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UPDATE: This post has been updated with the following:
- Corrected information about how elite nights are earned at the end of the calendar year. I had previously been told by Hyatt that elite nights from spend were based on your statement close date, but that’s not true. Elite nights from $5K spend are earned based on the actual date you complete $5K spend.
- Details for legacy Hyatt Visa cardholders (those who’s card will be converted to the World of Hyatt card on January 11).
- 2nd Update 12/8/20 4:45PM ET: I’ve confirmed that legacy cardholders with mid-year card anniversary dates will have the ability to earn two free nights in 2021 with enough spend.
The World of Hyatt credit card offers two distinct perks for spend (other than earning points, of course): 1) Earn a free night with $15,000 spend; and 2) Earn 2 elite nights for each $5K spend. Timing your spend is crucial for getting the most out of these benefits.
Annual Free Night
The World of Hyatt card offers a free category 1-4 certificate with $15,000 in annual spend. The certificate is valid for 12 months from the date of issuance and must be redeemed for a reservation with a checkout date before the expiration of the award. To earn this award, spend is dated based on the recorded date of each transaction irrespective of when your credit card statement closes.
Here’s how best to time that spend…
2021 only: Earn 2 free nights
In 2022 and beyond, the World of Hyatt card will measure your $15,000 of spend by calendar year. That is, you’ll earn a free night if you spend $15,000 or more between January 1st and December 31st. In 2020 and prior, the timeframe was measured by membership year. And in 2021, it will be a little of both. Cardholders who have a mid-year anniversary date can still earn a free night with $15,000 spend by their card anniversary, and can earn another free night with $15K spend between their 2021 card anniversary date and December 31 2021.
Here’s an example. Suppose you originally opened your account on July 15th. In that case, you can earn one free night for $15K spend between July 16 2020 and July 15 2021. And you can earn another free night for $15K spend between July 16 2021 and December 31 2021.
Whether or not it makes sense for you to try to earn two free nights is another question entirely. More discussion about this is later in this post.
Delay completing spend to extend validity of free night
Free nights from spend are valid for 12 months from issuance. If you don’t have a known need for this free night within 12 months, it makes sense to delay completing the $15K spend until closer to the end of the year (or the end of your membership year in 2021). This way you’ll have more time to find a good use for the free night.
Match to your card anniversary date
Some may find that it makes sense to try to complete their $15K spend as close as possible to their card anniversary date. The reason is that all cardholders (even without spend) get a free night every year based on their card anniversary date. If you’d like to use your anniversary free night and your free night from spend for the same trip, it can be useful if they have similar expiration dates. By timing the completion of your $15K spend to be near your card anniversary date, you can closely line up the validity of your two free nights.
Elite Nights with $5K Spend
The World of Hyatt card offers 2 elite nights (tier qualifying nights) for each $5K of spend on your card. This spend is cumulative and is not reset when crossing a calendar year or membership year. For example, you can spend $4,999 in 2020 and $1 in 2021 in order to earn 2 elite nights in 2021. Elite nights are issued for the year in which you complete the spend.
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.
Important: The spend date for elite nights is measured by the actual date of spend (not by the statement close date as I had previously and incorrectly asserted). For example, suppose your statement closes on the 15th of each month. If you complete $5K of spend on December 31st 2020, then your elite nights will apply 2020 even though your statement closes in 2021. If you want to earn elite nights in 2021, then it’s important to delay at least $1 of that $5K spend until January 1st.
Elite nights with spend are based on cumulative spend. For example, suppose you have spent a total of $4,500 on your card since signing up. Now, suppose you make a huge $10,400 purchase with the card. You will now have cumulatively spent $14,900. That will qualify you for 4 elite nights (2 for the first $5K spend + 2 for the next $5K spend) and you’ll be only $100 in spend away from earning 2 more elite nights.
Delay completing $5K spend to earn elite nights next year
If you’re not working towards elite status this year, then it makes sense to try to earn elite nights from spend for next year. This is especially true right now since Hyatt has reduced 2021 elite status requirements. See: Ludicrously easy path to Hyatt Globalist status (top-tier status for 2 years!).
