Not everyone has the appetite to stay 50+ nights in a hotel chain to earn elite status, so what are the ways to get something comparable?

Suppose you have a trip coming up for a special occasion that you want to make even more memorable but you don’t have hotel elite status. Having the right elite status can help eliminate expenses (free breakfast), provide better service, or get you in a better room (upgrades). Running out and completing a mattress run before your stay might not be feasible. So how do you go about getting something similar to elite status?

We’ll talk about some of the simplest ways for you to at least temporarily get elite status for your stay. However, most of the below methods require you paying in cash for your stay.

Hyatt Guest of Honor awards

Let’s start off with the one method that can be used with cash or points. However, it requires knowing someone who is pretty devoted to Hyatt. The Hyatt Guest of Honor award is earned starting at 40 elite night credits by staying in Hyatt hotels or spending on certain credit cards. A member can earn up to 10 such awards in one year if they rack up 140 Hyatt elite night credits.

Awards are transferrable to others, and confer pretty much everything a Hyatt Globalist would expect to get:

• Complimentary full breakfast (entree or buffet, coffee, and juice) for up to 2 registered adults and 2 registered children, including tax and tip, at eligible properties
• Guaranteed late checkout at 4PM except at resorts
• No resort fees on any eligible rate, including cash rates
• Free parking on points nights
• Room upgrade, including up to standard suites

These awards can be applied to any eligible stay up to 7 nights in duration. However, Hyatt has a limitation that you cannot stack awards on a single night. If you’re using a Category 1-4 free night award, for example, you cannot tack on a Guest of Honor award on that same stay.

What if you don’t know anyone with Guest of Honor awards?

Notice above how we said you need to know someone who is devoted to Hyatt? It’s safest for you to stick to people you know when working with these awards. On top of just protecting your account information (the sender needs to know your World of Hyatt number to send you the award), it can help keep you out of trouble with the program.

There’s a black market out there for these Hyatt awards on auction sites. And we’d caution you against just jumping into that market.

Back when we were at the Baha Mar, I overheard someone bragging about spending upwards of $50 for the award off someone else on the internet. Buying these awards is against the terms and conditions of the World of Hyatt program. Now imagine I worked for the hotel or Hyatt and wanted to investigate that further. It would have been easy not only to get that member in trouble, but the one who sold the award to the member.

It’s also possible it’s a “sting” and the person on the other end works for Hyatt, just looking to bust someone violating the rules. It’s best not to risk getting in trouble and losing your Hyatt account all because of these awards. That’s especially true for a special stay.

Premium credit card travel portals

If you have the right credit card, you can give yourself benefits that rival top-tier elite features at the major chains.

American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts

If you have an American Express Platinum card (personal or business versions), you’ll be eligible to book hotels through the Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) platform. We have used FHR rates a few times, including our visit to The Seabird Resort in Oceanside, California.

You can typically expect the following set of benefits:

• Early check-in (12PM), when available
• Guaranteed 4PM late check-out (resort or not)
• Room upgrade, when available
• Daily breakfast for two
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• $100 on-property credit (some properties offer more)

The nice thing is that FHR rates typically count as eligible rates for loyalty programs, earning points and elite night credit. Even if you have elite status already, it can help to get an on-property credit and sometimes you might get treated better.

A side note: looking to earn elite night credit in one account but someone else has the American Express Platinum card? Just enter the name and loyalty number of the person who wants the credit into the reservation. That worked for us when we last tried it. However, hotels require an American Express card to pay for the bill, though usually not a Platinum card. I still typically bring the card used for booking just in case.

Chase “The Edit” or Renowned Hotels

The Chase equivalent to Amex’s FHR is called The Edit. You can book this rate if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve or JP Morgan Reserve cards. There’s actually an option called Renowned Hotels available to premium United Airlines cardholders (United Club Infinite, United Club Business, United Quest, United Presidential Plus, and United Presidential Plus Business), which operates somewhat similarly.

