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.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
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.
Im Globalist, and have 8 club certs expiring. I made the mistake of asking for 500 points for each a few days ago, before reports of 3k came out. I’m trying to be grateful for getting anything for otherwise worthless certs, but I’m still kicking myself.
It took a long phone call (long on the wait time) but I was offered 10,000 points for my one free night 1-4 award. However, I had another one that was a “promotional free night” from Chase for a certain amount of spending and that one Hyatt would not offer points for. Not a Globalist, so GREAT FOR HYATT. I have now asked Chase to match that … will see what happens.
It is wrong for Hyatt to give different # of points for unused awards to different members. Just wrong. I wrote my concierge to see what she will give me for 4 unused lounge access awards. I am Globalist. Will see – but why do I need ask??
explorist, shut out on chase cat 1-4 awards after 1hr. wait in chat. That’s it, I’m done with you, Hyatt. Switching all my stays to AMR resorts! 😉
Used Chat function in the app, was offered 3000 per award and cashed in all 6 awards. Points posted immediately but awards are still there. FYI, I’m a Globalist but about to lose that status as had 0 nights in 2021.
I called earlier. The agent said it was a max 500 per club award. I said I heard 2,000-3,000. She said they changed it and that was all she could do. She put me on hold and came back to say that no 500 each was it. I am Globalist and requalified as Globalist for next year.
Also globalist (lite version anyhow). I was told the same over chat. Her words were something like “we are authorized to give you 500 points for each award.” I didn’t bother to push back, took my 2000 points and moved on.
Glob lite (47 nights). I was initially offered 500 per club award and pushed a little and ultimately she gave me 1,000 per award. 4,000 more than I expected, so great!!!
my awazrds were extended to 23. Do you think I can still turn them in for points? Much rather have points as Globalist : )
No, I don’t think so. My understanding is that they are only doing this for awards set to expire on 12/31.
Is it better to reach out via concierge, app or twitter?
I used the app. I waited about 45 minutes for an agent, but I had my phone on a stand next to my computer while I was working, so I didn’t mind waiting.
I haven’t heard of anyone getting 3,000 points over the phone or via My Concierge, so I’d chat whether via app or desktop browser.
Just asked on chat about 02/28 expiration and was told only 12/31. Asked if I should try again in February. Nope.
“There are currently more than 5 people in the queue.”
“There are currently more than 5 people in the queue.”
“There are currently more than 5 people in the queue.”
I’m there !!
50 minutes and counting.
Got to number 2 and chat ended
Update from yesterday. Called in. Was told 500 points initially for Club Access Awards. Then she noted that I was at 60 nights so I was at Globalist the normal way, and after some checking, she said she would be able to get me the full 3000 points. So, for 8 Club Access Awards, that was 24,000 points. Credited immediately. Guess it depends who you talk to, since last night I was told by chat that nothing would be done until the awards expired. Happy.
Got 3k per CAA cert. That’s a win in my book!
I politely pushed, but still only got 500 per club access
Discoverist and received 10k points for expiring Cat1-4 cert and 3k points for each club access award. Contacted Hyatt through the chat in the App and waited about 30 minutes.
I have suite upgrades expiring 2/28/2022 and am a globalist. Do we know if those will be extended?
I have one night free cat 1-4 expiring Dec 31. I tried to use it last week, but had to cancel due to COVID. Even though I was told I don’t actually meet the criteria ( I think I am a Discoverist) , Hyatt “in the holiday spirit” this morning converted the award to 10,000 points. I thought that was very reasonable.
Explorist. Zero Hyatt nights this year. 3k per CAA via app chat; I had 4 expiring. No dickering, I was offered that off the bat.
only discovers, only 5 qualify nights based on my hyatt credit card…no extension or points for my chase cat 1-4 as I don’t meet the criteria
The CHASE category 1-4 is different from the HYATT category 1-4 award. I’m a Globalist and a month back, I asked if they could convert the category 1-4 to points and they said no because it ”comes from Chase.” When I had a category 1-4 that I earned through Hyatt, there was no problem converting that one to 10K points.
The ”problem” with your award IMHO is that it was generated by Chase rather than by Hyatt.
