GOOD NEWS GP DIAMONDS!!!

I just checked into the HR Charlotte a couple hours ago (I had an overnight layover at CLT from an International flight and chose the HR Charlotte solely due to the new FFN promo.......and their cheap $85 hyatt.com rate). Their website says its 5 miles to the airport, I expected a $10-15 taxi ride but when I called from the airport to see if they had an airport shuttle and they said "No", I asked how much a cab was and they said about $30 one-way. Since I couldn't bail, I ended up just renting a car since it was a cheaper option.

But on to the good news, when I checked in and they gave me the Diamond Amenity Card, I circled the food and drink options that sounded the most appealing to me (although it was almost midnight and nothing sounded real appealing to me since I just ate right before getting there). I was about to give the front desk employee the card back when at the bottom I noticed an "Alternative Option", which consisted of 1,000 Bonus GP Points (Code "W1"). I quickly crossed out my F&B options and chose the GP points and then asked them if this was new. He said that they just got these new cards in from GP yesterday and he thought that the bonus points was going to be an option at ALL Hyatts. It looked like a standard GP form, one that they would send out so all the Amenity cards would look similar. So my guess is that they are emulating SPG on this one with their 500 SPG point Plat bonus!!! GREAT NEWS!!!!!! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Especially since there are many times when I don't "appreciate" the Amenity as much as I should (e.g., I just ate..........I'm checking in late............I'm in a hurry.............I want to go straight to sleep, etc) and I would rather just have some extra points. I think the GP bonus is even more generous than the SPG Plat bonus though. I value the SPG 500 pt. bonus at $9-10 and I value the 1000 GP point bonus at $15. NICE!!!!! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Thanks Hyatt!!!!!! I sure hope this bonus is in fact offered at all Hyatt properties. And from what the front desk guy said as well as from yyzDJ's above experience at GH SF, it looks like this could be the case. ^

If this a standard across all Hyatts, this will definitely be a step in the right direction for Asian Diamond "Non-Amenities". Many of those properties never offer anything and if I could just request my 1000 bonus points, I wouldn't have to deal with the runaround from them to find out why I get no Amenity. Since FFN just started yesterday, I'm sure there will be lots of experiences this weekend with Hyatt Diamond Amenities. Please share your experiences here so we know if this is a new Corporation-wide policy.