Originally Posted by
escape4
The FT WoH Concierge re-assigned me to a new concierge and I have been extremely pleased with the results. My new concierge handled the entire backlog of my multi-weeks requests in less than 24 hours! Awesome.
I'm glad the new Hyatt Concierge assignment is working to your benefit!
CloudCoder, your personal details do not mention Starwood AMB100 but your comments seem to imply you have Starwood AMB100 along with Hyatt Concierge.
At the first of the year, I contacted Starwood and demonstrated that I stay hundreds of hotel nights a year, and I'm looking to make a change for 2018, and also that I was at their top level, 15 to 20 years ago. We briefly discussed why I left the Starwood fold. Then we discussed exactly how they could get me baaaack. Perhaps it's beginner's luck, but Starwood made a very nice offer.
Would you rate them on par? My early indications from my previous Hyatt Concierge was that Starwood > Hyatt but now early indications from my new Hyatt Concierge is that Starwood = Hyatt. I guess it is very dependent of who you get.
I'd rate Starwood better for Quick Response, and Hyatt better for overall effectiveness. With both programs, there are still occasions when it's easier and better to just call the hotel.
The only thing in favor of Starwood is that for suite upgrades, my Starwood Ambassador can have some influence to help me for stays where I care about the upgrade because many Platinum members do not have AMB100 so my Ambassador can sway things my way. The drawback with Hyatt is that everybody over 60 nights has Hyatt Concierge so I do not think I am more likely to get a suite upgrade than someone else (when I am not using Globalist Suite Upgrade Awards) because other Globalists are technically on the same level playing field as I am.
I get upgraded almost 100% of the time. I think it's matter of understanding how suite allocation works. The default plan is "First Come, First Served". I usually arrive late, which is a huge disadvantage.
That's why it's usually better to call the hotel, a few days before arrival. Nicely explain that you _could_ swing by and check in early, but that's inconvenient to THEM because they have to make the room ready early. And we all know that suites are probably occupied, the night before, by another Globalist with a late checkout. So, let's do it the easy way: Arriving at 9 pm, but let's go ahead and block a nice room right now while we're thinking about it. This gives the hotel plenty of time to make the room ready at their convenience.
The same method seems to work equally well with both Starwood and Hyatt.