It does not augur well for the program that the flagship hotel, run directly by people who work for Hyatt and thus do what HQ wants/are ok with, doesn't upgrade to a proper suite. Other properties might do the same because it is ok with the flagship to do bare minimum so it's ok for us to do the same.

I understand many will pay for a suite in NY but the flagship sets the tone for the whole program. Actually, I'm so unsettled by what PH NY and PH Sydney does with suites... it's a reason that while I love Hyatt, I am not trying to get lifetime like I did w SPG. I worry the benefits will get watered down eventually.

Proper suites and proper breakfasts are important to me. I worry other properties will follow suit.

I'm fairly price inelastic but do care about value. Hyatt doesn't have enough luxury properties for me. I stick w Hyatt because I want my benefits. If I can't get them, I'll bail.

I'll give 2 examples. This week I was in Guangzhou meeting business partners. The other 8 people stayed at Rosewood. I wanted to stay Park Hyatt out of loyalty - but they said there were no suites and they don't seem to upgrade to specialty suites.

I thus stayed at GH where they pre-upgraded me to a renovated suite and said they could probably give me a specialty suites next time if I really wanted.

Some of the new PHs in China have very very few standard suites so I don't stay there. It's becoming a problem because I can't find enough luxury hotels where I feel I get good enough value.

I'm not going to stay at a hotel where there is a 0% chance of getting a suite. I'll just stay at Rosewood then and be more convenient to all my partners. Next time, I'll either do rosewood or maybe GH because they are good to me. But it's not the luxury level I prefer.

I just spent 2 weeks in NY. Zero of that money went to PH because of how stingy they are. I have 5 nights coming up in Syndey. 0 of those nights are going to PH because of how stingy they are.

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Flagships set the tone.