The Guest of Honor perk is a standout feature among elite hotel loyalty program benefits. With World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor awards, members who earn the apply the awards to bookings and enjoy Globalist benefits. Better yet, the awards can be transferred or used on bookings the member is not traveling on. This makes it one of the very best benefits of elite status since it means you can share some of your benefits with friends and family even when you’re not there.

Hyatt announced some updates to how Guest of Honor awards are earned and can be used starting in 2024. On the whole, the updates are more positive than not for most members but it depends on how much use you got out of the award before vs. now. Here’s everything you need to know.

Key Details: World of Hyatt Guest of Honor Awards

If you make a booking with a Guest of Honor award, Hyatt Globalist elite benefits will be extended on that booking. That includes benefits like complimentary breakfast (which I consider the best hotel breakfast benefit), free parking on award nights, and upgrades to the best room available up to standard suites at check-in.

Each Guest of Honor award can be used to offer World of Hyatt Globalist perks for a hotel stay of up to a week:

• These awards can be used for stays you’re booking for yourself or, more commonly, are used by Globalists to give benefits to friends and family during their travels.

• You can use a Guest of Honor award on virtually any booking made directly with Hyatt, using either points or cash, with the notable exception of if a free night award (certificate) is redeemed.

• Guest of Honor awards can only be used for one booking with a maximum stay length of seven (7) nights

I think this award is pretty awesome: using this award, you can ensure that your loved ones are treated well during their travels even when you’re not with them.

How do you earn Guest of Honor Awards?

Guest of Honor awards are earned as part of World of Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards program.

• After earning 40 elite qualifying nights or 65,000 base points, you’ll have one Guest of Honor award deposited in your account

• After earning 60 elite qualifying nights or 100,000 base points, you’ll have two Guest of Honor awards deposited into your account

• You’ll earn another Guest of Honor award when you reach the 70, 80, 90, 110, 120, 130, and 140 elite qualifying nights milestones

World of Hyatt Lifetime Globalists members automatically get five Guest of Honor awards every year in on top of those earned with Milestone Rewards.

Additionally, World of Hyatt gave every Globalist at the end of 2023 five Guest of Honor awards valid through February 2025 as part of the transition. This is a one-time courtesy.

How Many Guest of Honor Awards Can You Earn?

While many Milestone Rewards require you to choose between options, Guest of Honor awards are automatically added to your account at each threshold so there’s no downside to using them.

If you earn 60 qualifying nights in a year (the minimum to maintain Globalist status), you’d have three Guest of Honor Awards. If you’re an Explorist with 40+ nights, you’ll get 1 Guest of Honor award to use — either on yourself or someone else.

The maximum number of Guest of Honor awards you could earn through Milestone Rewards is 10 if you earn 140 elite qualifying nights.

This is in addition to the five you’d automatically get if you’re a lifetime Globalist. In other words, a lifetime Globalist would theoretically max out at 15 a year if they also stayed 140 qualifying nights.

Do Guest of Honor Awards Expire?

Guest of Honor awards expire 14 months after the year they were earned.

In other words, if you earn a Guest of Honor award this month (January 2024), it would be valid until the end 2024 + 14 months or February 2026. On the other hand, if you earn the award in December 2024, it will also expire in February 2026.

What Changed With Guest of Honor in 2024?

It’s important to note that the Guest of Honor award had some pretty major changes as part of the 2024 updates to World of Hyatt since you’ll likely find lots of out-of-date information on the web.

Prior to 2024, Guest of Honor was an unlimited member exclusive to Globalists redeeming points on a stay for someone else. It was not part of Milestone Rewards and you did not have to earn an award (beyond being a Globalist). It could only be used on points bookings, not cash.

As of 2024, a few key things have changed:

• Globalists can no longer make unlimited Guest of Honor bookings. Guest of Honor awards are now limited as part of the Milestone Program with a “normal” Globalist staying 60 nights getting 3 of the awards a year.

• The award is no longer limited to Globalists. Since you earn your first Guest of Honor award at 40 nights, some Explorists will earn the award and could redeem it on one of their own stays after hitting 40 nights but before earning the 60 nights needed for Globalist.

• Guest of Honor bookings are much more flexible. They can now be transfered and used on any eligible rate including cash rate. This means it’s much easier to get use out of them since you can simply transfer them to a friend who has a holiday coming up and they can book their hotel as they normally would.

Overall, these changes are positive for most Globalists but there are definitely probably some Globalists who will miss being able to make an unlimited number of Guest of Honor bookings with points…

For 2024, Globalists will have the best of both worlds. You’ll be able to use the Guest of Honor awards to apply benefits to any stay including those paid with cash. If you run out of awards, you’ll still be able to use points to make a Guest of Honor booking without an award (as you were able to do with the old policy).

Hyatt Guest of Honor Award Full Terms

From the World of Hyatt terms and conditions:

(A) one (1) Guest of Honor award (“Guest of Honor Award”). Guest of Honor Award is valid through the end of the year in which it was earned, plus fourteen (14) months. Award is valid in connection with reservations with a checkout date on or before the expiration of the award. A Guest of Honor Award may be applied where the Member makes a paid reservation (at an Eligible Rate) or redeems a Free Night Award or Points + Cash Award. Where a Guest of Honor Award has been applied to a stay, the registered guest will be treated as a “Guest of Honor” at the applicable hotel or resort. This means that the registered guest will receive all Globalist In-hotel Benefits available at the applicable hotel or resort (As set out in Appendix C, one In-Hotel Benefit available to Globalists, among others, is free parking on Free Night Awards, where parking can be billed to the guest’s room. This benefit is available to the registered guest when a Guest of Honor Award has been applied to a Free Night Award (but, as with the Globalist benefit, not for any paid night).) Upon completion of the registered guest’s stay, the Member originally gifting the Guest of Honor Award for that stay will receive credit for one (1) Tier-Qualifying Night in the program – regardless of the length of the guest’s stay (unless the Guest of Honor Award is used by the Member for their own stay, in which case the Member will only earn Tier-Qualifying Night credits for each eligible night of their stay as otherwise provided for in the Program). Please note that the Tier Qualifying Night credit will go to the Member who first gifted the award, even if the Guest of Honor Award gift recipient later redeems the Guest of Honor Award on a reservation they’ve booked for another person. The registered guest on any stay to which a Guest of Honor award is applied consents to the disclosure of the fact that the award has been redeemed (and when) to the Member gifting the award, where applicable. Gifting of an award is subject to the limitations and restrictions set forth in the Gifting an Award section of these Terms. Guest of Honor Awards are redeemable for a maximum of seven (7) consecutive nights on any one stay at a single property.  Guest of Honor Awards may be applied only to reservations at a participating Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Thompson Hotels, Alila (some locations only), JdV by Hyatt, Dream (some locations only), Destination by Hyatt (both participating Destination Hotels and participating Destination Residences locations), Caption by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Vivid, Impression by Secrets, Secrets, Breathless, Zoëtry, Alua, Sunscape, or other Legacy AMR Collection (some locations only) hotel or resort. Not valid at Hyatt Vacation Club properties.

Bottom line

World of Hyatt has a unique benefit that allows members to “share” their Globalist elite benefits with friends and family using Guest of Honor awards. These awards can be applied to bookings made with any eligible rate for up to seven nights, either for the member or for friends and family, providing all on-property Globalist perks. These awards are earned as part of Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards program (and Lifetime Globalists automatically earn 5 a year). This is probably one of my favorite hotel loyalty perks since it allows me to share the elite benefits with those closest to me without necessarily traveling with them.