<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jkc22:
Good service aside, I think Hyatt is still the most generous program when it comes to crediting award stays and third-party reservation bookings, even the opaque booking rates. However, I think we should not expect the practice of awarding stay credit and points to opaque bookings to continue. In the long run, it may cause Hyatt to come up with stricter enforcement which may be detrimental to the program as a whole.
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Using websites like biddingfortravel, it is easy to have nearly perfect information and find areas where the chance of getting a Hyatt via priceline is very good. I assume that most people traveling on business usually do not use priceline. This implies that most people using priceline are leisure travelers. When I use priceline, I am spending disposable income on discretionary stays. Since Hyatt grants benefits even on priceline stays, I am likely to try to bid in areas where I have a good chance of receiving a Hyatt. I believe that this is Hyatt's goal.
I live in Bethesda, MD. Hyatt has a hotel here. Should I ever want a nice little getaway to a hotel for a weekend, I will now try priceline and hope for the Hyatt. I would not make this stay were it not for their policy on priceline stays.
Philly is about 2 hours from me. Being able to get the Hyatt Penn's Landing via priceline may convince me to go there for a weekend that I otherwise would have spent at home.
My point is that Hyatt has recognized that people travel for both business and pleasure, and reward both types.