Kacee

I think you're overestimating how much Hyatt cares.

My personal view is, pick the program that works best for you, and then be happy with it, regardless of flaws.

itsallgood

^ This.

The more I've thought about the changes, the more I see that Hyatt is targeting corporate business where customers are 1) not very price sensitive, and 2) willing to accept less benefits than comparable programs.

I'd love to cut my ties with Hyatt and move on but I've accumulated a ton of HGP points over the years (due to the difficulty of burning points and still qualifying for Diamond) that will take me quite a while to burn. I probably won't have all of my points burned off until sometime next year. Once that's done, I'm off to Stariott.

joakgarp

Usually a premium expensive brand comes with premium service. Unfortunately this is not the case with Hyatt. It's a premium brand with bad service. Doesn't work that well IRL.

59Impala

I have just received a personal e-mail, not an automated one, from the guest relations manager to also provide feedback on WOH.


Greetings from Thessaloniki and thank you for choosing Hyatt Regency for your recent stay!

As a VIP guest, your feedback is very valuable to us, so if you have any comments concerning the hotel (rooms, food, staff, e.t.c.), please let me know as it will help us improve.

In addition, I would like your opinion on the new loyalty program, World Of Hyatt compared to the previous program Gold Passport.

Thank you in advance and hope to welcome you back again soon!

Mary2e

I had the opposite experience. I just received the survey for my stay last weekend and it did not include any mention of WoH. The other survey I received had separate WoH questions with a space to write additional comments.

I wonder if they haven't already received enough abuse

itsallgood

While I agree with you in principle, I suspect that Hyatt will prove us wrong. They will be able to fill their hotels with corporate customers and will not care about non-corporate customers.

Hyatt can flush every single customer who has earned status on their own dime and they'll still do just fine.

A bigger question: will I ever go back to Hyatt? You bet! As long as they sweeten the pot to the point where I see value.
Will I ever have the same level of blind loyalty where I go out of my way to stay with Hyatt? Not a chance in the world. I was extremely loyal to Hyatt; now, absolutely not. I'll make sure to get everything I can out of them and will leave them in a heartbeat - I never felt that way prior to World of Hilarity.

236Dakota

The top two members of the management team of of a Hyatt that I often visit told me that the individual that led the WOH change over was flat out fired for the fiasco and that big changes are coming. They received this information when the VP of marketing recently paid them a visit. He had asked them what folks were telling them about WOH. They told the VP it was a disaster the response was:"that's what everyone is saying."

59Impala

I hope Jeff Zidell was not the one fired. Because I always thought he was a great guy, approachable and I can hardly believe that this fiasko was based on his ideas. I can well imagine that he was absolutely not behind this change and hence also the disastrous reddit event, where he may have been forced to participate but just not behind WOH.

cmglobal

Hope they also fired whoever thought it up. While we're at, let's fire anyone that approved it or even thought it was a good idea. Let's just fire everyone!

SS255

Some people make changes for "change sake" to justify their jobs. In most cases the changes are unnecessary, and result in sheer chaos at best, and revenue loss/added costs at worst. Most of these change agents get promoted beyond their level of competence for their "efforts," because they can illustrate the change on a Power Point, and spin it well. Glad to hear there was some accountability here for a disastrous change!

Mary2e

My guess is that it was Jeff Zidell who was shown the door.

CIT85

I don't know him. Regardless that most here say Jeff Zidell is a great guy and couldn't have dreamed of this fiasco, if he was responsible for WoH, then I agree completely that he should be held accountable and be fired. Too may elements of WoH are just beyond comprehension of how stupid the terms are.

Kacee

So this is all just speculation on top of some dubious double hearsay ("he told me that they told him . . . ."). Kind of far-fetched even by FT standards.

josephstern

Right, but we do know that:

a) WOH is a disaster

and

b) Zidell is out

So it's not too much of a stretch to color in the lines.

austin_modern

... but he was so nice.. there's no way he could have (as VP of WOH) possibly completely messed up Hyatt's loyalty program. :P