The key is to wait until January 1 to complete your $5K spend.
Time spend for optimal Milestone Rewards
| 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.
One confusing aspect of Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards is that different rewards have different expiration dates, as follows:
- 5K Bonus Points, 10K Bonus Points, $100 Hyatt Gift Card: These rewards have no expiration date. (OK, OK, yes, Hyatt points expire after 24 months if you have no activity in your account, but as a cardholder you would only need to spend a dollar once every two years to avoid that fate).
- Club Access Awards and Suite Upgrade Awards: Valid for the remainder of the Calendar Year in which it is earned and an additional fourteen (14) months thereafter. In other words, you might as well earn these early in the calendar year if you can.
- Category 1-4 Free Night and Category 1-7 Free Night: Valid for one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date of issuance and must be redeemed for a reservation with a checkout date before the expiration of the award. In other words, if you don’t need the free night right away, it makes sense to wait as long as possible before earning it.
- 10K Find Experience Savings: Expires 6 months from issuance. Please don’t pick this reward unless you have an immediate known use for it!
If you are close to earning 30 elite nights or 60 elite nights within a calendar year, it may make sense to delay your credit card spend to avoid reaching those milestones a bit longer. When you reach 30 or 60 elite nights, you will be issued a free night certificate that’s good for 180 days (about 6 months). If you don’t have a good near term use for that certificate, you’ll want to get it as late in the calendar year as possible.
How to determine your anniversary date & spend totals
Chase doesn’t make it easy to figure out either your card anniversary date or your cumulative spend towards the next $5K or $15K threshold. To figure out either, I recommend logging into your Chase account on the web and then:
- Send Chase a Secure Message to ask for your official card anniversary date.
- Select your Hyatt card and download activity to a spreadsheet. Use the spreadsheet to determine your spend totals. Make sure to remove card fees from the total.
- To determine $15K spend progress, look only at the current calendar year of spend.
- To determine $5K spend progress, add up spend across all time for those who started with the World of Hyatt card or all spend since January 11 2021 for those who were converted over from the old Hyatt card. Subtract out the highest multiple of $5K. Example: If you found that you have spent $28,204 then after subtracting out $25,000, you’ll see that you have spent $3,204 towards the next $5K.
Legacy Hyatt card conversions
If you have the legacy Hyatt Visa card, it will be converted to the new World of Hyatt card on January 11th. Once that happens, all of your spend will be reset. In other words, none of the spend on your old card will count towards earning a free night with $15K spend nor towards earning 2 elite nights with each $5K spend.
You can earn two free nights in 2021 if you card anniversary date is mid-year. For example, if your card anniversary date is July 15th, it’s possible to earn a free night with $15K spend between January 11th and July 15th and then you can earn another free night with $15K spend between July 16th and December 31.
See also: Should you cancel the old Hyatt Visa and sign up new?
Strategy recommendations for 2021
Given that Hyatt has cut in half their elite status requirements for 2021 (top tier Globalist status can be earned with only 30 elite nights!), elite nights earned in 2021 are arguably more valuable than usual. And, even if you have plans to earn Globalist status through stays, extra elite nights from spend can be helpful for earning Milestone Rewards.
Here are some tips for maximizing opportunities:
Wait to complete $5K spend
Wait until January to complete your first or next $5K of spend. Unless you are 2 nights from earning status or a Milestone Reward in 2020, earning elite nights in 2021 will be more valuable.
Legacy Hyatt cardholders:
- Complete $4K of spend in December in order to earn a free night. Make sure to register first! See: Legacy Hyatt Card Offer: Spend $4,000 & Get Category 1-4 Free Night Cert (Spend By 12/31/20). If you use that free night certificate in January or February 2021, you’ll earn 2 elite nights from that stay thanks to Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys promo.
- Wait until after your card is converted over on January 11 to spend any more. Only spend that occurs after the conversion will count towards earning elite nights with each $5K spend or a free night with $15K spend.
