Last week John wrote about Hyatt currently offering (upon request) to extend their Suite Upgrade award and Club Access awards which members receive as milestones throughout the membership year.
As I had some expiring as well I decided to contact Hyatt directly (rather than my Concierge) and see if I have any luck getting it done as well.
To my surprise, it was a rather straightforward process and agents were quickly able to help with resolving my request including crediting me an amazing 3,000 points per Club Access award (useless for Globalists).
It’s very frustrating that Hyatt has not clearly communicated to members what their policy is regarding extension, unlike competitors such as Marriott Bonvoy. Hyatt probably hopes that a large number of these upgrades is going to expire, taking a burden off the program ($$$) and the properties who have to accommodate the requests.
You can read up on Johns initial article here:
Hyatt Expiring Club Access & Suite Upgrade Awards
In my case as Hyatt Globalist and obviously for every other member as well you earn FOUR Club Access and FOUR Suite Upgrade Awards every calendar year if reaching Globalist status (60 nights).
The Club Access awards I like to use regularly at hotels where I either have a longer stay or where I haven’t stayed before and can’t estimate if the hotel will upgrade me based on my Globalist status alone. At properties where I have stayed 100+ nights such as the Park Hyatt Tokyo, Grand Hyatt Bali or Grand Hyatt Bangkok I don’t have to worry about upgrades but elsewhere… always a gamble!
Here are my awards as of now after the call:
I have not the slightest idea why I only have three Club Access awards. One Suite upgrade has already been extended previously. For the four expiring ones, the agent at the resolution department offered me to extend two of my four upgrades. I wasn’t in the mood to argue as it’s unlikely I will even use all three.
Before speaking to this department (apparently extending the suite upgrades can only be done by a higher-up person with authority) the first agent already gave me 3x 3,000 points for the Club Awards:
Apparently what amount you get for these awards is a complete wild card. John and some others were offered 500 points per certificate. I read online that some were given 3k per award. I decided to start off the conversation by saying that someone I know had gotten the Club awards converted to 3,000 points each and that I’m interested in that as well which she confirmed.
Despite the positive outcome for myself, I don’t like Hyatt’s approach in this matter. They don’t announce a comprehensive policy and rather have members call in and beg to do something with the instruments previously awarded to them. On the other hand the less of these awards are in circulation the better for me as a Globalist as there is less competition surrounding these upgrades being applied.
Conclusion
9,000 points for nothing is pretty generous, I’m definitely not complaining about that. I guess I might have gotten all four suite upgrades extended had I escalated it to someone else but it’s really not a priority for me.
Usually, the hotels I’m staying at are my regular ones where I’m going for years and the staff there looks after my reservations including the standard globalist upgrades. I do tend to use upgrade award for peak dates such as New Years Eve or at properties I’ve come to know as being difficult such as the Park Hyatt Shanghai (likely off my travel plans for the foreseeable future).
I recommend calling Hyatt this week before the certs expire and finding a way to convert/extend your expiring certificates.
