Earning Hyatt Globalist Status, How Much Did It Cost Me?
I have written quite a bit about earning Hyatt Globalist status over the past few months. I first wrote all of the ways you could earn the status on the cheap and then showed you how you could earn it with one credit card sign up. During those posts I said I would probably do a hybrid of the options I presented. The only reason I chased the status is because the requirements are essentially 1/4 of what they normally are. Hyatt reduced the required nights from 60 to 30 and then offered double elite nights in January and February, which meant I could earn it in as little as 15 stays. How could I resist a deal like that!? Let’s take a look at what earning Hyatt Globalist status actually cost me.
What Do You Get With Globalist Status
Before I get into my breakdown I should probably go over the highlights of Globalist status and why I am chasing it. Here are some of the perks you get (in no particular order):
- Free breakfast or club access (up to 2 adults and 2 children)
- 30% bonus on Hyatt points earning (6.5 total per $1).
- Resort fees waived on paid and award stays (eligible rates).
- Room upgrades, standard suites when they are available at check in.
- 4 p.m. late check out, if available.
- Free parking on award stays (just charge the parking to your room). This will even sometimes include valet parking if self parking is not available.
- 48 hour guarantee availability
- Guest of honor bookings – give the gift of your status to others on award bookings.
There are some other perks as well but the one I am most excited about is breakfast. Whenever there isn’t a club lounge available is when this really shines. You get upwards of $125 to spend on breakfast per day, which is insane. It will often include your tips as well! This is especially when you are talking about some of the high end restaurants you get to enjoy like Blue Duck Tavern at the Park Hyatt in Washington D.C. The Blue Duck Tavern was a Michelin Star restaurant for years and you get to experience it “for free”.
Room upgrades are nice a pretty nice as well, especially with kids. Extra space is always a plus. Free parking on award stays meant more before everyone gets it during the pandemic but that can save you hundreds during one trip at some locations. Those are the things I am most excited about.
Crunching the Numbers
Okay, so now that we know why I am interested let’s take a look at what earning Hyatt Globalist status cost me. I need to hit the 30 night level to get there. Some people will go for the full 60 in order to get a concierge and all of the milestones but I wasn’t interested in that.
- 5 nights for holding the World of Hyatt credit card.
- 16 nights – booked 8 nights at $55 plus tax which were doubled with the current promo.
- Total cost for the room $501.68
- I used the $60 off $300 Amex Offer to save myself some money
- I earned 7,040 World of Hyatt points for the stay.
- Total out of pocket $441.68 and earned 7,040 World of Hyatt points.
- 2 nights – used a free night certificate at Hyatt Regency Sarasota for my dad’s birthday which was doubled to 2.
- 8 nights – booked 4 nights at category 1 hotel for 5,000 points per night which was doubled to 8.
- The cost was 20,000 points for the booking.
- I got 25% (5,000) of those points back with the current cardholder promotion
- Total cost 15,000 World of Hyatt points
Once all of my nights double over the next week or two I should be a newly minted Globalist member. The total out of pocket cost was:
- 7,960 World of Hyatt points (15,000 used – the 7,040 I earned)
- $441.68 in cash
I didn’t include the cost of the free night certificate since I will earn one for hitting 30 nights as well. So it will essentially be replaced. If you value the points at around 1.5 cents that is another $119.40 in cost or a total cost of $561.08.
For $561.08 in value I will get two years of World of Hyatt Globalist status. If I value the status at $50 per night at full service hotels (on the low end) that is about 11 nights I need to stay to break even. If you value it at $100 per night that is only 6 nights I would need to stay to earn back my cost. Needless to say that I will be coming out ahead on this endeavor since I normally spend 30-40 nights at Hyatt per year.
Earning Hyatt Globalist Status – Final Thoughts
I used a hybrid method of points and cash to make my Globalist dreams come true. If I had not already earned my $15K free night from the World of Hyatt card I would have probably snagged 6 nights that way (2 elite night credits per $5,000 in spend) and saved myself some cash or points. I could have also waited a bit and incorporated more regular stays throughout the year but wanted to take advantage of all of the promotions while I could.
So, how much did earning Hyatt Globalist cost? It cost me 7,960 World of Hyatt points and $441.68 in cash. Was it worth it? It will be for me but it may not be for you.
If you are chasing Globalist status share how much it cost you and how you did it in the comments below.
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Hi Mark – I have accumulated 23 elite nites and I am missing 8 elite nite credits (6 from stays and 2 from awards) which have not posted yet. I have received the points back (25%) from my stay with points on 1/29 – 2/3. I called Hyatt and the representative told me they won’t post until after March. Any ideas on how to proceed? From what I am reading most people’s extra elite nites are posting within a week and I am afraid I am going to miss Globalist because Hyatt is not qualifying my stays for the extra elite nite. I did register for it. The representative wasn’t even aware of the double elite nite or challenge. Any thoughts..dont want to miss out on this. Thanks Julie
I would try contacting their Twitter team via DM – they have always been helpful with me. If it hasn’t been 2 weeks since your stay I wouldn’t worry. They are posting in batches and some have taken a few weeks for me.
