Guide To Hyatt Globalist Suite Upgrade Awards

There are many benefits I love about Hyatt’s top tier Globalist status, though arguably my single favorite perk is the suite upgrade awards that members can earn. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at how this benefit works, especially in light of the 2024 World of Hyatt changes, which offers new opportunities for earning and redeeming them.

What are Hyatt suite upgrade awards?

With World of Hyatt suite upgrade awards, members can confirm an upgrade to a standard suite at the time of booking for a stay of up to seven nights when reserving an eligible rate. This is in addition to the standard upgrade benefit that’s available to Globalist members, which is suite upgrades subject to availability at the time of check-in. These suite upgrade certificates can either be used directly by the member, or gifted to someone else.

To me this is such a spectacular benefit — while several hotel loyalty programs offer room upgrades subject to availability at check-in, World of Hyatt is the only program that offers suite upgrades that you can use to confirm an upgrade at the time of booking (IHG One Rewards suite upgrade awards can confirm an upgrade up to 14 days out, while Marriott Bonvoy suite night awards can confirm an upgrade up to five days out and are capacity controlled).

Any frequent traveler can appreciate the significance of this — it allows you to lock in upgrades for the stays that matter most to you at the time of booking.

Earning Hyatt suite upgrade awards

World of Hyatt members can earn suite upgrade awards as part of the Milestone Rewards program, at the following thresholds:

• Earn one suite upgrade award when earning 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points in a calendar year
• Earn two suite upgrade awards when earning 50 elite nights or 80,000 base points in a calendar year
• Earn two suite upgrade awards when earning 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points in a calendar year
• Earn one suite upgrade award when earning 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, and/or 150 elite nights
• World of Hyatt lifetime Globalist members receive four additional suite upgrade awards per year

Note that you automatically receive two suite upgrade awards at 60 elite nights, and automatically receive four suite upgrade awards if you’re a lifetime Globalist member. However, at all other thresholds, you have your choice of multiple rewards, and suite upgrade awards are among them, so there’s an opportunity cost to selecting them.

Just to crunch some basic numbers:

• Someone earning 60 elite nights in a year could select up to five suite upgrade awards
• Someone earning 150 elite nights in a year could select up to 14 suite upgrade awards
• Those numbers don’t include the four extra suite upgrade awards you would receive if you’re a lifetime Globalist member

Even elite nights earned through the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review) would qualify toward this.

Suite upgrade awards post almost immediately after a member reaches a particular threshold.

Redeeming Hyatt suite upgrade awards

While the process of earning suite upgrade awards is pretty straightforward, there’s a bit more nuance to redeeming them. So let’s cover this in a few parts.

What rates are eligible for suite night awards?

You can apply suite upgrade awards to any eligible paid rate (this includes Hyatt Privé rates) or eligible points redemption. The only type of stay that’s typically considered eligible for accruing elite nights that you can’t use suite night awards on is free night certificates, whether we’re talking a Category 1-4 free night certificate, Category 1-7 free night certificate, etc. Furthermore, Guest of Honor bookings aren’t eligible for suite upgrade awards.

However, nights booked with free night certificates as well as Guest of Honor bookings are eligible for complimentary suite upgrades subject to availability at check-in, based on your own elite status.

Can you use suite upgrade awards for others?

New as of 2024, you can transfer your suite upgrade awards to other World of Hyatt members, even those without elite status. You can easily do this online, directly in your World of Hyatt account. Just log into your World of Hyatt account, click on the “Awards” section, and then you’ll see your suite upgrade awards listed.

If you want to transfer your award to someone else, click the three dots next to the award you want to transfer, and click “Gift Your Award.” Then enter the last name and World of Hyatt number of the person you want to transfer the upgrade to, and then it’ll be instantly deposited in their account.

They can then redeem it however they’d like. The only thing to keep in mind is that you can’t combine a Guest of Honor award and a suite upgrade award, so it’s going to be one or the other.

At what hotels can you redeem suite night awards?

Suite upgrade awards can’t be redeemed at the following properties:

Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, Park Hyatt Sydney, Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa, Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills, Hyatt Regency Kyoto, Hyatt Regency Wichita, Hyatt Paris Madeleine, Hyatt Herald Square New York, Hyatt Key West Resort and Spa, Hyatt City of Dreams Manila, Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami, Spirit Ridge at NK’MIP Resort, Hyatt Rosemont, Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest, Hyatt Regency Lisle near Naperville, Hyatt Regency John Wayne Airport Newport Beach, Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment, Hyatt Regency Madrid Residences, Grand Hyatt Kuwait Residences, Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami, Numu Boutique Hotel San Miguel de Allende, Thompson Seattle, Thompson Hollywood, Chicago Athletic Association, Hotel Avatar, Waterfront Hotel, Park South, The Laurel Inn, Hotel Kabuki, Alila Manggis, Studios at Alila Sminyak, Alila Villas Uluwatu, Alila Taihu Suzhou, Alila Ubud, Episode Hsinchu, Hôtel du Louvre, Ventana Campground, Sunscape Sabor Cozumel, Dreams Aventuras, Dreams Royal Beach, Now Emerald Cancun, AluaSoul Alcudia Bay, AluaSoul Menorca, Alua Leo, AluaSun Far Menorca, AluaSun Mediterráneo, AluaSun Cala Antena, Alua Boccaccio, AluaSun Lago Park, AluaSun Doblemar, me and all hotel dusseldorf, me and all hotel dusseldorf oberkassel, me and all hotel mainz, me and all hotel hanover, me and all hotel kiel, me and all hotel ulm, Lindner Hotel Cottbus, Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Hochst, Lindner Hotel Dusseldorf Seestern, Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Sportpark, Lindner Hotel City Plaza Cologne, Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Ferienpark, Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Motorsport, Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Congress, Lindner Hotel Bratislava, Caption by Hyatt, Hyatt Place hotels or resorts, or any Destination by Hyatt Residences property, except as otherwise expressly set forth in the Destination by Hyatt Residence Award Terms. 

