On Friday, October 28th, 2016, Hyatt made a public announcement about their new loyalty program called “World of Hyatt”. The new program will replace the Hyatt Gold Passport program on March 1st, 2017.
There is now an additional tier level with the new program. Hyatt Gold Passport had two levels, Platinum and Diamond. World of Hyatt changes this drastically and adds a new tier level. Achieving top tier with Hyatt also gets more expensive and harder for most.
To earn Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond you either could stay 25 times with Hyatt or a total of 50 nights a year. This changes now and the “stay requirement” falls off the chart completely. The only way to qualify now is with nights, base points (5 base points per $1 spent) or events and meetings.
I never really cared about the amounts of stays, since I never qualified for a single status by the amounts of stays. I usually qualify either by nights or points anyway. The new program, however, makes it harder for me to reach top tier with Hyatt. I need now 60 nights instead of 50. Good news is if you requalify you can reach World of Hyatt Globalist status with only 55 nights.
I don’t mind the extra tier level but the requirements for top tier should be the same as in the old one. This is basically a small devaluation of the program.
Personally, I don’t like the new name of the program. This sounds more like it’s a program for children in Disney Land. Next point on my list are the tier names. I think it sounds weird if you hear “Thanks for being a loyal Globalist/Discoverist/Explorist with World of Hyatt!” The old tier names made sense and you immediately knew what it means. Now, why is Discoverist a higher level than Explorist? Do you explore first and then discover? For me, this makes no sense at all but it is now what it is.
Next note-worthy devaluation is the status match with MLife. Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum gave you MLife Platinum. World of Hyatt, however, gives you only MLife Gold if you are Globalist or Explorist.
The only advantage I saw with the new loyalty program is that you get now standard suite upgrades at check-in as a World of Hyatt Globalist. The full list can be found here.
Hyatt is very generous if it comes to the transition from Gold Passport to World of Hyatt. See the table below.
Bottom Line
It looks like the major hotel chains are going through a devaluation of their programs. Starwood got bought by Marriott, Hyatt changed their loyalty program. Let’s see what the future brings. I just qualified again for Hyatt Diamond level beyond February 2018. This means I will be Globalist on March 1st when the transition takes place.
I just really started to appreciate the Hyatt brand this year. I was so amazed by my stay at the Grand Hyatt in Downtown San Francisco.
What are your thoughts on the new program?
Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.
