Earlier this year, Hyatt moved away from the Gold Passport program to bring in a new program called the World of Hyatt. The new program had 4 tiers instead of the earlier 3, and some of the changes to the program included a very high bar to reach the new Hyatt status top tier: 60 nights. You can read our whole analysis about the new loyalty program from Hyatt here.

In a long-awaited and asked for policy change, Hyatt is going to make life easier for Hyatt members effective January 1, 2018.

Award Nights will count towards status

Starting January 1, 2018, all nights on free night awards will count toward tier status. This is Hyatt coming at par with other hotel chains in the market including Starwood, Marriott and IHG. This should make it easier to climb to the 60 nights number.

Longer Validity for Free Night Awards

Hyatt will be extending the validity dates for the free night awards which will be issued effective January 1, 2018, onwards. The new validity would be 180 days for issuance, instead of 120 days.

• Free night in Cat 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort when you stay 30 qualifying nights or earn 50,000 Base Points in a calendar year
• Free night in Cat 1-7 Hyatt hotel or resort when you stay 60 qualifying nights or earn 100,000 Base Points in a calendar year

Bottomline

This is a positive change, however, too little too late for World of Hyatt members. I’m sure the company has seen many members walk away from the program given the very high membership requirements which are not in line with the footprint of the program. Even in this case, I’d imagine only the American members would benefit from this move.

What do you think about the newest changes from World of Hyatt? Love them, hate them or just want to forget them?