Yeah, I agree that’s who GP is targeting but I also understand the opportunities the challenge creates for others who are nothing close to their target (see post 805 for just one example), including current Diamonds who are on the fence about maintaining their status.
There’s no doubt, as
Jennbar asserts, that the challenge is a strong ploy. FFN was also a strong ploy by GP, and like the challenge it too was easily ex-ploy-ted. I’m sure GP’s intent with FFN was to lure customers into the Hyatt fold and woo them over with their phenomenal service. But it also resulted in a lot of people parlaying two nights in a $65 HP into a free night at the GHK/PHT/PHV/etc. I have no idea how the individual hotels felt about that, or GP for that matter, but I do know FFN has been gone for years now and it doesn’t appear that it’s coming back anytime soon. I also don’t know that I believe there are too many Diamonds running around because of the challenge. But I do think that if we are realistic it’s not a Diamond Challenge at all, it’s a Diamond
Gift. Hyatt isn’t asking that any reduced stay threshold be crossed to get the status, they’re essentially saying “here, take the gift of Diamond status (
plus the 6,000 GP bonus) for two months and decide if you want to put some money and effort into keeping it. If you really want it, you can buy it and keep it. If not, fine, take your lovely parting gifts and we’ll see you next year.” It’s the concept stated here that “nobody loses” that makes me think I will reconsider if I get to the point of having to make mattress runs to keep status. If they’ll temporarily give it away so easily, maybe I’d rather move some significant stays back to some other programs that have properties I especially love/miss – properties/programs that I may be foregoing in my quest of utilizing/maintaining Diamond - and then cash back in at GP when I do go to some truly great Hyatts. Heck, if SPG made their challenge like this I’d be doing it every year, that’s for sure! And I’m not going to spell out the fairly obvious any more than I already have here, but one can easily work the challenges to keep those residual confirmed upgrades available as a Diamond over and over if the challenge/gift is repeatable. It isn’t a hook, line, and sinker; for those with any resourcefulness it’s a chunk of bait stuck to the dull tip of a pole. The opportunities are truly amazing. Like GP’s slogan says: “The only thing better than welcoming you is welcoming you back.”
I reiterate that the challenge model may be a disincentive in the same way that it is an incentive. If manipulated, it may compel some to move business away to other chains while popping back into GP to maximize benefits once or twice a year. Sure, they got the 6 or 10 nights, but they lost the other 40+. I recognize that the program is probably gaining much, much more business than driving away, but the prospect does remain.
Anyway, enough on that. On a side note, I, along with many others, think the Hyatt GP program is in for some (more) big changes in the near future. Following the tragic demise of FFN’s the G Bonuses dried up with no warning a couple of years ago. Many of us were immensely disappointed, especially when the only official announcements we could get were that Hyatt had some other, really great things planned. Oh, that and FFN’s needed a rest. But we’ve only seen the same, relatively tame promos regurgitated a few times a year for the past three years, with a “surprise and delight” thrown in every once in a while. It seemed like GP had lost much of its luster as far as promos were concerned. Then when other programs gutted their redemption structures earlier this year and Hyatt essentially stood pat, the loss of those G Bonuses didn’t seem quite so bad: I’ll take the trade-off of less abundant bonus opportunities if I know the reward structure won’t be radically altered every few years. The elimination of G Bonuses worked as a sort of devaluation, but it wasn’t near as painful as wholesale category changes usually are. Unfortunately the stealth change to the stay certificates that has just happened doesn’t bode well for us. And interestingly it appears that Marriott has just withdrawn its own Platinum challenge, at least for the time being. Where this all goes with GP who knows; but I’ll be shocked if there’s not at least a category 7 next year.