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View from the Wing reports on an interesting World of Hyatt elite status fast track offer that is materially different than the one being offered to American Airlines elites: it is possible to get Explorist status through the end of 2021 and a fast-track to keep that status or achieve Globalist status through February 2023. This offer requires a phone call, but it certainly may be worth picking up the phone if you may find Explorist or Globalist status worthwhile.
The Deal
- World of Hyatt hotel sales departments are apparently offering members free Explorist status through the end of 2021 and a fast track to keep Explorist or move up to Globalist. After registering, complete the following qualifying World of Hyatt activity by December 31, 2021 to maintain Explorist or Globalist status through February 2023:
- Keep Explorist status when you earn 10 qualifying nights
- Earn Globalist status when you earn 20 qualifying nights
- Award nights and other nights eligible to receive elite credit qualify
- This is not being offered online but rather through the sales office at a Hyatt property (you need to call to request it)
Quick Thoughts
Gary Leff reports that this offer requires phoning the sales department of a Hyatt hotel. He shares a story from a Flyertalk user who contacted the sales department of a full-service Hyatt where they had recently stayed to get signed up for this offer. Be sure to check that you’re not being registered for a corporate match program as you may not be eligible for that. See Gary’s post for more.
The big differences between this offer and the one offered to American Airlines elite is that this offer provides Explorist status through the end of 2021 (rather than a 90-day trial) and allows qualifying stays to be completed by the end of 2021 (instead of requiring them to be completed within 90 days of registration). Obviously there is also the fact that you do not need American Airlines status to get this deal.
For those without any Hyatt or American Airlines elite status, picking up Explorist elite status through the end of 2021 may be quite nice. That should at least theoretically make it possible to hop aboard the status-match-go-ground with MGM. Once you have Hyatt Explorist status, you should be able to link with your MGM Mlife account and match to Mlife Gold. I believe that Mlife status earned in 2021 should be good until January 31, 2023, so I expect it will be possible to match back to Hyatt Explorist status next year. See this old post for more info and a link to link your accounts: Match Hyatt status to MGM Mlife before year end. Keep in mind that MGM had previously ended their status year on September 30th (as noted in that post) but is now on a calendar-year basis. That shouldn’t make any difference here since I believe you’ll get matched status that lasts long enough to get yourself back to Explorist in the new year.
The fast track to Globalist status certainly may be appealing for some as well. Keep in mind that it’s not that fast of a track given that the requirements have been halved this year — Globalist status ordinarily requires 60 nights per year but this year only requires 30. The fast track drops the requirement to 20 nights. If you think you’ll stay 20 nights this year and hadn’t yet found a shortcut to status, it is certainly worth registering.
Keep in mind that Globalist benefits include free breakfast, 4pm late checkout (excludes resorts and some convention properties), free parking on award stays, the ability to make guest of honor reservations, and upgrades based on availability up to a standard suite. However, Milestone awards like free night certificates and suite upgrade awards that can be used to confirm a suite in advance still require the same number of nights as usual. Requirements for Milestone awards have not been reduced, so if you want suite upgrades you still need 50 nights or more. Also note that Club Lounge Access Awards are useless for Globalists since you automatically get club lounge access as do your guests of honor and there is no other compensation for having an award that you can’t use.
| 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 | |
| 30 Nights (or 50K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-4 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 2K Next Stay Award |
| 2 Club Access Awards | |
| $25 FIND Credit | |
| 40 Nights (or 65K base points) | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 50 Nights (or 80K base points) | |
| Automatic: | N/A |
| Pick 1: | 5K Bonus Points |
| 2 Suite Upgrade Awards | |
| $150 FIND Credit | |
| 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 | |
| 100 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Cat 1-7 Free Night |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 110, 120, 130, 140 Nights | |
| Automatic: | 1 Guest of Honor Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night | |
| 150 Nights | |
| Automatic: | Ultimate Free Night Award |
| Pick 1: | 10K Bonus Points |
| 1 Suite Upgrade Award | |
| Miraval Extra Night |
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 selected and 14 months beyond. Free Night awards, the Miraval Extra Night Award, and the 2K Next Stay Awards are good for only 180 days.
I expect that the 5 elite nights that come with the credit card would not count toward the fast track requirements even if you opened the credit card after registering (though I could be wrong about that). I similarly expect that nights earned from spend on the World of Hyatt credit card will not count toward fast track night requirements. You will likely need paid or award stays to complete the fast track.
