Good loyalty programs will have milestones. World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards is a perfect example of rewarding continuing guests, no matter what elite status they have. You can earn free nights, suite upgrades, bonus points, club access, and gift cards. Most will be given once you reach the milestone and then some might be a choice award.
In this article, I will go over Milestone Rewards and how to reach them while explaining each one. Then I will go over what happens when you reach the milestones and how to select choice awards.
Table of Contents
What are Hyatt Milestone Rewards?
Each year Hyatt has ten milestones you can reach called Milestone Rewards. Some milestones won’t give you a choice for the award, but Hyatt is one of the easiest programs that allows you to hit milestones and get rewarded.
Some of the milestones will offer you bonus points, suite upgrades, a free night award, a gift card, or club lounge access awards. Each one has a different use case, but some of the choice awards can be really valuable.
I explain more down below.
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How to reach Hyatt Milestone Rewards
Out of the ten Hyatt Milestone Rewards, nine Hyatt Milestone Rewards are based on the number of elite nights or base points you earn within a calendar year. One Milestone Reward is only based on the number of different brands you have tried.
The ten Milestone Rewards:
- Stay at five different brands
- 20 elite nights or 35,000 base points
- 30 elite nights or 50,000 base points
- 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points
- 50 elite nights or 80,000 base points
- 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points
- 70 elite nights
- 80 elite nights
- 90 elite nights
- 100 elite nights
You might have noticed that 30 nights or 50,000 base points is Explorist status. While 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points is Globalist status.
Any elite nights and base points earned between January 1st and December 31st will count towards the milestones that require elite nights or base points. For the five brands, they count any brands you have stayed at since March 1, 2017.
Ways to gain elite nights
The best way to gain elite nights or base points is by staying at Hyatt properties. Stay one night in a Hyatt property on cash or points, and you will earn an elite night for each night you actually stay at the property.
Base points are based on the cash you have spent at the property. So, spend $1 at any Hyatt or SLH property and you will have 5 base points. Spend $1 on any FIND experience and you will have 10 base points. (Elite bonus points do not count towards base points.)
If you want elite night short cuts, you could hold the World of Hyatt credit card.
World of Hyatt Chase Card
- Complimentary Hyatt Discoverist status
- Receive 5 qualifying night credits toward your next tier status every year
- Earn 2 additional qualifying night credits toward your next tier status every time you spend $5,000 on your card
- Anniversary free night award valued up to category 4 (second free night certificate after spending $15,000 within the anniversary year)
- 4X spent with your card at Hyatt hotels, including participating restaurants and spas
- 2X on local transit and commuting, including taxis, mass transit, tolls, and ride-share services
- 2X at restaurants, cafes and coffee shops
- 2X on airline tickets purchased directly from the airline
- 2X spent on fitness club and gym memberships
- $95 annual fee
For Hyatt lovers, the World of Hyatt Chase Card is for you. By holding the card, you get automatic Hyatt Discoverist status and five qualifying night credits. Then you have the option to gain two additional qualifying night credits every $5,000 you spend. So, you could spend $140,000 a year on this card to gain Globalist status and hit five milestones without ever stepping foot into a Hyatt.
Plus, with the card, you also receive an anniversary free night certificate a year valued up to a category 4 property. That means you could use the free night certificate at the Park Hyatt Istanbul and earn an elite night from your stay using the certificate.
Hyatt Milestone Rewards
As there are ten Hyatt Milestone Rewards, you have many opportunities to gain many benefits without much effort, even low tier elites have opportunities for reaching a few milestones.
The Milestone Rewards are:
| Activity | Milestone Rewards or Tier Status |
|---|---|
| Stay at five different Hyatt brands and pay an eligible rate after March 1, 2017 | Free night award in a Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort, Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotel, or M life Rewards destination |
| Stay 20 qualifying nights or earn 35,000 Base Points in a calendar year | Two club lounge access awards |
| Stay 30 qualifying nights or earn 50,000 Base Points in a calendar year | Free night award in a Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort, Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotel, or M life Rewards destination & Two club lounge access awards |
| Stay 40 qualifying nights or earn 65,000 Base Points in a calendar year | Your choice of 5,000 Bonus Points, a $100 Hyatt Gift Card or save 10,000 points on a FIND experience. |
| Stay 50 qualifying nights or earn 80,000 Base Points in a calendar year | Two suite upgrade awards |
| Stay 60 qualifying nights or earn 100,000 Base Points in a calendar year | Stay 60 qualifying nights or earn 100,000 Base Points in a calendar year & Two suite upgrade awards & Access to My Hyatt Concierge agent for reservations and personalized service |
| Stay 70 qualifying nights in a calendar year | Your choice of either 10,000 Bonus Points or a suite upgrade award |
| Stay 80 qualifying nights in a calendar year | Your choice of either 10,000 Bonus Points or a suite upgrade award |
| Stay 90 qualifying nights in a calendar year | Your choice of either 10,000 Bonus Points or a suite upgrade award |
| Stay 100 qualifying nights in a calendar year | Your choice of either 10,000 Bonus Points or a suite upgrade award |
As you can see, some milestones are choice awards. That means you can only pick one award out of several options. I explain more about each Milestone Reward under “which Hyatt Milestone Rewards is the best” section.
Which Hyatt Milestone Rewards are the best?
As there are a total of eight awards in the Milestone Rewards, some might hold greater value over others.
Category 1-4 free night award
This Milestone Reward is given when you stay at five different brands. It’s also given at 30 elite nights or 50,000 base points.
