Hyatt hosted a happy hour for Milepoint at the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile last night. I’ll review the property shortly.

Jeff Zidell and a couple of other people from the Gold Passport program were there, and they picked up open bar (!) for the group along with all sorts of snacks and appetizers. So a big thanks to Hyatt Gold Passport!

Towards the end of the evening Jeff took questions. Two of the questions were about the Diamond status trial and challenge, and about toothpaste. And the answers to both contained good news.

Jeff said that they have no plans to eliminate or change the Diamond status challenge. They “accept refugees from all programs.”

Hyatt will give temporary top-tier Diamond status to elite members of other programs, and offer an expedited way to keep that Diamond status.

In general that means if you are a Starwood or IHG Rewards Platinum, or a Hilton or Marriott Gold or Platinum, Hyatt will give you Diamond status for 60 days — and then if you stay 12 nights during that time you get to keep the status through the end of the membership year.

Officially you need to be able to demonstrate stay activity in the qualifying elite status account you already have (technically Marriott Gold comped from United Premier Gold or the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa, and Hilton Gold from the American Express Surpass or Hilton Reserve Visa, don’t count — but frequently Hyatt doesn’t actually ask you to verify your stay activity).

If you did a status challenge now, and completed the challenge, you would keep it through February 2015.

Since you get Diamond right away and for 60 days, you get all the benefits of Diamond immediately — including (4) confirmed suite upgrade certificates. You can use these to confirm a suite at the time of booking if available on nearly any paid stay (any paid rate, including cash and points booked through Hyatt — and some paid rates through other channels).

In addition to confirmed-at-booking suites, Hyatt also offers the most generous breakfast benefit of any major chain — if a club lounge isn’t available, then it’s full (not continental) breakfast in the restaurant for up to 4 guests registered to the room. And if the hotel has a club lounge which is simply closed (as some do on the weekends), they also give you 2500 bonus points for the stay.

Hyatt is exceptionally generous during the challenge. They even give you 1000 bonus points per night during the first 6 nights of your challenge (something I had forgotten until Scott at HackMyTrip mentioned it yesterday).

Even if you don’t complete the challenge, you still keep the suite upgrades through their expiration (February 2015, which is when you need to reserve the suite by and not when you need to stay by).

You can request a challenge by emailing goldpassport@hyatt.com.

Meanwhile, whether an elite or not, toothpaste is returning as an in-room amenity. Many Hyatt guests have missed having Aquafresh toothpaste as one of the bathroom amenities. All hotels are required to bring back toothpaste by March 31, although they will not be required to replace the toothpaste tube daily.

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