One of the ways that World of Hyatt rewards its members is through Milestone Rewards, which can be remarkably valuable as you work your way up the status ladder.
In addition to Hyatt’s published status tiers of Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist, the program’s Milestone Rewards encourage incremental loyalty by offering perks in between status-earning levels.
Let’s take a closer look at World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards, including what’s offered at each tier and which reward(s) you might choose over otheres.
What Are World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards?
While technically separate from Hyatt’s elite status program, Milestone Rewards offer World of Hyatt members reasons to continue staying at hotels that fall under Hyatt’s umbrella.
Recall that members earn Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist status by staying 10, 30, and 60 nights in a calendar year, respectively. You can also earn status by earning 25,000, 50,000, or 100,000 base points, which would require $5,000 (all figures in USD), $10,000, or $20,000 of spending.
As you accumulate stays or base points throughout the year, you can further reap benefits from Milestone Rewards along the way.
Beginning at 20 nights, and up to a maximum of 150 nights, you’ll earn Milestone Rewards for each 10 nights that you stay. That means that you can earn up to 14 Milestone Rewards if you were to stay 150 nights in a year.
This way, Hyatt members are incentivized to keep staying with Hyatt, even if they don’t make it all the way to the next elite status tier.
For example, if you’ve already reached the Explorist status level after staying 30 nights, but won’t quite make it all the way to Globalist at 60 nights, you’ll still earn meaningful Milestone Rewards at 40 and 50 nights.
Similarly, if you’ve already reached the top-tier Globalist status with 60 nights but still complete stays, you’ll further receive Milestone Rewards every 10 nights, all the way up to 150 nights in a year.
How to Earn Milestone Rewards
Hyatt members can earn a qualifying night towards Milestone Rewards by staying at Hyatt properties, earning base points for paid stays at Hyatt hotels, or by spending money on either of the World of Hyatt Credit Cards by Chase.
With the World of Hyatt Credit Card by Chase, you earn two qualifying nights for every $5,000 (USD) spent on eligible purchases. Meanwhile, if you have the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card by Chase, you’ll earn five qualifying nights for every $10,000 (USD) spent on eligible purchases.
As mentioned, Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards aren’t just earned for reaching a certain number of nights stayed, but can also be obtained by earning base points. Recall that base points are earned at a rate of five base points per $1 (USD) of eligible spending.
The first Milestone Reward is reached after earning 35,000 base points, which means you’d have to spend at least $7,000 (USD) at Hyatt hotels in order to start earning Milestone Rewards this way.
While staying the maximum 150 eligible nights can earn you 14 Milestone Rewards, there are only five Milestone Rewards that can be reached by earning base points. The highest Milestone Reward you can earn with base points would require you to spend $20,000 (USD) at Hyatt hotels in order to hit 100,000 base points.
For most travellers, Milestone Rewards will be easiest to earn by staying the required nights, rather than by earning base points.
What Can You Earn with World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards?
Let’s take a look at all of the Milestone Rewards, as well as our picks for which is best to choose at the levels where a choice is given.
20 Nights or 35,000 Base Points: 2K Next Stay Award, 2 Club Access Awards, or $25 FIND Experience Credit
Upon earning 20 nights or 35,000 base points ($7,000 of eligible spending), you can choose between a 2K Next Stay Award, two Club Access Awards, or a $25 FIND Experience Credit.
A 2k Next Stay Award lets you earn 2,000 Bonus Points, which we’d value at $30 (USD), on your next stay at a Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption by Hyatt, or UrCove hotel.
Since you only earn points on stays at select brands, this reward is only valuable if you foresee yourself staying at any of the four brands. Hyatt Place is a ubiquitous midscale select-service brand, while Hyatt House is its extended-stay counterpart.
On the other hand, Club Access Awards are only valuable if you’re a non-Globalist member staying at Hyatt hotels that have a lounge. This is because unlimited lounge access is an ongoing benefit of reaching Hyatt’s highest Globalist status, and not all Hyatt hotels have lounges.
There have been some data points of Hyatt awarding a modest amount of points to members who have unused Club Access Awards that are about to expire. If you find yourself in this position, it may be worth your time to reach out to Hyatt.