As this Milestone Reward is not a choice award, you automatically get this category 1-4 free night award when reaching either of these milestones.
This award is super easy to use as Hyatt has some great category 4 properties in the world. Some category 4 properties will usually be $300+ a night. One great use would be the Park Hyatt Istanbul as it’s a category 4.
Category 1-7 free night award
This Milestone Reward is given when you reach 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points.
Similar to the category 1-4 free night award, you will automatically receive this award when you reach the milestone. You can check out our list of Hyatt category 7 properties here.
You could use this free night award at any Hyatt branded property in the world. That means you could use it at the Park Hyatt Maldives or Ventana Big Sur, an Alila Resort, both of which can go be $1000+ a night.
Suite upgrade awards
This Milestone Reward is given when you reach 50 elite nights or 80,000 base points and 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points. Then it’s a choice award at 70 elite nights, 80 elite nights, 90 elite nights, and 100 elite nights.
Suite upgrade awards can be super valuable for confirming suites during peak travel seasons.
What makes Hyatt suite upgrade awards better than Marriott Suite Night Awards is the fact that Hyatt suite upgrade awards are confirmable at the time you apply the suite upgrade award.
Each suite upgrade award works for stays up to seven consecutive nights for a standard suite. You can sometimes apply two suite upgrade awards for an upgrade to a premium suite. (When searching for available rooms, suites will be labeled as standard or premium suite.)
I think suite upgrade awards can be super valuable when it’s given to you automatically, but when it’s part of the choice award I would pick bonus points over the suite upgrade award. It’s because complimentary suite upgrades are easy to come by during low and mid travel seasons.
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Club lounge access awards
This Milestone Reward is given when you reach 20 elite nights or 50,000 base points and 30 elite nights or 50,000 base points.
Again, club lounge access Milestone Reward is not a choice award, so when you reached one or both of the milestones, you will receive two club lounge access awards.
Club lounge access allows you to access the lounge for you or other rooms on your reservation. So, for Discoverist and Explorist elites, club lounge access can be super handy as both those status tiers don’t receive complimentary club lounge access.
For Globalists, this award is harder to use as Globalists receive complimentary club lounge access. Globalists could use this award for other rooms on their reservation. Sadly, you cannot use it for other people’s reservations.
Each club lounge access award works for stays up to seven consecutive nights.
I think these can be super valuable for lower-tier elites or Globalists that have multiple rooms wanting to have everyone in their party to access to the club lounge.
Bonus points
This Milestone Reward is a choice award when you reach 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points, 70 elite nights, 80 elite nights, 90 elite nights, and 100 elite nights.
Out of all of Hyatt’s choice awards, this is by far the best choice. Points are easy to use at Hyatt properties. No matter if the bonus points are 5,000 points or 10,000 points, you can easily find a free night at a category 1 or 2 property. Heck, you can find a category 1 Park Hyatt in Chennai, India.
Bonus points are certainly the best and easiest choice award. Other choice awards like the Hyatt Gift Card and FIND experience are much harder to use as they have limited use cases.
$100 Hyatt Gift Card
This Milestone Reward is a choice award when you reach 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points.
You might have thought the $100 Hyatt Gift Card would be a good choice award, but in reality, the gift card is restricted to use at certain properties.
You can find the list of participating properties here. The gift card is great if you want to use them within North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, but you cannot use it at all outside of those regions. So, you cannot use the gift card in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, or South America.
I think the Hyatt Gift Card should be global, similar to Marriott Gift Cards, to make them more valuable. However, if you are always traveling at one of these participating properties, the gift card could be a good choice.
Save 10,000 points on a FIND experience
This Milestone Reward is a choice award when you reach 40 elite nights or 65,000 base points.
FIND is a recently introduced experience program, similar to Marriott Moments. So, saving 10,000 points on a FIND experience is certainly a big savings.
Some experiences are worthwhile, like a half-day spa experience for multiple people, helicopter rides, private transfers, etc. Some of them, in fact, cost $500+ for multiple people for less than 10,000 points.
If you found a FIND experience you want to do, this choice award could be very valuable. However, it’s not in every city.
Access to My Hyatt Concierge agent
This Milestone Reward is given when you reach 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points.
Think of My Hyatt Concierge as a Marriott Ambassador, but less personable. My Hyatt Concierge is known to be unresponsive or not proactive. Sometimes the My Hyatt Concierge can only do basic things like change reservations. So, when you compare Marriott Ambassador and My Hyatt Concierge, My Concierge would be less useful.
This is more like a gimmick in my eyes. I found no use of My Hyatt Concierge.
When do I receive or select Hyatt Milestone Rewards choice award?
Once you reach one of the milestones, you will automatically get an email confirming you reached the Milestone Reward with your award. If it’s a choice award, you can select it up to 90 days after you received the milestone email.
So, make sure you select the choice award 90 days or less from the email that was sent.
Where do I select my Hyatt Milestone Rewards choice award?
Once you reached a Hyatt Milestone Reward, you will get an email. For choice awards, you have to select your award via the link given in the email.
So, all communication and the selection link will be in the email sent to you.
Final word
Hyatt Milestone Rewards are one my favorite thing about Hyatt.
I love how many milestones there are, especially beyond their top tier elite status. It’s easy to rack up free nights or suite upgrades when staying frequently, but also easy for less frequent travelers to gain access to club lounges and free nights.
I just hope other programs (looking at you Marriott) adds more milestones.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
