Originally Posted by Julie17

I am one of the "freeloading" Diamonds who got in with the match last fall. Before that, I had barely ever stayed at a Hyatt. In order to try out the Diamond benefit, I booked a stay at Coral Gables in January, and after receiving an upgraded room and delicious free breakfast buffet, I was hooked. I began redirecting all my stays to Hyatt, to the point where I realized I could retain the status if I pushed hard enough. I rarely travel for work, so only 2 nights this year were on the company's dime. The rest has been leisure travel paid for out of my pocket. I have stayed in some awesome Hyatts and some dinky ones, some conveniently located ones and some very inconveniently located ones. I canceled other things I wanted to do, like taking a cruise or going to locations without Hyatts. In other words, it was a sacrifice for me to move most if not all of my spending to Hyatt.

In addition to the 25+ stays I will have by year-end, I also brought along family and friends and paid for their room, for which I did not get stay credit but Hyatt certainly got the revenue. In addition, I have spoken highly of my Hyatt experiences often, such that many of my coworkers and friends have said "hey, maybe I should switch to Hyatt from Hilton, etc."

As a full-time employee, I am limited to 5 weeks vacation per year, which I would think is on the high side in the U.S. Even if I spent all 5 of those weeks at a Hyatt, I will still only be at 35 nights. That's something I really appreciated about the Gold Passport program, that Hyatt was willing to reward the loyalty of leisure travelers who are using their own hard-earned money to stay at Hyatt every chance they get, when they could be staying elsewhere. Sure, I'll admit I was given Diamond for free, but the Diamond status I earned this year through legitimate stays certainly was not free.

I guess Hyatt decided I wasn't worthy of free breakfast, bonus points, or suite upgrades despite my efforts and loyalty. It was worth the sacrifice on my part to get to 25 stays when those things were the reward, but it's simply not worth the effort to stay even 30 nights for Explorist status; with so few properties having clubs and even then they are often closed.

For those of you 60+ nighters who talk down to us 25+ stayers and call us "entitled", don't you think that's the pot calling the kettle black? Not only do you think you are entitled to the top-tier benefits Hyatt has to offer, you also believe you are entitled to hog those benefits for yourselves and your fellow super special and elite 60+night club. Why? So you can have a quiet club to yourself? Out of all my stays this year, only once or twice have I noticed that the club seemed crowded. Even then, everyone still got to eat, sit, relax, they just had to wait a few more seconds to do so. Remember there is always someone who is contributing more revenue to Hyatt than you are - maybe they should make it a 100+ night requirement so the 100+ nighters can enjoy the club without all the freeloading 60+ nighters!

I wholeheartedly agree with the poster who said they have never seen a loyalty program change so drastically that it causes us to immediately go from "choose Hyatt always" or "not consider Hyatt at all". I realize it's a business decision, but I believe a very short-sighted one that will cost them greatly in terms of brand equity and word of mouth advertising. Not only will it cause me and many others to go elsewhere it also leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, such that I may never be back to a Hyatt hotel. There are plenty of other great options out there, even if the loyalty programs aren't better, such as boutique hotels. I did just fine before Hyatt and will do just fine afterward spending my hard-earned money elsewhere.

I truly hope that Hyatt will listen to its customers, (not just the Millenial focus group) and make some adjustments to this drastic and punishing new World of Hyatt. Truly, it feels like a slap in the face.