2023 Pathway to Globalist

Author: Matthew December 13, 2023

Hyatt Globalist Status

The Hyatt hotel chain has a loyalty track that provides a lot of value; from free breakfast to even free whole nights at expensive hotels. There are four tiers; Member, Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist. At the top, Globalist status provides the most perks and benefits for Hyatt loyalists. 

*Note, Hyatt has updated the list of awards and perks for 2024. 

Globalist Perks

• Free breakfast on all hotel stays - while the lower hotel tiers offer an already complimentary continental breakfast, even the higher end Park Hyatts and such,  will provide free breakfast at their lounge or restaurant. 

• Club lounge access - some Hyatts have lounges where they provide free drinks and snacks throughout the day or during happy hour. Globalists get automatic access to the lounge. 

• Free parking on award stays - while using points, you get free valet or self-parking  - as long as the parking garage/lot is owned by the hotel.

• 4pm late checkout - this is a great benefit for staying almost another day in your destination. 

• Complimentary upgrade to suites - if there is availability at check-in, you can get upgraded to a higher-tier room. 

Awards Along the Way

In addition to the perks you get at each status, by climbing the loyalty track, you also gain several awards along the way. 

• Club Lounge Access Awards - Allow you to access the Hyatt lounges when available 

• Free Night Award - Free night stay at any of Hyatt's hotels, as long as it fits the category stated (usually there are Category 1-4 Free Night Awards and Category 1-7)

• Bonus Points - Additional Hyatt points to add to your arsenal 

• Suite Upgrade Awards - Apply these to reservation to get an automatic suite upgrade

• My Hyatt Concierge - a personal concierge to help with bookings 

• Gift cards/experience credit - $100 Hyatt gift card or $150 FIND experience credit 

How I Achieved Globalist Status

To achieve Globalist status in a year, one needs to either stay 60 nights at Hyatt hotels, spend $20,000 , or host 20 meetings. For the average person, they're going to go the nights stayed route. So in one year, I was able to "stay" at 60 nights worth of Hyatts, granting me Globalist status for the remainder of 2023, all of 2024, and through February 2025.  I'm going to breakdown the two ways I achieved the 60 night benchmark despite only staying in hotels for 30 nights. 

Nights Stayed

If you check out my other post on free hotel stays, you can see that I achieved around 37 Hyatt nights in 2023. To quickly summarize here; I stayed at 14 different hotels, totaling up to 28 nights at hotels stayed from January to September.  I achieved Globalist status mid-September, so my following stays did not contribute to achieving the status. So, with only half of my journey completed, how did I get the rest of my required 32 nights? 

Credit Card Perks and Spend

There are two Hyatt credit cards that each provide different perks, and I had gotten both specifically to help me achieve Globalist status. 

Personal Hyatt Credit Card

This card automatically provides 5 nights towards status at the beginning of the year. Additionally, every $5k spent on the card gives an addition two nights towards status. I aim to hit this reward 3 times a year, for a total of $15k/year so I also get a Category 1-4 Free Night Award to use on future trips. So with the personal card I received 11 nights towards status, bringing the total up to 39. 

Business Hyatt Credit Card

Unlike the personal version, the business card does not give any automatic nights towards status. However, the spend for nights earns at a much better ate of 5 qualifying nights towards status for every $10k spent. This means for the $50k I put on the card this year, I received 25 nights, bringing my total to 64 nights, past the 60-night threshold for Globalist.  At the $50k spend threshold, I also received 10% back on points on all my stays for the remainder of the year, which helps with more of my point bookings. 

Summary Breakout