World of Hyatt is limiting the gifting of awards, a move that will adversely impact me, but does make sense considering the ease in which these awards are transferable.

World Of Hyatt Restricts Unlimited Gifting Of Awards

Hyatt is unique in letting its World of Hyatt members gift most types of awards to other travelers. This includes most awards earned through Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards program, including:

• Club Access Awards
• Free Night Awards
• Guest of Honor Awards
• Suite Upgrade Awards

Currently, there are no restrictions on the transfer of these awards: they can be transferred instantly to anyone and without limits…not just members of your family or within a “household account” (as some other loyalty programs have done to reduce the buying, selling, and bartering of these awards).

Of course, that creates a parallel market for these awards…a lucrative business for those who game the system and that undermines the value of the program for others since room space or suite upgrades are capacity-controlled.

Starting June 7, 2025, World of Hyatt members will be limited to receiving 10 gifted awards per calendar year. This restriction does not impact how many awards you can gift, only how many you can receive.

The updated terms & conditions now reflect that change:

As of June 7, 2025, a Member may be gifted a maximum of ten (10) transferred awards per calendar year in accordance with the process described above. This restriction applies only to the receipt of transferred gift awards. Members remain able to transfer as many eligible awards as they choose.

It isn’t clear whether those who have “exceeded” the 10 awards will start fresh on June 7th or be blocked from receiving any future gifts for the remainder of the year.

This Is Fair, But It Does Impact Me In A Negative Way

As some of you may know, due a panoply of personal and professional changes, I lost Globalst status this year for the first time in a decade, a status I do greatly miss.

But one thing that has softened the blow is that family and friends have been very generous to gift me Guest of Honor and Club Access awards, such that even short one-night stays do not seem to feel all that different…I’m still treated like a Globlist. Going forward, I’ll have to be a little more choosy in which stays I use those awards for and that will change the way I choose hotel.

Without the World of Hyatt credit card, I’m not sure this year is going to be any different in terms of re-qualifying for Globalist, though I am keeping the pace at last for now…

Perhaps the solution will be to shift stays to my wife Heidi once I surpass the 10 gifts, which further hinders Globalist status, but if I’m only staying 40 nights per year and have de facto status thanks to these awards, I guess the Globalist label doesn’t matter all that much anyway.

CONCLUSION

Starting June 7, 2025 Hyatt is adding a restriction to the receipt of gifted awards. You’ll soon be limited to 10 awards per year…so use them wisely.

image: Park Hyatt Kyoto