Therein lies the rub. Some people have or need long planning horizons, or perhaps have to make commitments in advance, with no possibility of change, later. They need to make plans now, or in the next few weeks, based on what has been announced. There's only a max of 8 weeks left to decide; less, if upcoming holiday weeks impact planning. For example, if the bulk of their business travel is in Jan., and corporate pre-approval is needed for hotel choice (especially if Hyatt isn't a preferred provider, and requires extra time for bureaucracy to work). Or, if someone is giving up, and plans to burn their points while they still have status, they might want to start booking airline and limited award space now, especially if they plan to go in the early part of the year. Basically, some people can't wait and see.

So for Hyatt and customers, the clock is ticking. The longer Hyatt waits to make changes (if any) or firm up T&C, the more customers will have made their decisions. If the decision was fewer/no Hyatt stays, it may be too late to turn back to make a difference.

Speculation: I suspect Hyatt will stay the course. There might be a few minor tweaks and clarifications, but the core WoH changes will move forward. Hyatt will probably push a "try it, we promise you'll like it, we're a leader and it's all for you" approach, pointing to the transition year, which is essentially a trial get-a-taste period. IF any substantive changes occur, they probably won't take effect until 2018, and won't be announced until late 2017 (like these changes were announced). By then, way too late for many. If any lose status after having made choices for next year, and they decide to "come back," they have to face a year of re-qualifying all over again, only this time, at a lower or no status while doing it.