How Does the World of Hyatt Visitor of Honor Profit Work?

Amongst the major hotel loyalty programs, World of Hyatt is renowned for the generous benefits it offers to elite members.

Guests with the program’s top-tier Globalist status enjoy a wide range of perks, such as waived resort fees, suite upgrades, free breakfast, and lounge access, amongst others.

Another unique perk afforded to Globalists is Guest of Honor, through which you can share your in-hotel benefits with a guest who has been gifted a stay on your behalf.

What Is World of Hyatt Guest of Honor?

The Guest of Honor benefit is offered exclusively to World of Hyatt Globalist members.

Recall that Globalist status is the highest tier within Hyatt’s status program, and is earned by accruing 60 nights, 100,000 base points, or 20 events to your account each year.

The Guest of Honor benefit lets you book an award hotel stay for anyone of your choice, and in turn, your guest will enjoy Globalist benefits during their stay.

The Globalist benefits you’ll get to share with your Guest of Honor include:

• Complimentary breakfast
• Lounge access
• Room upgrades to standard suites
• 4pm late check-out
• Free parking
• Waived resort fees

With the Guest of Honor benefit, you can generously gift family and friends with a luxurious experience they might not otherwise receive without achieving status on their own.

Indeed, what makes this program particularly unique is that no other hotel loyalty program offers anything similar. Some people may resort to the “second guest trick” to share their benefits with a trusted friend or family member on an award stay; however, it’s not guaranteed to work out.

Likewise, earning Globalist status is no small feat, especially for infrequent travellers. Therefore, by booking someone through the Guest of Honor program, you’re allowing them to temporarily bypass elite status requirements, and enjoy a taste of what you’ve come to enjoy with your World of Hyatt status.

How Does the World of Hyatt Guest of Honor Benefit Work?

To take advantage of the Guest of Honor benefit, the Globalist member must use World of Hyatt points or Free Night Awards from their own account to make the booking for someone else.

However, the booking itself has to be done over the phone, by emailing your concierge contact, or through X (previously known as Twitter).

All you’ll need to provide is the name of the guest, the hotel you wish to book, and the dates of the stay. You may also have to provide your guest’s World of Hyatt account number.

If the person you’re booking for doesn’t have a World of Hyatt account, they may have to create one.

Note that if your guest’s World of Hyatt account is attached to the booking, they’ll be credited with qualifying nights from the stay, and the host Globalist member won’t receive any qualifying nights.

Once the booking is complete, your guest can enjoy an elevated stay on your behalf, and there aren’t any further steps to take.

While the Guest of Honor booking process is fairly straightforward, there are a few rules you’ll need to keep in mind.

First, Suite Upgrade Awards aren’t eligible for Guest of Honor bookings; however, your guest will still be eligible for a suite upgrade, subject to availability at check-in, as one of the Guest of Honor benefits.

Second, you may use Free Night Awards or points for the Guest of Honor program; however, bookings made with cash or a combination of points and cash aren’t eligible.

Lastly, not all properties under the Hyatt umbrella participate in Guest of Honor. For example, Hyatt Vacation Club properties and partner hotels, such as those belonging to Small Luxury Hotels of the World, may not be booked under the Guest of Honor program.

Is World of Hyatt Guest of Honor a Good Deal?

The Guest of Honor program has no downsides – after all, you’re sharing your benefits with a guest who doesn’t have Globalist status of their own, and they’re getting a free stay.

The only slightly negative aspect to it is that you won’t earn elite qualifying nights on Guest of Honor bookings; however, that shouldn’t be something that dissuades you from using the perk.

What should be more of a concern is whether you’re getting a great deal with the World of Hyatt points or Free Night Awards used to make the Guest of Honor booking. As with all award bookings, you should compare the price in points to the price in cash for the same stay.

Sometimes, it makes more sense to book hotels with cash rather than with points. In these cases, you’re better off saving your points or Free Night Awards for a more valuable redemption.

And if you’d like to book your guest at a luxury property within the Hyatt portfolio on a cash rate, you should book them through Hyatt Privé, which offers elevated benefits similar to those offered through Guest of Honor.

Fortunately, Hyatt has some of the best points redemption options around, and there’s still plenty of value to be found with Free Night Awards.

The Guest of Honor program is certainly a great way to reward top-tier members by letting them share their elevated treatment with friends or families. If you’ve enjoyed a particular luxury hotel experience, you can easily share that experience with friends and family, without having to do extra steps.

It’s worth noting that with other hotel loyalty programs, it’s difficult to book award nights for family and friends, and even if you can, they likely won’t enjoy the same status benefits without some advanced manoeuvres.

In this sense, the Guest of Honor program is a great way to lure new people into the Hyatt ecosystem. After your friends or family have gotten a taste of the Globalist loyalty treatment, they might be drawn in to further engage with the program.

On the other hand, the Guest of Honor benefit might also work to your advantage, especially if you don’t hold World of Hyatt Globalist status, but know someone who does.

For example, you could consider pooling your World of Hyatt points with them through the points sharing feature, so they may book the stay for you without dipping into their own points balance.

If you’re going this route, keep in mind that there are some rules you’ll have to follow. One of them is that if a Globalist member already has enough points in their account for a redemption, their balance would be used first, and you pooling your points with them would be moot.

You’ll also need to be mindful that points sharing is supposed to be used “in order to have a sufficient number of points to redeem a particular reward,” and that points may only be sent or received once every 30 days.

While there’s technically nothing preventing you from doing a high volume of Guest of Honor bookings, excessively doing so with points sharing goes against the intention behind the feature, and it could raise flags.

Conclusion

The World of Hyatt Guest of Honor program stands out as a unique hotel loyalty program benefit. Whereas other programs may restrict award bookings for friends and family, the Guest of Honor program encourages Globalist members to share their elite benefits when booking with points or a Free Night Award.

There’s no downside or catches to the program, other than the host not receiving elite qualifying nights, though your guest would.

The Guest of Honor benefit is one more reason why top-tier status with World of Hyatt stands out amongst hotel loyalty programs.