A few years ago Hyatt and American Airlines announced a partnership that offered reciprocal benefits for elite members in one or both of the programs, as well as running other promotions such as earning 1,000 bonus AAdvantage miles when staying 2+ nights with Hyatt.
The two loyalty programs have now launched a new fast track status challenge. AAdvantage members with Gold status or higher can get a 90 day trial of Explorist status with the opportunity to extend that status through February 2024. Executive Platinum members also get the chance to be upgraded to Globalist status for the next ~1.5 years.
The Deal
- American Airlines AAdvantage members with Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro or Executive Platinum status can register for a 90 day trial of Explorist status with World of Hyatt.
- They can then extend/upgrade that status by completing the following requirements:
- Stay 10 Tier-Qualifying Nights within 90 days of registration to maintain Explorist status through February 2024
- Stay 20 Tier-Qualifying Nights within 90 days of registration to earn Globalist status through February 2024 (Executive Platinum members only)
- Direct link to registration.
Key Terms
- Registration ends November 30, 2022.
- Stay requirements must be completed within 90 days of registration.
- Qualifying activity is earned when a World of Hyatt member books an eligible rate or award night through Hyatt channels.
Quick Thoughts
Explorist status isn’t really a status level to write home about, but if you have elite status with American Airlines and either no status or Discoverist status with Hyatt, there’s no harm in picking up Explorist status for 90 days in case it gets you a room upgrade. Unless you’re planning on taking advantage of this offer in order to match Explorist to Gold status with MGM, it’d be worth holding off on registering for this challenge until you’re planning on actually staying with Hyatt so that the 90 day timer doesn’t start yet.
It’s these kinds of opportunities that can make it worth earning Loyalty Points with American Airlines through the various low cost/no cost opportunities available. Someone with no status with American Airlines or Hyatt before the start of this year could somewhat easily have earned the 30,000 Loyalty Points needed for Gold status which they could then parlay into Explorist status with this new fast track status challenge.
For anyone currently sitting pretty with Executive Platinum status, being able to subsequently get upgraded to Globalist status with Hyatt after staying 20 qualifying nights is a potentially great opportunity. Globalist status normally requires 60 elite night credits, so being able to earn it in only 1/3 of the required nights could be great. However, you only get 90 nights in which to do that versus the 365 nights required to earn the 60 required nights normally.
Something important to remember is that a number of benefits in the World of Hyatt program come from Milestone Rewards rather than elite status itself. For example, an Executive Platinum member who stays 20 nights (and thereby earns Globalist status) will be eligible for suite upgrades at check-in, but they won’t receive any Suite Upgrade Awards that can be redeemed ahead of their stay to lock in a suite until they’ve stayed 50 nights for their first two awards and 60 nights for their second two awards. Similarly, someone staying 10 nights to extend their Explorist status through February 2024 won’t be eligible for two Club Access Awards until they’ve earned 20 elite night credits in the same calendar year. Still, some status with Hyatt is better than no status, so this could be a useful challenge for current AAdvantage elite members.