nhwiki

I tend to agree with this - I will say that the changes in suite upgrade policy at aspirational properties, like the GH Kauai for example, where diamonds now get a garden suite (ask mary2e, for example, or me) when before the CC, even burning FFNs, it wasn't unusual to get an ocean suite.

And no more alcohol in the club lounges - there was a time when it wasn't hard to find a table in the GH SF and snag a free drink or two and watch the sunset. Now, the last time I stayed there this summer, the lounge was so packed at breakfast time it was a total joke. While I like some of what the credit card brings to US members, the lounges that used to be a real reason to stay at a property now seem to be a sad shadow, a crowded one at that, of what they used to be.

Things have changed, and while diamond wasn't exactly exclusive or special, at least it took a little effort to achieve and maybe that mattered. Last year at the club in Kauai, I overheard several different groups of people discussing diamond challenges and credit card free nights, and while it seems that those things drove them to Hyatt, my guess is that they have by now moved on. But they filled up the club and took suite nights away from some inventory . . .

Yul_voyager

Even if I am not excited by this promo unlike many people here, I have to say I disagree with that. There are still some decent and some very good hotels in Hyatt cat 4 (GH Melbourne, PH Canberra, PH Toronto, PH Seoul, Andaz West Hollywood, Olive8, GH Seattle, and lots of HR in major cities...). Marriott cat 5 are pretty rare in major cities and if there is some it will be Courtyard at best...

And Hyatt requires 5 nights, not 5 stays, that could make a difference for business travellers which doesn't want or doesn't have time for hotel hopping.

MidwestGlobalGuy

My beef is that it doesn't commence until 15JAN14. I have a stay in new Nashville property 10JAN14 for 6 nights. They create a promote to drum up biz in first quarter, but lag in its effective date. Hyatt pals, we're going work Jan 6, even if you're not.

JackE

The bottom line is not directly tied to the occupancy rate. If it were, Hyatt could easily achieve 100% occupancy.

A night on points is not a free night. It's just included in the cost of revenue nights. Or if they are points accumulated by the credit card, then they are revenue derived from the rake on every use of a credit card.

nhwiki

Very true. But for the folks lamenting the loss of FFNs and other promotions, they don't realize that the purpose of the promotions has radically changed for Hyatt. Don't forget, FFN's existed well before the great recession, when Hyatt was a much smaller private chain with a long term plan to go public. While Hyatt is still smallish, they are much larger and public now, and while Hyatt might still be looking to attract new customers and revenue, the very need to radically differentiate themselves that existed pre-sale is now gone, so we are left in a land of "me-too" promos across all the chains and programs.

TallestHotelInJapan

There is nothing bad with these people! One would think Hyatt should learn from clients feedbacks!

Ancien Maestro

I think Hyatt is lining up too much with the other chains. Perhaps Hyatt sees themselves as a hotel chain without the coverage of others, and trying to stay in the game to compete for patrons. That way, when hotel patrons try out Hyatt, they will come to experience the service difference that sets Hyatt apart.

I would hope that Hyatt would see that their strength is differentiating from other hotel chains. Lining up benefits with the competition is just going to have them look like a commodity.

Plus I agree with the water downed effect mentioned here.. Quality of the club, and suite upgrades have gone down. I'm a late comer so not experienced this phenomenon first hand.. I guess in some ways, Hyatt is shoring up their treatment of Diamonds with the latest changes. We will have to see if Hyatt continues down the commodity road, or in fact, Hyatt wants to continue to set themselves apart from the competition.

Ravenboy2001

No brainer (for me) to take the points on this one because of the Cat 4 limitation and more importantly the July 2014 usage requirement.

I have 5 night reward stay planned in October 2014 at a Cat 5 property (Grand Cypress Orlando).

It's bonus POINTS for this cat...

atravelguy

While not the greatest, between my two hotel chains of choice (Hyatt and Starwood), this promo trumps Starwood's and everyone is singing Hallelujah because no properties can opt out like previous SPG promo's would allow. Average Joe can stay 15 nights at Hyatt = 30,000 points bonus and a free night at any hotel but what 6 or 7? or 15 nights at Starwood = 7,500 points and your still not at Category 4. It may not be great like previous years but it's hardly a terrible promo either IMO when chains across the board have occupancy numbers up.

LIH Prem

Nobody said that the people were bad, but I think the better term would be unrealistic or stuck in the past and still complaining about things that are never going to return the same way they existed years ago. It does get a little tedious and pointless after a couple of years of it.

Not sure what you want Hyatt to learn here. FFN was a ridiculously generous program, to the point it was unsustainable. We all took advantage of it when it existed, and I'm sure we all miss it. But if anybody thinks that complaining about it years after it was discontinued is going to bring it back, that's not very realistic.

I'm sure there will be different free night promos going forward, but I doubt we'll ever see one as good as the old FFN where 2 stays at any property (even $60/night properties) got you 1 night at any participating property (even $800/night properties).

With the current economy and occupancy rates, the promotions are just not as interesting as they would be if we were in a much worse economy for the hotel industry and they really needed promotions to attract business to keep rooms occupied.

Personally I'm glad there's a promo. Any promo that potentially earns extra points or free nights is infinitely better than no promo.

-David

canyonleo

Really bad (I'm not saying horrible) promo.

I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the opinion... I know the current status of the hotel economy/industry is booming, it's a "seller's market", and we'll see good promos when the market reverses.

But, after 20 nights, one earns 50k points, which is two nights (Cat 6, let's ignore six properties)... that's a FFN promo of one free night after 10 paid. That blows. Like I said, Hyatt (nor the others) don't need to run a FFN... but let's call it like it is.

canyonleo

Not looking to quote David specifically, but just a recent post and an opinion/position that I just don't agree with. So root canal is better than heart surgery, so one might be happy with root canal - "hey any surgery that avoids a hospital stay is better than one that doesn't avoid a stay."

No, IMO this promo blows, and yes getting some extra (devalued) points isn't bad, but it's also not good (noting that the opinion/post referenced doesn't use "good").

rubbernyc

Same here, I have a 3 night stay starting 10 Jan, at least I have another 3 night stay on the 17th. Still makes me mad that I lose out on three nights, Jan 15th makes no sense since most of my customers are back on the 3rd of Jan.

Ancien Maestro

You're part of the choir ahead for Christmas? The nice thing about Hyatt is the lack of blackout dates for award redemptions. It would be nice to follow suit with these point promos.

Travelling only high season I have yet to hit any of these promos to date. I wish Diamond members have some sort of priority to redeem or receive promos. By I guess timing is everything to get the bonus point offers.

LIH Prem

You're certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't think it's particularly helpful or valid to compare getting something extra vs getting nothing extra to a painful dental procedure.

-David