'Tis Better to Give...and Receive: Get Last Minute Elite Night Credits Toward Status by Gifting Hyatt Guest of Honor Awards

World of Hyatt Makes Gifting Awards Easier and More Beneficial

In late 2023, Hyatt announced several changes to the World of Hyatt (WOH) loyalty program. Once such change involved the ability to easily gift WOH award certificates (suite night upgrades, guest of honor (GOH), club level upgrades, and free night awards) online. This development has been well-received for a couple of reasons. First, many WOH Globalists felt these certificates were duplicative and only held a little utility to folks who already received club access, early check-in/late checkout, and room upgrades from their status. While there was a benefit to using them on stays for others, it didn't do much for the member. Second, if you did want to use a guest of honor award to enhance someone else's stay, the process could have been more frictionless. You'd have to call WOH support, wait on hold, and hope that the representative understood your desires, all for a reservation that was not yours. While the ability to gift awards online is a much-needed improvement to the WOH program, I wanted to discuss another often-overlooked benefit in this piece.

Hyatt included a sweetener alongside these changes to the WOH program. As a 'kudos' for gifting GOH certificates to other members (helping other folks engage with the Hyatt ecosystem), the gifting member would receive one tier-qualifying night credit upon completion of the recipient's hotel stay. In other words, sharing is not only caring; it can also put a feather in your cap—in the form of one elite night credit towards Hyatt status. 

As I recently received my first elite night credit via gifting, I figured there's no time like the present to discuss how one might harness gifting GOHs as a last-minute strategy to get over the status hump. First, the basics - quick hits style.

Globalist Benefits and Guest of Honor Certificates - Why are they Useful? 

What are Guest of Honor Certificates?

Guest of Honor awards allow users to enjoy Globalist benefits on stays of up to 7 nights. Members can use them on eligible paid stays or redemptions. You receive GOH awards when completing certain milestone levels (earn 40 elite nights, etc.). As referenced above, they can and (often are) gifted to other members so the recipient can use them on their own (or someone else's) stay. As long as a GOH is not redeemed or expired, it can be re-gifted to other members unlimited times.

Wait, what's all this talk about Globalist benefits? What does that mean?

Globalist is the highest standard elite status tier in the WOH loyalty program. It entitles members to enhanced benefits on stays at participating Hyatt properties, such as complimentary breakfast, club lounge access (if applicable), room upgrades, late checkout, and waived resort fees. One becomes a Globalist by earning 60 tier-qualifying nights or 100,000 Base Points in a calendar year. 

Putting it all together - why are these guest of honor certificates useful?

GOH certificates let the user enjoy top-tier status for up to 7 nights without earning that status - this can make for a more comfortable, affordable stay. Let's say you're planning a trip to Central America and have your heart set on the Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo, by Hyatt. Adding a GOH award to your stay can get you a complimentary robust breakfast, which you can enjoy in the comfort of the suite you scored from your complimentary 'Globalist' upgrade:

Not a terrible way to spend the week in the rainforest, right?

Gifting Guest of Honor Awards and Earning Elite Night Credits

Ok, back to business. New scene - Thanksgiving dinner at your in-laws, you're sitting around the table with a half-full glass of some second-row-from-the-bottom-grocery-aisle-red, thinking about the critical things in life - how you, stuck at 57 elite nights, are going to get those last 3 for Globalist before the year is out. You have no more 'planned' travel for the year, and the idea of a mattress run is something other than what you want. As you zone out thinking about those last 3 nights, the mac and cheese comes and goes. You snap back to reality just at the right wrong time to hear the table discussion turning to politics. Then it hits you: you scan the faces of the room - the very same faces you'll be hosting in your house just a few weeks later in December. You replay the conversation with your spouse in the kitchen two nights ago - 'Don't you think everyone would be a bit more comfortable in a hotel?', you asked wishingly. Ah! You can MAKE them more comfortable in a hotel. Here we come, Globalist.

Whatever your intentions (smiley), gifting a GOH certificate is an effortless way to earn elite nights, especially if you know you won't use the award yourself.

Here's how to do it: 

Log into Hyatt.com and click your name in the top right corner of the page to show the drop-down menu and select "My Awards":

From the Awards page, scroll down to find your guest of honor certificates, click the ellipsis ('...') menu on the right, and select "Gift Your Award." 

Enter the WOH information for the person to whom you'd like to gift this award, and click through to confirm. Bam! You've done your part.

You should receive an email confirming the delivery of your gifted award. 

Once the recipient completes a stay using your award, you'll receive an email confirming the receipt of your elite night credit.

Here's a screenshot of the elite night credit posting to my account after a family member completed their stay utilizing the GOH award I gifted them. You'll receive one night credit for each redeemed GOH, regardless of the length of the guests stay. For what, I believe the GOH gifting credit posted the day of checkout.

Bonus: The Black Market and GOH awards

One of the reasons I love points and miles (and all the tangentially related stuff) is how wily it can make folks. Case in point—a robust underground economy has arisen on a few social media platforms for GOH awards, where it's not uncommon to see folks auction off these guest-honor certificates for a good bit of change. Setting aside whether (or not) this violates the WOH terms of service, if nothing else, you have to admire the zeal here!

Conclusion

Gifting GOH awards (mainly if you believe they'll expire before you can put them to use) can be a rush method for getting those last few elite nights needed to qualify for status. To get the elite night credits and have them count for the current qualification year, you'll want to make sure your recipient can: 1) attach the award to a valid stay and 2) complete it before December 31st. Hopefully, this can help some of you get over the status hump before the year ends.