Steph58

I too have a hard time using suite upgrades due to the fact most properties only have 1 king bed + sofabed in their suites. Many times I vacation with my mother, sister, adult daughters and cannot subject them to a sofabed! I have stayed in a suite at this property and yes it was the king/sofabed setup. As I recall the door to the bedroom was a shuttered (i.e., not solid) door. But the suite was nice & included a fireplace (not typically used in Palm Springs--wish my suite in Lake Tahoe had one!). Don't know how old your kids are for being ok in a sofabed.

I would love to hear of Hyatt properties that have suites with 2 beds--so far I haven't found any. Not sure if a rollaway is more comfy than a sofabed, plus there's not always room for a rollaway.

Also, agree that a list of properties who do not have "standard" suites would be much appreciated. Finally, agree that the word "standard" (as it related to the offering of free nights with no blackout dates for "standard" rooms) has caused me some concern.

Snow Goose

Thanks all for the replies. I just completed a one day stay at the Hotel Hana coupled with 2 days at the Fairmont Kea Lani in lieu of 3 nights at the Hyatt. Everything worked out great and I couldn't have been happier with my choice.

I was originally attempting to book two rooms at the Hyatt Maui. The first a paid room upgraded to a suite with my Diamond upgrade, the second a reward room with the hope that I could connect the two to create a second bedroom for the kids. The basic suite category at the Hyatt Maui is their 580 square foot "Ocean Suite". I could see availability online, so I figured it was availabe for me to upgrade to. I called the Diamond Line and proceeded to make my booking. On my behalf, the Diamond rep called the hotel to inquire about the connecting room option and after waiting on hold for 10 or 15 minutes I was told by the rep that she could not complete the booking because the hotel had informed her that there were "no suites of any type" available for the period in question. I pointed out that I could see them online, but this was a non-starter. The following day I tried again, this time by first calling the hotel directly to inquire about available accomodations. I was told that a one-bedroom Ocean view suite was available for the period in question for a rate of $800 per night (consistant with what I could see online), in addition to more expensive options (two bedroom was $1300 per night). OK, great. I called the Diamond line again to make the booking, and was told immediately by the rep that there were no standard suites available at the hotel. Two different reps on two different days. I did not try a third time (it shouldn't be this difficult).

I have read this board extensively and understand the politics of the Hyatt Maui ownership situation. What I don't have a clear understanding of (or at least didn't prior to the answers posted on this thread) are my rights under the suite upgrade program. Time of booking suite upgrades are a huge advantage of the Hyatt program over competing programs IF they are consistantly available, since the time when I want/need a suite is when I am travelling with my family. In this case, it appears that the hotel did not honor their obligation to Hyatt Corporate. That being the case, however, why can't the Diamond reps see the inventory when I can see and book it online, and simply upgrade the reservation directly? The last thing I want to do when I am relaxing on vacation is to have to fight for benefits which should be automatic and consistantly applied.

At the end of the day, I paid a little more but was treated extremely well in Hana and Wailea, so no real regrets other than the hassle.

Thanks again,

SG

traveling_again

Snow Goose, good to hear you had a great Maui visit, even if the Hyatt loyalty program failed to deliver upon an "available" benefit. I really think you should report your experience to HGP so they can decide what to do about the HGP-reluctant HR Maui property. Seems that HR Maui has decided HGP Elites are a liability and they are better off just ignoring the program. Odd behavior from a property suffering from low occupancy, but bad management happens. Maybe the Hyatt mothership or HGP can "explain something" to them.


And in case you need more motivation, the ocean suites in corners of the two towers have a shared vestibule area with a non-suite room on the side. So a 3rd door (to both units) can be closed to the hallway that would allow you to combine the suite with that other room.

In better times, your desires above should have been easily accommodated.

m0hamed

I just made a booking at the Hyatt Regency Coolum. Called the Australia GP call centre, was told I couldn't use the Diamond certificate.

I looked online and found villas to be, in fact, available. Called the US Diamond line, placed on hold for 15 mins. Upgraded to a woodland villa. Now upon looking at the reservation the rate increased by $150 on the last two nights. I called the property who said they only had one villa available on the last two nights, and they wouldn't upgrade me so I have been charged the Hyatt Daily rate for the villa, not the initial room I had booked prior to upgrade. I wasn't even informed of this.

Called the US Diamond line again and said it wasn't the properties decision and that she could fix it, but I chose to simply stay for three nights instead. The property simply doesn't deserve my $.

gregorygrady

Karen,

Thank you for taking the time to come back and update this thread, it is VERY much appreciated. I'm finally back to check this thread for the first time since I posted to it last week. Glad to see that my initial interpretation of the Confirmed Suite upgrade rules was in fact correct (No capacity controls). Neener, neener, neener to all you doubters out there.

However, as with others here, I am still confused on the definition of "entry level one bedroom suite". Is a Jr Suite an "entry level one bedroom suite" or not?