If this trend continues, then Club Access Awards will be significantly more valuable.
As for Hyatt’s lounge footprint, there isn’t an exact formula for which hotels have lounges. Most Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatts have lounges, while some other Hyatt properties may as well. If you have Club Access Awards at your disposal, be sure to reach out to the hotel in advance to make sure you’ll be able to use them.
Fortunately, only one Club Access Award is required for your entire stay, up to a maximum of seven consecutive nights. If you have a longer stay, you’ll benefit from free food and drinks in the lounge, which can help to reduce costs on your trip.
However, note that Club Access Awards can’t be used for stays that were booked using a Hyatt Free Night Award.
If you don’t otherwise have a use for them, you can transfer Club Access Awards to friends or family.
Lastly, the $25 FIND Experience Credit may be used on Hyatt’s in-house activities platform, which boasts more than 500 experiences categorized into Culture & Community, Arts, Restoration, and Exploration.
With some experiences pricing within the $20–30 (USD) range, you’ll likely find something to use the credit on. However, keep in mind that this award is valued less than the 2,000 points booster you may choose above.
All the awards above expire on the last day of February two years after earning them, meaning that a Club Access Award earned in 2024 will last until February 28, 2026.
30 Nights or 50,000 Base Points: Free Night Award + 2K Next Stay Award, Two Club Access Awards, or $25 FIND Experience Credit
In addition to reaching Explorist status, members who stay 30 nights or earn 50,000 base points through spending $10,000 (USD) at Hyatt hotels receive one Category 1–4 Free Night Award, and can then choose a 2K Next Stay Award, two Club Access Awards, or a $25 FIND Experience Credit.
The Free Night Award can be immensely beneficial, as there are quite a few quality Hyatt properties at the Category 3 and 4 levels, including the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Hyatt Regency Toronto, Hyatt Regency Cartagena, Park Hyatt Siem Reap, and Grand Hyatt Melbourne.
Of course, you’ll want to redeem the Category 1–4 Free Night Award for a hotel at the highest award category that’d otherwise cost more if you were to book it with either points or cash. Note that the award can also be used for nights that fall under peak pricing rates.
In order to find all of Hyatt’s Category 3 and 4 hotels, you can search on Hyatt’s Explore Hotels page. On this page, you can filter by category, brand, and geographic region to find hotels that might work best for your travel plans.
You should also pay attention to your Category 1–4 Free Night Award’s expiry date, as they expire 180 days from the date on which they’re earned. You must redeem the Free Night Award for a stay with a check-out date before the expiration date.
If you don’t have any upcoming trips before your Free Night Award expires, Hyatt allows members to give Free Night Awards to other Hyatt members.
When it comes to choosing a Milestone Reward at this level, your best bet is likely the two Club Access Awards over the other two options.
40 Nights or 65,000 Base Points: Guest of Honor Award + 5,000 Points, Suite Upgrade Award, or $150 FIND Experience Credit
Upon earning 40 qualifying nights or 65,000 base points ($13,000 of eligible spending), you’ll automatically receive a Guest of Honor Award, and then you can choose 5,000 points, a Suite Upgrade Award, or a $150 FIND Experience Credit.
As part of a tranche of changes that took effect on January 1, 2024, Guest of Honor Awards, which afford Globalist in-hotel benefits to a booking, are now considered Milestone Rewards. Previously, Globalist members were allowed unlimited use of the benefit.
Since Explorist members who earn 40 qualifying nights receive a Guest of Honor Award, you can choose to use the benefit on a booking for yourself or your guest, in order to experience Globalist benefits.
Recall that Globalist benefits include:
- Complimentary breakfast
- Lounge access
- Room upgrades to standard suites
- 4pm late check-out
- Free parking
- Waived resort fees
As for your choice among the points, Suite Upgrade Award, and FIND experience credit, let’s take a look at them closely.
First off, since we value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents per point (USD), 5,000 Hyatt points is therefore equivalent to $75 (USD). You may potentially redeem 5,000 points for a Category 1 hotel at a higher value.
