Hyatt Extends Elite Status & Certs
Update: Any free night certificates you have should have been updated to the 12/31/21 expiration date in your account.
Current world events have really tested companies at their very core. During these trying times we have seen some companies like United fall on their face when it comes to being customer friendly, while others like Hilton have quickly stepped up and helped the people that keep them in business.
Hyatt has always been known as one of the more customer friendly brands, but when it has come to a few key topics like elite status, they have been largely quiet. Earlier this year they did extend elite status for everyone living in the Asia Pacific region and then later extended status for customers (including me) who travel there a lot. Now, they are making it even better.
Hyatt Extends Elite Status Through 2022
Hyatt is extending elite status for all elite members through 2021. This is a great move in my opinion and one that will drive further brand loyalty. Here is how it will work.
Status and benefits will be extended for all existing elite members without having to re-qualify. This means that whatever your status was as of March 31, 2020 – whether Discoverist, Explorist or Globalist – it will be automatically updated to reflect a February 28, 2022 expiration date. All elite tier extensions should be reflected in members’ accounts no later than April 15, 2020.
Simple and easy! Welcome to almost two years of your current Hyatt elite status! Way to go Hyatt.
Hyatt Extends Free Night Certs Through 2021
Hyatt has also announced that earned awards (free night certs, club access awards, suite upgrades, etc.) will be extended through December 31, 2021. This is really amazing because these certs often expire in 6 months so this is giving customers a TON of time to use them.
All unused Free Night, Suite Upgrade or Club Lounge Access awards with expiration dates between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 will be extended to December 31, 2021. This includes existing awards and awards that may be earned throughout this year with a 2020 expiration date. The award extension will be generated by World of Hyatt – members do not need to take action. Awards that expired between March 1 and March 31, 2020 will be replaced with new awards on April 20, 2020. All other qualifying, unused awards will be updated by the 20th day of the month in which the award would have originally expired.
Points Will Not Expire in 2020
Hyatt is also suspending the forfeiture of points until the end of 2020. Normally you will lose your points if your account is inactive for 24 months, but this won’t be the case for awhile.
We are suspending the forfeiture of points through December 31, 2020. As a reminder, our general policy is that points do not expire, but they will be forfeited if a member’s account is inactive for 24 months.
24 Hour Cancellation Window on All Reservations
Finally, Hyatt is making it very easy to cancel reservations for upcoming travel and for future travel booked during this uncertain time. Here is how that will work.
- Existing reservations for upcoming travel through June 30, 2020: All existing reservations (booked April 1 or before) for arrivals through June 30, 2020 can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations.
- New reservations for any future travel: With some very limited exceptions noted below, reservations booked between April 2, 2020 and June 30, 2020 – for any future arrival date – can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations. The only exceptions are reservations booked after April 1, 2020 at Destination Residences and Special Events Rate reservations booked after April 1, 2020. The cancellation policies for a Special Event Rate will be noted in the rate’s Rate Rules section when booking.
Note that these policies are for guests who have booked through Hyatt directly. If booked through a third party agent then these policies would not apply.
My Thoughts
I am a loyal Hyatt customer simply because I get great value from their loyalty program and have great experiences at their properties around the world. Their size is always an issue of course, but it’s times like these when I reminded why I am loyal to Hyatt. They had already extended my status, but I’m glad to see it is being done for everyone else. The extension of awards is pretty amazing too.
Hyatt Extends Elite Status & Certs – Bottom Line
Hyatt once again has taken an incredibly customer friendly approach to this Global crisis. Customers will keep their elite status, their points won’t expire and they can use their certs well into the future. That’s pretty good in my book.
What do you think of these Hyatt announced elite status changes? Share your thoughts in then comments!
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Hyatt always treats their clients well. Even when errors occur, they fix them, and apologize with points without the client asking. I am a VERY loyal Hyatt member.
Aeroplan should take note. They extended point expirations until May 14. Do they really think people are going to resume flying by May 14? Today, they sent out a notice about using their portal to extend the points’ expiration. That is super tacky and a very clueless approach.
My upgrade certs expire 02/21 and they are not extending them…………BUMMER…..
My hyatt nights are not showing the later expiration, but they were just issued last week. Hopefully will be fixed in due course.
Hyatt has been our go-to for a decade. This is another example as to why. We often go out of our way to stay at their properties. Nicely done.
I have suite upgrade certificates that expire February 2021. Will those be extended until December 2021?
Hyatt truly is awesome. I was hoping, however, that they might extend my remaining Club Access awards that expire 2/21 since it’s going to be more difficult to earn via stays this year. We had enough nights booked to get to 20, and receive 2 for the next year, but not now. Had to cancel some of them, and not sure we will get there the rest of the calendar year with throngs the way they are. Still great of Hyatt though
Wait! They are good till 12/21 so, I’m VERY happy. Just reread!
Where did you read this?
I had 3 that expired on 2/21/20 and 4 that will expire on 2/21/21 and was assuming that both were toast.
“All unused Free Night, Suite Upgrade or Club Lounge Access awards with expiration dates between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 will be extended to December 31, 2021. This includes existing awards and awards that may be earned throughout this year with a 2020 expiration date. The award extension will be generated by World of Hyatt – members do not need to take action. Awards that expired between March 1 and March 31, 2020 will be replaced with new awards on April 20, 2020. All other qualifying, unused awards will be updated by the 20th day of the month in which the award would have originally expired.”
Same here, I just emailed Hyatt. I had two expire 2/28 🙁
From Hyatt: “Unfortunately the system only recognizes awards expiring between March 1st thru December 31, 2020 and is automatically updated. We do not have an option to manually adjust or extend these awards.”
Wow. With the CC free nights, status level free nights and the the “5 brand” free nights, one could easily accumulate 7 or 8 free night certs simultaneously.
Great news !! I had a credit card free night that was expiring next month and it was going to expire since we are under a shelter in place. So that will allow me to use it when I eventually get to move my kids out of the dorm rooms at some point