Explorist with only three nights this year: used the chat feature on the app, got 1000 points per expiring club access award – works for me!
after reading ur article I contacted Hyatt Concierge/Twitter and they gave me 10k for each of my expiring nights (2) this Dec 31. thanks for the reminder!
i’m only a Discoverist
We’re these certificates chase free night certificates?
I reached out to Hyatt about my club access awards, four of them, on the chat function in their website. I am explorerist, but they gave me an instant 12,000 points. I am grateful!
Hyatt exchanged my 3 expiring for 10000 each night. I’ll take it.
As a Globalist, I received 3,000 points for each club Award via Hyatt app chat. Credited INSTANTLY. Thanks for the heads up!
they refused to offer any more than 10K for exp cat 1-4 certs. called a few times, who got 6 month extension?
and 500 for club access awards, as Globalist
Thanks, Stephen. Has Hyatt ever offered points for Club Access Awards in the past to you guys knowledge?
Not that I’m aware of.
I was told to call back next year for my expiring certificate and no guarantees. I did not receive anything for my expired certificate in 2019 even though people had reported getting 10k points.
Explorist (only 13 nights so far this year) and Hyatt Concierge on Twitter gave me 3k each for 5 club access awards.
I disagree with your statement that IHG has done the right thing by extending some certificates. They only extended Certificates issued in 2021 through the end of 2022. The certificates issued in 2019 and 2020 which were the ones primarily impacted by covid were not extended. Those issued in 2021 already had an 18 month expiration date so none expired prior to July 01, 2022 anyway. The right thing to do would have been what Hilton and Marriott did which was extend those older certificates through June of 2022 to give people some time to use them. I have 2 certificates expiring on December 31, 2021 and couldn’t travel due to living with an immunocompromised loved one, who after being triple vaccinated still had no COVID antibodies. They also just recently passed away and thus I am grieving and not traveling for the next few months and IHG told me well I should have used them or should use them in the next few days since hotels are open. Way to show you care about your customers. Needless to say I will be dumping my IHG credit card when it renews in 2022 as the main benefit is the free night along with the 4th night free and since COVID decimated my travel plans for the last 2 years I see no reason in giving IHG another $89 after I have already lost 2 certificates worth $178.00. Pennywise and dollar foolish. But the good news is I will give Choice, Hilton, & Marriott more of my business along with independent hotel chains going forward and IHG likely will get little to none of my business once I burn my existing points and upcoming free night certificate that expires at the end of 2022. Prior to COVID I was giving IHG anywhere from 30 to 60 nights annually for several years.
Globalist the hard way. On chat, was told to check back next year. When I mentioned that others were receiving points now, I was told that Hyatt evaluates everyone based on their specific circumstances and nothing is guaranteed. I can’t think of a better way to tell someone they are not important. In other words, HUCA!
I got 3k a piece for mine!
Im a globalist over 80 nights and used the hyatt app chat function to request points trying to be nice and polite. I did not mention any specific number of points and the offered me 500 points per award for 8 awards. I told them i had heard more points were available but if thats the best theyd offer id have no complaints. Person said let me see what i can do and came back w 3000 pts per cert totally 24000 points! They were very generous.
I’m Globalist lite and had a recent miserable hotel experience, the app chat rep did nothing to help and only told the hotel to call me. I wasn’t able to take the call (on a plane) and they haven’t called me back. Very disappointing service and atypical to what I’ve received as Explorist the past 5 years. I even asked the chat rep if policy had changed recently but the rep ignored that question two different times
I read this on the Facebook Globalist group a few days ago. I reached out on Twitter as I had 7 expiring ACC’s which are useless to me as I’m a longtime Globalist and don’t use these. I got a generous 3,000 points per ACC or 21,000 points which was fabulous as these always expire worthless for me each year.
My 4 club access awards appear to have been extended to Feb 2023. Bummer since they are useless for a globalist. Would rather have had the points.
Mine too, extended another year. And I went out of my way to use my expiring free night certs, got minimal value using them just to hear that others are now able to get points instead. Very disappointing.
As Explorist I was given 500 per Club access award.
+1 Explorist
Use the chat on the Hyatt app. I was able to get 3k per Club Access Award that was expiring this month. I’m Globalist.