Originally Posted by
stimpy
Sorry, I didn't see the word downgraded and there are others here who did renew RA but seem unhappy about the program anyways. If the hotel that you did 100 nights at doesn't value you, then sure it makes sense to avoid that hotel. But if you can make good use of the RA program at multiple IC's, it would make sense to try to regain it. But we all have our different travel patterns. I was just making the point that if you are accustomed to RA treatment you are going to be very disappointed with Hyatt, etc.
Well, they say they do value me, but they haven't done anything (yet) to get in touch with corporate (not sure if they could do anything). I actually diverted 60 nights to Hyatt last year due to all this uncertainty regarding IC requalification; also, didn't travel for a few months due to the birth of our daughter. So I "only" had about 40 IC nights which counted, plus I think about at least 10 more should have counted but weirdly came back as "non-qualifying stay" or "overlapping stay" (I never follow up on this kind of stuff). On top of that, I had a couple of club rooms booked for a week at my regular IC hotel, but I canceled and moved to an LHW hotel because they promised me a birthday dinner reservation in their top floor restaurant, then canceled on a short notice. I was annoyed. (I also booked about 30 nights for employees at the same IC hotel.) So there are a few reasons why I didn't do more, but they know I normally do more nights with them. I basically only stay at ICs within IHG, so I had perhaps a couple of Indigo or CP nights on top, nothing else.
I have been Hyatt Diamond for over 10 years (about 2/3 of the way towards Lifetime), so I am well aware of the differences. (I'm also Hilton Diamond and have been for over 10 years, but I think this might be the year that I finally drop that.)
My personal trade-off is:
1) in the city I primarily travel to, the Hyatt is a bit nicer than the IC, and a bit closer to where I need to travel to. Yes, so far I used to get suites in the IC, but most of the time, I am traveling by myself, so it doesn't make a big difference there.
2) Also, as posted above, I am going for Hyatt Lifetime. So, spending 80+ nights at the IC while not getting RA benefits while being uncertain if that is even going to be enough, foregoing Hyatt Diamond/Globalist, not building towards Hyatt Globalist Lifetime doesn't make sense to me.
In essence, IHG needlessly drove away someone who would give them at least 80-100 nights per year, but who will now never come back, because the opportunity cost of having stays with significantly reduced benefits while being totally uncertain where the goalpost is and while losing status with other chains is just too high. I might even do it if I knew for instance, it's 60 IC nights at 3 different ICs. But making that effort without knowing if it's going to be enough - no. So the uncertainty really is the deal breaker.
P.S.: I also never received my RA package last year.