As you can see, Destination Residences, Caption by Hyatt, and Hyatt Place properties are excluded, as are select recently acquired resorts. On top of that, there’s a small additional list of properties not eligible for suite upgrade awards. This is primarily due to how few suites these properties have.

Furthermore, suite upgrade awards can’t be redeemed at Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties, since these aren’t managed by Hyatt.

You can redeem each suite upgrade award for up to one room per stay. So if you want to upgrade multiple rooms during a stay, you’d have to use multiple suite upgrade awards.

Are there capacity controls on suite upgrade awards?

As long as a standard suite is available for sale, you can use a suite upgrade award to confirm it. That’s pretty remarkable when you think about it, given that there’s potentially quite an opportunity cost to a hotel for that. That’s also precisely what makes this perk so valuable.

How long of a stay are suite upgrade awards valid for?

Each suite upgrade award can be redeemed for a stay of up to seven consecutive nights at one hotel. Generally speaking, a suite upgrade award can only be applied to a single reservation.

In other words, if you’re staying for a week at a hotel but have two separate reservations (perhaps due to using different types of rates), you wouldn’t be able to apply a single suite upgrade award to the whole thing. Similarly, if you have a single reservation for more than seven nights, you also couldn’t apply multiple suite upgrade awards, as you’d need to make separate reservations.

However, in some cases the hotel may be able to work with you.

What kind of suites are eligible for suite upgrade awards?

Suite upgrade awards can be used to confirm an upgrade to a standard suite, and each hotel has a different definition of that. How do you determine what a standard suite is at a particular hotel? There are two options:

• Many hotels will list it directly on their website when you do a search — just look at room categories, and specifically for the one that says “this is a standard suite” in the description
• Not all hotels list this, in which case you’re best off calling Hyatt, and a representative can tell you what a particular hotel considers to be a standard suite

As long as a standard suite is available for sale over your dates, you should be able to apply a suite upgrade award for your stay.

How do you apply a suite upgrade award?

Unfortunately there’s no way to apply a suite upgrade award directly, but rather you’ll need to reach out to Hyatt customer support (rather than the hotel directly) to do so. You have a few options for that:

• Phone up World of Hyatt customer service
• Contact @HyattConcierge on Twitter
• If you have a My Hyatt Concierge, they can help you

Note that even when your suite upgrade award is applied, your reservation through the Hyatt website or app might not actually reflect the updated room type — that’s normal, and nothing to be concerned about. Typically, within a couple of days of the stay you should see the upgraded room reflected in the app.

What is the expiration policy for suite upgrade awards?

Hyatt suite upgrade awards are valid for the year in which they’re earned, plus around 14 months (through the end of February). In other words, suite upgrade awards earned in January 2024 would be valid through the end of February 2026.

You have to actually stay by the expiration date (with the check-out date being prior to when the suite upgrade award expires), and not just make the booking by then.

Can you cancel a suite upgrade award request?

You sure can. For one, if you do end up canceling a booking where you used a suite upgrade award, it will be redeposited back into your account with the original expiration date.

Alternatively, you can cancel a suite upgrade award any time up until your arrival date, and you’ll be placed back into the original room booked.

My Hyatt suite upgrade award strategy

I’ll admit that I’m probably a bit too much of a suite upgrade award hoarder, since some of my suite upgrade awards typically end up being used sub-optimally shortly before expiration.

The challenge is that you have a finite number of suite upgrade awards, and it can be hard to predict what your travel will look for an entire year. In general, here’s how I prioritize suite upgrade awards:

• How long am I staying? Ideally I use these for stays of at least four nights
• How much time would I spend in the room? Personally I value suites more when staying at a resort than when at a city hotel, since I’m more likely to spend time in my room at a resort
• How good is the standard suite at a hotel? At some hotels the standard suite is a small junior suite, while at others it’s a massive “full” suite
• What are the odds that I’d otherwise get a space available suite upgrade as a Globalist? Globalist members get suite upgrades at check-in subject to availability, and odds of that happening vary greatly by hotel based on how many other Globalist members there are, how many suites the hotel has, etc.

With Hyatt suite upgrade awards now being transferable, that adds yet another layer of thinking when it comes to redeeming these. After all, I’m happiest when my family is happy, even if they’re traveling without me.

Bottom line

Hyatt’s suite upgrade awards program is probably my favorite aspect of Globalist status, and what most sets World of Hyatt apart from other loyalty programs. Being able to confirm suite upgrades at the time of booking for stays that matter most to me is something I value immensely.

A Globalist member who earns 60 elite nights per year could be looking at up 35 nights per year in confirmed suites at the time of booking, which is pretty awesome. Best of all, these awards are now transferable, meaning you can now gift Hyatt suite upgrades to friends and family.

What has your experience been with Hyatt suite upgrade awards?