A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question about staying at Hyatt during the New Year and how the elite qualifying nights are posted.
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Reader Question:
I stayed at a Hyatt over New Years. I accumulated 60 nights in 2024, so I had exactly what I needed to re-qualify for Globalist status.
My stay was for December 30 2024 – January 1 2025.
I was shocked to see them being added as qualifying nights for 2025. I was under the impression that since they were mostly in 2024 that they would be counted towards 2024. Meaning I would have had zero nights for 2025.
Which brings me to the question,
If my stay was from December 28 – January 1, would that mean I would accumulate 4 nights towards 2025?
What If I stayed from December 15 – January 2? would that mean it would have counted 17 nights towards 2025?
I was battling with this issue by myself in December, as I was very close to hitting 150 nights for the year, and I had to make sure that everything posted just right to hit the number:
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It is disingenuous, but Hyatt doesn’t care about the beginning date of the stay at all, but rather the checkout date.
Stay ending, i.e., on January 1, 2025, regardless of when it began, will post all the days for the 2025 membership year.
Obviously, it would be clearer if nights consumed in 2024 would post to the 2024 membership year, but that is not the case with Hyatt, and you must take that into account when planning stays over the new year if you need the nights.
For example, I was staying at the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam for December 29 – January 1, 2025, and I made 3 reservations, just in case:
- December 29 – January 1, 2025 (3 nights that would post to 2025)
- December 29 – 31, 2024 (2 nights that would post to 2024)
- December 31 – January 1, 2024 (1 night that would post to 2025)
After nights from the credit card posted in late December, I canceled reservations 2 and 3. I was ready even to remove all my membership information for the night over the New Year to ensure that I would get the 2 elite qualifying nights needed for the status.
Luckily, I didn’t have to do this.
The reader should check if they gifted any Guest of Honor awards to Friends and Family members and, if they did, whether those were posted correctly. You earn one night for each award you gift that is consumed.
Crazy but true – Hyatt pushes members to gift these to others, which has also led to widespread award fraud:
Hyatt Nuking Loyalty Accounts In China Due To Franchise Partner Fraud (UrCove)
Conclusion
The reader hasn’t lost everything, as they should have earned at least one Guest of Honor award last year that they can apply to their own stay if they get dropped from the Globalist Tier.
Also, there is a widespread underground market (search Facebook) for Hyatt Guest of Honor, Club Access, and Suite Upgrade Awards, which tend to be incredibly “cheap.”
There is not much communication from these programs about how these stays that span more than a year are credited to member accounts, a topic we try to cover several times a year to remind our readers.