Complete $15K spend by your 2021 card anniversary date
In 2021, you can earn a free night by completing $15K of spend between your 2020 and 2021 card anniversary date. If all of that spend happens in 2021, you’ll also earn a total of 6 elite nights from that spend.
Legacy Hyatt cardholders: This applies to you too. In your case, none of your spend up until January 11th will count, but you will earn a free night if you spend $15,000 between January 11th and your card anniversary date.
Consider completing $15K more spend
Consider completing $15K more spend between your 2021 anniversary date and December 31 2021. In 2021, only, this will result in a second free night. Whether or not this makes sense for you depends heavily on when your anniversary date is (for example, this will be hard to pull off if your anniversary date is in December) and how much you value these free nights.
Legacy Hyatt cardholders: This applies to you too.
Sample plans for 2021
We’ve written a lot about the opportunities to earn top tier Globalist status in 2021. Thanks to the Bonus Journeys promotion, stays with checkout dates between Jan 1 and Feb 28 2021 will earn double elite nights. Combined with the fact that Hyatt has cut in half the elite requirements for 2021, this means that you can earn top tier status with only 15 nights of Hyatt stays between those dates. And that’s without earning any elite nights from the World of Hyatt credit card. If you factor in the credit card elite nights, things get even easier. For full details, see: Ludicrously easy path to Hyatt Globalist status (top-tier status for 2 years!).
New Cardholder 2021 Plan
Those who sign up now (or signed up recently) for the World of Hyatt card recently will get 10 elite nights in 2020 and 10 in 2021 (and will continue to earn 5 elite nights each year thereafter, like other cardholders). Also, new cardholders must spend $6K to earn the full 50K welcome bonus. Here’s an example plan for a new cardholder to make the most of current opportunities:
- Sign up for the World of Hyatt card (found here). There are two signup offer options. I recommend selecting the option to earn up to 50,000 points. The current welcome offer will give you (among other things), 10 elite nights in 2020 and 10 elite nights in 2021.
- Wait until January 1st to complete $5K spending towards the $6K required for the welcome bonus. This way, your two elite nights from spend will post in 2021.
- Plan to spend $15,000 on the card before your next card anniversary date. Keep in mind that the 50K welcome bonus requires spending $3K in your first 3 months in order to get the first 25K points and $6K total within 6 months to get the second 25K points. With the full recommended $15K spend by your next card anniversary, you’ll earn:
- 15K points from spend (or more if some of that spend earned category bonuses)
- 50K points from the welcome bonus
- 6 additional elite nights in 2021 (3 x $5K spend)
- 1 category 1-4 free night certificate
- Book 7 nights worth of stays with checkout dates between January 1 and February 28 2021, inclusive. Thanks to the Bonus Journeys promotion (Make sure to register by Jan 15!), those 7 nights will give you 14 additional elite nights towards status in 2021.
With the above plan, you’ll earn top tier Globalist elite status in 2021.
Current Cardholder 2021 Plan
For this plan, I’ll make some big assumptions: 1) Your card anniversary date is mid-year; 2) You haven’t yet put much spend on your card since your last card anniversary date; 3) You want to earn Globalist elite status in 2021; 4) You highly value suite upgrade certificates and so you want to earn at least 50 elite nights in 2021 to get 2 upgrades via Milestone Rewards.
- You will automatically get 5 elite nights from your card in 2021 (as you do every year)
- Book at least 10 nights worth of stays with checkout dates between January 1 and February 28 2021, inclusive. Thanks to the Bonus Journeys promotion (Make sure to register by Jan 15!), those 10 nights will give you 20 elite nights towards status in 2021.
- Spend $15K on your card starting January 1 and before your card anniversary date. This will result in a free night plus 6 elite nights.
- Spend $15K on your card after your card anniversary date and before December 31st. This will result in a free night plus 6 elite nights in 2021.
- Earn 13 more elite nights in 2021 in order to get the 50 night Milestone Reward (2 Suite Upgrade Certificates). This can be a combination of elite nights earned from spend and elite nights earned from stays. You’ll earn elite nights from stays booked with cash, points, or free night certificates. Keep in mind that stays booked with checkout dates between Jan 1 and Feb 28 count double.
