Indeed, Starwood has officially announced that all award stays (including my favorite Cash &Points) will count towards elite qualification.
And this past weekend I hung out with a lot of frequent travelers and on more than one occasion I heard that Hyatt will soon announce a similar benefit. This is by no means an official inside scoop, but I take these people's word on pretty good authority. I personally would look forward to this because I have so many points and I always feel guilty using them because I really value top tier hotel elite status and I don't stay enough times to maintain it in all three of my top-tier programs: Starwood, Hyatt and Intercontinental.
Hyatt elite status from awards would be nice, but I'd rather see Hyatt roll out a really competitive cash & points style program with more availability than its competitors. Starwood, Marriott and Hilton all have cash & points programs, but they are generally very strictly capacity controlled. I'd love to see Hyatt be a leader and offer cash & points at all hotels who have standard rooms available for awards. A boy can dream!
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