Ms. TPOL’s Chase stay certificate was expiring this week (see Don’t Let Your Chase Hyatt Cert Expire). With nowhere to go, I booked a stay at the Hyatt Grand Reserve Puerto Rico, a resort located down the street from my home (see Hyatt Grand Reserve Puerto Rico: Good But Grand?). The reason her certificate almost lapsed is that I want to make the most of my Globalist status while I have it (see Becoming Hyatt Globalist Again: TPOL’s Masterpiece Strategy). When I checked into the hotel, I gave them my Globalist number in the hopes that they might extend some of the perks. They did not. While I didn’t care if I received a room upgrade, I thought that asking for free breakfast wouldn’t be a big deal. The next day when they said no, I decided to take my ball and go home, mooting the point as to whether I would have been granted late check-out.
I’m not mad at the hotel. They are following Hyatt’s rules. I am annoyed with Hyatt for having this bad policy. It makes no sense that I can transfer points from Ms. TPOL’s account and book a room in my name and receive Globalist perks, but I can’t transfer the cert to my name and receive the same. I had two options: 1) See the world from a peasant Discoverist point of view for one night. 2) Let the e-cert expire. Who is going to do the second? What’s also vexing is that I won’t receive a credit for the stay. Next year I won’t have this problem as neither of us will have status.
I’m sure there is some annoying person out there that will agree with Hyatt. So have at it in the comments section if you do.
Here’s a helpful tip for next time. Book the stay in your wife’s name, and then have her call Hyatt. The key phrase is that she wants to gift the certificate to you, not add your name to her reservation. Make sure she gives the rep your Hyatt number and have them add it to the stay. As long as they do that, you will be able to see the reservation under your account, and it will vanish from her account. I just did this for a stay at the Hyatt Regency MCO airport. I received the qualifying night and free breakfast in the restaurant due to being a Globalist. Hope you find this information helpful.
That is helpful. They said she could gift it when I asked about it expiring. Then the hotel said I would still receive the globalist perks. Hmm maybe I was wrong and this falls on the hotel. More investigating to be done.
Please report back!
My chase hyatt cert expired last year and they refused to extend it. During covid lockdowns. I was going to burn it on a local hyatt that i had no use for but they charge a parking fee. So i let the cert go waste.
@ Nate — Wow, first I have heard of someone doing this
Sweet if it can be easily duplicated!
Bonvoyed!!!
I detest that saying. Point taken nonetheless
The only thing you have to be careful about is that some reps need to be coached in terms of adding the globalist number. But besides that, it will definitely work, as I have done it multiple times. Any night credit is helpful in trying to requalify for Globalist.
Gifting works as long as the agent knows how to make the reservation correctly, we have done it multiple times. The important thing is if you see the reservation under your account for upcoming stays then the reservation was made correctly and you will receive all your globalist benefits. I have been successful making these reservations through the normal reservation line and through the concierge. It does always have to be made over the phone though by the person who has the certificate.
Worth writing this post for this info.
Late to the party but I also can confirm I’ve gifted multiple certs to my wife who is globalist and they showed up in her account and all benefits were as stated. Most of the globalist agents have no problem doing this although I had to HUCA on one occasion. It should be noted that if you then cancel the reservation for the gifted cert it becomes a headache and vanishes into thin air from what i read from others.
Just to add on to the other comments: Hyatt allows you to “gift” these certificates to another member; this isn’t any sort of exception, but rather a feature of the program very specifically spelled out in the terms (see the World of Hyatt terms, Appendix B, II-a-13 “Gifting an Award”).
A few tips from experience: This has to be booked over the phone by the member gifting the award. The Hyatt phrase is indeed “Gifting an Award”, and every agent I’ve dealt with has understood what that meant. The phone tree is a little confusing, but I think it ends up being the World of Hyatt team that makes the reservation rather than the general reservations agents. The stay is booked in the recipient’s name, and you can (and should) provide the recipient’s Hyatt number as part of the process of making the reservation on the phone. If everything is done correctly, the reservation will then show up in the recipient’s account, and the recipient will get their elite benefits and the elite credit. As far as the property will be concerned, the reservation is entirely in the recipient’s name.
(And one caution on one of the earlier comments: I would not book anything in your wife’s name first and then try to gift the reservation, that just adds more work for the phone agent. Just start from the beginning with the phone agent telling them you want to gift an award.)