Mary2e

I heard back, same day, from the review email I sent yesterday thanking me for the detail I went into.

Take away - we're not the only people complaining about this. (yes, he said that) and that they are taking all these reviews into account but since the program has only been in effect for 1.5 months they are not planning on making any changes at this time.

My guess is they are gathering info about the most hated changes to the program and will adjust accordingly, though not until next year.

CIT85

I provided similar feedback itemizing each aspect of WoH that is deficient to HGP. The response I received also stated that since the program is so new, they are not planning any changes.

As you mentioned earlier, they will lose a lot of elites, especially Globalists, if they don't make changes soon enough for people to change their stay patterns.

Kacee

They already have. But they knew that, it was part of their plan.

They probably didn't expect all the venom towards the new program though. This whole thing was just very poorly conceived.

The smallest state

Two thoughts..............

1- that's too long IMHO. People get settled into a routine and earn status at Marriott, Hilton, IHG or wherever and the inertia factor sets in. It's easier to keep doing what you are currently doing rather than change.

2- they don't want us. Really, Hyatt is a for profit business and had a generous GP program. The franchisee's started to grumble about the entitled set (ie - me) showing up expecting lounge access, free internet, upgrades, breakfast because I stayed at HH and HP racking up 30 nights a year.


I get the changes from Hyatt's point of view, my personal thoughts were the changes to WoH didn't work for me. I was prepared to keep on staying at Hyatt as I liked the hotels. What was the big turn off for me was the mickey-mouse marketing campaign. The whole 'we-want-you-to-be-you' and lifestyle branding like it was something great. Had they come out and amended the plan and said it was a business decision, I'd be fine. The straw that broke my camel's back was that ill-advised Reddit AMA with Jeff Z who tried to blind everyone with corporate doublespeak.

Mary2e

I already mentioned to them that they need to, at least, announce changes soon because people were staying elsewhere.

The program was overly generous - and the diamond giveaway in 2015 was the straw that broke the camel's back. I don't doubt the hotels complained bitterly about being overrun with people using the program to the fullest extent.

cmglobal

Agree with this. Hyatt ruined their own program with the diamond giveaway and then punished their loyal customers to try and fix it.

Mary2e

That is exactly what I told them... They put about 40k DSUs into the system along with all those people. The hotels must have been really complaining. And I don't blame them. And yes, I told them exactly that. I did say they should of said "oops, we made a mistake, we are sorry and will give you platinum to compensate, but I'm sorry, you can't have diamond unless you're part of the target audience."

The smallest state

THIS. Well put

SS255

For those of you who are "engaging" with the Member Engagement Team, I hope you will strongly suggest that they tweak their mid-tier (I refuse to call it by name) to at least make it meaningful.

For many former Diamonds, top-tier on Hyatt is now out of reach or simply not worth the reach, and mid-tier is pretty worthless. At the very least, mid-tier should be guaranteed breakfast and a possible upgrade to the Regency Club level.

HeadInTheClouds

Not that this is necessarily material to the benefits discussion, but it just amazes me how cheap and awful all the branding of WoH is. Yes as has been stated, the status names are absurd, awkward and unintuitive. But the branding itself looks like it was done by someone at 3am just learning how to use WordArt and proud of their first creation.

When I got my 'Globalist' card, it felt like the whole brand had been diminished. Nothing this amateur ever should have made its way out of a boardroom, IMHO.

Forever in Seattle

I have just had my first stay since the WoH changes, and just received a survey. I'll fill it out later when I have the time, but I am interested to see if the Engagement team contacts me (and if it has any questions about the program) as I am Europe based.

For the record in was a GH property, and I was offered an upgrade to either a Club Room or a Suite, and I did actually have a pleasant stay.

CloudCoder

Sometimes it takes a while for these things to sink in.

As a top-level elite, you eventually (after 60 nights) earn a brand-new Cat 1-7 free night. But it's actually a poison pill. It expires in four short months. It's ineligible for upgrade. To add insult to injury, if you add add your Free Night to the end of an existing stay, your entire stay becomes ineligible for an upgrade.

Let's compare. The old HGP program gave points (which, for all practical purposes, never expire). The points can be used any way you like. The new program replaces those points with a certificate expiring in a few weeks. To use the free night, you give up most of your top-level benefits for the ENTIRE stay.

It's like ripping off someone's arm, beating them with the bloody stump, then (to emphasize the message) kicking them in the teeth.

shinbal

I am a Globalist. But this program has so confounded me that I've stopped staying at Hyatts altogether. It's lost its simplicity. I mean, what the hell is a globalist?

This program to me is the "New Coke" of the hotel industry. It's not easy to understand, it's not easy to use, and I simply don't have time to educate myself on a new program. Way too much work.

It's disappointing because I've been a diamond for 17 years and have some properties I really enjoyed.

Ocn Vw 1K

As a long-time (at least) HY Plat., (a few years Diamond), I agree with a lot of this analysis, but have a little different focus. Since we're all FTers, we make knowing a loyalty program part of our make-up ; so that WoH is a more complex one shouldn't be a minus to us. But it can well be a serious liability to the many elites not invested in FT.

I focus my main disappointment over WoH as: 1) being the wrong program entirely for a chain which US footprint is largely HPs and HHs,; and 2) this program having devaluation written all over it from beginning to end: e.g., with no elite amenity, the word "breakfast" not expressly offered to the top two tiers; tiny point bonuses offered to elites, qualify by nights and not also by stays, certificates expiring after only a few months, etc.

josephstern

World of Hyatt - requalification for status via points