Last month, I got to provide some nice hotel benefits to my older daughter and my mom. Hyatt’s Guest of Honor awards are earned at 40 and 60 qualifying nights (with two awards at 60 nights) then an additional one is earned every 10 qualifying nights after that. This used to be an unlimited benefit, but Hyatt devalued the benefit last year. To soften the blow, the person that gives the award now earns an extra qualifying night credit.

A Guest of Honor stay essentially turns the beneficiary into a Hyatt Globalist for the length of the stay. They receive early check-in and late check-out if available, an upgrade if available, free breakfast for two, free parking, and lounge access if there is a lounge on the property. The award can be used for stays up to seven nights.

For my daughter and my mom, I used my own points to pay for their stays. You also have the option to have the other person book with their Hyatt points and then apply the Guest of Honor award to their booking. In fact, I have done this for a friend who is staying in London later this year.

My daughter was visiting Manhattan for a two night stay to see her favorite band in concert. The show was near Union Square so I booked her at the Hyatt Union Square. She appreciated having a hotel option right near the show and not having to pay New York hotel prices. She was able to check-in early and was upgraded to a suite. She kindly took a few pictures of the suite for the blog.

She also enjoyed the free breakfast which was at the hotel restaurant. If you need to stay in the Union Square area or you just need a location that is between midtown and downtown Manhattan, the Hyatt Union Square looks pretty nice.

For my mom, she was going to be in London for three nights. It was the first time she’s been to London since my dad passed away and she wanted a safe location that was easy walking distance to theaters and shopping. My wife and I stayed at the Great Scotland Yard last year and really enjoyed it. The location fit my mom’s requirements perfectly.

Initially I had to book a different property, but I set an alert for the dates using Open Hotel Alert and a few weeks before her trip, award space opened up. She really enjoyed the stay and was very grateful that her son could put her up in such a nice hotel. I’m not sure if she got upgraded (I doubt she would realize it either way), but she was very happy with the room and the hotel overall.

It’s nice to be able to give family members a taste of elite hotel benefits when the only other way is to pay a much higher rate, either in points or cash, for a suite or a rate that includes breakfast. One nice thing about Guest of Honor is that non-Globalists can use the award they earn at 40 qualifying nights to give themselves a Globalist stay. Using these awards also gave me two more precious qualifying nights as I attempt to requalify for Globalist next year.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.