FlyerTalk Forums - Hyatt further extends expiration of awards plus more

Will my 2021 awards get extended?

All official announcements to date have said that awards issues in 2021 would not be extended. Unofficially, based on anecdotal evidence in this thread, people have been able to get their Cat1-4 and Cat1-7 awards expiring in 2021 extended to end of January 2022. Reports are that this extension can/will only be done on request and during the month of expiration. Some Globalists have reported being able to get their concierge to exchange their expiring awards for points (10k for 1-4 and 20k for 1-7).

Summary of award types and expiration:

New card bonus: 6-month
Bonus Journeys 2021 Promo: 6-month
30 nights (milestone cat 1-4): 6-month
60 nights (milestone cat 1-7): 6-month
Brand Explorer: 12-month
CC $15k: 12-month
CC annual FN (cat 1-4): 12-month
Other CC FN: typically 12-month

History / Background:

Through to the end of 2020, Hyatt had a policy of extending awards issued in 2020 to have an expiration date of 12/31/21. The awards were initially issued with the standard expiration date (see above) and then a batch process ran periodically (roughly every two weeks) to update the expiration dates to 12/31/21. The last batch update ran in the first week of January 2021 to update the expiration dates of awards issued in the last weeks of 2020 (per Hyatt's official expiration date extension policy).

Awards issued in 2021 that were issued before the batch ran to update the 2020 awards were also updated to expire on 12/31/21. This could have been by design (i.e. Hyatt wanted to update the 2021 awards too) or just a byproduct of how the 2020 award update process was set up (i.e. it was easier to update everything that was issued since the previous batch ran rather than try to separate 2020 vs. 2021).

Hyatt may at some point choose to update awards in 2021 to expire on 12/31/21. But they also may not. The unofficial communications so far - i.e. reports from Twitter/Customer Service reps - have been that they will not be updating them. There has been no official announcement either way - but the default assumption should be that awards will not be extended. It's all conjecture until there is an official announcement.

Here is a response to a FlyerTalker's (hoipolloi's) question to Hyatt on whether 2021 awards will be extended:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyatt Consumer Affairs Department

Thank you for taking the time to provide recommendations and feedback regarding our guest loyalty program, World of Hyatt. This feedback allows us to enhance member experiences. I want to thank you on behalf of Amy and let you know we’re continuously monitoring the situation, as it is very fluid. However, at this time, we do not have any extensions for awards earned in 2021, as we are seeing that our members are able to redeem them. Should this change, we will adjust as soon as possible.