New benefits coming for AAdvantage and World of Hyatt elite members — at the expense of reciprocal earning privileges

09.10.2024 - 16:07 / thepointsguy.com

American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt launched a partnership in 2019, offering reciprocal benefits for elite members in each program. Since then, we've seen a number of limited-time promotions for members, including the ability to pick up instant status (the most recent offer ended in September).

Now, the two programs are launching an array of new perks that select travelers can unlock during the year, including the ability to use AAdvantage miles for Hyatt free night awards, as well as new Loyalty Choice Rewards and Milestone Rewards, all of which take effect in early 2025.

Unfortunately, at the end of this year, the ability to earn bonus American miles on Hyatt stays and bonus Hyatt points on American flights will be removed.

Here's what you need to know about these new offerings.

Let's start with the major negative part of this announcement. Right now, AAdvantage elite members receive 1 mile for every dollar spent on qualifying Hyatt purchases. Additionally, World of Hyatt elite members receive 1 point for every dollar spent on eligible American flights.

This perk is ending Dec. 31, 2024.

As someone with AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Hyatt Globalist status, this is a real bummer. Many of my Hyatt stays are booked with points, but I did earn nearly 6,000 bonus American miles for a combination of work and personal stays with Hyatt properties this year. I also earned just over 1,000 bonus Hyatt points for a handful of American flights in 2024.

But do the new benefits offer enough value to offset this devaluation?

Starting next year, American AAdvantage members will see a handful of new options as they earn more Loyalty Points in a qualification year.

Beginning Jan. 2, 2025, you'll get the ability to redeem AAdvantage miles for Hyatt awards at the following tiers:

TPG pegs AAdvantage miles at 1.6 cents apiece in our October 2024 valuations, so that means you're using $400 worth of miles for the Category 1-4 award and $1,088 worth of miles for the Category 1-7 award. That's a significant outlay of rewards, so you'll want to make sure the paid rates are high enough to justify this redemption.

Related: How to earn, use and make the most of your Hyatt free night certificates

Additionally, starting March 1, 2025, you'll have four new Hyatt-related perks as part of AAdvantage's Loyalty Point Rewards, which are unlocked at specific thresholds during the year:

The first is straightforward, as it's provided automatically when you reach 100,000 Loyalty Points in a qualification year. While it's better than nothing, World of Hyatt Discoverist is the program's entry-level tier of status, and it's also given automatically to those with the World of Hyatt Credit Card.

Related: Incredible World of Hyatt