
just finished chatting on the globalist hotline and was offered 3000 pts per club access award. painless process. thanks guys for information
Just got off the phone with WoH after a 1+ hr wait (tried chat too, no better). Am explorist with 4x 12/31 expiring club access awards and was only offered 500 points per award, I pushed back and mentioned 3K, she said that agents were authorized to do that but it’s totally based on recent activity. Since I’ve only had 1 Hyatt stay (4 nights) in the last two years, she only was able to up her offer to 1K per award, which I accepted. So it seems the people getting 3K per award must have much more Hyatt activity in the past 24 months?
tried chat two times but queues too long and was never answered, so called Globalist line; agent offered 500 points for each Club Access award, then upped to 1K, but I politely asked if I could speak with supervisor/manager to check, and she said she would speak with one, and came back after a few minutes and gave me the 3K per, so happy camper here
Globalist here. I talked with 2 reps and could only get 500 points for each Club Access award despite requesting more. Better than nothing!
Chat agent was no go, only 2k/award, but phone agent finally offered 3k/award after I countered 500/award.
I was able to get 3K per Club Access award as an explorist. I chatted via the app for my wife, who has a Cat 1-4 free night expiring. The agent said that Chase 1-4 free nights can’t be extended or given any points. For others who have gotten points for your Cat 1-4 cert have any of those been from Chase? Should I HUCA?
Explorist here… Just started a chat with a message to see if can be converted since many hotels suspended the program. After a very long wait in a queue received a simple “i just added the points to your account”. 9k points for 3 awards.
Happy trails!
I was just told each account is evaluated differently. I was given 500 and asked if it can be matched to higher offer for club award. Answer was my account only qualified for 500. Is this true, I think I just got an upset rep.
It could be worth trying again; I was initially awarded 1,000 points per Club Access Award and got 3,000 points per award when replying.
What method did you use to reapply? thanks.
Twitter concierge – I just replied to their initial reply where they only offered 1,000 points.
Thanks, good to know.
I sent a message via Twitter it’s been over 24 hrs no response.
I was only offered 500 with chat so I tried twitter but still waiting for response from this afternoon. On chat he said that he couldn’t offer anything higher even though I’m Globalist.
Was asked this morning to verify email, so still waiting for response back after reply.
yes, finally got 3k each from twitter!
I used the chat function on Xmas day through the website to request 3000 points for each of my 4 expiring club access awards. I’m a 60 night globalist. After a short hold, 12000 points were added to my account. The Agent then asked if there was anything else she could do. I said “yes please” and asked if she could help on my wife’s Explorist account. “Certainly” she said and granted my wife 12000 points for her 4 club access certs and another 10000 points for her remaining cat1-4 free night cert. Upon signing off I thanked her for working on Xmas day and added “Thank you Santa”. She responded with a LOL and said I’d just made her day.
Was the cat 1-4 cert from Chase credit card?
Yes
still waiting >15 min on app & desktop for a Rep
update: got a Rep after 45 min, mentioning Hyatt previously awarded 3k pts for each award & got 12k pts for 4; P2 also got the same. Thx FM team
Nice, I mentioned that too, but he said I could only have 500. It sounds like it totally depends on who you get!
P2 & I mentioned / suggested the 3k pts first before the chat started; FWIW, both of us got a female Rep
So did I, but he wouldn’t budge.