Hyatt is the latest hotel chain to make an announcement around status benefits under the COVID-19 pandemic. Hilton did this recently and extended all status into 2022. Marriott notably has been silent, although I get a program wanting to see how things play out before making the big decision.
In this article
Today, Hyatt announced the following elite member extensions:
- More time to use points: 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.
- More time to use earned awards: 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.
- More time for elite members to enjoy their status and benefits: 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.
This is all great news, though I suspect many MilesTalkers will be in the same boat as me regarding expired Club Access upgrades.
When I first did the Status Match Merry Go Round in 2018, I got a batch of 4 Club Access upgrades. They all expired February 29th, 2020 – one day before this policy will retroactively apply. I did ask and was advised that they cannot go back an extra day. Oh well! Still a nice move overall by Hyatt!
The status extension is straight-forward and will be welcomed by all, especially Globalists that may have already known they wouldn’t requalify.
If you are confused about the points expiration, it means that any points due to expire won’t within 2020. Make sure you have any activity in your account by Dec 31, 2020 to extend it from there. Even a 1,000 points transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards would do the trick.
Hyatt also updated their COVID change/waiver policy:
- 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.
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