musikdude

Is this offered to every diamond? Just on paid stay or award stay as well??

cozkay

Ok, so our stay finished up Monday afternoon. I was offered a late check out and used it, I think it was around 2:30 when we left.

I agree with the previous posts that L'Occitane products were in the bathroom when we checked in but by the time housekeeping cleaned our room on the 2nd day they were replaced with Porticio the Guava scent I think. Bad choice imho. Luckily the L'Occitane products were a bigger size and they lasted.

All diamond amenities are offered. The $85 credit I mentioned earlier was used in my case at the pool on appetizers and drinks. I double checked with the FD just to make sure about this and they stated yes it's $85 credit for lunch at the hotel, but must be used for lunch.
So to my surprise, when I checked out the $80 lunch tab was on my bill, I informed the FD that this was offered as an amenity and she checked with a manager or supervisor. He stated not on award stays. I then said that my stay has always showed as an award and I was offered this at check in, I didn't ask about it or ask for it. They took the charge off in a form of $85 credit. I asked if this is an amenity or not and was told not on award stays. So I'm not sure I would count on this at all.

My stay started out great, a beautiful resort. Spa, golf, tennis, a nice pool for families and a separate one for adults. An ton of activities for the kids. I really like the property but the staff needs work or a reminder that this isn't Four Seasons anymore. This is that part that bothered me the most though and I am still very upset by it. Through out our stay we noticed staff taking care of previous Four Seasons customers in a way that we never experienced. That would have been great had it been a Four Seasons still but it isn’t and won’t be, it is a Park Hyatt and a reason why we choose to spend our families 4th of July here not be treated like a 2nd class customer to former Four Seasons patrons. It was really sad actually I have stayed at a lot of hotels over the past years and never experienced anything like I did this past weekend. I was on vacation and didn’t say anything or maybe I read to much into it but things happened. I truly felt like Hyatt customers are looked down upon and it felt uncomfortable. I felt as I burned my free nights here and I probably should have waited to stay but I guess it was a learning experience. The only time I felt well taken care of was at check in and after that it was kind of an uncomfortable feeling and definitely not what we expected of Park Hyatt.

RichardInSF

Can you be more specific about how the past 4S customers were treated better? Also about how you knew they were previous 4S customers at that hotel? I bet management really wants more details, but so do I!

Thanks.

bp888

It is obvious some of the employees need an attitude realignment. So please write a letter to the hotel management. Better yet, to Hyatt Corporate as well. Both need to hear your experience.

xuni4everx

I totally agree with you, their attitude needs to change for sure.
It wasn't the service that I would expect from Park Hyatt.
I have stayed at many park hyatt around the world, but it wasn't the same service.

SanDiego1K

I'm not at all surprised to read about service problems, given thesilb's experience the week before the hotel was rebranded. His report of Four Seasons employees badmouthing the Park Hyatt brand in front of hotel customers was shocking. I'm sure that the PH Aviara GM would like details of current customer treatment, as he works to bring about an attitude readjustment on the part of employees. Those who can't adjust will hopefully find themselves expendable. It's not going to be an overnight transformation, though. I've no idea how many Hyatt employees have been moved in from other locations, but it is certainly a small percentage of the total workforce. Even though they are the senior staff, it is going to take some time for them to retrain their employees.

cozkay

I just want to say I really wanted to like this place and I still think it has a lot of potential, it is beautiful and spacious property. My stay started out great, the FD staff was super, but the rest is....

I know they were 4S customers because I over heard the employees talking about it with them at the pool about how things were before and how the change is still in process so not sure how it's going to be. In fact after asking the bellman on the way up to the room how things are going he made it a point to tell me that a lot of Hyatt guests are here on points this weekend. He didn't really say it in a "excited" way either. I mentioned that we are here on an award stay this weekend too and that was the last he mentioned that.

A few examples are breakfast both mornings, past guest being recognized and talking about the changes and eventually in one instance getting a table before us, and we both had the same number of guests dining, at that point the hostess saw that I was upset and said we would be next and we were seated within a few minutes of that. More attention from the wait staff and length of conversations with tables.

The pool cabanas seemed to be all unavailable unless you knew a pool staff, when we asked I was told they are 1st come 1st serve and then suddenly the cabana next to us became available to a hotel guest that knew the pool attendant. Not until we said something was a cabana available to us also. Pool staff also chatting it up and giving special treatment to 4S guests, I know this because I could over hear them talking about the transition and how it's busier this weekend compared to the last few because Hyatt customer are using points to book stays here. Again with the points? That's when I almost lost it but again I was on vacation with the family.

While waiting for the 6pm dinner my wife and kids lined up and were the first family in line it was nice out so we sat out on a bench enjoyed some wine and waited while the kids played around. Strange thing happened as dinner started, guest from previous years were all of a sudden ahead of us in line and getting a "tour" of how the BBQ was setup this year. Then continuing to talk about how this and that are different. Bottles of wine brought out to the table, food brought out to the table from the buffet while we could barely get a drink order in.

