I am working towards globalist status this year, and wanted to check where I can get the most out of it during my travels. I read that generally, Asia is more likely to give complimentary suite upgrades than US.

I will mainly be travelling in Asia, primarily china and japan, but I'm happy to check out other destinations too for short stays. Usually I go for something in the price-range of 200-250USD, but this is flexible if the location is very cheap or very expensive. As long as I'm not overpaying compared to other, similar hotels in the area.

you also need to consider holiday periods. We�re seeing full houses in Bangkok, Siem Reap and Danang this month. Bottom line, you can�t count on upgrades to suites. Perhaps better room location

Phnom Penh. And it has a nice lounge. I've always gotten a suite here. I've no idea what a standard room is like.

I personally would not count on suite upgrades so would not base my hotel choices on this. It's a nice bonus when it happens but you should always be prepared to stay in the room you booked. Perhaps the inverse makes sense...finding out which hotels are near impossible to get and avoiding those.

By virtue of obtaining globalist status you will receive 5 SUAs (if you choose it at 40-nights) which I'd definitely maximize to book into a suite for up to 7 nights.

Park Hyatt Jakarta would be one of them I think.

And many many properties would be a full house in peak season, the best chance you have a suite would be using your SUA especially in Japan/Korea.

Suite upgrades are only guaranteed when using SUAs. FWIW, it's only 1 SUA at 40 nights.

"Working towards Globalist" - as opposed to BEING a Globalist - also means that you won't be receiving a complimentary suite upgrade anywhere.

And by extension destination choices, which it seems like OP is considering.

As a Globalist, I would not expect common suite upgrades in either Mainland China nor Japan. In Mainland China, I have had far better luck (near 100 percent) as a Marriott Ambassador. There are too many other Globalists in the Hyatt side.

Suite upgrades seems like an odd criterion for choosing a hotel.

For example, I would generally expect a suite at GH Erawan (so long as it's not around key holidays) but I still choose to stay elsewhere in Bangkok (primarily SGS) for the better overall experience.

Thanks for all the answers, let me reply to everything at once.

I will try to avoid popular holiday periods anyways (I don't enjoy crowds or high prices), so that's great.



Yes, I'm a few nights away from fulfilling the status challenge. So globalist in a few days. I'm not getting the SUAs this way though.

Really? I'm able to get status for Globalist, or for Marriott Platinum or Hilton Diamond, but I went with Hyatt because I heard it has the best benefits out of these. Should I pivot to something else, or will I have better luck in the rest of Asia? One major issue is that there are far fewer Hyatt hotels than the other 2 chains.

Oh I guess I also have Shangri-la Jade already, but that status is lower than all the other ones.

I didn't express myself well, I'm not just looking for hotels that will give suite-upgrades. I'm more looking for Hyatts that are a reasonable choice in their location (given their price) and also happens to give suite-upgrades frequently so that I can make use of the status while I have it. And then based on these, I would pick only the one's at locations I'm interested in visiting anyways.

I made this post partially to reassure myself that getting the status is worth it, and the largest benefit it gives is suite-upgrades, so that's why I'm asking specifically about that.

There are a lot of Globalists in Asia and, as you mentioned, not that many Hyatts. I almost always do the easiest stays to upgrade - one-night stays, and I find that I don�t typically get a suite upgrade with Hyatt unless I use a SUA. Not in China (though, some properties are better at upgrading than others) definitely not in Japan, not in Korea, not in Thailand, not in Vietnam, definitely not in Singapore, and not in Malaysia. I have had better luck in Indonesia, but even that wasn�t 100%. I think many would argue that free breakfast and lounge access are the benefits that most focus on in Asia because those are guaranteed, whereas suite upgrades are harder to come by due to demand and supply. My point about Marriott is that, as an Ambassador, I�m ahead in the �queue� compared to Titaniums and Platinums and thus find that I get suite upgrades in Asia much more commonly - there are also many more Marriott properties in many of these places, so the supply side is more in my favor.

Globalist is better than Hilton Diamond or Marriott Plat by a fairly large margin.

The issue you will bump into in China is the glut of elites resulting from various scams allowing people to essentially purchase status very cheap. This not only makes for increased competition it devalues the status itself.

Sounds unfortunate, does this apply just to the large cities (Shanghai, Beijing), or to the entirety of china? I hope that the entire rest of Asia still has something to offer that doesn't suffer from such bad competition.

Ohh I see. I was hoping that at least south-east asia would have higher odds of upgrades. I guess maybe hotel status isn't for me then.

The breakfast benefit is alright, but (depending on location) it amounts to maybe 10-30 USD per person of value, and usually I tend to go out to explore different local food rather than eat at a hotel. And the lounge I've been to so far usually just offer tea and coffee, and some snacks+drinks at pre-determined timings (though maybe I've just not been to the right hotels with amazing lounges).

You'll still get an upgrade as a Globalist to the best available room, it just may not be a suite. This is meaningful, because you can book the cheapest room type and yet still get a very nice room. Particularly valuable when burning points, since awards book into the very lowest room category.

Another perk no one has mentioned is 4 pm checkout. That can be very useful.