World of Hyatt recently updated its terms to place a limit on the number of gifted Hyatt awards received per person that won’t impact most.

There is a new limit of 10 gifted Hyatt awards

Starting June 7, 2025, World of Hyatt is going to add a limit of 10 gifted awards received per their terms and conditions:

PLEASE NOTE: As of June 7, 2025, a Member may be gifted amaximum of ten (10) transferred awards per calendar year in accordance with theprocess described above. This restriction applies only to the receipt oftransferred gift awards. Members remain able to transfer as many eligibleawards as they choose.

(Yes, the typos are listed that way within the terms.)

This restriction is solely on the member who is the recipient of transferred awards. It does nothing to restrict the member transferring awards to others. That’s good since a member staying 150 nights per year with Hyatt will accrue more than 10 awards.

My thoughts on this change

Still makes travel with “P2” possible

First, I’m glad the limit of gifted Hyatt awards is reasonably high at 10. If the restriction were closer to five, that would significantly hamper quite a few members who might be in the same situation as I am.

There are many hotels throughout the world where it is difficult to secure a single base room for a family of four. This holds true for much of Europe and I’ve encountered the same in Asia. Rooms might be smaller with strict fire codes that prevent a full family from staying together.

My default work-around is generally to book multiple base rooms. Of course, Globalist benefits only officially apply to the room the elite member is sleeping in. If I want to guarantee benefits for the other room, I need to apply a Guest of Honor award. Thus, I send the award over to my “P2” (my spouse Jenn) to make sure we have benefits for all of us.

I don’t want to think what Jenn would say if I had breakfast with one kid and she wasn’t invited because we hit a program limit.

Is there a potential way around the new cap?

The section of the terms with this change to the terms is Section 13 (a). That section is titled “Transferring an Award to another Member.” Why is this relevant? Because the section right below is Section 13 (b), “Booking an Award for another Member”. And 13 (b) does not have this new language.

Does this perhaps imply that the new rules only apply to what is described in 13 (a)?

What does it mean to “book an award for another member”? Well, you can apply a free night certificate to a booking you make, then transfer the entire booking to another member. That would be what’s covered under 13 (b). It’s an interesting nuance because when you cancel these bookings, the award doesn’t actually transfer to the other person; it sticks with the member who made the booking.

That’s also a way to get around stranded awards. Once you transfer an award once, it cannot be re-gifted or even sent back to its original owner. If your plans change, the award might end up unused if you have no way of using it. Making a booking with your award attached and then transfering it to another member can be a work-around.

Could this be a tactic for those who would hit the 10-gift limit to continue sending awards their way? Based on how the terms are listed, perhaps. But we won’t know for sure how this applies in practice until the terms take effect and someone tries it. This approach does require talking with customer service to transfer the booking, so will they see the limit and not assist?

I’m surprised this is the only change

Go out to eBay or shady online forums and you might see people attempting to sell their Hyatt awards. To be clear, I don’t condone this. It’s against the terms and conditions to benefit monetarily from the program. Doing so may jeopardize your loyalty account, which can be terminated without notice for a violation.

This change doesn’t do much to stop that activity. It only places a cap on those receiving the most awards. Presumably, if you’re someone who benefits this much from gifted Hyatt awards, you might be better off earning status of your own.

If they wanted to stop the violating activity, they could have placed more restrictive limits on the one transferring awards. Or they could have required more information about the recipient’s account that would make it a bit uncomfortable to provide to a stranger. But they didn’t change it. Ultimately, I’m glad there was no overreaction.

There might be continued updates to the benefit, but I have hopes that gifted Hyatt awards remain a great benefit.

How often do you gift awards?

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• Review: Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
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