Aeroplan and Hyatt Collaboration
A surprising Aeroplan and Hyatt collaboration began this week. The goal is to benefit members of both loyalty programs. Aeroplan is the loyalty program for Air Canada, a very popular program for award travelers looking to redeem miles within the world's largest airline alliance: Star Alliance. World of Hyatt is the loyalty program for Hyatt hotels, another extremely popular program among award travelers. While a recent devaluation of Hyatt's award chart, along with a change in the transfer ratio for Sapphire Preferred cardholders has dimmed some of Hyatt's luster, it still reigns supreme in hotel points value and elite status recognition. Notably, this collaboration offers benefits to members at any tier of status within these programs, although elites do get some special perks.
Overview of the Perks of the Collaboration
At first glance in the Aeroplan and Hyatt collaboration press release, it appears there are benefits for Aeroplan credit card holders. And there are, but unfortunately they're only for cardholders “with cards issued in Canada.” Frustratingly this is just one phrase mixed in with the other news, so it is easily missed. Since we have a primarily U.S.-based audience, we'll focus on the benefits that are not tied to a credit card. The full terms can be found here.
Benefits
Here are the key perks and our take on each:
Benefits for Aeroplan Members
- Redeem Aeroplan points for World of Hyatt Free Night Awards. A Category 1-4 Free Night Award can be redeemed for 25,000 Aeroplan points, while a Category 1-7 Free Night Award can be redeemed for 75,000 Aeroplan points. This is an intriguing option, but will require some analysis of the value of the Free Night Award when redeemed.
- Earn Aeroplan points on eligible Hyatt stays. This gives you the option to earn 500 Aeroplan points per stay in lieu of earning World of Hyatt points. This is a pass for most people. As a World of Hyatt member without status you can earn 5 Hyatt points per dollar on stays. Since almost every stay costs more than $100, you earn more than 500 World of Hyatt points anyway. As little as 500 points can make a difference in a hotel redemption, especially with the new award chart.
- Convert World of Hyatt points to Aeroplan points at 2:1 starting at 5,000 points. This is another pass for most people. Aeroplan is the transfer partner of several transferable points currencies at a 1:1 ratio (or better, with a transfer bonus). Since World of Hyatt points can often be redeemed for nearly 2 cents per point, you'd want to be sure that you're getting nearly 4 cents per point in value for your Aeroplan redemption if you convert points you already have in your World of Hyatt account.
Perks for Aeroplan Elite Status Members
- Linked Aeroplan Elite Status Members can exclusively convert Aeroplan points to World of Hyatt bonus points at 2:1. The minimum transfer is 500 points at a time, up to 100,000 Aeroplan points per day or 250,000 Aeroplan points per week. This is still not a fantastic option, since you can transfer points from Chase and Bilt to Hyatt directly at a ratio of 1:1. Aeroplan points are worth less than Hyatt points generally, but even still they are worth more than 50% of what you can get from Hyatt.
- Aeroplan Elite Status Members get a fast track to status. While most U.S.-based travelers will not have status, it is worth noting that new Aeroplan credit card holders enjoy Aeroplan 25K Status automatically for the remainder of the calendar year, plus the following calendar year. And you can keep 25K status through spend, or earn 35K status with even more spend. The 90 day challenge offers the following tiers:
- Earn Discoverist with 4 nights
- Earn Explorist with 10 nights
- Earn Globalist status with 20 nights
Benefits for World of Hyatt Members
- Certain World of Hyatt Members receive a $20 CAD Air Canada Flight Credit after linking their accounts. Discoverists, Explorists & Globalists will receive this credit.
Benefits for World of Hyatt Elite Members
- Coming later in 2026: Hyatt Explorists & Globalists will have access to a fast-track challenge to Aeroplan Elite Status.
How to Link Your Accounts
The first step to accessing your benefits under this Aeroplan and Hyatt collaboration is to link your World of Hyatt and Aeroplan accounts. You can do that by logging into your Aeroplan account online or in the Air Canada app. Once logged in on a web browser, you'll navigate to “Aeroplan Offers”. If you are on the app, you'll navigate to “Aeroplan” along the bottom of the screen and then click on “Offers” along the navigation below your Aeroplan card. Alternatively, you can go directly to this landing page to link your accounts.
I followed this process and now see the following options on the “Hotel” page of the “Offers” section of my Aeroplan account:
Also available in my account is my $20 CAD flight credit which can be found by navigating to “My Aeroplan” and then “Benefits”. The linking process was easy and my benefits were immediately available.
ToP Thoughts: Aeroplan and Hyatt Collaboration
Aeroplan and World of Hyatt are two of my favorite loyalty programs for redemptions. And this collaboration offers nice benefits that I think most members will enjoy. While I wish the collaboration offered something for cardholders of a U.S.-issued credit card for either program, I am still encouraged to see the points redemption and status match opportunities available. I will be interested to see how this relationship evolves.
Are you planning to link your accounts to take advantage of this collaboration? Come tell us your thoughts in the ToP Facebook group.
