Hyatt Guest of Honor Awards
Hyatt is the hotel loyalty programs we talk about the most. And this is for good reason. Hyatt offers some serious value for its points, while also having a loyalty program that brings exciting benefits to its ToP tier members. Hyatt Globalist members in particular rake in the benefits with perks such as free breakfast, upgrades to suites, and more. These benefits come in extremely handy and can often make the difference between a good stay, and a great one. Typically, these benefits are just for the Globalist member that has status. What do you do if you want to share these benefits with a friend or family member though? This is where the Hyatt Guest of Honor program comes in handy. By using this benefit, you can designate a guest of your choosing to receive Globalist benefits during their stay. In this guide we will break down the process of using these Guest of Honor Awards.
What are Guest of Honor Awards?
A Guest of Honor is simply an award that allows a Globalist member to share their perks with another guest of their choosing. These can come in extremely helpful when traveling with other people that don't have your same status. What benefits do these Guest of Honor awards come with?
The recipient will receive all of the same Globalist benefits we have come to know and love. These include free breakfast, guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and club access (should the hotel have a lounge).
In 2023 and prior, Guest of Honor bookings were unlimited and were initiated by the Globalist member calling in and paying for the stay. However, in 2024 Hyatt made changes to this offering and shifted to giving each Globalist a limited number Guest of Honor awards. While this change was mostly seen as a negative change, there are some positives about this change that I truly love, like being able to book Guest of Honor awards online.
How Do You Earn These Milestone Rewards?
Before we get into the positive of these changes we should discuss how you earn these Guest of Honor awards. This change to issuing actual Guest of Honor Awards just rolled out in 2024. As a one time adjustment, those that already had Globalist status were gifted 5 Guest of Honor awards to start the year.
Beyond that, additional Guest of Honor awards can be earned as milestone rewards. Hyatt offers the possibility to earn 10 Guest of Honor awards as milestone rewards at various levels. As you can see from the chart below, Guest of Honor awards can also be earned once you hit the following levels:
- 40 nights (1 award earned)
- 60 nights (2 awards earned)
- 70 nights (1 award earned)
- 80 nights (1 award earned)
- 90 nights (1 award earned)
- 110 nights (1 award earned)
- 120 nights (1 award earned)
- 130 nights (1 award earned)
- 140 nights (1 award earned)
Steps To Gift a Guest of Honor Award
The process is the same as our guide to transfer Hyatt awards. Once you have a Guest of Honor award to use, the steps to redeem them are quite simple. Being able to do this online yourself is one of the positive changes to these perks of Globalist status.
Here are the three easy steps to share a Guest of Honor award:
Step 1
Once you have signed into your account with an available award, click on the three dots next to the expiry and select ‘Gift Your Award'.
Step 2
On the next step, you will input the account number and last name of your recipient.
Step 3
That's it. You will receive an email confirming that your award has been sent. From there, your recipient can book a stay using your Guest of Honor award.
One Unexpected Benefit These New Milestone Awards
One unexpected benefit to the new Guest of Honor awards is that it can actually help the Globalist member earn more elite qualifying nights. When Hyatt rolled out this benefit, they announced that for each award redeemed, the gifting member would receive 1 elite qualifying night credit. This elite night credit is however capped at 1 night per stay. This means, if your recipient has a 7 night stay, you will still only receive 1 elite night.
In 2024, since Hyatt doled out 5 of these awards to each Globalist member, they essentially made it 8% easier to requalify for Globalist. This is because you can earn 5 of your required 60 nights to requalify through simply gifting others your Guest of Honor awards. Since this is a one-time boost however, it is important to note that in 2025 and beyond this boost will be a bit harder to come by.
Hyatt Globalist Perks: ToP Thoughts
Hyatt has made these new Guest of Honor awards extremely simple to use and a bit more beneficial to you. The process for both the recipient and the member sending the award was great and is a fantastic marketing tool for Hyatt. By giving friends of a World of Hyatt Globalist a taste of their benefits, it can encourage them to earn their own Globalist status. It also rewards existing Globalists by giving them an incentive to gift them out. With 2024 starting off with a boost of 5 certificates, these awards are easy to come by. In 2025 and beyond, I expect these awards to be harder to come by.
Have you ever gifted or received a Guest of Honor award? Let us know over in the ToP Facebook Group!
