Hyatt Gold Passport - Should GP Customer Service Insinuate That I Am Lying...

...and then not let me offer proof of my bonus point claim?

In early October we booked a Hyatt Place for one night in mid-Oct through Gold Passport offers on goldpassport.hyatt.com.

We clicked on the "Book" link next to the property we wanted, completed the reservation and received an email confirmation (which included the G1 bonus listed in the Hyatt generated confirmation).

Fast forward to last week. No regular or G bonus points posted, so did the 'request stay' credit on hyatt.com. Regular points updated the next day with no G bonus.

Oh, well. Figure a quick phone call and they'll get the G1 bonus posted.

No dice.

"Sorry, no G bonus for that property"

"Ah, yes there is. I have a screenshot of the GP Bonus offers page which shows the property (G1 bonus 01 Sept- 30 Nov 2009)"

"No there isn't. We have no G1 bonuses for any Hyatt Places."

"Yes you do, it just looks like this one was pulled, but it was pulled after I made my reservation."

"You'll have to fax in your 'proof.'"

"No problem, but why can't you see that it was on offer? I could email this to you right now if you want to see this."

Put on hold.

"I spoke with my supervisor. He said we'll just give you 1,000 points, 'they' don't want to get into an argument."

"What argument? I have screenshots showing exactly what was offered by Hyatt goldpassport.com and I have an email confirmation from Hyatt that shows the G1 bonus. What is there to disagree about?"

"There was never a G bonus for that property."

"Ah, yes there was and I can send you proof."

"Don't bother, you haven't been a "complainer" so we'll credit you the 1,000 points anyway."

I let it drop. But, so much for great customer service.:mad:

I don't mind fighting for points when I have to, but I don't like the insinuation that I am lying to get bonus points and then when I offer to prove my points claim to be dismissed with an arrogant chuckle.

A question to other FTers: Do properties with G bonuses often "fall off" the list and have any of you had to fight like this for them to be credited?

And what the heck was the dismissive claim of "no G1 bonuses for Hyatt Places?"

Interestingly, I have been denied points that I was othewise entitled to because I didn't print out the G bonus list at the expiration period. If anything, the fact that they gave you the points without sending in proof is good customer service. I am probably out 3-5k points because of stays at the expiration period when I didn't print out the proof.

Moral of the story -- print out the G bonus pages if you are staying at the end of the bonus period...

...and then not let me offer proof of my bonus point claim?

In early October we booked a Hyatt Place for one night in mid-Oct through Gold Passport offers on goldpassport.hyatt.com.

We clicked on the "Book" link next to the property we wanted, completed the reservation and received an email confirmation (which included the G1 bonus listed in the Hyatt generated confirmation).

Fast forward to last week. No regular or G bonus points posted, so did the 'request stay' credit on hyatt.com. Regular points updated the next day with no G bonus.

Oh, well. Figure a quick phone call and they'll get the G1 bonus posted.

No dice.

"Sorry, no G bonus for that property"

"Ah, yes there is. I have a screenshot of the GP Bonus offers page which shows the property (G1 bonus 01 Sept- 30 Nov 2009)"

"No there isn't. We have no G1 bonuses for any Hyatt Places."

"Yes you do, it just looks like this one was pulled, but it was pulled after I made my reservation."

"You'll have to fax in your 'proof.'"

"No problem, but why can't you see that it was on offer? I could email this to you right now if you want to see this."

Put on hold.

"I spoke with my supervisor. He said we'll just give you 1,000 points, 'they' don't want to get into an argument."

"What argument? I have screenshots showing exactly what was offered by Hyatt goldpassport.com and I have an email confirmation from Hyatt that shows the G1 bonus. What is there to disagree about?"

"There was never a G bonus for that property."

"Ah, yes there was and I can send you proof."

"Don't bother, you haven't been a "complainer" so we'll credit you the 1,000 points anyway."

I let it drop. But, so much for great customer service.:mad:

I don't mind fighting for points when I have to, but I don't like the insinuation that I am lying to get bonus points and then when I offer to prove my points claim to be dismissed with an arrogant chuckle.

A question to other FTers: Do properties with G bonuses often "fall off" the list and have any of you had to fight like this for them to be credited?

And what the heck was the dismissive claim of "no G1 bonuses for Hyatt Places?"

Why is it that someone goes through an entire colloquy and then never thinks to supply the name of the property that they are discussing? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

If this is the HP Chantilly, then I an others have written about this.

A question to other FTers: Do properties with G bonuses often "fall off" the list and have any of you had to fight like this for them to be credited?

Unfortunately, yes, has happened to me too. :( Although, I've not had to fight to get the bonus posted in a calls to CS. There were a few occasions where I just didn't notice and didn't bother until way too late; on the other hand, sometimes CS agents have posted bonuses I didn't know existed (or maybe never existed, and they were mistaken), so I would call it even.

Printing out the G bonus list is now a habit.

I also print out the web site rate list and rate details whenever I book other than rack, AAA, or hyatt.com. Have had a experience where a lower eligible rate "disappeared" off the web site after the stay, and a call to CS ended unfavorably with a declaration that it was a "local advertised" hotel special and therefore not eligible for stay credit as it "wasn't bookable by the general public". Had to do an extra MR that year to cover Dia re-qual. :mad: What was worse was I had a for-sure eligible res that I had switched from, just to save $5. :rolleyes: If only I'd known, I'd have kept the old one. Or, if I had a printout of the rate on the web site as proof, I'd have won that fight...

