Hyatt used to be exceptionally generous in being willing to give elite members of other hotel chains temporary top tier status in the Gold Passport program, while offering an expedited way to keep that status. And they even gave these temporary Diamond full confirmed suite upgrades as though they had earned the status for a year.

This was exceptionally game-able. Plenty of folks signed up for a credit card that gave them Hilton Gold status and leveraged that into Hyatt Diamond — maybe transferred some points into Hyatt from Chase Ultimate Rewards, booked cash and points award stays, upgraded them to suites at booking and enjoyed free breakfasts during their stays.

Suite at the Park Hyatt Chennai

That super-easy Diamond status offer ended last fall.

It’s hard to dispute the strong value of Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status:

• Hyatt has the best suite upgrade benefit of any chain — offering Diamond members confirmed-at-booking suites valid on any paid rate booked through a Hyatt channel four times a year.

• Hyatt has the best top tier breakfast benefit: full restaurant breakfast when no club lounge is available. (And if the club lounge is closed 2500 bonus points, also.) Several Hyatt properties are among the hotels with the very best breakfasts anywhere.

So it’s desirable and plenty of frequent flyers want a jumpstart towards these benefits. But Hyatt doesn’t want to give away the benefits to people who aren’t going to stay loyal to the chain and become frequent guests.

At the beginning of the year it appeared that Hyatt had brought back an expedited qualifying method for Diamond status but after speaking with Hyatt’s Rene Mizwicki back in January I learned that while some people had gotten added to the challenge by calling customer service, that’s not how it was supposed to work. They were requiring that nominations for the challenge come from one of their hotels or their sales department.

Then two months ago Hyatt re-opened challenges for everyone.

Here are the details:.

• There is not a Diamond Trial period. Members have to complete the 12-night requirement before receiving Diamond status.
• No competitive tier statement is required to qualify for Diamond fast track offer.
• New and current base members can register to earn trial Platinum status and if they achieve 6 nights during their 60 day promotional period they will earn Platinum until 2/2017. The member will also be automatically registered to receive Diamond status through 2/2017 if they complete another 6 nights, for a total of 12 nights, during their 60 day promotional period.
• Platinum members can be registered to receive Diamond status until 2/2017 if they complete 12 nights in 60 days.
• Offer registration valid June 1, 2015 through April 30, 2016.

There’s no more ‘instant Diamond’ status offer, you actually have to stay 12 nights within 60 days for Diamond. But you don’t even need to have status with another chain to sign up, you just need to ask for the challenge.

However, Hyatt let me know this morning that registration for their Elite Tier Offer will close on July 31.

They had previously said registration would be available through April 30, 2016 but that has changed. So if you’re considering the Hyatt Diamond challenge, you need to request it before the end of the business week.

It’s going to come back, but they haven’t said when. Here’s what Hyatt shared with me:

We are in the process of upgrading our loyalty management system, and because of this, we are ending registration for the Elite Tier Offer on July 31, 2015. Members can still register for the Elite Tier Offer by July 31, 2015 and will have 60 days to complete stays by September 30, 2015.

We do anticipate the Elite Tier Offer will come back in the near future, and we’ll keep you posted on that front.