Meanwhile, Hyatt’s Suite Upgrade Awards can be extremely valuable instruments for locking in a desirable suite for an upcoming stay.
Even though you’re only awarded one Suite Upgrade Award at this level, you only need to use one to upgrade an entire stay of up to seven nights.
This is far better than Marriott Bonvoy’s Nightly Upgrade Awards, which require one to be used for each night of your stay.
Moreover, Hyatt’s Suite Upgrade Awards can be used to confirm an upgrade at the time of booking, compared to Marriott’s, which require you to wait until three days before the stay to make the request.
Using a Suite Upgrade Award could entitle you to an upgrade to a standard suite. Any upgrades to higher premium or specialty suite levels would be up to the discretion of the hotel, or some “suite-talking“.
As great as Suite Upgrade Awards can be, unfortunately they can only be used for bookings made with either cash or points, and can’t be combined with a booking made with a Free Night Award. You can transfer the Suite Upgrade Award certificate to a friend or family member if you don’t have a use for it.
Lastly, the $150 FIND Experiences credit for this level is substantially larger than the $25 offered at the lower milestones. However, there’s always the chance that you won’t find an experience that suits your travel plans, or a chance that the experience you’re looking into actually costs less when booked with another provider.
All that being said, the Suite Upgrade Award is likely the most valuable option for this milestone.
Note that, unlike the bonus points, the Suite Upgrade Award and the FIND Experiences credit expire on the last day of February two years after earning them, meaning that an award earned in 2024 will last until February 28, 2026.
50 Nights or 80,000 Base Points: 5,000 Bonus Points, Two Suite Upgrade Awards, or $150 FIND Experience Credit
Upon reaching 50 nights or 80,000 base points ($16,000 of eligible spending), you can choose to receive 5,000 points, two Suite Upgrade Awards, or a $150 FIND Experience Credit.
At this milestone, you’re likely better off choosing the two Suite Upgrade Awards; however, if you don’t tend to stay in hotels with lounges and don’t have anyone to transfer them to, consider the other two options.
We’d value 5,000 points at $75, so the $150 FIND Experience Credit may prove to be a more valuable option here.
60 Nights or 100,000 Base Points: One Category 1–7 Free Night Award + Two Guest of Honor Awards + Two Suite Upgrade Awards + My Hyatt Concierge
After reaching 60 nights or earning 100,000 base points ($20,000 of eligible spending), you’ll earn Hyatt’s highest Globalist status, and you’ll also be rewarded with a bevy of gifts.
Note that you don’t need to select anything at this level – you’ll receive everything automatically.
Similar to the Category 1–4 Free Night Award, the Category 1–7 Free Night Award has an expiration date of 180 days after being earned. To maximize its value, it should be reserved for the highest category redemption possible.
Hyatt’s award chart has eight hotel categories, so the ability to use this Free Night Award for a Category 7 hotel unlocks some of the best properties that Hyatt has to offer.
(The Category 1–7 Free Night Award can also be used to book an all-inclusive hotel or resort classified as Category A–D in Hyatt’s all-inclusive award chart.)
Again, you’ll want to search Hyatt’s Explore Hotels page, where you can find the best Category 7 hotel or a Category A–C all-inclusive hotel to work with your travel plans.
If you’re unable to use your Category 1–7 Free Night Award, you may gift it to another Hyatt member.
The two Suite Upgrade Awards at this level may potentially bring your total to five, meaning that you’ll now be able to enjoy five separate Hyatt stays in a suite.
Meanwhile, you can gift the two Guest of Honor Awards to friends and family, since as a Globalist member, you personally won’t have use for them anymore.
Lastly, My Hyatt Concierge can be a valuable tool, as you have your own dedicated concierge who can help you book future stays with a simple email.
They can also confirm suite upgrades for you, register you for any promotions, contact the property on your behalf regarding any special occasion you might be celebrating, or help resolve any disputes you may have.
70, 80, and 90 Nights: One Guest of Honor Award + 10,000 Points, One Suite Upgrade Award, or $300 FIND Experience Credit
After 60 nights, the next three Milestone Rewards can only be earned by staying nights at Hyatt hotels, rather than by earning base points through spending.
