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Hyatt Guest of Honor Certificates

By Jason Little

Introduction

Hyatt has a “Guest of Honor” program whereby members with top status, or near to it, can gift other members, or themselves, all the benefits of top status on any stay up to seven nights in length. Used wisely, these can be worth hundreds, perhaps a thousand dollars in terms of perks and upgrades.

Staying as a Guest of Honor

Key Benefits

During a Guest of Honor stay, you should get all the benefits Hyatt would give to anyone with their top status, called Globalist.

The key benefits include:

  • Upgrade to a standard suite if available.
    Often these rooms cost double. In rare cases, they even provide premium suites.
  • Club access or breakfast, for two adults and two children.
    Usually you get both. This can be spectacular internationally providing all meals for a family of four.
  • Waived resort fees.
    With Hyatt, everyone gets this on award stays, but Globalists get it on paid stays for “eligible rates”.
  • Free parking, but only on award nights.
    The hotel needs to own the parking, but I’ve used it for $90/night valet parking in downtown Chicago.

You also get basic perks like Wi-Fi, bottled water and 4pm late checkout.

When using one of these certificates, at check-in, it’s probably a good idea to mention it’s a guest of honor stay and ask about or confirm any benefit that might matter to you.

Good Uses

In my experience, you get the best value with premium core Hyatt brands.

  • Hyatt Regency
  • Hyatt Centric
  • Andaz
  • Thompson
  • Grand Hyatt
  • Park Hyatt

Or really any place that has a club lounge and breakfast.

Any stay where you get some of the key benefits above is a good use. For example, if you’ve got an award stay at a Hyatt Place in Chicago, you probably won’t get a fancy suite, lounge access, waived resort fees or a bougie breakfast, but you might save $50-90/night in parking.

Bad Uses

Lower end Hyatts (Hyatt Place/House/etc) don’t offer many elite perks and usually Globalists know to ask for benefits like late checkout or free parking if they are eligible. Having a guest of honor stay in a low-end place is probably very rare and may go unnoticed at checkin. Either way, unless free parking is in play, your upside will be limited to a couple bottles of water and late checkout.

Guest of Honor Certificate

Earning the Certificate

Once a member hits 40 nights within a year, and again when they achieve Globalist, Hyatt issues them with “Guest of Honor” certificates.

Giving the Certificate

These certificates can be transferred to any other Hyatt member to be used on their own eligible bookings at their own discretion. To complete the transfer, the giver needs to know the recipient’s Hyatt member id and last name. You should probably only give this information to someone you trust. After a certificate has been transferred it shows up under “My Account > Awards” and it can be applied to any stay.

Using the Certificate

The Guest of Honor certificate can be used with any stay seven or fewer nights in length. It doesn’t matter if it is an award stay (points) or a paid stay. You can only use one certificate per stay. This means you cannot combine a Guest of Honor certificate with Hyatt’s other certificates which include:

  • Category 1-4 Free Night
  • Category 1-7 Free Night
  • Club Access
  • Suite Upgrade

That said, as a Guest of Honor, you should get club access and an upgrade to a standard suite if one is available.