In January, World of Hyatt flipped the switch to "on" for gifting select awards to other members. So, here's what you need to know about gifting World of Hyatt awards.
What Hyatt awards can you gift?
You can gift most types of Hyatt awards — including suite upgrade awards, club access awards, free night awards and Guest of Honor awards — to another member. You can also transfer Hyatt points to another member.
The two types of Hyatt awards you can't gift to another member are My Hyatt Concierge and the 2K Next Stay award, which you can earn through Hyatt's Milestone Rewards program.
Related: Why I aim to spend $15K on my World of Hyatt Credit Card each year
How to gift a World of Hyatt award
World of Hyatt has made gifting awards to other members easy via the Hyatt website or app. To gift an award on the Hyatt website, log in to your account, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and click on "My Awards." Doing so will take you to a page listing all your current awards and their expiration dates.
Click the three dots to the right of the award you want to gift and select "Gift Your Award." You may need to verify your account by entering a one-time passcode sent to you by email before you can proceed. Once you complete the security protocol — if required — you can fill out the form to gift your award. You only need to know two details about your gift recipient: their World of Hyatt membership number and last name.
Once you gift an award, the award will show up in the other member's account. They can then redeem the award similarly to how you would have redeemed it. Some awards, like most free night awards, can be redeemed online. But some awards, such as club access awards and suite upgrade awards, require calling Hyatt to redeem.
Of course, once you gift an award, you lose control over its use and can't get it back. In the case of Guest of Honor awards, you may want to book the Guest of Honor stay for the other member instead of gifting it, as then you could get the award back if the other member cancels their stay.
Related: What is World of Hyatt elite status worth?
Bottom line
It's great that you can now gift most World of Hyatt awards online. I'll likely still use my free night awards for my stays and book Guest of Honor stays for others. But I'll gift club access awards to friends and family as needed, especially since these provide minimal value to me as a Hyatt Globalist elite member who already gets club lounge access. I might also gift a suite night award to a friend or family member for a special stay, especially considering I often get suite upgrades at check-in as a Globalist member.
