WAS

As one of the Diamonds who qualified on stays, I have to say this really makes me sad.

I loved my 7 years as Diamond, but it was hard enough already. There is a total of 5 Hyatts in Germany; none in Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Madrid, Rome... There wasn't a single Hyatt in Miami Beach until recently. This also meant that 90% of my DSUs went unused. I could never find a Hyatt when I actually needed a larger room.

But the service was good. Having the amenity in addition to the breakfast was nice. This is now gone.

Breakfast on award stays was also nice. But 60 nights is just not possible for me. Explorist gets breakfast 4 times per year, and I am sorry, but that's not good enough to keep me going out of my way to stay at a Hyatt. Hilton gives you that on every stay with just a credit card. And they have a hotel on every corner.

So, sadly, this might be it for me. I am not sure what's next. Maybe SPG Platinum. Or maybe I should forget about loyalty altogether.

RTW1

Even worse than that since the property where you are staying has to have a club... so useless at a lot of properties.

hailstorm

The Globs would be crazy not to take the points, since they'll be upgraded to suites on all their stays anyway.

By the way, I was being sarcastic.

sensei

There is solid data showing that Hyatt's ADR is significantly higher than the competition. So it seems folks are paying more to stay at Hyatt (even HP/HH). Whether that will change with the transition to World of Hyatt remains to be seen. Hyatt seems to think it won't, while several folks on this thread appear to have a different view. I guess we will know more next year.

WAS

Good call! Thanks.

That is pretty bad. Is it worth it to push work travel toward Hyatt in the hopes that my vacation property will have a club lounge? Plus the fact that the spread in the lounge is usually worse than the restaurant.

I don't know. Might be better off taking the chances with Hilton or even Intercontinental Ambassador. I've had the breakfast there thrown in a bunch of times.

Visconti

This.

Visconti

I'm one of those who pays for hotels on his own dime and find the above to appear accurate. All things being equal, I'd pay a little more to stay at Hyatt properties over their peer group. Assuming there isn't some price increase, I see little reason to alter my annual visits to the PH NY, regardless of whether or not I achieve top tier status.

I'm awfully curious to see how their metrics unfold as they implement these changes.

beachmouse

From some chatter over in the IHG area, it seems like the criteria for Royal Ambassador (the only non-hackable IHG status, and the only part of the program geared toward status benefits rather than basic award nights) is 10K in spend at IC properties and somewhere around 60 paid nights. If you can work with the somewhat limited IC footprint, and hey, if you're talking higher end Hyatts, you're probably okay with limited footprints, it's a program a lot of people seem happy with.

The down side is that for the rest of the program, the alleged enhanced benefits for Spire/RA that have been coming Real Soon Now since 2015 still haven't arrived despite some apparent pilot programs at the Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn level last year.

Kacee

Mere Golds get free breakfast at most Marriotts and Hiltons. This is why Explorist is such a complete fail.

Visconti

Right, now that SPG Plat will be merged with MAR Plat, why earn top tier the hard way? I mean, just app for the Chase Ritz (run $75K in business taxes or MS, whatever), earn 2 free nights, $300 ($600 if you app midyear and double up before cancellation) in travel credits, and earn Plat status that way?

The cost is the 2% you could have otherwise earned on $75K spend, which is $1,500. So, the cost of acquisition and annual fee are more than made up by the benefits.

So, why would any spend his/her own money to earn status? No reason, whatsoever.

WAS

Well, RA is a different animal altogether. I was just saying that even with the regular Ambassador, I've had good luck getting breakfast for free, even though it's not a published benefit.

Yeah, top tier is out of reach, middle tier is pointless. I am looking for a way to stay, but can't justify it.

HHonors OUTSIDER

Actually its to encourage Explorist tier to skip breakfast so they have more time to Explore. See WoH makes a lot more sense when you understand the logic behind it.

rbw5t

I think that's what I'm coming to also. Will the Hyatt CC provide Explorist? I'm currently guessing I'll have about 27 nights this year. I could push that up to 30 without too much trouble, but not sure it's even worth bothering.

notquiteaff

Discoverist, unless you put $40k spend on it (then Explorist). No night credits based on spend towards any level.

jacobsa

I think you need $50K in spend on the credit card to get Explorist status starting March 1st. And you're right...no night credits based on spend.