Also, have you found any other examples of properties that "do not have standard suites and therefor do not participate" other than:
1. PH Beaver Creek
2. PH Sydney
3. HR Kyoto?

What about:
4) HR Andaz West Hollywood
5) PH Chicago
6) HR Madeleine Paris
7) HR Highlands Inn Carmel
8) Any others I'm missing

gregorygrady

Agree, I urge you to bypass Goldpassport Customer Service and take this directly to Hyatt Consumer Affairs. I understand that in the end you didn't stay there, but your situation will be a great re-training opportunity because the property in fact lost a booking and Hyatt has an unhappy customer due to the failure to enforce the rules. Obviously Goldpassport failed to remedy your situation after you gave them 2 chances to, and after you even explained to them that Suites were bookable online AND called the hotel and confirmed with them that an Ocean Suite was available for sale.

Provide your GP# so Hyatt Consumer Affairs can dig into this further, see which CSRs you talked to, "retrain" those agents that you dealt with, and also retrain the property (HR Maui) in the proper procedures/guidelines for the Confirmed Suite Upgrade program. This is obviously one of those "situations" that FD1971 has mentioned above in Posts #16 & #21 where the hotels "will find a way to get around no capacity controls". Sure they can try to, but if you let them step all over you, then they will not learn. I know SPG fines their hotels significantly when they break these types of rules. Hopefully GP can enforce their rules with the properties in a similar manner. Please file a complaint to Hyatt Consumer Affaires, not just for us FTers, but for all GP Diamonds out there who might run into a similar situation.

SMK77

Any given Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt or Hyatt Regency is selling Suites. Hyatt should not allow any hotel not to offer the suite upgrade benefit.

For the Park Hyatt Vendome, the entry-level suite is a Junior Suite. PHV is still offering Suite Upgrades.

The Park Hyatt Sydney has a proper one-bedroom suite as the entry-level and while the Opera Park Deluxe rooms would qualify as Junior Suites, the are not classified as such - PHS should be forced to offer Suite upgrades.

Same for the Hyatt Regency Kyoto - wonderful hotel and I stayed there twice. No upgrades whatsoever. Their wonderful Balcony Deluxe Rooms could qualify for Junior Suites and upgrades should be offered. They also have very nice Executive Suites. Not sure why Hyatt agreed to let them violate the rules (and we are talking Japan where everyone follows the rules...).

gregorygrady

Pretty poor move on the properties part here IMHO by changing your rate without even telling you. But I'm definitely glad that we got clarification on this Confirmed Suite Upgrade program as now we know that we are in fact entitled to that suite in a situation such as this. ^^

huskergreg

I tried to use an upgrade at the Highlands Inn back in October and was told they did not have any standard suites. I ended up paying for a one bedroom suite which was a fantastic room with a great view. I think the Highlands Inn is now considered primarily a Vacation Club now so that may be part of the reason.

gregorygrady

It's weird that Highlands Inn upgrades Diamonds fairly often (it seems, although I'm 0 for 2 on this upgrade as a Diamond) to Townhouse Suites, but they won't make those same Suites available with the Confirmed Diamond Suite Upgrade. I think there are several of those Suites (maybe 7 or 8 of them, which is almost 15% of their total room inventory as they only have 48 rooms there).

sensei

I've been told that the PH Chicago "does not participate in the suite upgrade program". It's too bad and definitely cost them a paid stay, will now enjoy a FFN stay there.

bmw303

I believe "standard" means any suite that is not a speciality/premier or presidential suite. That is what the Diamond Suite Upgrade T&C's state.

Almost always the entry level suite.

However some hotels do book into the Presidential suite because they dont have other suites that are lower.

I have yet to hear of a hotel that doesn't accept it. Some have said the Hyatt Sydney, but that is contrary to what GP tells me when I call them. Perhaps people have difficulty finding availability, but the suite upgrade is valid there.

FD1971

Can you give us one any examples of hotels doing so ?

Thanks a lot !

Dakota

Do try to book it and let us know how you get on. Hyatt reservations, GP and corporate all told me PHS does not participate, despite suite inventory being available. I really hope they were wrong.

Firewind

Somewhat tangentially, a "trick" I think I learned (single datapoint) that I reported in the other thread was that when for the Hyatt Mission Bay, I was told by GP CS that there were no suites available, I thought again, then called back and asked if a note could be put in my reservation that I requested a suite. A bit later, I got a second email reservation confirmation (really from the hotel perhaps?) that I had a suite reserved. That was the trick. I'm guessing that someone at the Mission Bay saw the comment and the situation had changed.

Page two: Once we turned up, although we still had the suite, it was a king, despite my reserving two beds, two beds being in the latter email confirmation, and having two beds in my profile. So we were downgraded again to a two bed regular room.

Page three: Some good news was that the suite upgrade cert was re-deposited into my promotions account in a day or so. (But, as it was a two bed non-smoking room, they officially fulfilled the room type guarantee.)

I said this was tangential, and it's gotten more so ...but the trick might be one more arrow in the quiver, and work for someone.