Conclusion
The World of Hyatt card offers multiple different perks from spend. Starting in 2022, figuring out how to time that spend will be relatively easy, but between now and then, there are many factors to consider. In 2021 only, many of us have a chance to earn two free nights from spend. Plus, with elite requirements cut in half in 2021, elite nights earned from spend are more valuable than usual. On the other hand, earning elite nights from stays is far easier than usual in January and February. There’s no easy answer as to exactly what to do and how to time your spend, but hopefully this post gives you the information you need to go forward.
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Wondering what y’all think…is it worth spending 3500 pts/night for 4 nights (14k total) to hit 70 nights and the extra suite upgrade?
This is my first year in the program so unsure of the true value on those.
Would appreciate any thoughts!
Hard to say. If you’re confident that you’ll use all of your suite upgrades before they expire and you’ll use them at mid to high end hotels then yes. Personally I wouldn’t do it because I have enough from reaching 60 nights.
So my friend met her 5k spend on 12/1/21, account closed on 12/23 but Chase didn’t post the 2 elite nights until 1/24. She needed that 2 nights to be globalist. She called Hyatt but Hyatt said it was Chase’s promotion so she had to deal with Chase. Chase said it post the next bill cycle after her account closed. She escalated it multiple times to Chase’s supervisor and they had their marketing team look at it but they keep saying the same thing. Anything else she could do?
That’s surprising. I wonder if closing the card somehow confused Chase’s processes. Unfortunately I can’t think of any fix other than continuing to go at Chase to try to get them to bend
Oh …I didn’t mean her account closed, I meant her statement. Her account is still open.
Greg —
Some clarity please! What if you were already WOH credit card holder (signed up in 2019). Is such a card holder eligible for earning 2 Hyatt Free nights by spending $15K before their 2021 Anniversary Date and spending another $15K after their anniversary date until 12/31/21?
I have a big spends I can make by way of donations to charitable causes ;and was wondering if I, too, would qualify for another free night but my situation is not directly mentioned by Hyatt as I am not a legacy cardholder who was forcibly switched to the new WOH credit card in 2021 — but like those new members, my earning anniversary date will now start in 1/21/21 instead of mid-year?
Any advice would be appreciated pronto as the year is coming to an end!
Many thanks,
Hadley
Yes everyone who signed up before 2021 and has a mid year anniversary date can get two certs this year with $15k spend before the anniversary date and $15k after
My statement just closed today 12/17. I just realized I am short 2 EQN for a milestone award. Will the spend between 12/18/21 and 12/31/21 count for year 2021 or year 2022 when the actual statement closes in 2022? I hope it does for 2021, I will spend the $5k anyways and hope I can get the 10K milestone in 2021.
Will this $5K spend done in 2021 count for free night $15k spend purposes for 2021 or 2022 (Statement closes in 2022).
Thanks!
Had the same issue and questions. It is totally separate from your closing date. Totally based on the year. Confirmed with several Chase representatives.
As Mydogsarebad said, Hyatt should go by Calendar year for both of these, not by statement close date.
Hello Frequent Miler Team – I received the following response from Hyatt. Is this correct?
They nights are credited based on the amount you spend per calendar year. So using the example above, if you spend $4,000 in Decameber and $1,000 in January, but this happens to be within the same billing cycle, the nights would not be earned as the $5000 was not accumnulated in one canendar year. However, the $1000 from the billing cycle in this example would be added to the new year’s accumulation.
No, that’s not right. In your example, your $1K of spend in January would complete $5K total spend and you should be given 2 elite nights
Thanks Greg. I’ll try to contact Hyatt to see if they can fix this and give me the 2 elite nights.
So if I already have enough elite nights for Globalist this year and my spend is coming from Google Ads, it doesn’t make sense to go beyond the $6K for the 50K point bonus on this card, agreed? With my Chase Ink I’m getting 3x on those Google Ads purchases and I’d rather have 33K Hyatt points (1:1 from UR) than 11K Hyatt points plus one free Catergory 1-4 certificate. That’s my thinking, anyway. But I want to gut check this.