The benefits are largely similar:

• Early check-in, if available
• Late checkout, if available
• Room upgrade, when available
• Daily breakfast for two
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• $100 on-property credit

The benefit of Chase’s program is really the wide range of cards that have access to book these rates. Making the $250 annual fee United Quest card eligible is definitely a plus. On the downside, not having late checkout a guaranteed benefit is what you give up here.

We haven’t had a chance to test it out yet, but reports are that elite night credit and elite benefits are honored when entering your details.

Citi Hotel Collection and Luxury Collection

Have a credit card that earns ThankYou points? You’re eligible to use the Citi Hotel Collection. If you have the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige (no longer available), you can instead book on the Citi Luxury Collection. In either case, you’ll log into the same place on Citi’s website.

Benefits include:

• Early check-in, if available
• Late checkout, if available
• Daily breakfast for two
• Room upgrade, when available (Luxury Collection only)
• $100 on-property credit (Luxury Collection only)

Citi offers the widest-reaching benefit, allowing cards that don’t have an annual fee (like the Citi Rewards+ card), though it also promises the least for these cards. Still, having free breakfast is certainly better than nothing. And don’t expect to earn any elite credit or use your elite benefits with these rates.

Capital One Premier Collection

Open to Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders, The Premier Collection is the latest entry into the premium credit card hotel platform.

Promised benefits are the following:

• 10x Capital One points earned on the booking
• Early check-in, if available
• Late checkout, if available
• Room upgrade, when available (for hotels only)
• An experience credit up to $100 in value
• Daily breakfast for two (for hotels only)

The one benefit Capital One has over others is the 10x bonus point multiplier. Of course, not having late checkout as a guaranteed benefit might be a turn-off for some. Also, don’t expect to earn elite credit or use elite benefits on stays booked through this program.

Book your stay using special travel agents

Each major hotel chain has its own special program open to members “in the know”. These programs offer extra benefits on cash rates, but may only be available at certain brands or have minimum night requirements. Benefits include free breakfast, room upgrades, late checkout, and an on-property credit. As of this writing, these are the ones that I could track down:

• Four Seasons Preferred Partner
• Hilton for Luxury
• Hyatt Privé
• Vita by Leading Hotels of the World
• Mandarin Oriental Fan Club
• Marriott STARS and Luminous
• The Peninsula PenClub
• Virtuoso (not affiliated with a specific hotel group)

To book these rates, you’ll need to track down a travel agent who is able to sell these rates. A simple internet search should turn up options for you, but of course each travel agent offers different levels of service. If you’re not interested in actually talking to someone, you might want to consider classictravel.com, which offers online booking of Virtuoso rates. (We have no affiliation with them or any travel agency.)

The benefits offered are largely similar to the travel portals the major credit card companies offer. Why would you want to book with these hotel chains directly rather than through premium credit cards? There are a few reasons:

• It helps not having to feel like you’re bound to credit cards with high annual fees.
• Booking with the chain’s program might give you higher upgrade priority than through a credit card travel portal.
• Generally there is more availability with the brands that are available than what you would find through credit cards.

Airlines are getting into the game too

As members question whether it makes sense to pursue airline status, airlines are starting to find ways to add value. One method is by extending hotel benefits like property credits to their elite members.

One example would be Delta, which is offering elite members “VIP Access” on their Delta Stays website. On top of savings off the cash rate, you can get extra benefits for having Delta Medallion status. These benefits won’t be quite as generous as what you’ll find above with other methods. But the benefit comes in handy if you have hotel credits to use at Delta Stays anyways.

Pay for what you want on your own

This is the obvious answer, but if there’s something you’re specifically looking for, sometimes it’s just something you should book on your own. Want an awesome room for your stay? If we’re being honest, hotel upgrades are generally hard to come by as it is. If the upgrade to a suite matters to this stay, you might be happier just paying for it on your own.

That might not be the answer you want to hear in an article that otherwise talks about how to get it for free. But with so many others competing for the same upgrade, you’re more likely to get disappointed if it matters for the stay.