Guest of Honor is a benefit available exclusively to World of Hyatt Globalist members, and it’s one of my favorite perks offered by any hotel loyalty program. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at how Guest of Honor works, and what makes it so useful.
In this post:
What is World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor benefit?
Hyatt introduced the Guest of Honor benefit in 2015, back when the loyalty program was called Hyatt Gold Passport (rather than the current name, World of Hyatt).
The idea is simple — with Guest of Honor, World of Hyatt Globalist members are able to extend their elite perks to friends and families on award stays booked out of the Globalist member’s account. I love the concept behind this.
As anyone who spends a lot of time on the road knows, there are some stays that matter more to us than others. For most of us, the stays that matter most are those where we’re traveling with loved ones. Or heck, sometimes I care more about trips that my family takes where I’m not even there, since I want to be sure they have a great time.
With Guest of Honor, you can extend virtually all of your elite benefits to anyone you choose, as long as the points or free night certificate come out of your account.
There are some things to be aware of when it comes to this perk:
- The Guest of Honor benefit is only available on free night stays (either outright free night bookings or stays booked with free night certificates), so it doesn’t apply on cash bookings or on Points + Cash bookings
- To take advantage of the Guest of Honor benefit, you need to book by phone, and inform the World of Hyatt representative that you’re looking to make a Guest of Honor booking
- All Globalist benefits apply on these stays, including suite upgrades subject to availability, complimentary breakfast, 4PM late check-out, waived resort fees, free parking, and more
- While World of Hyatt awards elite credits for award stays, Guest of Honor elite credits would go to the account of the person actually staying, rather than the World of Hyatt Globalist member who is making the booking
World of Hyatt Guest of Honor FAQs
The above are the very basics of Guest of Honor, though let’s go through some of the most frequently asked questions about this benefit. In no particular order…
Can you apply Globalist suite upgrades to Guest of Honor bookings?
Globalist members can earn suite upgrade awards through the Milestone Rewards program. Each of these can be used to confirm a suite upgrade at the time of booking for a single stay of up to seven nights.
You can’t apply suite upgrade awards to a Guest of Honor booking, though the booking is still eligible for a space available suite upgrade at check-in.
Can free night certificates be used to make a Guest of Honor booking?
They sure can! For example, the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) offers an anniversary free night certificate valid at Category 1-4 hotels, and you can earn a second one if you spend $15,000 on the card in a cardmember year.
Both outright points bookings as well as certificate bookings are eligible for Guest of Honor benefits. So if you can’t use one of these certificates yourself, you can gift a loved one or friend a getaway with your benefits.
Do you have to stay in conjunction with the guest?
You can use the Guest of Honor benefit either in conjunction with a stay you’re making (in other words, if you want to book a second room for family and friends), or you can use it to book someone independently for a stay they’re making without you.
Can you use the Guest of Honor benefit for multiple rooms?
Yep, you could book more than one room at the same hotel at the same time with Guest of Honor benefits, assuming you have the points.
Can you use a Guest of Honor booking on a paid stay?
Nope, Guest of Honor bookings only apply on free night redemptions. They don’t work on paid stays, or on Points + Cash stays.
Can a Globalist member apply Guest of Honor benefits to a stay not booked out of their account?
Nope, a Globalist member can only gift you a Guest of Honor booking if the points are coming out of the Globalist member’s account. A Globalist member can’t just call Hyatt and add benefits to a stay booked out of your own account.
Are any hotels excluded for Guest of Honor bookings?
Guest of Honor bookings are valid at Hyatt managed properties. This excludes select partner hotels, like Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties, as well as MGM Las Vegas properties.
Maximizing the World of Hyatt Guest of Honor benefit
There are a few strategies you can use to maximize the Guest of Honor benefit, so let’s go over those.
Earn Globalist status as easily as possible
The first step to being able to use the Guest of Honor benefit is to actually earn Globalist status. Globalist status ordinarily requires 60 elite qualifying nights in a year.
Obviously you can earn those through actual hotel stays, though you can also earn elite nights through Hyatt’s co-branded credit cards, including the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review):
- Just for having the World of Hyatt Credit Card, you receive five elite nights toward status annually, plus you can earn an additional two elite nights for every $5,000 you spend on your card
- Meanwhile the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers five elite nights for every $10,000 spent on the card in a calendar year
In reality, I don’t recommend spending your way all the way to Globalist status, but rather would recommend doing so through a combination of credit card spending and actual stays. After all, what’s the point of Globalist status if you never actually stay?
