Originally Posted by
olouie
Lots of these new “luxury” properties are basically designed to make a lot of money from points redemptions. Jack up prices so people think it’s a good value and bask in the payments for reward nights.
Also fools are easily separated from their money. Just look at many restaurant in resort towns where prices aren’t listed and suddenly you get a $500 bill for a fancy pizza and drinks.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I certainly would not pay that price for this property either. But I also think its naive to think people aren't paying these prices. We've seen insane inflation in travel post covid and people keep claiming that it can't go on and that prices will have to come back down to earth, but there still seems to be an awful lot of money sloshing around in the system...
I'm certainly not an expert on how the loyalty programs reimburse the properties for award nights, but I do believe there has to be some correlation around actual paid bookings. I mean, I'm not sure a property can just jack up cash rates that nobody will actually pay and then get reimbursed for equivalent points booking from a paid rate that nobody is paying. Also, I believe occupancy at least plays some part of Hyatt Category assignment, so again, if nobody is actually paying the cash rate, I'm not sure the property will be "basking in the payments for reward nights." Furthermore, many properties are becoming down right hostile to award bookings (playing games with standard room availability, etc.), so again, not sure I agree with your logic here...
Regards