Originally Posted by
woodyDCA
The second thing that I have noticed in practice is the implementation of the official devaluation of the welcome amenity. The amenity was a big reason for chasing IC, as the personalization and selection was a big bonus over Hyatt's more standardized options (which are delivered perfectly 99% of the time). Late last year, there was a change to the terms to more clearly emphasize: "two of your favorite snacks or drinks delivered upon your arrival." This is a radical shift. Before, you could expect at least one item from each of the three categories to be delivered. In recent stays, I have received only one item plus waters--and it is often delivered very late and is not what I asked for (in one case, it was specifically what I said I did not want). The Raid the Bar does partially make up for this, but I think the net is negative.
This is literally the only reason I kept IC for three years. I gave away all my free days to family and friends when they came into town, because I don't want to ever have to play the upgrade game and would rather just always buy the room I want. I remember the first time we stayed at a Kimpton, which was after a status match to IC. It was like walking in to find a bounty of snacks and a bottle of wine, all of which we really wanted to enjoy. Then slowly I learned that some hotels didn't even bother to try, while others at least met most of our requests well. At some hotels they have left us two bottles of water and a small plate of mixed fruit. At the Argonaut they just gave us a fruit plate and a bottle of the wine we drank each night for wine hour. If I wanted more I'd just go downstairs and drink it. Since we regularly get to hotels a bit late, by the time we'd call down at some other hotels they'd say there wasn't much food they could even get us at the time.
I'm surprised you can use the raid the bar. I was specifically told a little over a year ago that ICs could not use this unless they chose it as one of their two or three items. Perhaps the move to two items made the raid the (mini-)bar included for all ICs.
The lack of caring started driving us to only book at the hotels that actually cared about IC members and eventually we just weren't staying enough at Kimptons to make it again. I didn't even meet the 3 stays in 4 months requalifying offer I got.
It's not about the snacks. It's about not meeting expectations the hotel chain itself has set.