Combine points between accounts
World of Hyatt lets you combine points between accounts at no cost. There are some catches, though:
- You have to fill out a points combining request form
- A World of Hyatt member can only take part in a points combining request activity once every 30 days (this includes gifting or receiving points)
- You can only combine points “in order to have a sufficient number of points to redeem a particular award”
The benefit here is that you could transfer World of Hyatt points to a Globalist member who is a friend or family member, and they could make a Guest of Honor booking for you.
However, that’s only possible if the Globalist member doesn’t have enough points in their account to book that on their own (since you can only transfer in order to have sufficient points to redeem for a particular award).
There’s nothing prohibiting this kind of activity, though personally, I wouldn’t make a habit of it for all your friends and family. In other words, Hyatt might take issue with this if you start making tons of bookings for other people since that’s not within the spirit of this.
Transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards
One of the best complements to having status with Hyatt is the ability to transfer points to World of Hyatt from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Many of us use Ultimate Rewards cards for our everyday spending, so I think it’s a great asset to be able to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points into a World of Hyatt account where you have status. Then you can redeem for yourself, or for friends and family.
- Earn 4x Points at Hyatt Properties
- Free Night Every Year
- Complimentary Discoverist Status
- $95
- Earn 4x Points at Hyatt Properties
- Complimentary Discoverist Status
- Gift Discoverist Status up to 5 Employees
- $199
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel purchases
- $95
- 3x points on Travel after the $300 Annual Travel Credit
- 3x points on Dining
- $300 Travel Credit
- $550
- Earn 3x points on travel
- Earn 3x points on shipping purchases
- Cell Phone Protection
- $95
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases
- Car Rental Coverage
- Extended Warranty Protection
- $0
- Earn 5% Cash Back at office supply stores
- Earn 5% Cash Back on internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines
- Car Rental Coverage
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
Guest of Honor bookings aren’t always a good deal
I just want to acknowledge that Guest of Honor bookings aren’t always a good deal. Keep in mind that these are only valid on free night redemptions, and those redemptions don’t always represent a great deal, especially at hotels that are highly seasonal.
Sometimes you can get outsized value from your points, like if you’re redeeming at the Alila Ventana Big Sur just about any time of year. This hotel can be booked for 30,000-40,000 points per night, while paid rates are consistently well over $1,000 per night.
Meanwhile redeeming 20,000 per night at the Grand Hyatt Seattle in winter, when the paid rate would be about $175, is a significantly worse deal.
With a Guest of Honor booking you’d not only want to compare the cash cost to the cost in points, but also factor in how much you value the benefits. In some cases the value of the benefits may be considerable, like if you value parking, lounge access, breakfast, etc. While at other properties the benefits might not be as valuable.
Bottom line
World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor feature is one of my favorite perks offered by any loyalty program. While I don’t use it all that often, I love the idea of being able to redeem my points for friends and family, and have them be treated the same way I’d be treated when staying at Hyatts. To me that’s the ultimate reward for loyalty.
It also makes me feel more loyal to Hyatt, and want to requalify for Globalist status. Then again, the program in general is doing an incredible job engaging members, and that goes way beyond this perk.
Have you ever used World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor benefit? What was your experience like?
Does anybody know if an existing award reservation can be changed to a GOH reservation?
Maybe through the concierge?
I did 2 Guest of Honor booking with Points+Cash rates. Both were done last year. When was the Points+Cash start not becoming an option for this?
Ben, I'm curious if you have any insights into whether GoH bookings, made while a Globalist but for a time in the future when you will no longer be Globalist, is officially recognized and accepted by Hyatt.
Anecdotally it seems to be accepted - based on a booking (but not yet traveled) that I made, as well as some preliminary research on flyertalk. But I'm interested in hearing your experience.
Yes! Can confirm this little trick works ;)
One issue with GOH is that hotels don't always know about it. I had to spend 30 minutes trying to convince the Hyatt Regency Casablanca that this program existed and got me free breakfast
WOH is, for me, the best program for elite recognition, and neither Marriot nor Hilton come close.
The Guest of Honor program is but one of the exceptional perks that have kept me loyal to Hyatt over the years, even though I lost Globalist status a few years ago. I just wish Hyatt had a bigger global footprint.
HH is, for me, the best program for elite recognition, and neither Marriot nor Hyatt come close ;-)
Guest of Honor is unquestionably the second BIGGEST perk in hotel loyalty.
