Originally Posted by
RTW1
I agree that the website can create confusion... although when you look at it it's made quite clearly that you are dealing with Real Resorts and not with Hyatt directly. Something I assume would also be quite clear from the confirmation e-mail you must have gotten. It's a bit of a new situation since Real/Playa seems to be the first Hyatt franchise..... that would make it something different than your average 3rd party:
The rebranding is the direct result of the resort’s new partner/owner, Playa Hotels & Resorts B.V., exclusive agreement with Hyatt to be the first franchise and management company forHyatt’s entry into the all-inclusive resort segment. Playa, which has merged with Real Resorts,has exclusive rights for five years (through 2018), to own and manage the new all-inclusive Hyatt brands, Hyatt Zilara (adult-only resorts) and Hyatt Ziva(family-friendly resorts), in five Caribbean and Latin American countries.
But that hardly seems relevant. You simply didn't meet the cancellation policy and are therefore expected to pay the penalty. Exactly the same as when you would have booked with Hyatt directly, they also have a cancellation policy when cancelling within that 48hr window. That's what insurance is for, it's not Hyatt's (or anyone else's) problem that your flight got cancelled and you decided to cancel everything. Insurance that doesn't cover that seems rather useless to me?
But it's a tough situation, not enjoying Cancun and having to pay a penalty as well. But it seems unrealistic to expect Hyatt to cover a penalty that you have agreed to pay by accepting your reservations.
I agree it's not anyone's fault that the flights got canceled, although I don't agree with the characterization that I simply "decided to cancel everything" as if it were some frivolous cancellation. I won't go into details of my personal situation, but suffice it to say moving it by the number of days that would be required to fly out next would be unavailable.
My point was more this: Hyatt, unlike the individual consumer, has the ability to pressure its franchisees to use policies that are not unforgiving in situations like this. The application of a fee or whatever is certainly understandable in many situations. You don't want people canceling on a whim. But if you're concerned about your brand and you're concerned about repeat customers, you can do things that humanize your company. And whether or not your policies (or those of your closely related third party's policies) state 48 hours (or whatever), you still have discretion to bend those policies in unusual circumstances.
Thankfully, I think Hyatt seems to have agreed with me. I got a call a few minutes ago from the third party telling me that they have decided to waive the penalty. I suspect, though they did not say so directly, that someone from Hyatt stepped in to contact this company. If that is the case (and having spoken at length to Real Resorts I have to believe they did), I am grateful for Hyatt's intervention.
My takeaway for the general reading population wasn't intended to be "Hyatt sucks," so I apologize if it came off that way. Quite the opposite in some ways. Dealing with the Gold Passport office was at least professional and efficient. The message, rather, was intended to be:
Be careful and try to book directly with Hyatt rather than this Real Resorts company. At the very least you'll get customer service that doesn't feel like they're being purposefully difficult if not outright lying to you. And if something does come up, you can deal with fewer parties.
Anyway, for me at least all is well that ends well.