I really see this as the "New Coke" of Loyalty Program "Enhancements".
-What was the primary objective of making these changes? None of us know this, but the result is an overwhelmingly negative "fail" from most current Diamond customers. If lowering costs was the objective, there are so many alternative methods of achieving this while still maintaining the loyalty of current Diamond members.
-From a competitive standpoint, Starwood/Marriott and Hilton have to be laughing all the way to the bank over Hyatt's move. They don't have to do anything and now they will have large numbers of Hyatt Diamond members running from Hyatt to find program that recongizes their loyalty and spend.
-Finally, the individual hotel owners may not even realize what is ahead for them. On the surface, it may initially look appealing in terms of cutting costs from recognizing Diamond members, but they will quickly see the loss of room nights and repeat business. This, combined with the appaling state of Hyatt's website and IT issues really put the current owners of the properties at a huge disadvantage competitively.
I have been a Hyatt Diamond for many years and have been pushing for Lifetime status. I will now move all of my business to Starwood/Marriott and/or Hilton. What an epic failure by Hyatt senior management!