Yes, Hyatt's been cracking down on abusers since early 2024, but the recent closures in September were particularly noteworthy. It all started with the UrCove brand hotels in Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Hefei.

Based on my monitoring of social media and Chinese forums, these closures seem to be linked to members exploiting a "year-end bug" in the loyalty program. You can find details in this FlyerTalk thread: EQNs for stays across Dec 31/Jan 1 (credits to the new year) - MASTER THREAD

Here's how the bug worked: a member who checked in during October 2023 and checked out on January 1st, 2024, would get counted as staying twice in the system – once in 2023 and again in 2024. This meant they'd receive double the milestone awards (e.g., for staying 70 nights) and requalify for Globalist status for 2025.

Some members, with the help of agents (called "uncles" in some forums), took advantage of this by arranging "phantom mattress runs." These agents supposedly had connections with hotel insiders who could create these fake stays without the member ever needing to check in physically. The member would get the Elite Qualifying Nights (EQN) and points, while the hotel (or its insider) could potentially resell the room multiple times.

Rumors suggest this abuse went unnoticed for a while, but eventually, Hyatt HQ noticed discrepancies. Some hotels were crediting significantly more EQNs than their actual room capacity. One hotel was even rumored to be crediting five times the actual number of rooms! This triggered an audit, and the involved hotels were forced to provide Hyatt with a list of these fraudulent stays.

This is why Hyatt closed the accounts. While some members might feel like victims, they did exploit the bug and pay for phantom stays.

Here's what's important to note:

• Not all members who were banned actually stayed at the hotels.
• These phantom stays were booked through internal hotel reservations, not the Hyatt system.
• Hotels likely offered these stays at very low rates, minimizing Hyatt's revenue while inflating points and status awards.

This incident highlights the importance of responsible program use for both members and hotels.