edgewood49

I stand corrected, somehow I got it reversed. Yes its 60 then 55 after that.

Whew

laxsnaogg

+1

Hard to provide anything new to this discussion, other than to add that I think this will be Hyatt's "Netflix Moment".

I always chuckled at the folks that expected FFN to continue after the global recession ended, and I wasn't surprised at the changes to the (easy) Diamond challenges. However, these changes are simply too much.

I suspect it will take more than a year for Hyatt to review 2017 and come to their own conclusions, but many of us will be gone by then. I just requalified for Diamond yesterday, but have no intent on aiming for it again.

Lastly, and this is obviously pure speculation on my part (which I know gets one killed on FT, but I'll do it anyway); but as much as many properties were supposedly negatively impacted from free nights and DSU, I think they will feel the pain from these changes. As an example, I frequented the GH Kauai for years with my family, but will not bother to return without status. Sure, I got a suite for the price of a regular room, but I'd be horrified to add up how much I spent at Tidepools, food and drinks by the pool, and cabana rentals over the past decade. Thats real revenue, and revenue they will never see from me again due to the loyalty program changes.

Perhaps I am in the minority, and not their target market, but lost revenue is lost revenue, however you want to slice it.

josephstern

laxsnaOGG - what about the Andaz Maui?

I doubt I'll be back there without status. I like the free breakfast a lot, but, like you, I spend plenty more on Morimotos and massages. Revenue gone.

TheTourVan

This is me to a T. I even went a step further and transferred my points to my airline of choice. I still have the credit card, and will keep it for this year to see if something drastic happens, but for now, it was a great ride, but I am moving on.

dsquared37

This might well be my approach... But i'm leaning more toward burning my points and using the DSUs with award nights when possible.

I don't expect any soft landings moving forward unless Glob requals are nosediving toward then end of 2017. And even then I don't foresee Hyatt acknowledging their miscues by adding soft landings.

The irony is a soft landing from Glob might be the only way to prop up mid-tier numbers; the benefits are just not worth pursuing otherwise.

Biggie Fries

Agree completely... A lot of us will be picking the bones off of Diamond/Globulist in 2017, not wanting to waste our benefits as Diamonds, but not wanting to over-invest in staying at Hyatt, given how hard it will be to make 60 stays and how little you get (compared to HHonors and SPG) for the intermediate statuses.

Yet if you were delusional enough to dream-up and roll-out WOH, you're delusional enough to image end of 2017 that all of us ex-Diamonds who will have done 12 stays and 20 nights (or whatever) to take advantage of benefits are the middle-tier customers they desire. "See!" they'll say, "I told you all those faux Diamonds would really be happier as Conformists (or whatever those junk statuses are called). So it won't be until after 28 Feb 2018 (or whenever holdover-Globular status ends for Diamond qualifiers during 2016) that they will begin to notice that we are gone.

And by that time ....

nineworldseries

I am still in mourning and denial over how Hyatt ruined their program. I've done more planning, calculating, and soul-searching than any rational person should have done.

I originally thought I would go back to Marriott, but that did not prove realistic. I'm not eligible to get the Marriott CC again due to 5/24, and i find Marriott's earn/burn ratios abysmal. I also dislike their lower-end properties.

I'm going to slowly transition to IHG and fully go hardcore with them no later than 2018. My Q1 Accelerate promo is tasty and only requires 2 Crowne Plaza stays, both of which I can easily mattress run in Columbus. Otherwise, in Jan. and Feb. of 2017, I'm hitting Hyatt hard. I already have 7 revenue nights booked. I'll milk the last Diamond amenities out over those 2 months.

Then, I'll burn Hyatt points using mainly P+C for March/April/May. This will get me to roughly 16 nights for the year, so I will reevaluate in May whether I want to shoot for 30 to get Explorist or go all in on IHG. If there's another good IHG promo in the middle of the year, I'll give most of my remaining nights to them.

The overarching goals, in order of importance:

1.Milk the last of my Hyatt points and Diamond benefits for 2017.
2. Bank as many IHG points as possible for 2018
3. Achieve Explorist for 2018 but not at the detriment of #2.

If I do get Explorist, I'll split Hyatt/IHG for 2018. No more HP/HH unless forced. If I don't hit it, all in on IHG for the rest of 2017 too.

OsakaWino

I wil treat the Disc and Explo tiers the same way I treated the Plat tier for 20 years before I became Dia 5 years ago: If I get the mid-year coincidentally because I happen to choose a Hyatt to stay at, that's fine; if not, that's fine too.

zombietooth

The most glaring shortcoming in the World Of Hurt program is that Exploderist is just not worth getting. Both Marriott and Hilton Gold are superior.

Crazyhotelguy

Totally agree. The breakfast benefit at Hilton alone is far superior...

notquiteaff

I personally don't think Exploder benefits themselves are too bad (compared to the current Plat status, which is completely not a factor in my selection of properties). Four club-upgraded stays would probably be reasonably useful for my personal needs.

But where it fails completely for me is the qualification criteria. The ROI just isn't there. I can be Marriott Gold via UA RewardsPlus and Hilton Gold via my Amex Plat (which also gets me SPG Gold and thus Marriott Gold again). So just as with Plat, there is just zero motivation for me to even consider Exploder status as a factor.

zombietooth

I agree with you 100%. I was just imprecise with my comment.

I was implying a broad apples-to-apples comparison of costs, including credit card fees (net), spend requirements, paid nights, etc. along with comparison of the benefits. It is amazing to me that Hyatt doesn't think its mid-tier deserves comp'd breakfast-the 4 club certs really only have significant value to long-stay customers like myself. A one-night-at-a-time elite would receive minimal benefit from these certs.

In that light, Marriott and Hilton Gold are bargains, and Exploder is outrageously overpriced.

I am extremely happy with the United Gold to Marriott Gold match, and have already been upgraded to twice to suites in Asia this year on check-in. The Marriott clubs in Asia have impressed me as well. Best of all, Marriott Gold literally costs me nothing so long as this United joint venture continues.

hailstorm

WoH could simplify things by reducing to two tiers: Glob and Slob.

zombietooth

^Outstanding-I actually laughed when I read it.

Miesque

The more I think about this, it seems the biggest beneficiary of the WOH rollout is going to be Hilton, which I have to think was not the purpose of the changes.

Love it!