I guess maybe some stuff I really nit picked at after a while everything was just irritating me. My wife on the other hand only noticed and commented after the dinner incident. It didn't bother me at first but one after another. Maybe after a few days I'll look back and think it wasn't as big of a deal but right now I am still upset about it. At times I really felt like I was an unwelcome guest at someones house. I know there was other FT members staying here that weekend, did any of you notice anything?

BTW, I never received anything about a shoe shine as xuni4everx mentioned and only got turn down service the 1st night.

I did write a letter to the manger this afternoon, should I send one to corporate and if I should how would I do that?

FD1971

Actually, I was confident that the high standards of training would not result in bitterness and emotions being shown to the customer, however several posts have proved me wrong already...

First of all, it is absolutely normal to be treated even better, when one is a loyal and returning customer. I expect a property to have a certain level of hospitality based on their ratings, however we all know that as a returning customer, especially at a Hyatt, one is normally getting a little bit more.

One should also not underestimate the food chain of the hotel industry...

As pointed out numerous times before, Hyatt did not operate a AAA 5 Diamond / Mobil 5 star hotel in the US so far whereas all Four Seasons were rated 5/5 with one or two exceptions that were quickly brought back to the usual standards. We all know that employees are hired based on their grades, qualifications and references, even more so in the hotel industry, so somebody who works at a FS believes that he or she is clearly superior to somebody who worked at a Hyatt...kind of Wharton MBA vs. UCLA MBA. Still very good, but not really as good as the other one...

If there are certain players in the travel history that truly believe that you get what you pay for, we have to add Four Seasons and also SQ to the list, Kempinski also gets very close.

The reason for customer loyalty is unparalleled service and not a loyalty scheme.

Being one rank above Hyatt in the food chain ( to a lower extent internationally ) certainly creates quite some problems here...

Newly comped Diamond members waving their interim cards demanding a suite will probably add insult to injury.

I posted some weeks ago that I was somehow relieved that Hyatt brought in an experienced GM, who can pride himself for running a pretty efficient trio of properties way up the coast, however he has to realise that those people need to be retrained asap or simply let go and if those reports are 100% accurate, this is already asking for at least a warning, because of detrimental conduct that is somehow staining the image of this new property...

Hyatt invested quite some money already to upgrade the Park Hyatt brand to the standards of competitors like FS, Taj or RC and I am still not really convinced, if the property should bear a Park Hyatt brand, especially since the infrastructure is already ten years old...and that in an era that has seen revolutions when it comes to room design and architecture...

I will be there in a couple of weeks, but so far I am already waiting for a reply from the tennis pro for three weeks...and even if he was in Wimbledon, he should be back by now...

francophile

There are actually many FS properties in the US that are only Mobil 4 star, 5 of them alone in CA:

Beverly Hills
LA
Silicon Valley
Santa Barbara
Westlake Village

http://www.forbestravelguide.com/four-star-hotels.htm

nnn

On the other hand, if these employees that used to work at FS Aviara are so terrific, then there is even less of an excuse for them to make any guest -- Hyatt or not, new or old -- feel less than welcome, no matter how allegedly bitter the employees might be over the switch to Hyatt.

Hopefully, their acts will be straightened out quickly.

RichardInSF

Cozkay, thanks for the info. It is troubling and it sounds like management really does need to know.

BTW, this is one customer for whom FS is not the holy grail of luxury.

Gold Passport Concierge

Dear FTers,

While there generally is some adjustment period when transitioning hotel companies some of the things I read in this thread were very surprising. I emailed the General Manager at the Park Hyatt Aviara and hopefully together we can get this new Hyatt and its employees up to Hyatt standards so that your future stays will be pleasant.

Sincerly,
Chrissi R.

schriste

deleted

vangrizz

I'm going to take the other side of the coin, and say that while I was at the resort over the 4th of July weekend as well, I encountered none of the above problems. I did notice employees having conversations with other guests, but I heard nothing negative about Hyatt and I found it endearing that the staff would remember past guests. I know I like it when I am remembered at hotels that I frequent, and I would call that a positive aspect of service. We had no problem getting a cabana whenever we visited the pool, but the weather over the weekend was pretty poor, and I don't think there was ever enough people at the pool to occupy all the cabanas at once. The adult pool may have been a different matter, but I was almost overserved at the pool, as the attendants didn't really seem to have alot else to do.

Housekeeping was fantastic and we received turn down service both nights of our stay. We had some great help from the staff who were running the buffet on July 4th, even though we weren't eating. The only person with anything less than a positive attitude was one of the ladies working in the gift shop, but I also had one very pleasant lady in the store as well.

This isn't meant to justify the behavior that Cozkay experienced. I certainly would not be happy if I had that lack of courtesy extended to me during my stay. However my stay was a tremendously positive experience for me and my family.

bsdstone

Thanks for the input Chrissi...it's nice to know Hyatt has someone listening!^