You should have just asked for the agent's name and talk to a supervisor. There are always bad apples.

I also print out the web site rate list and rate details whenever I book other than rack, AAA, or hyatt.com. Have had a experience where a lower eligible rate "disappeared" off the web site after the stay, and a call to CS ended unfavorably with a declaration that it was a "local advertised" hotel special and therefore not eligible for stay credit as it "wasn't bookable by the general public". Had to do an extra MR that year to cover Dia re-qual. :mad: What was worse was I had a for-sure eligible res that I had switched from, just to save $5. :rolleyes: If only I'd known, I'd have kept the old one. Or, if I had a printout of the rate on the web site as proof, I'd have won that fight...

Yet another helpful post detailing the hotel name and the so called "local promotion" that did not qualify for credit. :rolleyes:

Yet another helpful post detailing the hotel name and the so called "local promotion" that did not qualify for credit. :rolleyes:

It was several years ago (4+), and I don't recall exactly which of the 3 properties in Dallas/FTW, TX (at that time) it was. It was a 1 night, just-passing-thru stay. Rather than naming the wrong one in my post, I chose not to name it at all. In any case, the point of the post is not to single out a specific property, but that one does not always necessarily "win" a dispute with CS, and having backup evidence can be beneficial, especially when your case is based on something as dynamic and transient as the Web. It's not the property's fault, especially if the promo rate ends it's run and is removed from the web, so why penalize the property by naming it?

And the "local promotion" BTW, was some sort of "grads & family" rate (in June, obviously) that was about $5 cheaper than the AAA rate that I usually book, but was plainly visible and bookable on the general Hyatt web site w/o codes (and no, I wasn't in TX when I booked it). Haven't seen it since, but then again, never returned again in June so never looked.

So, since this was all several years ago, do these specifics actually "help" anyone, or is the real take-away the lesson to don't always assume the web will be there to back you up...?

You should have just asked for the agent's name and talk to a supervisor. There are always bad apples.

agreed, always ask for operator ID or name at the BEGINNING of the convo.

I've had airlines & hotels accuse me of using a voucher/coupon I purchased or obtained illegally from somewhere else before (when it was an instrument they gave me).

What you went through is insulting no doubt, but as jimmychang states, bad apples, need to weed them out.
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Well sorry for y0ur bad experience,, but as far as i have experienced, GPCS have been very generous with points.. never had any bad experience and they credit points automatically not like others (SPG & HH) where we need to mail them and call them and wait up till 6 weeks to get points credited..

"No there isn't. We have no G1 bonuses for any Hyatt Places."

This statement alone proves that the agent has no idea of what he/she was talking about. I'm sure I can go through the list and tell you 20+ HP properties that are doing G1 right now.

NJ - In this case, I don't really mind not naming the property since its a bigger issue than service at the property level but overall GP CS.

Why is it that someone goes through an entire colloquy and then never thinks to supply the name of the property that they are discussing? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

If this is the HP Chantilly, then I an others have written about this.

:rolleyes: ?

I didn't think it was specifically the property that was the problem, but rather GP customer service.

I always hesitate to name names, as it then makes me identifiable by the corporate entity (my FT handle linked to said account#), but what the heck:

It was the HP Eden Prairie.

agreed, always ask for operator ID or name at the BEGINNING of the convo.

I've had airlines & hotels accuse me of using a voucher/coupon I purchased or obtained illegally from somewhere else before (when it was an instrument they gave me).

What you went through is insulting no doubt, but as jimmychang states, bad apples, need to weed them out.
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Got the operator's name, didn't know there was an id#, thanks.

Well sorry for y0ur bad experience,, but as far as i have experienced, GPCS have been very generous with points.. never had any bad experience and they credit points automatically not like others (SPG & HH) where we need to mail them and call them and wait up till 6 weeks to get points credited..

My reason for posting was precisely because this was a unique data point, completely opposite of my past experiences.

This statement alone proves that the agent has no idea of what he/she was talking about. I'm sure I can go through the list and tell you 20+ HP properties that are doing G1 right now.

NJ - In this case, I don't really mind not naming the property since its a bigger issue than service at the property level but overall GP CS.

The conversation was a bit longer, (but didn't want to post anymore, and most of it was just reiteration of the previous points) and the GP CSA did eventually apologize and admit that I was right that there were "some" HPs with G1 bonuses. :rolleyes:

Property listed above.

Thanks for the name and I would not worry about retaliation -- GP is the last entity you have to worry about that -- they are a class act.

I think it is helpful to name names because it alerts people to the possibility that a specific hotel may have this occur again.

As you might have guessed, this was recently done with respect to the HP Chantilly.

Aside from the horripble Portico products, this type of action from GP just makes no sense in an otherwise generous rewards program.

I don't understand why they pull a promotion from a given property when it clearly was listed as participating up thru a certain date earlier on its website. :confused:

Hyatt did an odd thing this fall. They pulled a lot of Gx bonuses at Hyatt Places after announcing them and during the window of time they were to be good. I got bitten by this. It's very odd; I've not seen this from Hyatt before. I'm now printing out the bonux when I book the hotel, just in case. It really shouldn't be necessary to do this, but I want to be sure I get the points.

It's unfortunate that the agent to whom you spoke was unaware of what Hyatt did. You were very much in the right, and agents should have been briefed to expect such calls.

Not only did HP G bonuses disappear, some regular Hyatt bonuses are also gone.

I don't recall Hyatt ever doing this before.