World of Hyatt Status Decision
The end of the year is fast approaching. That means there are panicked people right and left trying to maximize credit card perks, burn yearly credits, trying to hit yearly spending bonuses and doing painstaking calculations on loyalty program status. I have been going back and forth on this with my World of Hyatt status decision. As we hit the end of the calendar I realized I ended up being closer to hitting 60 elite nights with Hyatt than I had initially intended. That meant I needed to decide if it was worth chasing those last few nights down or not. Having just crunched the numbers, I figured it was worth sharing in case anyone else is stuck in the same spot. To be fair, I did this last week, but the holidays got in the way of me posting it. Had I started now there would not have been enough time to make a decision either way.
World of Hyatt Globalist Status
The number one talked about status in the travel realm is probably World of Hyatt Globalist status. And for good reason, it packs a lot of power in its loyalty punch. I think most peg it as the best top tier hotel status out there, and in my opinion, probably offers more value than most top tier airline statuses. Especially when you consider how much time you spend at hotels versus airplanes. I digress…
Just because it is a great status doesn't mean it is a great fit for everyone though. That is something you need to be brutally honest with yourself about. I have done such things in the past and decided that Globalist status just wasn't worth chasing anymore (for me).
In a twist of fate, in walks Bilt with their match earlier this year, and put all kinds of egg on my face. The value proposition was just too good to pass up and I jumped on it. That means I have Globalist status through all of next year already. Take note of that, because having Globalist status already plays a huge role in my current situation and my decision making process here.
My Current Stats
My final stay of the year was actually a room I booked for my sister when she was visiting in mid December for the holidays. I put her up in a Hyatt a few miles from home and those two nights locked me into 50 nights for the year. I had some spend on my World of Hyatt credit card this month too, which would trigger at least another set of elite night bonuses. The problem was, I wasn't sure if it would trigger two nights or four because of Hyatt's stupid set up on the card and how the spend rolls back through all of time.
Since things were a bit up in the air I decided to wait on my statement to cut the following week. At that point I would know if I ended with 52 or 54 nights before doing any heavy mathing over here. Whomp, whomp, I ended up with only 52 nights when the dust finally settled.
What Do you Get With Hyatt Globalist & 60 Nights
Now that we know where I was sitting at with a few weeks to go in 2023 we should discuss what Hyatt Globalist, and 60 night milestones, actually get you. Since I already had Globalist locked up for next year the free breakfast, free parking on award stays and upgrades didn't move the needle at all for me. If I didn't already have Globalist set up those perks would play a large role in my decision making process for sure.
Since I do have Globalist set for 2024 that means I needed to focus on the World of Hyatt 60 night milestones. That is where all of my value would lie now. They recently revamped things for 2024 but here is what I get for 2023:
- 1 Category 1-7 Free Night Award
- 2 Suite Upgrade Awards
- Access to My Hyatt Concierge
World of Hyatt Status Decision: Breaking Down The Value
Let's break this down one by one.
Suite Upgrade Awards
I already received 2 suite upgrade awards for hitting 50 nights, but this would add two more to that. If you can maximize the upgrades with a longer stay, they can be super valuable. The problem is I don't have any longer / major stays planned for 2024. At least not yet. That makes me wonder if the two I have now are enough and has me devaluing the extra two quite a bit.
My Hyatt Concierge
Access to My Hyatt Concierge is not worth much to me. I find their Twitter team to be excellent and it seems like Hyatt concierge is more hit than miss. That is the vibe I got after sharing my friend's story at least. I put this perk as a near $0 value.
Free Night Certificate
The category 1-7 free night certificate is the easiest thing to quantify. It is worth up to 35,000 World of Hyatt points per night if used on a peak category 7 stay. The floor is worth 20,000 points, which you can get if it expires and you ask for points. This works because the certificates from status are issued by Hyatt. The real bummer of these certs from status is that they are only good for 6 months versus 12 months from the credit card certificates. Finding a category 7 to maximize it at, within 6 months, can be a pain in the butt if it isn't already in the plans. I happen to have a category 7 stay at the Hyatt in Hana, but I already booked into a premium suite so it wouldn't be useful there.
What Would All Of This Cost Me?
The key to my World of Hyatt status decision was weighing the benefits versus my cost. Because of that we need to figure out how much those extra 8 nights were going to cost me. There were a few ways I could try to get these 8 nights.
Credit Card Spend
I could spend $20,000 on my World of Hyatt credit card in the next few weeks. This wasn't really feasible, and I wouldn't really want to plow that much money into 1x earning anyway. Especially with no free night certificate to earn since I already did the $15K in spend for that.
Cheap Cash Stays
I could try to book another stay at a local hotel for $50 a night plus tax. I used this option to help me pad my nights during the Bilt promo. When including taxes, that would set me back $450 – $500. Not a great option either.
Points Bookings
Lastly, I could try to do a mattress run with points. Lucky for me, I have a few different category 1 Hyatt Place hotels near me. Between the three of them I could book all 8 nights at an off peak price of just 3,500 points. That would be a cost of 28,000 points to complete the stays.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith Gift Cards
I had a couple of people mention this and I should have added it as a potential option for others, even if it didn't make sense for us. Brian covered it a few months back, where you can earn 1 elite night for every $300 in gift cards spend. If we had an upcoming stay that would work for this that would be a great option. Since we don't, it would be like giving Hyatt an indefinite interest free loan so wasn't really an options. Especially since it would cost $2400 to cover the entire 8 nights this way.
A Little Of This, A Little Of That
I could also do a combination of these three if I wanted to. With the time crunch, holidays and everything else going on I didn't love this approach. In my experience, adding complexities when short on time usually leads to issues.
Why I Decided To Pass On Chasing The 60 Night Perks
Spending 28,000 points to get a free night certificate worth up to 35,000 points isn't a terrible deal. Throw in the two suite upgrade awards and it is a decent value play overall for most people. That is if I knew I could maximize the free night certificate and would use one, or both, of the upgrade awards. If not I would pay 28K in points to get 20K in points back plus 2 upgrade awards.
The upside here just wasn't worth the likely downside for me. If I had a category 7 hotel stay already planned that would work I would have went ahead and pulled the trigger. Or, if I knew I could maximize those suite upgrade awards that would have pushed me over as well. The fact that I had no clear path to use either made this a non starter really.
Like I said above, had I not already had Globalist secured for next year that would have changed things too. I would have gladly taken the downside of losing 8,000 points in order to gain everything Globalist has to offer.
World of Hyatt Status Decision: ToP Thoughts
Sometimes the best decision is to take the road less traveled and say no to something that is an obvious value play on its face. Just because it is theoretically valuable doesn't mean it will work for you. It is always important to take a bird's eye view of your situation, your cost, effort and the value being offered. That calculation will be widely different, depending on who is doing it, even if the pieces remain the same.
There are many out there that will think I am crazy for coming this close and not finishing, and I am okay with that. Those are likely people that have longer stays in their future or have a category 7 hotel lined up for 2024. The reality is that people tend to not be able to look outside of their own situation. They will then project that onto your situation and decision. Don't let that have you waver. Run the numbers, be truthful to yourself and stick to your guns.
Let me know how your end of the year World of Hyatt status decision is going and what you would have done in my situation over in the ToP Facebook Group.
