Last week, I already wrote about why I plan to switch my hotel allegiance in 2020 from Marriott to Hyatt. With my travel habits for a family of four, there were 3 primary reasons why Hyatt Globalist makes more sense than Marriott Platinum.
Here is my plan in 2020, outlined.
How I Plan To Reach Hyatt Globalist In 2020
In order to reach top-tier Hyatt Globalist status, one needs to have 60 Nights or 100,000 Base Points or 20 Meetings/Events in a calendar year. I plan to go the 60 nights route.
Related: Hyatt Globalist Benefit — Give Someone Your Benefits With ‘Guest Of Honor’
First, Credit Card ‘Nights’
As of last week, I was still a holder of the old World of Hyatt Credit Card. However, after talking with Chase this week about trying to upgrade, it was determined that I was eligible for a signup bonus for the new World of Hyatt Credit Card.
Thankfully, I’m under 5/24 and therefore was able to pick up the new card and 50,000 World of Hyatt points in the process. The biggest reason to swap was this card gives 5 nights credit just for holding the card.
The other reason to upgrade my card was because with the new card, I am able to spend for elite status. The card gives 2 elite night credits per $5,000 in spending.
I plan to put at least $15,000 on this card, which will put me at 6 additional nights ($5,000 x 3). In addition, at $15,000 in spending, Hyatt awards an Annual Free Night at a Category 1-4 hotel.
Total = 11 nights (at least)
Annual Free Nights
Hyatt Regency Belgrade Lobby
Even though I cancelled my old card, I still have that anniversary free night credit in my Hyatt account. Unfortunately, it’s only good till the end of January so it won’t be of a ton of use to me, but will still give me one more stay credit without spending any additional dollars. One night, check.
Under the Milestone Rewards Program, Hyatt awards a Category 1-4 Free Night Award with 30 stays, which will give me another free night to use alongside my credit card spend certificate. Another night, check.
I haven’t paid to stay at many different Hyatt brands since the introduction of their Brand Explorer program in 2017. For example, I had 11 nights at the Zilara Cancun in 2017, but as they were on points, they were ineligible for credit. That means I can earn 3 more free nights if I stay at 13 more brands this year. I think that’s a bit optimistic, but I think 8 brands, for 2 additional free nights is doable.
Basically, I would get four free nights with this.
Total = 4 nights.
Hyatt Stays
As of now, I don’t have enough planned nights to cover the remaining 45. However, my hotel stay schedule is currently as follows for 2020:
January
- 1 night in St. Louis at the Hyatt Regency
February
- 3 nights at the Hyatt Place in Biloxi
March
- 2 nights traveling to/from Chicago in St. Louis or Champaign
April
May
- 3 nights in Philadelphia
June-July
- 5 nights for another family vacation (Location TBD)
July
- 3 nights in Salt Lake City at the Hyatt House after a week in Jackson Hole with my entire family
November
- Family trip for 4 nights at the Hyatt Ziva Cancun
Let’s call this is a rough 24 nights planned on the road out. In addition, there will be 5 free night certificates that will be used throughout the rest of the year for 3 day weekends or a weekend trip.
Total = 29 nights.
The Rest Isn’t So Clear…
This puts me at 39 nights total, which is still shy of 60 nights to reach Hyatt Globalist.
Honestly, from here, I am not sure exactly how I will finish closing up the gap, but I know some other nights will pop up unexpectedly. Plus you can be guaranteed that if I’m getting close, I’m getting to 60 nights for the benefits listed in my previous post. It seems I will have to give up some points, by potentially putting more spending on my World of Hyatt Credit Card vs. other cards.
Needing 21 more nights requires an additional $50,000 in spending on the WoH card, which is doable if I want to go that route. Either that or I’ll just burn some of the points I get from my World of Hyatt signup at the local Category 1 hotel for the new off-peak rate of 3,500 points/night.