At the 70-, 80- and 90-night thresholds, members will get one transferable Guest of Honor Award, and can choose among 10,000 Hyatt points, one Suite Upgrade Award, or $300 FIND Experience Credit.
If you reach this stage, it means that you’re already a Hyatt Globalist, which comes with ongoing suite upgrades among its plethora of perks. Although Globalist suite upgrades aren’t guaranteed, they’re still given fairly frequently.
If you have a special upcoming stay for which you’re really hoping to get a suite, you can always set aside one of your five Suite Upgrade Awards that you could have earned from previous Milestone Rewards, rather than foregoing two of the other Milestone Rewards you can choose from at these levels.
While you can always choose the 10,000 points at each milestone (which we’d value at $150), you may also consider the $300 FIND Experience Credit, since you’ll find a substantially better selection of experiences for that much.
Your $300 credit, for instance, can get you private tours in the US and Europe
100 Nights: One Category 1–7 Free Night Award + 10,000 Bonus Points, One Suite Upgrade Award, or Miraval Extra Night Award
Upon reaching 100 nights, you’ll automatically receive another Category 1–7 Free Night Award (valid for 180 days), and can also choose 10,000 points, a Suite Upgrade Award, or a Miraval Extra Night Award.
The Miraval Extra Night Award gives you an extra night at a luxurious Miraval property when you book at least one night using cash, cash and points, or a Free Night Award. You can also transfer it to another member.
Currently, there are only four Miraval properties: Berkshires, Austin, Arizona, and the Red Sea. Therefore, you might be hard-pressed to find a use for this award, unless you’d already planned to stay at one of these properties.
But if you’re planning to stay at one of the few Miraval locations, remember that you can use more than one Miraval Extra Night Award, long as you’re paying for one night per one award used, whether with cash, cash and points, or Free Night Awards.
Also, note that Miraval Extra Night Awards expire 180 days after issuance, and that they can’t be used in conjunction with a Suite Upgrade Award.
If you can make use of the Miraval Extra Night Award, it could be quite valuable; otherwise, choosing 10,000 points is likely the best bet.
110, 120, 130, and 140 Nights: One Guest of Honor Award + 10,000 Bonus Points, One Suite Upgrade Award, or Miraval Extra Night Award
As a part of the changes that took effect on January 1, 2024, you may now receive a Milestone Reward at each of 110, 120, 130, and 140 nights.
At each threshold, you’ll earn a transferable Guest of Honor Award, and can choose between 10,000 points, a Suite Upgrade Award, or a Miraval Extra Night Award.
Again, since you’re likely getting upgrades as part of your Globalist benefits and you might be hard-pressed to use a Miraval Extra Night Award, you might be better off choosing 10,000 Bonus Points, which we value at $150 (USD).
150 Nights: One Ultimate Free Night Award + 10,000 Bonus Points, One Suite Upgrade Award, or Miraval Extra Night Award
A fitting reward for a true Hyatt loyalist, the highly coveted Ultimate Free Night Award may be used at any participating Category 1–8 hotel, Category A–F all-inclusive resort, or Miraval resort.
It goes without saying that it opens up even the most sought-after properties in the World of Hyatt portfolio, such as the Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono and the Park Hyatt Kyoto.
Likewise, the benefit may unlock another stay at Miraval properties. As mentioned, you can use a Free Night Award in conjunction with a Miraval Extra Night Award, so you can potentially get two nights for free at this level.
Like other Free Night Awards, the Ultimate Free Night Award is transferable, and expires after 180 days of issuance. Your check-out date must fall within the 180 days after it’s earned.
Conclusion
World of Hyatt is perhaps the strongest loyalty program out of all the major hotel chains, thanks in part to its valuable Milestone Rewards.
Milestone Rewards incentivize members to continue staying at Hyatt properties while they’re working their way from one elite status to another, and provide even more rewards even after achieving the highest Globalist status.
Surely, it’s a feature that Marriott and Hilton should incorporate into their own programs as well – but for now, this is yet another reason why loyalty to Hyatt can pay off handsomely.