Last week, Hyatt added many new Diamond elite members to their rolls as people matched to them in what had to be the easiest Hyatt Diamond match ever. If you were one of them, you might be wondering what exactly Hyatt Diamond gets you and where to go from here. Let’s take a look!
So You Are A Hyatt Diamond – Now What?
– List of Hyatt Diamond Benefits
Regular Qualification
To begin, your matched Hyatt Diamond status will last through February 28, 2017. Your qualification period to gain status through February 28, 2018 will run from January 1 – December 31 (that is, even a stay on the night of the 31st will count for the current year).
In order to gain/maintain Hyatt Diamond status, you will need to have 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year. A stay is the period of time from check-in until check-out, which can even include a single night. What you cannot do is make several reservations for successive nights and call each of them “stays” as they would all count for one stay.
There are a few rules as to what qualifies as an elite-qualifying rate. First of all, it must be booked through Hyatt – whether over the phone, online, or using the app. It is not an award stay though Points+Cash reservations do count. Nights booked through online travel agents (like Orbitz, Priceline, etc) do not count for elite night credit.
If you have the Hyatt credit card and spend $20,000 on it in a calendar year, you will earn 2 stay credits and 5 night credits. When you spend $40,000, you will receive an additional 3 stay credits and 5 night credits.
Diamond Suite Upgrades
Enjoy an upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite with your Diamond Suite Upgrades
One of the big perks of being a Hyatt Diamond member is the issuance of 4 Diamond Suite Upgrades. Providing there is availability for the suites that these book into, you can confirm this suite upgrade at the time of booking or any time up to your stay. The suite upgrades give you an upgrade to a one-bedroom suite.
Do know this – there are some properties where the Diamond Suite Upgrade cannot be used. They are:
- Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
- Park Hyatt Sydney
- Andaz Tokyo
- Hyatt Regency Kyoto
- Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort
- Hyatt Regency Tulsa
- Hyatt Regency Wichita
- Hyatt Paris Madeleine
- Hyatt Herald Square
- Hyatt Key West Resort and Spa
- Hyatt Manila City of Dreams
- Hyatt Santa Barbara
- Hyatt Residence Club resorts
- Hyatt Place
- Hyatt House hotels
- Hyatt Residence Club properties
- M life resorts.
Each Diamond Suite Upgrade can upgrade you on stays up to 7 nights each! That means that if you have booked a 7 night stay for vacation, you could use a single upgrade and be in a suite the entire time!
Using The Diamond Suite Upgrade
To use a Diamond Suite Upgrade, you must be on an eligible rate, just like for earning elite credits. That means that you cannot apply it on award stays but it can be applied on Points+Cash stays.
To use a Diamond Suite Upgrade, you must call the Hyatt Diamond line 800.400.2261 to book the upgrade. They can tell of you of availability and process the upgrade immediately.
The 4 Diamond Suite Upgrades you just received will expire on February 29, 2016 but they can be applied to bookings that take place after that time. So, if you have a stay next September, you can apply an upgrade certificate from your pool of upgrades now for that stay next year. On/after March 1, you will receive a new batch of 4 Diamond Suite upgrades that can be used through February 28, 2017. That’s right – you will receive a total of 8 Diamond Suite Upgrades as a result of your status match.
Room Upgrade
Different from the Diamond Suite Upgrades, you will also receive a room upgrade at check-in. This is to the best room available but not up to a suite. This is still a nice benefit as I have stayed in some very nice rooms because of the upgrade as a Diamond.
Complimentary Breakfast
This is another favorite Diamond perk of mine. In Hyatt hotels with a club lounge, you will be able to take breakfast in it each day for free. Not only that, but they also have hors d’oeuvres in the evening that are complimentary as well.
If you are staying in a property without a club lounge (or it is closed), you can have complimentary breakfast in the dining area. Some hotels will put a cap on the amount you can charge for the breakfast (but it is high amount – you won’t be just having a bagel and juice!) but it will always ensure you have enough to eat. This benefit is complimentary for yourself and up to 3 other registered guests in your room.
Hotels vary in what their breakfast offerings are but you will have a choice of an entree, juice and coffee or a buffet. As another nice touch, any surcharges and gratuities are included in the complimentary portion of this benefit as well!
I know Hilton Gold gives breakfast for free as well, but the breakfasts I have enjoyed in Hyatt hotels as a Hyatt Diamond member simply blow any Hilton Gold breakfast I have had away! They are incredible and it is one of the things we enjoy the most about my Hyatt Diamond status.
4PM Checkout
Here we come to yet another great perk! While Hyatt Platinum members get a 2PM checkout, Hyatt Diamond members get up to a 4PM late checkout on the day of departure! I use this one quite often and it is a great way to maximize your stays in various cities.
