Thanks to a unique feature of the World of Hyatt credit card, I was able to earn Globalist status, with perks like suite upgrades and a personal concierge

Park Hyatt Beaver Creek

Hyatt Globalist status can improve your stays with benefits like room upgrades and club lounge access.

• The highest level of status in the World of Hyatt program is called Globalist, and it offers benefits like a personal concierge and four confirmed suite night upgrades per year.
• I was able to earn Hyatt Globalist status thanks to the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
• As a cardmember, I get 5 night-stay credits toward Hyatt elite status, and for every $5,000 I spend on the card I get another 2 night-stay credits.
• My Hyatt hotel stays, combined with spending on the World of Hyatt card, make earning Globalist status possible.
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Having elite status with a hotel can make your travels so much more enjoyable, and can even help you save money. However, earning the highest level of elite status can often be extremely costly and difficult. But compared to other programs, the World of Hyatt actually makes it fairly easy.

Hyatt stands out for generously allowing the stays you book with points to count toward the night requirements for earning elite status. Plus, if you have the World of Hyatt credit card, you'll get 5 night-stay credits toward elite status just for being a cardholder, and you can earn 2 additional night-stay credits for every $5,000 you spend.

I've found Hyatt's top-tier Globalist status to be extremely valuable, and having the Hyatt card has made securing this status possible for me.

Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which will far outweigh the value of any points or miles. It's important to practice financial discipline when using credit cards by paying your balances in full each month, making payments on time, and only spending what you can afford to pay back.

Why Globalist status is amazing

Hyatt does a great job of showering its best customers with enough perks and benefits to keep them coming back. My favorites include club lounge access, free breakfast for four, waived resort fees, and waived parking charges at properties where it can be charged to your room. I also love the options of early check-ins and 4pm late checkouts. And when I need a little extra room, I also enjoy receiving space-available room upgrades to standard suites and four confirmed suite night upgrades per year.

But there's one fantastic benefit that I was only vaguely aware of before I reached Globalist status but I've grown to love. Hyatt has a program called My Hyatt Concierge that assigns an individual customer service representative to assist you with all of your needs. I've been assigned a woman named Cassie, and I can communicate with her by phone or email.

Cassie's really saved me a tremendous amount of time arranging my travel. Whether it's a simple request like a new room reservation or a more complicated task like dividing up an existing reservation between paid and award nights, it only takes me a few seconds to email her, and she quickly replies to confirm she's taken care of it. Gone are the days of calling a customer service line and hoping to reach someone who's able to help me why I wait on hold.

In comparison, having top-tier status with Marriott, Hilton or IHG won't give you waived resort fees or waived parking. Family travelers are out of luck with Hilton and Marriott, which only offer complimentary breakfast for two, while IHG elites don't receive any breakfast at all. And while Marriott's Bonvoy program does feature an Ambassador Service that seems similar to the My Hyatt Concierge, you only receive that when you stay 100 nights and spend $20,000 a year to earn Ambassador Elite status.

The only area where Hyatt falls short is that it doesn't have nearly as many properties as some of its competitors. But the recent acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality and its partnership with the Small Luxury Hotels group has greatly expanded its reach, especially among high-end luxury properties around the world.

How to earn Globalist status in the World of Hyatt program

Earning top-tier Hyatt Globalist status is surprisingly easy. You have to earn 60 night-stay credits in a calendar year, but that doesn't mean you have to pay for 60 nights in Hyatt hotels, or even spend nearly one out of every six nights of the year sleeping in them.

That's because you actually receive night-stay credits when you redeem your points for free night awards, and can earn plenty of additional night-stay credits from the World of Hyatt credit card.

I redeem my World of Hyatt points for most of my personal and business travel, so I only pay for rooms when my client will reimburse me. I earn most of my points from my World of Hyatt credit card, which offers 4x points on Hyatt purchases, 2x points on local transit and commuting, restaurants, airline tickets purchased directly from the airline, and fitness club and gym memberships (and 1 point per dollar on everything else).

I can also transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which I earn with Chase cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, to the Hyatt program to book award nights. With free nights starting at just 5,000 points per night, and most mid-tier properties going for 8,000 to 15,000 points per night, this is usually a great way to redeem your rewards.

Spending on my Hyatt card helped me secure top-tier status

Still, I wouldn't have earned top-tier Hyatt Globalist status just through award nights and paid stays alone. Thankfully, my World of Hyatt credit card fills in the gaps. That's because it offers you 5 night-stay credits each year, just for having the card. In addition, you earn another 2 night-stay credits for every $5,000 you spend.

So in theory, you could achieve Globalist status by spending $140,000 on your card in a calendar year, but then what would be the point of having elite status and not using it? So you're much better off using a mix of credit card spending and actual hotel stays (paid or award), to earn the 55 remaining night-stay credits that cardholders need.

In contrast, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, which normally requires 50 night stays in a year, after making $75,000 in eligible purchases on your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, which has a $450 annual fee compared to the Hyatt card's $95 annual fee. Top-tier Hilton Diamond status is also a benefit of the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, which also costs $450 a year. But its Diamond Elite benefits fall well short of Hyatt's Globalist status, as it lacks confirmed suite upgrades, free parking, waived resort fees, and a concierge service.

Read more: The best hotel credit cards

Bottom line

You don't have to spend weeks on the road, or a ton of money at hotels, to enjoy top-tier elite status with Hyatt. In fact, you technically don't have to travel at all. That's quite remarkable considering how valuable Hyatt Globalist status actually is when your plans regularly take you away from home.

Click here to learn more about the World of Hyatt credit card.

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