Agreed
How quickly after my statement closing does the $5K = 2 elite night show up. I have a closing statement date of 2/20 and a trip planned 2/26 to 2/28 (to get to 30 nights). The place where I am going 2/26 to 2/28 has resort fees and parking costs so if it does not hit, I would need to do another 2 nights at a cheap hotel before this trip. Called and Chase said 6-8 weeks after statement closing. Does anyone have a better timeframe for 2 elite nigths showing up? Thank you!
I never saw an answer to this question posted. Despite Chase saying 6-8 weeks for 2 elite nights to show up after $5K spend, most report its faster than that. But I can never find how much faster. I’ve tried to calculate, but more challenging than I expected. Is it simply too variable for a reliable estimate?
Thanks for the great article. Just to clarify, Category 1-4 free night — is it “Valid for one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date of issuance” or is it “valid for 12 months from the date of issuance”? I think 12m, right? Thanks.
The category 1-4 free night that you get from Milestone rewards is valid for 180 days (found here: https://help.hyatt.com/en/hyatt-terms/world-of-hyatt-terms.html#/IVB).
This is different from the category 1-4 free nights that you get from the World of Hyatt credit card which are good for a year.
But what Greg also meant to include is that Milestone benefits set to expire during 2021 are being extended until December 31, 2021. So, for example, the Cat 1-4 and 1-7 free night that I earned this year from getting 60 nights originally showed expiration dates in the summertime but have been updated to 12/31/21.
Got it. Thanks, guys!
Thanks for the work put into this article Greg. P2 & I are legacy Hyatt card holders who did $4300 & $4100 during Dec. 2020. Is there any benefit to spend these amounts to $5000 before Jan, 11 to earn elite nights, or will the elite nights be cancelled in the reset?
I don’t think your spend prior to the conversion will count towards earning elite status. So, no. Wait until after the conversion to spend more.
I’m not finding it possible to download ALL spend transaction history…what am I missing?
In that case, your best bet is to secure message Chase to ask for your lifetime qualifying spend total on that card.
Thanks for the legacy cardholder information.
[…] thinking/considering going for Globalist elite status. But it is important to get the timing right: Tips for timing your Hyatt credit card spend. For the nth time, I do not have DIRECT credit card affiliate links so there is a bit more work to […]
I see why there are so many comments. Chase is deliberately muddying the water. Greg, you got sold a bill of goods when you talked to Hyatt.
“I had previously been told by Hyatt that elite nights from spend were based on your statement close date, but that’s not true. Elite nights from $5K spend are earned based on the actual date you complete $5K spend.”
As for the awarding of 2 WoH night credits, I made the spending in Dec 2019, but my statement closed Jan 1. The two nights were added to my 2020 totals.
As for the $15k spending to earn a second free night, what you were told is not what the terms say. Chase’s legalese terms are VERY clear, and say the “statement” date, not the anniversary date. Here is the actual language in Chase’s card agreement:
>>>“Anniversary Year” means the year beginning with your account open date through the first statement date after your account open date anniversary, and the 12 monthly billing cycles after that each year.<<<
Like you, I sent a SM to Chase, was told I had until my statement closed to make the $15k spending, made the spending, and then was told I didn’t make the spending in time, even though the Chase CSRs were quoting me the exact same language I just pasted above.
I can only guess how many cardmembers Chase is burning out of their free nights.
I hope I didn’t make a rookie mistake as a non-rookie player…I am not certain if I registered myself and Player #2 aka Hubby for the “spend $4k get a free night promo.” Do you think I should SM Chase or contact WOH? Thanks for a stellar explanation. I plan to take advantage of the quick track to Globalist with the goal of staying at the Hyatt Kauai.
I believe Hyatt has a current promotion for spend from now until the end of 2020 such that elite nights earned count once for 2020 and once for 2021. So, wouldn’t 5K spend in December earn 2 elite nights for 2020 and another 2 for 3021?