Vuelos

So the Hyatt Regency SF Embarcadero seems to be playing a nifty game of taking their King Bed room out of BAR but offering it on packages to ensure you can't book with Gold Passport points.

Trying to book this Thursday for a 1 night stay... what a pain in the butt when it comes to redeeming the Credit Card free night for renewal.

I contacted my Concierge whose response was:

How is this allowable under the T&C...

spgplat21

This is complete bs and it's upsetting that it seems like this issue is only getting worse. When this first happened to me a few years ago with the Hyatt Maui, Gold Passport stepped up and basically said properties shouldn't be doing this and to let them know anytime I ran into it. Now they say, well it's not available for the Hyatt Daily Rate so tough luck. I never thought this would turn into a real issue, but now it seems like it most likely will with the increased availability of HGP points and the free CC nights.

I've started to notice this issue more and more so it seems like this "trick" is catching on. In the last month alone, I've run into this issue at both the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and the Park Hyatt Aviara. The sky isn't falling yet, but I don't like the direction this is heading.

dw

It was already bad enough when properties started introducing new room categories (like "high floor" rooms at suburban Hyatt Places), which reduced the number of "standard" rooms in inventory, but this new trick of not offering standard rooms at the Daily Rate seems against the spirit of the program.

Perhaps a new thread should be started with a Wiki where people can post which properties have started adopting this practice?

davie355

Hyatt Centric Chicago, July 3-5 -- standard rooms available under Hyatt Daily Rate but no awards. Also, for that weekend only, the hotel's Hyatt Daily Rate is nonrefundable.

Andrea Waters

I'm not at all excusing the game playing but for arguably what will be the busiest weekend in Chicago of 2015, I do not think a nonrefundable rate is unreasonable. It's summer, a long holiday weekend, the Grateful Dead and both the Cubs and the Sox are in town that weekend.

davie355

Yes, I agree about the circumstances, but Hyatt Daily Rate is usually refundable until T-24. The hotel should be selling these rates under different verbiage. Across town, the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place also has standard rooms for sale over the same nights but only for Advance Purchase.

And, whatever the refund/cancel policy, if a standard room shows up under Hyatt Daily Rate, the same room should be available for an award, per Gold Passport rules.

moulder3

Yes, this is one of two things Hyatt has let their hotels do in 2015, as a HUGE shadow devalution of the program.

1. Take standard rooms out of the 'Hyatt Daily Rate' code
2. Allow Hyatt Place hotels to list rooms as 'high floor' which also eliminates the ability to book with points (despite being the same standard room!)

If interested, I created a thread on this:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...available.html

Duke787

Also not excusing the game-playing but I was able to use my CC without issue (and combine for a second night on points) for a King room at the Hyatt Embarcadero later this year on the weekend of the Nike Women's Half Marathon that the gf in running in. I also had no issue using points for the same property for this upcoming 4th of July weekend (12k/night after 20% points rebate for CC holders).

Obviously we'll see when I get there whether they shove us in a closet or not but this at least this property doesn't appear to be playing games everynight and during every major event.

FWIW, I had no issue using my Cert from last year at the GH Bangkok in May and I was even upgraded at check-in as a Plat (from the CC) to the larger deluxe room instead of just the standard room.

In all three cases the value extracted from the Cert was far larger than the annual fee (~$175 was the list price at the GH and ~$306 is the list price for the HR Embacadero the weekend of the Women's Half and $325 for the 4th of July).

Obviously this is something to watch but at least for me the value returned from redeeming points / CC 1-4cert night has been perfectly fine.

esquesk

There is already a thread for this exact purpose;

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...available.html

e/ didn't see moulder's post above, my bad!

davie355

FWIW, Centric Chicago is now available for points over Fourth of July -- maybe somebody from Gold Passport is reading this thread. Either way, ^^

trouble747

Do any of the other big chains allow blackouts for special events (which for the dates I'm looking at apparently includes a college football game)?

neo_781

yes ... for example Marriott calls them Inventory Controlled Dates

WheelsFirst

I've ran into this problem several times with Hyatt. It really reinforces my preference to stick with SPG, despite liking several aspects of Hyatt and there being some great Hyatt properties.

stvr

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt...ard-rooms.html

This was my experience. The FT community came at my throat somehow for noting this.

777 global mile hound

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....rmed-upgrades/
Thank you Jeff Z and Gary L!^