skywalkerLAX

Not sure if the formula is that simple since you also receive a service for these 200$ and there are cheaper properties in the US.

hailstorm

It also leaves out travel expenses required to get to and from the hotel.

Might have to be a difference between cardmembers residing in Atlanta and Alaska...

lz80521

possible solution is honoring one year diamond, more like a renewal award.

CloudCoder

Some rank-and-file worker in an office building somewhere made a clerical mistake in the wording on an advertisement. Some people clicked on the advertisement (while probably knowing it was a mistake). The old adage "if an offer seems too good to be true ..." never came into play. Now all the lawyers are eager to sue.

This pretty much illustrates what's wrong with today's society. Geez, someone who was working on Hyatt's promotional materials made a mistake. Hyatt has already apologized for someone else's mistake.

Get over it.

Surely a company as large as Hyatt can afford word-twisting lawyers. They'll honor Diamond status for as long as your account is open. That interval of time is too short to even be measured.

yerffej201

t&c and says that you get diamond status as long as you hold the card right? i guess if people try to complain chase can always approve them and cancel their card in two months. they have every right to do that i think.

iflyjetz

I just looked at Chase credit cards' terms and conditions. There's no legal recourse. In the terms and conditions:
We reserve the right to change the benefit features associated with your card at any time.

hailstorm

That's Chase, an entity that has done no wrong (so far), and wouldn't be the subject of legal action anyway.

The misleading advertising was done by Hyatt.

skywalkerLAX

It's not as easy. As mentioned before T&C are not written in stone. The permanent Diamond status was specifically advertised so that would stand.

pogonation

Exactly! IMO no point trying to push this any further.. Even if you won in court (and you would be pretty stupid to take such a tiny matter to court) then Chase can just cancel your card.. game over

dmodemd

I really don't think it is a big deal for Hyatt to honor the deal:

- How many people got this offer? It sounds like from here that a subset of Diamonds received the offer.
- What was the target audience for the offer, how was it determined? How many are we talking as a % of Diamonds?
- How many applied for the card in that short window of time as a % of those?
- Keeping those people Diamond that already are, for now, is not a bg stretch.
- It doesn't cost much to give Diamond benefits when the incremental here is so small. Note that if someone is granted Diamond who isn't staying enough to qualify anyway, is not staying enough to use the benefits to a large degree.
- This is NOT offering lifetime Diamond to everyone as some here have implied.

I would think Hyatt's next steps should be:

1) Assess how many people received the errant offer and their GP#s
2) Get a report from Chase on how many applied for the card and were approved during that window and the GP#s.
3) Cross reference that list against the targeted email population in #1 above to come up with a potential count of the class.
4) If not too bad (as a % of existing Diamonds - I think likely far under 1%), then offer to honor the deal as follows:
5) Only honor it to those who call in to specifically request it be upheld. Mark them internally in their profile.
6) Continue the process to grant annual Platinum for card holders that don't otherwise qualify. Those in this class will need to call in to request the bump to Diamond access each year.

If you have to make the requests, it makes the class even smaller.

Given a few of us in this class have already called/emailed initiating cases, they have this process starting.

Given the limited size of this class, it would be potentially far more damaging from negative publicity to NOT honor the offer.

Note by the wording in the email, Hyatt was much more concerned about the negative impact to Diamonds of offering such a deal to a wide population, or the perception that it was, than it was about those who felt duped by the offer.

Now, I wonder how this happened in the first place.

- Was there a dynamic nature to this email whereby "Platinum" was changed to "Diamond"? Seems so.
- This implies there actually WAS an offer for keeping Diamond status.
- Was the error in the targeting that it went too far?
- Or was the error in the unanticipated perception that it caused and the uproar that began?

I was really under the impression I was included in this offer and it was valid because:

- I used to be a Diamond (earned the hard way) a couple years back
- I recently called in for a trial and was granted. I showed top tier in Hilton and Marriott, so I have the potential spend.
- I was also targeted for a couple "come back" offers even during my trial [my single stay to meet the challenge netted me so many bonuses it was sick]
- I met the trial/challenge.
- My single stay to meet the trial did not go well due to numerous issues with the property which the GM is aware, so I am reticent to going back. I don't know if GP is aware if it but I did get GP points as compensation, so they may.

I really did not plan on requalifying for Diamond this next year. This card offer would have made me think seriously about staying at Hyatts occasionally instead of Hiltons and Marriotts if I could get Diamond benefits, since I can get elite benefits at the other properties. Without Diamond at Hyatt, I have no reason to go there! This really is a net better deal for Hyatt to get my spend than not offering it!

skywalkerLAX

So the moral of the story is better to sue for general damages resulting from this, not for the Diamond Status Offer to be honored.

Ancien Maestro

Wasn't the email promo targeted at Diamond members? The burden of proof is difficult, as the damages aren't clear to calculate.

All of us are assuming its Lifetime Diamond given on the cc, but an annual fee renewal is due every year. Paying the fee and renewing each year is a big assumption that the court would probably not 100% agree with. Also, there is an expiry date on the cc. It is also an assumption that Chase will continually extend expiry dates by issuing new cards.

Also, what's the damage from being Diamond, and downgraded from Diamond, as a result of this targeted promo to Diamonds. The court could very well say, there are no damages.

The difference between the LS/FPC saga is a $2,000 or $10,000 consideration was paid, so it was a clear cut transaction that had to be honored although third party. The offer was 'permanent FPC Platinum status'. Here the consideration is a $75 annual fee, good for a year. Since this is a targeted promo at elite members, emailed out to Diamond members only, and the $75 annual fee means good for a year, there really is no downgrade unless the current status of Diamond members targeted expires February 2014. So there is potentially that 1 year gap between February 2014 and 2015.

Hyatt is a good company.. I think they'll somehow make up for this mistake.

dmodemd

I agree there are no damages here to speak of. If you don't like the revokation of the offer, you can cancel the card at no cost within a year. Your only harm was the effort you made to apply, a very minor affect on your credit scores, and disappointment.

The potential damage here to Hyatt is the negative impact on reputation to those Diamond members and potentially to the public due to the error and not making up for it. Could be otherwise handled with typical compensation, but to really make sure they keep a good reputation, they should honor the offer for those that applied, since it is really no cost to them and potentially a net positive in the end for those members. Its also a positive impact on their reputation by making good on their mistake.

iflyjetz

I respectfully disagree. Hyatt is trying to preserve the value of being a Diamond by NOT giving it away with a credit card. I see far more negative public opinion by giving people Diamond through the credit card than to deny them due to this advertising mistake.

By not honoring this clear mistake, Hyatt is telling the public that they want to preserve the value of being a Diamond.

It's funny that people here complain about targeted promotions, yet want to a small target group get lifetime Diamond status due to a low level employee's inadvertent error.
If you really want lifetime Diamond, Hyatt has a program for that. 10 years HGP member and 1 million base points.

sthubbar

...................CC #1.............CC #2
Hotel..............IHG...............Hyatt
Issuing Bank...Chase............Chase
Annual Fee.....$49.................$75
Forex.............0%..................0%
Type......Visa Signature.....Visa Signature
Status........Top Tier.............Top Tier

Please explain to me how it is clear that one of these is real and one is a mistake.