Hyatt Suite Upgrade Awards
Since I just used one of my Hyatt suite upgrade awards, I figured now is the perfect time for a guide of sorts on them. These are a part of the World of Hyatt's Milestone Awards you earn from hitting a certain number of elite nights. The pain in the butt part is, unlike the greatness of transferring free night certificates to any member, these can not be booked online. Hyatt suite upgrade awards also have a some other weird rules, but we'll get to all of that in a bit. On a more positive note, these awards can be kind of like the magic whistle in Super Mario 3 and unlock some award space that isn't currently there. Let's dive in!
Update 12/24/24: This Appears To Be Dead
I have some sad news to bring to you for your Christmas Eve (should you celebrate it). The news that Hyatt suite upgrade awards no longer unlock more award space. At least online they don't. We had a few reports of it not working last night, so the ToP team tried several different properties without luck. Another member said their World of Hyatt concierge said they patched it on the back end. It looks like there now needs to be a standard room available online for the suite upgrade award to be bookable.
We are not sure at this time if some reps still have the ability to book the workaround if you call in, like they did before the upgrade awards came online. My guess is that they won't, because my assumption is the patch plugs the ability to do it on their end too. It has likely been communicated that this is not how the suite upgrade awards should work too.
This is unfortunately the problem with technology and advancements. While it makes life easier, like not having to call in to book a suite upgrade award, it also gives them real time feed back of what is going on. Before they likely had no type of report showing how suite upgrade awards were being used, since they were processed on a case by case basis manually by employees. Now they can see them being used in real time.
This is a hit to their the suite upgrade award's value as well. Being able to unlock extra award space with a Hyatt suite upgrade award was a great perk. It made it easier to use them, which is something people often complained about. If I had to guess, I would say that requiring there to be a standard room available cuts the usefulness in half.
How To Earn Hyatt Suite Upgrade Awards
When World of Hyatt revamped their program in January of this year, the Milestone Awards were a big part of that. I actually like the additions and added value for the super users of the program. There are a few different ways to earn elite nights:
- Get 5 elite nights every year for carrying the World of Hyatt credit card
- You can earn a night for every paid / award stay
- Sometimes promos will allow you to earn double elite nights etc.
- Earn elite nights via spend with the World of Hyatt credit card and the World of Hyatt Business card.
- Remember that the way these track are different between the two cards.
Those are the ways you can rack up enough elite nights to be able to choose Hyatt suite upgrade awards as your milestone selection. As you can see from the chart above, these are the elite nights milestones where suite upgrade awards are an option:
- 40 nights – 1 Hyatt suite upgrade award
- 50 nights – 2 suite upgrade awards
- 60 nights – 2 suite upgrade awards
- 70 – 150 nights (every 10 nights) – 1 Hyatt suite upgrade award
You do have to actually select this as your perk at each one of those intervals. That may not always be the best choice available to you, but these are the intervals where you can select them should you choose to.
Rules Of These Awards
There are a few things that need to be in place for you to use your Hyatt suite upgrade award. The first part is that a standard suite needs to be showing as available when searching hotels. Sometimes this is difficult to tell, since properties will have many different types of suites. That is not the case anymore, since the awards have come online, but more on that later. At times, it is also notated which kind of suite it is in the room description. In those instances it will say this is a standard suite etc. If it says something like “this is a premium suite” then you are out of luck. You can also reach out to the helpful Hyatt Concierge team on Twitter / X should you have questions about a specific property and date.
The next thing that needs to be working in your favor is that you have to be booking a points, points & cash or cash stay to use your award. For some unknown reason the suite upgrade awards can not be paired with a free night certificate. That is true whether it is a category 1-4, category 1-7 or the new Ultimate Free Night Award certificate. I should also note that you can not stack Hyatt suite night awards with Guest of Honor bookings either.
What If You Have A Mixed Booked Stay?
What if you use a free night certificate for one night of the stay and then book the rest of your stay with points or cash? In cases like this, you are at the mercy of the individual hotel. You have to hope that they upgrade you on the free night certificate night to match the rest of the stay. Sometimes offering to pay a minimal fee, say $50, will lock in a guaranteed upgrade. You can also try to explain that turning only one room, versus two, will save them substantial time and money. Much of it will depend on how booked the hotel is, and how early you reach out with your request.
How To Book A Hyatt Suite Upgrade Award
This has gotten so much simpler with Hyatt moving the Suite Upgrade Award bookings online. This is also the same process for Guest of Honor Awards (if booking for yourself) and Club Access Awards (if the property still has a club).
As you can see in the screenshot above, booking a room with a Hyatt suite upgrade award has never been easier. You simply check a box once you land on the booking page for the hotel you were searching for. Once you select the Suite Upgrade Award button it will pull up any available standard suites and give you the price at the standard room points rate. If there are no standard suites available (the only ones bookable with suite upgrade awards) then the box will be grayed out – just like the club access award is in the screenshot. These upgrade certificates also unlock extra award space, but more on that below.
If You Are Having Issues, You Can Still Call
Need a little assistance? We're here to help. Call 1-800-544-9288 or 1-402-593-8615 or a Global Care Center to redeem your award.
So even if you forget what the number is, or how to use your suite award, you can find the info inside your World of Hyatt account. You will want to have the following information ready before making the call:
- Your World of Hyatt member number
- The name of the hotel that you want to book
- Ensure that the hotel is showing suites available
- Dates you need to book
- How many people will be in your room
How Do Hyatt Suite Upgrade Awards Unlock More Award Space?
I saved the best perk of these suite upgrade awards for last. A fact that I am not sure everyone realizes, that they unlock extra award space. That is because all that matters in order to be able to use them is that a standard suite is available for sale for a cash stay.
There is also no more need to call in multiple times to find an agent that can pull this off. You can instead do it yourself in seconds, thanks to the online booking capability. This booking tip is now 100x better than it was before!
As you can see above, the Park Hyatt Chicago is showing no standard award nights available for January 9th – 10th. They are not even showing a standard suite available via points. That doesn't matter though, there are standard suites available for paid stays and that is all we need.
Here you can see how many rooms become bookable with points once I click the suite upgrade award button for the same night. They are all bookable for 21,000 points, which is the off-peak rate for a category 6 hotel. These rooms did not show up under an award search, but the Hyatt suite upgrade award essentially unlocked more award space for us. It is amazing that this is a function of the new system, and that we no longer need to go searching for a knowledgeable agent. There is nothing better than having the power in our hands. Plus, any time we can avoid a phone call it is a good day!
How To Unlock More Award Space: ToP Thoughts
Hopefully this Hyatt suite upgrade awards guide gives you a good breakdown of how to earn them, their rules and how to use them. It also shows that they have a secret super power, unlocking extra award space. While getting a larger room and more space, I think that is the most valuable part of this Milestone Reward.
Let me know if you have ever used your suite upgrade award to unlock more award space over in the ToP Facebook Group.