As a marathoner, this is one of the reasons I choose Hyatt hotels for the race stay. Most hotels will not let you stay past the normal 11AM or noon checkout time when something big like a race is going on. This is because they have more people coming in and they need the room. With Hyatt, I can simply request the 4PM checkout and it gives me plenty of time to get showered and ready when the race is over. It is even enough time for a nice ice-cold bath afterwards (and Hyatt hotels have some of the nicest tubs I have ever been in!).
Welcome Amenity
As a welcome gift, you are given the option of a food and beverage amenity or points when checking in. I have almost always chosen the points since I value them highly, but even when I do, I have found some hotels actually go ahead and provide a nice food and beverage gift anyway (typically Hyatt hotels outside of the US – can be a cultural thing in some places).
For stays at Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, or Hyatt Residence Resort properties, the point amenity is 500 points. At all other Hyatt properties, the Diamond amenity is 1,000 points. I love this because most of my stays are Points+Cash so I am actually getting a nice rebate on the points I used to book the room!
M Life Platinum
Because of the partnership between M Life and Hyatt, you can also get M Life Platinum status as a result of your Hyatt Diamond status. This will give many benefits when you stay at M Life properties (which are all over Las Vegas). To match to M Life Platinum, visit this page. To find out the benefits for M Life Platinum members, check out this page.
New Benefits – United Club And Guest Of Honor
New this year were a couple of nice perks to the Diamond roster. One is the gift of 2 United club passes each year (which also come with the United credit cards upon renewal). The other is something called Guest Of Honor. It allows a Hyatt Diamond member to use points from their own account to book a room for someone else. The benefit extends all of the Diamond’s benefits to that guest – that includes:
- The best room available upon arrival, excluding suites
- A special welcome amenity
- Exclusive access to the Regency Club® or Grand Club® lounge, including complimentary breakfast
- An upgrade to premium Wi-Fi where available
- 4 p.m. late checkout
It is a very generous benefit and one that can really make your Diamond membership go even further as you honor a friend or family member in this way.
Summary
I really enjoy my Hyatt Diamond status and I am sure you will too. Hopefully this will help you understand a bit about your new benefits and hope you will be able to get the most out of your Hyatt Diamond status. Obviously, Hyatt has given it to you through this match in the hopes that you will bring them your business on a regular basis. I think Hyatt has done a good job of putting forth a lot of benefits that should make Diamond members want to keep coming back. I know it works for me!
Thanks for posting this, Charlie! Really helpful.
Do you know if I can apply DSU’s to stays where I won’t be present? I’d like to upgrade my wife on a girls weekend, and my parents for a trip of theirs since I won’t be able to use up all 4 upgrades by February. What do you think?
Yes, you can do that. All you need to do is to add them to your reservation and let the hotel know that they will be checking in.
only got platinum..:( Guess I will stick with Hilton diamond.
Thanks for the timely post. I got Diamond from IHG Plat. Does the free breakfast, room upgrade and late check out apply when on a points stay?
Congrats! Yes, all of those benefits do apply on point stays!
track
Yet again another fine post by Charlie.
I don’t believe any other blogger mentioned that the DSUs could be used beyond their termination date, so long as they are applied before their expiration date — this is something that I simply would not have known.
Thus, the DSUs seems to operate like the free night from IHG — you can use if for a stay beyond its expiration date so long as it is booked prior to that date.
Charlie, what about using a DSU beyond your loss of your Diamond status — supposing you don’t make the cut next year — Can you apply it to a stay let’s say beginning on 3/1/17 or later, and will you get the suite upgrade even though you may no longer hold Diamond status after 2/28/17??
Thanks, Horace! Yes, you are good to apply it for even after you will no longer be a Diamond. However, if you have to change the reservation at any point, you will lose the upgrade (just like if a Diamond changed it after the expiration date).
Sapphire Preferred or Hyatt CC? I’m leaning towards Sapphire due to the 55K. My Chase banker told me I’m pre-qualified when I asked today. It is doubtful that I will maintain Diamond after this surprise status expires. Want to make the most of it. Excellent post!
I would do the Sapphire Preferred. Since Chase has been cracking down on issuing cards like that if you have had more than 5 new accounts in 24 months, it is good to go with that while you can. The Hyatt card should be around for quite a while.
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Do we receive the 2 united lounge passes in the mail?
Will we receive another 2 after February 29th, like the suite upgrades?
You will receive them in the mail and you should receive another set in March!
Also, if I book using Rocketmiles, can I call Hyatt later to do a suite upgrade or do I have to originally book everything through hyatt?