Thank you Mark! Keeping my fingers crossed.
I got the Hyatt card in Sept and earned the 50k (5 stays). In my account I had 17k … I then booked 13 (26 stays) nights at my local Hyatt @ 5k per night.
So, 65k minus the 16250 (Reward Bonus 25%) = 48,750
I have a 5 day trip planned to Baha Mar in May and 4 day trip to Seattle, so the breakfast (2 people) will be a big plus.
A big THANK YOU for enlightening me.
I got the Hyatt card in Sept and earned the 50k. In my account I had 17k … I then booked 13 nights at my local Hyatt @ 5k per night.
So, 65k minus the 16250 (Reward Bonus 25%) = 48,750
I have a 5 day trip planned to Baha Mar in May and 4 day trip to Seattle, so the breakfast (2 people) will be a big plus.
A big THANK YOU for enlightening me.
The savings are well over $100 a day at Baha Mar for sure. The night snacks and drinks are a double bonus there and with the cost of food so high you will make back your investment in that one trip!
WoH CC = 10 nights
Doubling nights from Q4 2020 stays = 12 nights (admittedly I did book 4 nights in Dec and didn’t stay in order to get 2 suite upgrades for 2020 and also for the bonus nights it got me in 2021 which cost me 20k points – I thought 10k for a suite upgrade was worth it)
4 free nights over New Years in Miami Beach for a vacation I’d already booked = 8 nights (60k points)
So 80k points got me 2 suite upgrades, free Cat 4 and Globalist.
I then had an enforced stay at a Hyatt so I’m already at 88 nights for the year, so just transferred all my other planned stays with family to my spouse using Guest of Honor, so they’ll get the stay credits, as there’s no point me going much over 100 nights
Actually Globalist cost 60k points, as forgot I got 20k back due to the promo
WOH card Dec Signup – 10
Woh Card 5k spend – 2
5 nights cat1 cash+points (12500+$20/night) – 10
4 nights cat1 award for 20k – 8
25% points back – 8125
Points earned: 1372
Globalist total: $100 + 23003 points
Nice work! I wish I could have grabbed that 10 night card offer.
From the WOH Visa card, stays at the end of 2020 plus stays in January, managed to hit the magic 30 nights number to reach Globalist (first time ever) at the start of this month. Will be staying at a Hyatt Regency Resort using free night certificates this weekend, so we’ll see how the revered Globalist benefits shake out.
Hopefully that #upgrade comes your way 🙂
In the middle of mine. $45.20 a night all-in, cash, because it is a tax-deductible business trip.
Cheap with Hyatt CC, current 3x points and double-status nights offer, and current Globalist status. Also $60 off $300 Amex and $25 off $250 Hyatt CC.
Can’t beat that!
Welcome to the club! To extend my Globalist status, I have 5 nights from the credit card, 3 nights from late last year that carry over, 10 nights over New Years that doubled to 20. These cost 8,000 points a night with a 25% rebate. There’s only one Hyatt nearby so my options were limited. Finally, I used a couple of category 1-4 certificates. That got me to 30 nights. Between planned stays and credit card usage, I really should make 60 again without much difficulty. The confirmed suite upgrades for award stays in Asia is huge for my wife and I.
One interesting piece of general information is that confirmed suite upgrades cannot be used on Guest of Honor bookings.
The suite upgrades will be more important than ever for sure.
I had a similar story…signed up for the card in Dec, so got 10 nights, had 4 from stays so I needed 16. Based in NY so no cheap points hotels, but rates were only $65 a night. Booked 8, paid with card so earned about 8,000 pts for paid stay, also allowed me to get Brand Explorer (free night cert) and got me to the $3K spend on card for the 50K pts. All in all, a fair price for Globalist.
Well done!
That was quick. I’m deferring any leisure travel to 2H21, so until then I am just slowly building my nights through WOH CC spend and then ramping up later in the year with burning my half dozen Cat 1-4 certs, a few more point award nights and additional spend. My only cost will be the opportunity cost of WOH CC spend instead of a 2% cash back card, nothing out of pocket. Then 2022, here we come!
Sounds like a good plan to me!
What is the most cost efficient way to go for globalist from discoverist ? I still have caesar Wyndham diamond for the rest of the way
I don’t stay at hotel much, like 1 or 2 nights past year
Then Globalist should have no value for you. Why would you want it?
Yeah no point in going after status if you aren’t staying in full service Hyatt hotels 15-20 times a year.