Elite Status is a great thing to have for a hotel or airline…who doesn’t love free perks?! Hyatt is one of the best hotel chains for award bookings, so it’s good to know the ins and outs of the World of Hyatt Elite Status program.
In this post, I’ll explain the levels of the program plus show you how to earn each level of status. Did you know you can actually earn status without a single hotel stay? I’ll show you how.
This post may contain affiliate links or credit card referral links.
How To Earn Hyatt Elite Status
There are 3 levels in the Hyatt Elite Status program, and your level is based on 1 of 3 criteria:
- Qualifying nights where an eligible rate is paid
- Base points earned
- Qualifying meetings or events held each calendar year.
You’ll advance to the next level of Hyatt status when you hit the requirements of only 1 of these options.
Hyatt Qualifying Night
A qualifying night is one in which a member stays at a Hyatt hotel or resort or an Mlife Resort and pays an eligible rate or any award night. Yes, you read that right — award nights count towards elite status!
An eligible rate is one that is published by Hyatt. These are rates you’ll find on Hyatt.com that don’t include any discount code. If you book a Points + Cash award, the monetary portion of your rate is considered eligible!
If you book your room through an online travel agency like Hotels.com, Expedia, or Orbitz, you won’t earn qualifying nights to count towards your Hyatt elite status.
Hyatt Base Points
Base points are those earned from paying eligible rates at Hyatt properties (like the cost of a hotel room). Base points are also earned on eligible incidental charges at Hyatt hotels including things like resort fees, spa, food, and beverages. You’ll earn 5 points per dollar for these charges.
Bonus points, like those earned from the World of Hyatt Credit Card, don’t count toward Hyatt elite status (but they will get you plenty of free award nights)!
Qualifying Meetings or Events
To earn Hyatt elite status by planning a qualifying meeting or event, an individual’s meeting/event/conference must have at least 10 paid guest rooms for the same night or include conference room rental with food and beverage catered by Hyatt.
Pro Tip: After achieving Hyatt status, you will maintain your status through February of the second year. For example, if a Member were to receive Discoverist status in September 2019, that member would maintain Discoverist status until February 2020.
Earn Hyatt Elite Status with a Credit Card
You’ll get automatic Hyatt Discoverist Status with the Hyatt Credit Card.
While this is the lowest level of elite status you can have with Hyatt, there are some benefits to having it including earning bonus points, getting a better room, free internet, late checkout, waived resort fees on award stays and even Pearl Status with the MGM Mlife program (which is great to have if you’re staying at an Mlife property in Las Vegas like Aria, MGM, or Bellagio).
The World of Hyatt credit card also helps you earn qualifying night credits to help you achieve a higher elite level!
- You’ll automatically get 5 elite night credits when you get the card
- You’ll get an additional 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 you spend
Right now, the World of Hyatt credit card has a great welcome bonus of up to 50,000 points!
World of Hyatt Elite Status Tiers
There are 3 tiers of elite status within the World of Hyatt program — Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist.
Your elite status benefits are available when you stay at a participating location and pay an eligible rate or redeem an award night.
Hyatt Discoverist Benefits
You’ll earn Hyatt Discoverist status when you stay 10 qualifying nights, earn 25,000 base points, or hold 3 qualifying meetings or events in a calendar year. You’ll also get it by becoming a Hyatt Credit Card member.
Hyatt Discoverist members are eligible for these benefits:
- 10% bonus points on eligible charges
- Preferred room based on availability (think slightly better view, not an upgrade)
- One bottle of water daily
- Complimentary premium internet
- 2:00 late checkout upon request, based on availability
- Waived resort fees on free night awards
- Pearl status with Mlife Rewards (MGM properties)
Pro Tip: With the Hyatt Credit Card, you’ll receive Discoverist status automatically plus 5 Qualifying Nights towards your next level of status. Use this link to earn up to 50,000 Bonus Points.
Hyatt Explorist Benefits
You’ll earn Hyatt Explorist status when you stay 30 qualifying nights, earn 50,000 base points, or hold 10 qualifying meetings or events in a calendar year.
Hyatt Explorist members are eligible for these benefits:
- 20% bonus points on eligible charges
- 4 Club lounge access awards redeemable at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts at the time of reservation. Includes continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres daily in a Club Lounge.
- Room upgrade at check-in, excluding suites and rooms with Club Lounge access
- One bottle of water daily
- Complimentary premium internet
- 2:00 late checkout upon request, based on availability
- Waived resort fees on free night awards
- Gold status with Mlife Rewards (MGM properties)
Hyatt Globalist Benefits
You’ll earn Hyatt Globalist status when you stay 60 qualifying nights, earn 100,000 base points, or hold 20 qualifying meetings or events in a calendar year.
Hyatt Globalist members are eligible for these benefits:
- 30% bonus points on eligible charges
- Club lounge access with continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres daily. Complimentary full breakfast daily for each registered guest (up to 2 adults and 2 children) at Hyatt hotels and resorts without a Club lounge.
- Room upgrade at check-in, up to a standard suite
- One bottle of water daily
- Complimentary premium internet
- 4:00 late checkout upon request, based on availability
- Waived resort fees on free night awards and eligible rates
- Complimentary parking with a free night award
- 2 complimentary one-time-use United Club passes annually
- Gold status with MLife Rewards (MGM properties)
Pro Tip: To achieve lifetime Globalist status, you need to earn 1,000,000 lifetime base points.
Hyatt Milestone Rewards
World of Hyatt also offers a few additional ways to earn some extra perks like a free night or suite upgrade based on the number of base points (or qualifying nights) you have earned.
- 20 Nights or 35,000 Base Points: 2 Club Lounge access awards
- 30 Nights or 50,000 Base Points: 2 Club Lounge access awards and a category 1-4 free night award
- 40 Nights or 65,000 Base Points: 5,000 bonus points or a $100 Hyatt gift card or a 10,000 point savings on a FIND experience
- 50 Nights or 80,000 Base Points: 2 Suite upgrade awards
- 60 Nights or 100,000 Base Points: Category 1-7 free night award and 2 Suite upgrade awards and access to My Hyatt Concierge
- 70 Nights: 10,000 bonus points or 1 Suite upgrade
- 80 Nights: 10,000 bonus points or 1 Suite upgrade
- 90 Nights: 10,000 bonus points or 1 Suite upgrade
- 100 Nights: 10,000 bonus points or 1 Suite upgrade
Final Thoughts
Hyatt is the best hotel program out there, and earning Hyatt elite status is even easier because award nights count toward status! That’s something that no other hotel chain offers.
Hyatt also has the best award redemptions so you’ll get more out of Hyatt points than Marriott points or IHG points.
Hyatt has fantastic properties all over the world. Check out some of these incredible locations:
