LilZeppelin

Is it possible that Hyatt promised Chase not to run FFN promos to make Hyatt Card seem more attractive? I am sure Chase would be very unhappy if FFN re-appeared and they still had to market their card with 2 free nights offer.

Gold Passport, if you are reading this, please at least make an attempt to innovate with your promotions as you do with elite benefits.

ctownflyer

Was nice enjoying Diamond status over all these years.
Won't be qualifying though based on this poor attempt at a promotion.

justcome

I have to admit, it was a good run. Thank you, Hyatt. And so long.

Boraxo

+1

Not to rain on the parade, but this doesn't hold a candle to the FFN promos. Nor will it incentivize me to book Hyatt for 1 night stays (well at least not more than the 1 night I might need to top off the bonus). I certainly won't turn down bonus points, but they aren't as useful as free nights, particularly for those of us who don't have nearly enough points to stay at the high cost city properties, much less resorts.

For example of a great promo, see SPG's recent "stay 3, stay free at a resort" promo.

bbbb

Couldn't have said it better myself!

stallion114

I still might use some cheap HP stays for the us air grand slam.
This is a major disappointment and I will not be qualifying for diamond.

Jaimito Cartero

Actually, Hyatt is putting their points on sale for 20% off, so you still might be able to wrangle it for a bit less than 14k.

peteropny

Just a note (with apologies to our GPC staff) - I've retitled this thread to reflect "concisely" the terms of the promo (to fit with our standard practice of titling promo threads).

Thanks!!

peteropny - co-mod - Hyatt

peersteve

Yeah, this promo is at best "stay 3 nights, get one free" since the 5,000 points might get a rural Hyatt Place night free (like here in OKC).....so a big de-valuation from previous promotions.

moulder3

^

I hate to admit it, but I have gone out of my way to maintain Hyatt Diamond (as I imagine many others have on this board) and always did so because:

1. Great GP promotions, as well as G bonuses
2. Perks for Diamond members

Here's the problem...as we all know #1 has been non-existent in 2011. Forget FFN (even though Starwood & Marriott have both offered similar promos this year), the G bonuses appear to be gone for good. Hyatt used to be the most generous program for top-tier elites, which is why we all went out of our way to stay at Hyatt. You have to ask though, if this chain has now given up on us. Starwood has ~1,000 hotels and I believe Marriott is around ~3,500 and both have offered better free night promos this year. So why go out of our way to stay at Hyatt in 2011?

As for #2, probably thanks to pressure from Hyatt, Starwood & Marriott now both offer free internet to its top-tier elites. Additionally, Marriott also guarantees breakfast or lounge for its top-tier. Hyatt, meanwhile, still offers practically no benefits for elites at Hyatt Place hotels (except 500 points), while Starwood offers a choice at its Four Points chain (free amenity, which includes free movie, $5 f&b credit or bonus points as well as the chance for free suite upgrade) and Marriott offers similar perks at Courtyard/Fairfield chains.

I'm trying to be objective, but without a good Q4 promo, I see no reason to keep my stays at Hyatt this fall. Bye bye Diamond status...

LilZeppelin

Or for most people on flyertalk - "stay fifteen nights, and get one free in bonus points".

ENIAC

Four stays YTD, and not convinced this will prompt me to do another 21 by year end! I usually save Hyatt requalification for FFN season. Come on Hyatt. Can you at least overlap this with a double stays promo?

On the other hand, I may be the kind of low margin promo hound that they've decided to live without.

lululee

What a disappointing promotion! Like many of you, i'm not planning to requalify Diamond, after having requalified for SPG Plat already. Could not take advantage of any of the Hyatt credit card promos cos i don't live in the States, and was really looking forward to the Q4 promo. But this so-called promo is so dull and unattractive, there is no incentive to make an effort to requalify.

antonius66

I disagree with this kind of logic though. To me, the reality is...if they offer a FFN promo, which is what most people seem to want to requal, you will do 21 more stays. That would get you 10 free nights. The bottom line is, A) you would still bring your 21 stays to them somewhere. Second, if you only do 4 stays a year anyway, the "benefit" you are taking from being Diamond (the costs they incur from giving you Diamond treatment) are minimal. I mean, you are hardly at a Hyatt from what you say, so who cares if you are Diamond. The free nights they are giving you are empty perishable rooms. If you cannot find empty rooms, you are not using the free nights. The talk of "cost" of the free nights is assinine. They do not bump paying customers for free nights, the great majority of people are NOT staying at the PH Vendome, and the room night is worthless after it is empty for the night. Most hotels are rarely occupied more than 80-85% when there is not a specific reason or engagement driving up occupancy. I do not see what the point is in alienating ANYONE, even the low margin promo hound, as you put it.

Personally, I have to work a little at hitting Diamond, and I DO rely on promos to incentivize me. ANYONE spending their own money is going to try and get the most for it, so they are going to focus it on promos usually. I ALSO however, move stays to Hyatts specifically because of status, driving revenue to them that they would not otherwise get. The costs of giving me a bigger room that was going to be empty anyway, or a free breakfast that ranges from satisfactory to awesome (PH Shanghai I am looking at you here ), is also minimal in comparison to the $5700 I have spent this year on 5 stays and 15 nights. I anticipate another 3 or so stays and 8 more nights by the end of the year without any promos to drive a MR. Also, I got NOTHING for every one of those nights this year so far, at least in the promo sense. They were all JUST after the 5/15k promo ended, so I got zilch aside from the standard points. Now that there is no really good promo to end the year, and in fact, a terrible promo (lets face it..this promo is absolute XXXX), I will not push to requal. I spend a great deal more on Hyatt (or any other chain when I focus on them) even with promos, than I would be Pricelining and/or focusing on the hotel option with the best luxury to location to price ratio, rather than just finding Hyatts.

I also find it ironic that people say that revenue or occupancy must be up so they do not need to drive business. Well, I think it is funny that every year for the last 10 years there has been 1 to 2 FFN promos EVERY SINGLE year EXCEPT this year. Interesting. I know business may be better than it was last year, but I know it cannot be THAT great since the global economy is still suffering greatly. Seems more to me that pre-publicly traded Hyatt was just more customer oriented and now they are just more $$$ at any cost.

mersk862

Honestly not much to have my loyalty stay at Hyatt.

I'd guess that of my Hyatt stays, about 50% are at Hyatt Place or Summerfields, where the only real thing Diamond gets over Plat is the 500 point bonus. Another 25-30% of my stays are at the HR Minneapolis, which has been very disappointing to me in numerous stays this summer.

Honestly considering just dropping to Platinum for next year; quite easy to retain, get the same service levels at HP, etc.