carmy

So for a long time, I was under the impression that you could upgrade with 6,000 points any standard room booked at a non-resort under the Hyatt Daily Rate.

Last week, I booked a room at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur for a weekend in January using the Hyatt Daily Rate on hyatt.com for 730MYR, and called the hotline to upgrade my stay to a suite using my points. Multiple agents told me that they would have to charge 850MYR instead, because that's the price the hotel has set for any suite upgrade. This is despite the 730MYR still showing up on hyatt.com as the Hyatt Daily Rate.

I don't have a great deal of experience with using points to upgrade, but this was the first time I'd come across something like this. I sent a PM to the Gold Passport Concierge here on FT, but all he would say is that the hotel wants 850MYR if I am to use my points to upgrade.

Can a hotel do that? Can it charge a certain amount on hyatt.com as the Hyatt Daily Rate, then decide it wants more later if a guest chooses to upgrade to a suite?

As an aside for anyone visiting Kuala Lumpur, 850MYR is higher than the Best Available Rate that the Westin is charging for its Westin Suite, and way out of whack with what other comparable hotels are charging in the city.

MikeFromTokyo

Resorts, and some other properties have long required the payment of the Daily Rate for a higher category than a standard room. Usually Deluxe room, or Sea View, etc...

Also, suite upgrades will now require 6,000 points per night after the changes take effect. One can no longer upgrade up to four nights for a single 6,000 point upgrade.

carmy

I don't think the Grand Hyatt KL is a resort property?

I know about the upcoming changes from Jan 7, but that is not what I am asking. My question is very simple. I booked a standard room at the Grand Hyatt KL using the Hyatt Daily Rate, and tried to upgrade using 6,000 points. Hyatt customer service then tells me I have got to pay more than the Hyatt Daily Rate if I want to upgrade. Is that right?

MikeFromTokyo

I said resorts AND some other properties. Some non resort properties also have restrictions in place. It sounds like this is the case at GH KL.

oc2005

I don't think non-resorts are allowed to do that according to the Gold Passport terms of using point upgrade awards. For non-resorts, if they allow point upgrades, it's supposed to just be for rooms paying at least the Hyatt Daily Rate. When I check the terms to verify this, I also noticed something interesting: they've now changed the language in the terms from where they previously said Rack Rate, to now just say Hyatt Daily Rate, which leaves even less wiggle room for hotels to not honor the upgrade for a stay booked with the Daily Rate. Here are the official Gold Passport terms on this under the section titled "REDEEMING POINTS FOR HYATT GOLD PASSPORT AWARDS:"

7. Hyatt Gold Passport upgrade awards may not be redeemed at all Hyatt hotel or resort locations. In order to redeem a Regency Club™ or Grand Club™ upgrade award or a Suite upgrade award at a Hyatt Resort property, member must pay a minimum of the Hyatt Daily Rate deluxe room (such as partial ocean view, ocean view, slope view, etc.). In order to redeem a Regency/Grand Club upgrade award or a Suite upgrade award at a non-resort property, member must pay a minimum of the Hyatt Daily Rate. There are a limited number of guest rooms available for Regency Club, Grand Club and Suite Upgrade awards. Suite upgrade awards are only valid for standard suites, defined as each participating properties introductory suite category. Upgrade awards are valid for up to four consecutive nights. Hyatt Gold Passport upgrade awards are not valid at M life resorts.

carmy

That's exactly my point. Can a hotel -- in this case the GH KL -- charge a certain amount as the Hyatt Daily Rate, then revise that upwards when a guest wants to use points to upgrade while still charging everyone else the lower rate? That's doesn't sound fair or right to me.

MumbaiDan

booked a nice daily rate at the Andaz in Amsterdam for a February stay. to upgade my stay to a suite they charged me 80 Euros per night more for the room category a suite upgrade books into. So I think this s quiet normal now

MikeFromTokyo

In fact properties can and do require guests to pay for higher room categories in order to upgrade. I don't think this is unreasonable, as one still ends up paying significantly less than suite rates.

oc2005

Either the hotels aren't following the correct policy for suite upgrades using points, or the policy has been changed but the web terms have not been updated yet to reflect the new policy.

Could the Gold Passport Concierge perhaps weigh in which is the case? Can a non-resort hotel charge more than the Hyatt Daily Rate for a suite (or regency club) point upgrade? If so, someone needs to update the Gold Passport web terms because they clearly say all you need to pay is the Hyatt Daily Rate.

RTW1

I guess they can... But the question is, should they be allowed to get away with it?

carmy

So if hotels are allowed to do this, it effectively means they can jack up the price of any suite upgrade redemption to really close to its selling price, which then defeats the whole purpose of using points to upgrade.

Ancien Maestro

HR Maui books off of a club room rate as well.

I think its going to be moot come January 7th anyways, when the 6,000 point suite upgrade for entry level one bedroom suite accommodations changes from 4 nights to 1 night. I wish HGP kept the points suite upgrade at 4 nights, and raised the required room category to book. The changes basically ostracizes the benefit.

MikeFromTokyo

No, the hotels do not arbitrarily set the rate to whatever they want. The rate is simply the daily rate for a higher room category than a base room, e.g. the Deluxe room daily rate.

If hotels don't want to offer suite upgrades, they can opt out entirely. PH Sydney, HR Kyoto, Paris Madeleine are some such properties that come to mind.