There are lots of great benefits to World of Hyatt Globalist status. In this post, I’d like to talk about one of the “soft” benefits of Hyatt status, which is the My Hyatt Concierge perk. How do you earn it, what does it offer, and how valuable is it in practice?
How do you earn the My Hyatt Concierge perk?
With World of Hyatt, you receive some perks simply for qualifying for a certain status level, while you receive other perks as part of the Milestone Rewards program. The My Hyatt Concierge benefit falls in the latter category:
- You receive a My Hyatt Concierge when you earn 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points (equivalent to $20,000 of qualifying spending) in a calendar year, and you also get the benefit indefinitely if you’re a lifetime Globalist member; even elite nights earned with Hyatt’s credit cards count toward this
- Once you qualify, a My Hyatt Concierge representative will reach out within four weeks with their contact info; typically it happens much faster than that, but in some cases it could take that long
- Note that all Globalist members (regardless of how they qualify) receive access to a dedicated phone number with shorter hold times and (hopefully) better service, but that’s different than this perk
What can My Hyatt Concierge help with?
Officially, what are My Hyatt Concierge representatives supposed to help with? When you’re invited to the program, here’s what My Hyatt Concierge representatives promote as possible services (I’m just copying and pasting):
- Research and select the World of Hyatt location that’s best for you
- Help you redeem the Suite Upgrades and Free Nights you’ve earned
- Help you with special requests, from dining reservations to spa appointments
- Plan activities and surprises for your loved ones to add to everyone’s enjoyment
- Answer questions about your account
So yeah, officially that’s the value they’re supposed to add…
How valuable is My Hyatt Concierge actually?
While I’ve had top tier status with Hyatt for well over 15 years, the My Hyatt Concierge program was only introduced in 2017, with the launch of the World of Hyatt program (this wasn’t a feature of the old Hyatt Gold Passport program).
So, how useful is this service? Before I get into this, let me acknowledge that like anything in customer service, your experience may differ based on who you’re assigned as your My Hyatt Concierge.
Furthermore, I’m not someone who is looking to use this program to make all kinds of special hotel requests. Furthermore, if I want help with dining reservations or whatever, I’ll just reach out to the hotel concierge directly, and don’t need a middleman, since that only complicates things.
With that in mind, I was just suddenly assigned a new My Hyatt Concierge earlier this year. She sent a welcome email, but that has been the extent of my contact with her, and there has been no other proactive interaction. Fair enough, I suppose, as it’s not like I’ve asked for anything!
The My Hyatt Concierge I had until that point was a very friendly person, and she was also competent in terms of understanding my questions. The issue, as I see it, is that I found response times to be really slow, to the point that I sort of stopped using the service.
When you’re trying to apply a Suite Upgrade Award to an existing reservation, time is of the essence, given limited availability. So in those situations, I’d rather just pick up the phone and call the Globalist line, or get in touch with @HyattConcierge on X, to speed things along.
So personally, I’m at the point where I don’t value this perk at all. That’s not necessarily a dig at the program, as there are limits to how personalized the service can be, given (presumably) the number of Globalist members there are who are eligible for this service.
How does Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador compare?
Marriott Bonvoy’s top tier Ambassador status requires 100 elite nights plus $23,000 in spending per year. Arguably the greatest benefit of Ambassador status is that you have a dedicated point of contact at Marriott. In theory, it’s a similar concept to what Hyatt offers.
Now, admittedly Marriott Ambassador status is a bit more exclusive than Hyatt Globalist status, purely in terms of qualification requirements. I mean, Marriott hotels should go above and beyond more for Ambassador members than Hyatt properties do for Globalist members. That’s not to say that they do (to the contrary, I find that typically they don’t), but they should…
I also have Ambassador status nowadays. While I’ve heard many people say their Ambassador is useless, mine is absolutely awesome. He constantly proactively looks out for my reservations, he customizes welcome amenities for me with nice notes, and he responds at lightning speeds whenever he’s in the office. However, I think he’s the exception rather than the norm, and plenty of Ambassadors are not at all proactive.
So I’d say that Marriott’s Ambassador service should be a bit more personalized than the My Hyatt Concierge service, but that’s not to say that it consistently is. In my case it is in a completely different league, though.
Bottom line
The My Hyatt Concierge feature is available exclusively to World of Hyatt Globalist members who earn 60 elite nights or 100,000 base points in a calendar year, plus lifetime Globalist members.
In theory, the intent is that My Hyatt Concierge can help with anything you might need with your World of Hyatt account or with hotel stays. However, increasingly it seems that people don’t have great experiences with the program, and I suspect that largely comes down to them having too many people to take care of.
I’ve found response times to often be quite slow, and that’s less than ideal for anything that’s time sensitive. So I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way to stay more just to get this benefit, but perhaps other people have a different experience.
If you’ve had access to and used the My Hyatt Concierge service, what was your experience like?