However, for someone starting from scratch, maybe this looks appealing if you have suddenly decided that you want Hyatt Globalist status. If you used this offer to get Globalist status and also opened the World of Hyatt credit card and met its $15K spending requirement in 2021, you should end up with:
- 20 from stays
- 5 elite nights from having the credit card
- 6 elite nights based on $15K spend (you get two elite nights for each $5K spend)
That’s a total of 31 elite nights — so you’d pick up a Category 1-4 free night award as a Milestone Benefit. You would also get a Category 1-4 free night award based on the $15K spend on the Hyatt card during the calendar year. I certainly wouldn’t mattress run 20 nights for two Category 1-4 nights, but that’s not a bad deal along with Globalist status if you’ll otherwise be spending 20 nights in hotels throughout the rest of this year and Hyatt fits your needs.
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[…] Hyatt status fast-track open for all. – If you want to earn Hyatt elite status quickly, without meeting the normal level of stays, then register for a fast-track status match. By meeting the requirements, you can keep the status through February 2023. That’s 18 months of elite status perks on your upcoming Hyatt stays! […]
As a few others have pointed out, you can’t status match to M Life Gold with trial Explorist status. Here’s the error message you’ll receive if you try:
“We’re sorry! Your World of Hyatt Trial Tier status is not eligible to tier match into M life Rewards. Once you meet the qualifying criteria for a World of Hyatt tier you can tier match into the appropriate tier in M life Rewards.”
Was able to get this done via The Bellevue (Philadelphia) via email. I have/had no reservations with that property, BTW.
No response from Park Hyatt NY (phone and email), The Olive at 8th Seattle (and I have upcoming reservations at both places!).
This worked for me. I was upgraded to Explorist. Few things to note: the match to M life is not available to a member who has trial status. Also, the 20 night fast track to globalist starts the day you get upgraded to Explorist. So you have some 5 months to earn 20 nights. I’ve had 13 qualifying stays since January and for a moment I thought I only needed 7 more. It appears that I will need to complete 17 to achieve globalist.
How/who did you contact to get the right answer? I have struck out numerous times!
I called the Grand Hyatt Kauai Property. They had to route my call to someone who “dealt with issues like these”. The person I spoke to didn’t know about the promotion but said she would inquire and get back to me. She called me back within the hour and let me know that it was done. 12 hours later the status updated on my Hyatt account.
Thank you! I literally called six other properties and they all had no idea. Called Kauai and they upgraded me as well.
Yes, similar situation with me — I had multiple stays in 2021 I thought would qualify, but evidently they don’t retroactively count. Anyone have experience with CS to get them to count post-status upgrade??
Per WOH CS:
“Thank you for contacting World of Hyatt.
This Exclusive World of Hyatt Elite Tier Offer was only available through e-mail to targeted members through specific hotel sales departments. Unfortunately it is not available to the public.”
WOH CS doesn’t sound like the sales department at a Hyatt property. Did you contact a property?
Called multiple properties in several locations and none had any idea what I was talking about. They could only do corporate accounts and instructed me to contact WOH CS. Even emailed a manager in a sales dept and no reply.
If anyone has success reaching a sales dept in a specific property, please share.
similar experience unfortunately. Tried Regency Portland and MPLS, no idea of how or what this was about. finally tried Park Hyatt NY, and although he did not immediately acknowledge it, at least the guy did not claim ignorance, and took down my information to pass onto someone who ‘handles this’. told to expect an email or call today, nothing so far. will update if something comes out of this
I know cash and points stays count as tier qualifying nights for Hyatt. What about using my category 1-4 free night certificate?
That should work.
So angry! This totally cheapens my Hyatt Globalist status that I earned earlier this year by staying in a Hyatt for 15 minutes and spending $11 on the credit card!
How does one get in touch with the sales department of a full service Hyatt specifically? I cannot find that information anywhere. Just call a given Hyatt and ask for the sales department?
That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach to me.
Any luck getting a hold of a sales dept who knows about this?
Yes, I called a Hyatt where I have an upcoming stay booked. They had an option to press 2 for Sales Dept. The woman I spoke with was vaguely aware of the offer but didn’t fully understand it and thought I was ineligible for it. She said she would send an email to find out more; and then later she called me back saying she had registered me for the promo. I’ve confirmed that I now have Explorist status and am registered for the promotion.
I recommend calling a Hyatt where either you’ve recently stayed or have an upcoming reservation (even if you have to create a dummy booking you intend to cancel) so they see you as a customer they’re motivated to help rather than some rando wanting free stuff. The woman I spoke with wanted to know my reservation number before she was wiling to help me.
This sucks! I signed up via American Airlines’ 90-day offer because I had an upcoming stay. Now I’m stuck and can’t take advantage of this good deal. Booo Hyatt!
YMMV, but FWIW, I was registered for a different status match offer already but was still able to register for this promo. From what I was able to ascertain, because this promo is through the sales department specifically, it’s not necessarily mutually exclusive with other status match promos that are offered through the World of Hyatt program.