Hyatt extending elite status, free nights, and points expiration

On the heels of Hilton announcing last week that they would be extending elite status and points expiration for another year, Hyatt has jumped onto the "good" bandwagon and will be extending elite status, free nights, and points expiration.

Suite and gym at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas, a Hyatt Alliance property

Points expiration extension

Hyatt points expire after 24 months of account inactivity.  But any points that would have expired through December 31, 2020 will now be good through at least the end of the year.

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More time to use points: We are suspending the forfeiture of points through December 31, 2020. As a reminder, our general policy is that points do not expire, but they will be forfeited if a member’s account is inactive for 24 months.

Elite status extension

Whatever status you held with Hyatt as of March 31, 2020 will be automatically extended through February 28, 2022.  Whatever status you earned last year would have normally ended on February 28, 2021 assuming that you didn't requalify.  So this essentially extends your elite status for another year.

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More time for elite members to enjoy their status and benefits: Status and benefits will be extended for all existing elite members without having to re-qualify. This means that whatever your status was as of March 31, 2020 – whether Discoverist, Explorist or Globalist – it will be automatically updated to reflect a February 28, 2022 expiration date. All elite tier extensions should be reflected in members’ accounts no later than April 15, 2020.

Free night and upgrade awards extension

Free night certificates and upgrade awards, whether they be from credit card, Milestone Rewards or Brand Explorer benefit, that were set to expire between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 will be automatically extended to December 31, 2021.  However, what doesn't make sense here is that Suite Upgrade and Club Access Awards that were earned last year would have an expiration date of February 28, 2021.  So the extension would not apply to upgrade and access awards.  However, I assume this is just an oversight on Hyatt's part that they'll probably fix down the line.

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More time to use earned awards: All unused Free Night, Suite Upgrade or Club Lounge Access awards with expiration dates between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 will be extended to December 31, 2021. This includes existing awards and awards that may be earned throughout this year with a 2020 expiration date. The award extension will be generated by World of Hyatt – members do not need to take action. Awards that expired between March 1 and March 31, 2020 will be replaced with new awards on April 20, 2020. All other qualifying, unused awards will be updated by the 20th day of the month in which the award would have originally expired.

Change and cancellation fee waivers

Similar to the other hotel groups, Hyatt is allowing changes and cancellations to originally non-refundable hotel bookings.  This waiver is now being extended to stays through June 30, 2020.

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Existing reservations for upcoming travel through June 30, 2020: All existing reservations (booked April 1 or before) for arrivals through June 30, 2020 can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations.

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New reservations for any future travel: With some very limited exceptions noted below, reservations booked between April 2, 2020 and June 30, 2020 – for any future arrival date – can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations. The only exceptions are reservations booked after April 1, 2020 at Destination Residences and Special Events Rate reservations booked after April 1, 2020. The cancellation policies for a Special Event Rate will be noted in the rate’s Rate Rules section when booking.

Bottom line

It's great to see the generous extensions and waivers for Hyatt.  As very few of us are likely to be traveling in the coming months and possibly even for the rest of the year, qualifying for elite status and redeeming our points and free night/upgrade awards is going to be difficult given their former expiration dates.  But now that free night/upgrade awards will be good through December 31, 2021 a and elite status through February 28, 2022, we will definitely have more time to take advantage of these benefits once (and hopefully) this horrible COVID-19 pandemic is over.  Here's to also hoping that the other hotel groups besides Hilton and Hyatt will also follow suit.

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