I call Shenanigans
 

Reading over some old and new threads prompted me to call HGP about 10 days ago. I informed them that their treatment of loyal elite travelers sort of stinks. When asked what I was referring to, I reminded them of the following;

1. UA bonus miles/HGP points. Last year certain members were targeted for miles, while others were not.

2. Currently, you are rewarding (attempting to) customers who have not stayed, undoubtedly trying to lure them back.

3. There is ample discussion about rewarding members who have stayed at over 50 different hyatt propertied. While I felt I would have qualified, and was again not rewarded, HGP CS told me milestone awards are only for achieving over 1 million points.

Either way, the rarity of HGP bonuses is frustrating. We spent some time discussing FFN and BWB. I told him that many of us in the industry miss it, would welcome it, but not are expecting it.

I personally am not booking a stay until there is SOMETHING tossed our way.

Don't get me wrong, I feel somewhat the same about those targeted offers, but what did you think calling a call center employee would accomplish?

And what did they say?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.1.2; en-us; DROID RAZR Build/9.8.2O-72_VZW-16) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)

What?

I expected nothing, but needed to let CS know that I, like many others, are irritated by this.

and what do you think CSR did with this complaint well besides take a bathroom break b/c he/she was laughing so hard

If it's any consolation, I'm 0 for 4 too. I'm far, far beyond 50 properties and I've got allllll-most a million points in my account right now (after whatever I've used). Thirteen years as a diamond (consistently 70+ nights).

But I'm carrying on. Now in a three-week stay at the LA Hotel.

Today marked me 1 year "anniversary" staying at 2 Hyatts in SEA. I have yet to receive any recognition, extra bonus, etc. from Hyatt. Booked one night last weekend in Chicago and due to the poor service actually checked out (although the GM there was fantastic!). I've learned you just cannot expect/hope for anything more than a room that you have booked/paid for. Is it frustrating? Heck yeah. Hyatt is making a profit, loads of people stay at their properties so loyalty - or Hyatt caring about Hyatt is a thing of the pass it seems.

And I call common sense. Reading your post I get a better feel why United was talking about 'overentitled elites'.

Hyatt is selling hotel rooms. That's the business they are in. They are not in the business of looking into 'overentitled elites' and they are not in the business of handing out 'freebies' at any rate.

What Hyatt has done is building a brand that people trust and a loyalty program that is one of the best in the industry. I book Hyatt because I know that I am getting a great experience and that Hyatt will go out of their way to make me feel home. My list of exceptional stays with Hyatt is long.

Hyatt does not need any 'carrots' anymore to fill their rooms. That's why they were able to cut back all the bonuses and benefits. What they are doing now with their 'surprise' awards is targeting a number of customers with no disclosed criteria.

FFN was a great tool to abuse: Stay at Hyatt Place for 99 USD twice and stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo for free. Hello? Wake up call needed? There were two many people abusing this and Hyatt needed to put a stop to it. The new promotion this year is still giving you a free night (5,000 points) but only in the lowest category. Alternatively, you can use the points towards your free night in Tokyo but Hyatt is a lot more smarter about their promotions.

What counts at the end of the day is not how many nights you stay with Hyatt. What matters is the total turn-over. If you are spending less than 20,000 USD a year, you might have a Diamond card and Hyatt keeps you happy. But you won't be the kind of elite they are looking for.

Wow, are you calling the member of the Hyatt and United forum 'overentitled elites' that are looking for 'freebies' at any rate?

It could be worse. Hyatt can opt to offer generous freebies then increase the points needed for award redemptions like most of their competitors already have in the past year or so. I suppose paying 50k for a Park Hyatt redemption will be Ok as long as you get 3k bonus points with every stay? It could happen.

Adam, long before you joined FT, Hyatt increased the amount of points needed massively. In two steps, the amount of points needed for the highest category went up almost 50%. Places like Vendome used to go for 15k a night.

so you think Hyatt would expect a diamond at 25K to pay $800 per night for each and every of their 25 stays to be considered the elite they are looking for?

If you spend 150 nights with them and spend 25K ($133) are you what they are looking for?

Where did you come up with 20K spend anyway? Does that include taxes?

Comparatively to other chains, Hyatt probably has the most generous redemption chart at the moment. SPG increased it's rates and significantly devalued their C&P, Marriott increased almost 1/3 of their properties, Hilton decided to ..well lets not even go there. Lets give Hyatt some credit for their efforts to keep their customer's loyalty. Lets face it....Hyatt knows they are currently offering a great value when it comes to award redemptions and overall elite benefits (esp for Diamonds)....really why do people expect more and more? Tell me the best promo available right now from another chain and then tell me how their redemption chart matches up to Hyatt in overall value for a same category property redemption on points.

"But I'm a diamond member...."

I don't know why you guys are giving the OP so much grief....

talking to CS will probably have more of an effect than starting this thread!