Reader Question: Hyatt Gold Passport Hotel Stay Over New Years Eve – Stay Credit For The Old Or New Year?

One of our readers asked how Hyatt hotel stays will be credited when a guest is staying over New Year’s Eve and checking out in 2017 (January 1st or beyond).

The reader was concerned about his stay with Hyatt but we also looked at other chains to make sure we cover this topic as it comes up pretty much every year.

It’s always a bit tricky when a guest stays over New Year’s and requires this stay to be adjusted in order to be pushed into whatever year is beneficial to the membership account.

The policies of hotel loyalty programs can change in regard to this.

Here is the email from our reader Jonathan:

Hi Sebastian,

i’m Diamond with Hyatt and plan to stay from December 31-January 2 at the Grand Hyatt Berlin. I heard this stay MIGHT count towards this years qualification period. It’s imperative for me to know that for a fact because if not I need to add an additional stay to keep Diamond with 25 stays.

I understand where he is coming from as I myself cut it extremely close this year. I had my 25th Hyatt stay at the Andaz Shanghai this week and will spend the last few days of the year at a local Marriott burning some points.

To help our reader out with a definitive answer I wrote an email to Hyatt Gold Passport’s Jeff Zidell. Mind you he obviously doesn’t answer his emails personally but the emails are being answered by someone competent enough so they get it right. Previously I received replies where I’ve noticed right away they came from offshore and the responding party didn’t have the slightest clue.

Here is the answer we received:

I hope all is well. My name is Traci and I am contacting you on behalf of Jeff Zidell. It is my pleasure to assist you.

I apologize that the call center was not able to give you a definitive answer.

If your check-out date is in 2017, then the stay will count for 2017.

We value your membership and we look forward to your future stays at Hyatt. Please let me know if there is anything further I can assist with.

Best regards,

Traci

This is a clear answer and a wholesale departure from previous years in which a phone call to Gold Passport customer service could get it adjusted to either year. I don’t like to argue after the fact which is why I preferred to have it clarified in advance. This makes it clear that exclusively the check-OUT date is relevant.

I inquired with Starwood Preferred Guest and the representative confirmed that the same policy goes for SPG, a stay DEC 31-JAN 1 would count towards 2017.

Edit: Hilton HHonors got back to us a few hours ago through their media liaison to inform us that for qualification purposed the Check-IN date will be counted so all stays that begin in 2016 will also count for this year.

If you have a stay planned over New Year’s (for example December 28-January 2) it might be wise to book it as two separate reservations DEC28-31 / DEC31-JAN2.

Conclusion

It’s really just about one stay that shouldn’t make or break the case for staying a particular hotel you like for an event such as New Year’s Eve. You should however make absolutely sure that you will fulfill the requirements for your desired status level properly, and as the Hyatt example shows, even a generous policy can change quickly without any announcement (not that Hyatt was very customer friendly in 2016 to begin with).

I didn’t do any mattress runs this year to clock in unnecessary stays. Maybe I should have switched hotels in Vegas one more time then I wouldn’t have come so close but in my case it turned out fine.