#1 of course is 4 advance confirmable TSUs for up to 7 nights apiece.
Other far lesser programs just give away their (meager) top tier benefits for basically free w/ a CC.
Sure, except that I can save more points with the 5th award night free perk than a Globalist would with their highly restricted GoH booking.
TSUs are a thing of the past. Global automated upgrades are the future because properties cannot opt out of offering them!
Then again I am addressing the village idiot.
Ah yes, DCS - the Laughingstock Of All Travel Blogs.
There are literally zero restrictions with GOH bookings - seems like someone might be jealous of the benefit they will never be able to gift!
I'm sure only in your mind are the Hilton upgrades the best thing ever - I would like to see ONE, just ONE other Hilton person post about how amazing these are & how all they do is see the inside of suites on their stays.
(Crickets are chirping...)
I won't descend with you into your rabbit hole, especially after I just got upgraded for 4 nights this very week to a King Corner Premium Suite at Embassy Suites Chicago Magnificent Mile, an all-suites property where suite upgrades are not even a perk...
I can only speak for myself.
I am done here.
Wow - DCS now slumming it, it seems! So more for the "INCOMPARABLE" bastion of luxury that is the LondonHouse.
Per a basic Google Travel search for this week at your hotel, price per night:
- base level suite - $241
- your "Premium Suite, w/sofa bed, Corner" - $266
I think the OMAAT readers are truly speechless at Hilton's level of generosity here - a $25 upgrade is truly above and beyond.
Nailing it once again, UA.
Last time he was here trying to make a big deal out of his Newark Airport Hilton upgrade, and I did some quick research... I reached the same conclusion... cheap upgrades in rundown properties are not the way of the future.
I will concur that between 5th night free and GOH, the former is the clear winner. But indeed I value my 4 suite upgrades over 5th night free.
...Nailing it once again, UA.
Last time he was here trying to make a big deal out of his Newark Airport Hilton upgrade, and I did some quick research... I reached the same conclusion... cheap upgrades in rundown properties are not the way of the future.
I will concur that between 5th night free and GOH, the former is the clear winner. But indeed I value my 4 suite upgrades over 5th night free.
As far as hotels opting out of automated upgrades, I doubt they don't have their wiggle room, as a recent visit to a W.A specified Diamonds would receive only a 1 cat upgrade.
A 5th night free is a "nice" benefit - however it is definitely not THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT IN ALL OF LOYALTY CASE CLOSED. Surely I'm not the only one who doesn't travel in perfectly optimized 5-night increment blocks (and am far more likely to hit a couple cities on a trip and stay in 2-3 night increments). The full WOH Globalist benefit package IMO is far, far better - case closed :)
Indeed.
If Hyatt offered the same benefit, then based on my stay history, over the course of 10 years of loyalty, I'd have saved enough points for 6 nights at a Cat 8 (factoring one of those would be free).
Nice, to be sure, but not as valuable as the 2 dozen+ pre-confirmed upgrades I've been able to apply.
"Per a basic Google Travel search for this week at your hotel, price per night:
- base level suite - $241
- your "Premium Suite, w/sofa bed, Corner" - $266"
I cannot stop laughing.
Somebody's credibility just got decimated here. I'd retreat in shame and never in this forum again.
I love this benefit and used it many times over the years. A great way to share the globalist benefit with a friend or family who are also into points and miles game and this is why I go out of my way to earn globalist status every year (since 2017).
back then, year 2018 or so, you could apply a suite upgrade on a guest of honor reservation before they took that away....
I love this benefit and used it many times over the years. A great way to share the globalist benefit with a friend or family who are also into points and miles game and this is why I go out of my way to earn globalist status every year (since 2017).
back then, year 2018 or so, you could apply a suite upgrade on a guest of honor reservation before they took that away. I was able to confirm a swimup suite at Andaz Maui for a friend's family of 4. their breakfast bill was like $170 each morning but all taken care of. It was booked their points transfered to me afterward but they've got a huge value out of it.
Also one time, I had a family member traveling with me but had a couple of free night certificates. I used those for my stay (called gifting free nights) and then used my free night certificates to book their stay under guest of honor benefit.
This maybe anecdotal and ymmv but I was able to book a guest of honor booking for a friend via chat and didn't have to call in. The booking was easy and the email my friend received it had guest of honor in the rate notes. The stay was at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts and they received free breakfast, suite upgrade etc.