Guest of Honor (GOH) award rules have been revised since Hyatt revamped its membership program in 2024 with the following criteria:
- Guest of Honor bookings can be made with cash, points or Hyatt free night certificates.
- Hyatt members can earn their first Guest of Honor award after completing 40 nights and can gift it to themselves to enjoy Globalist benefits (but NOT able to earn the elite night credit).
- When a Hyatt member gifts a Guest of Honor Award to another Hyatt member, the gifting member receives a single elite night credit after the recipient completes the Guest of Honor Award stay.
- Hyatt members CANNOT use Suite Upgrade Awards on Guest of Honor bookings.
Guest of Honor benefits for the recipient
- Free daily breakfast.
- Free parking when booked with points.
- Room upgrades (including standard suites) when available.
- 4PM late checkout.
How to Gift a Guest of Honor Award
You can use either the Hyatt app or the website for this process, but I encountered an error on the app and it worked better on the webpage.
How do you find Hyatt members who can complete their stay with your gifted GOH award?
It is important to remember that GOH gifting members will only receive the elite night credit after the receiving member completes their stay. While your friends and family members may be happy to receive the GOH award, they may not have plans to book and complete their stay at a Hyatt property before the expiration date of the GOH award.
There are dedicated Facebook & Reddit pages where you can find Hyatt members with definitive plans for upcoming Hyatt stays and gift them your GOH certificates for a mutual benefit.
Conclusion
Hyatt made it lucrative to gift GOH awards to any other member by crediting a free elite night upon completion of stay using that award. I recommend not wasting them since they are very valuable and it is easy to find interested members who can enjoy Globalist benefits for their upcoming stay.