Today the World of Hyatt made an announcement that will be pleasing to the ears for existing members. Essentially award stays redeemed outright though points will now count as stays towards the member’s elite status. That is a good piece of news for 2018.
If you did not know, WOH has never treated award stays the same way as paid stays, unlike their competitors (SPG, Marriott and Hilton count the free stays towards elite status). Personally I have been a Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum member since Sept 2012 due to my stays at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta and several Hyatt Regency around the region. In Mar this year the reward program was changed to World of Hyatt which made some changes to the elite tier that created the Globalist as a top tier, matching the previously Diamond status.
If you are a Globalist, you might be also happy to know that some of those free award stay certificates will be extended to 180 from 120 days.
In 2018 I am looking at between the Grand Hyatt Goa or the W Hotel Goa for a short break. I have sufficient WOH points for a club room (which can count toward elite status) and in SPG I can book for a Wonderful room and apply a suite upgrade with the Platinum status. Sigh, what dilemma…
Recently I have not been an active stayer with Hyatt, the main reason was I wanted to try more of the SPG properties and attain the Platinum status. But I must say that these changes to WOH are in the positive direction. It was announced two months back that a new VP will lead the WOH, maybe we will hear of more positives from WOH in the near future. Let’s just hope.