The Upshot
Is this going to be an easy task? Probably not and might require a bit more point sacrificing than I usually would do, but in the end I think the benefits are going to be beneficial for my family as we look to travel in 2021 with two growing boys. I’ll keep you all posted regarding my progress as we move into the new year.
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7 comments
Yeah, Bill, it’s those last 21 nights that usually get me, too. Good luck in your quest to reach 60.
Thank you for the good luck and for reading!
Did ya call or visit a branch to get the 50k points for upgrading to World of Hyatt credit card?
Is Globalist really worth it based on the gap you are trying to close? I consistently find myself in the same boat as you from a nights standpoint but cannot convince myself that the benefits truly outweigh the cost. Don’t get me wrong. Globalist benefits look amazing and I would certainly put them to good use. However, the question becomes whether they are truly worth all the additional time and cost (either using points to pay for the remaining nights or opportunity cost of putting more spend on the CC).
With 20 or so nights to “find” on top of already using the free night certificates, the ideal situation would be to put roughly another $30k of spend on the card and use those points for 3,500 per room nights. But this also assumes you have a HP nearby that you do not mind checking in and out of a bunch. The lowest option near me is a Category 2, which makes it even more costly.
Based on the stays you outlined, most are HP and HH hotels, which do not really offer much for Globalists. For Regency hotels, you can often use one of the Club Access Awards for the lounge. Then the Ziva is already all-inclusive. I recognize these benefits would mostly be for 2021, but unless you already have plans to maximize these benefits as much as possible, it makes the task less appealing.
I almost feel as if completing the process of manufacturing 20 more nights may be even more costly than initially planned. Because once I have the status, I will want to travel to certain hotels or even cities simply to maximize the Globalist benefits. That means I am likely increasing travel costs for the family and/or going to a place we may not have originally put at the top of the vacation list. Then we are spending more time at the hotel to enjoy the benefits instead of the destination. We often do the same as you, in that we eat a large breakfast, snacks or light lunch and then dinner. It works well and saves money but also means we are eating hotel food instead of exploring local restaurants and cuisines. Depending on the location, that is perfectly fine.
The last point I will make relates to the true cost of the hotel. Once again, in order to maximize the benefits, you are likely trying to stay in hotels outside of the HP, HH and HR brands. More often than not, these are more expensive in terms of dollars or points.
I know a lot of people would not even hesitate to still go though the process of manufacturing another 20+ nights. But I think it would be worthwhile (perhaps even a future post) to compare the true cost to the actual benefit. And not just hypothetical benefits, like saying your free 1-7 night certificate was worth the 1,000 per night rate, because would you and your family really stay there if it was that expensive and were you really planning to stay at that expensive hotel just for one night? And if you do stay there more than 1 night, was it really worth the 1,000 per night beyond that or another 25K in points per night, when you could have used those same points for 5-7 nights at a category 1? And if you do decide to change hotels after that one night to a cheaper location, you are then spending time away from the destination. With kids, that becomes even more of a hassle:
Please do not interpret this as an attempt to talk you out of the goal. And I realize that as a blogger, there is additional motivation to write about nicer experiences. But I also read enough different blogs to see that the majority of the writers are only focusing on aspirational award bookings and completely ignoring the true cost to achieve (unless work is covering most of the qualifying nights).
This is a great hobby, and our family has had the opportunity to experience some amazing places thanks to points. And every once in a while, the Explorist benefits come though. Best of luck to you and your family and enjoy the journey!
I just completed the 60 nights for Globalist. I used award nights, points nights, Hyatt Zilara with the 2x nights promotion and CC spend. Just made it in December and looking forward to those Globalist benefits next year!
(Honestly, was tired of fighting for Marriott benefits that I was entitled to as a Platinum Elite. Always got my Hyatt Explorist benefits (from MLife match) without even asking)
I spend $100k/yr on the old chase Hyatt card so plan to all them to get the same 50k bonus. When you say: “The biggest reason to swap was this card gives 5 nights credit just for holding the card”
Do they give you 5 free nights every year or just one time?
Every year! Totally worth the small increase in the annual fee IMO.