hailstorm

4 more months.

Why are so many people having difficulty understanding the length of this promotion?

dsquared37

Do the T&Cs address nights consumed prior to registration?

In general your surmise is in line with the program's provisions in which a stay ending on Jan 1 (for example) would count towards next year's qualifications however knowing Hyatt's IT I have no idea if indeed this would work.



To the first point: That's exactly how I feel.

To the second: A bit vindictive. But it is clearly a sore spot with those who thought themselves above us lowly 25 stay/45 night plebes.

As I put the pieces together, 20 nights will get me another year as Glob, bringing my total to 29. So an additional night would just a 2 for 1.

dsquared37

So your 10 additional paid nights over above this mythical 25/25 beast builds a soap box from which you're preaching?

Forgive me for being skeptical but where do these magical and mythical beasts roam? If so many 25/25s were bellyaching then you can surely give a list of their IDs.

I'll be here waiting.

notquiteaff

I'd argue last three months is not very meaningful of a period. Year to date covers the current requalification period accurately. People who decided to bail will probably have left to start somewhere else at the beginning of the year.

But if you want to do a comparison over the period that WoH was in full effect, why 3 months? It started six months ago, on March 1. How's the comparison for that?

Ultimately it is probably only reasonable to do comparisons over a longer period of time (years). Lots of other factors in play. Uncertainty about MR/SPG for example. And factors completely unrelated to loyalty programs. Just look at the last earnings call and the amount of discussion WoH got.

Maybe Hyatt will provide some insights next year at their investor day. I recall reading through a presentation from a few years ago that had some numbers that were more interesting than the stock price.

JackE

Wait no more!

I looked up performance since March 1, the day this Tale of WoH began. Over that time period, Marriott's rise was 24.3% bigger than Hyatt's rise. (March 1 was just a couple of weeks after Hyatt dropped like a rock just before this disaster rolled out. So the numbers would be far more dismal for Hyatt had I picked mid-February.)

Good luck trying to spin World of Hurt as a rousing success. So rousing they had to slash the price of it by two-thirds.

MarkOK

I don't know if the figures are accurate or not. But the spirit of the post is on.

1. I think some of the 25 stay diamonds are little full of themselves sometimes. How much will Hyatt really lose from not having some these 25 stay 'diamonds' year after year who like to game the most value no matter what? How many of these were just staying 25 nights, racking up 25K in 'welcome amenities' while only spending maybe $3000 in spending. With ~9 points per $ spent between the 5 base points, 3 bonus points on a creditcard, and 1-2 pt on the diamond bonus, all told, they could come up with enough points for 10 free nights at Cat 1s after 25 nights of actually paying for room-- or 1 free night per 2.5 nights stayed. That is a hefty return. That doesn't make business sense. People talk about WoH as a devaluation, but it is ONLY a devaluation for that group of people qualifying on stays and racking large returns on amenity points.

2. How many people are staying maybe at 30-40 nights on longer term stays, too low or maybe enough for Hilton Gold, but not enough for Hilton Diamond or other top tiers? AKA- the affluent leisure traveler. WoH gives them 4 club lounge awards that can be used on a few of their vacations, everyone else says no-dice.

If you gain 1 person in case 2, for every person lost in case 1 above, WoH gets more nights spent while having to give away less overall. Meanwhile, while those travelers that were spending less in case 1 loses value, travellers in case 2 gains value under WoH and may appreciate that.

The credit-card promo to globalist maybe makes a handful of 60 night globalists mad because there may be 'competition' for upgrades at check-in and more people in the club, but how many mid-tier 25-50 night a year type travelers now see that they can get a top status at Hyatt for next year? The 60 night traveler is a real value to Hyatt, I am sure, hence the confirmed suite upgrades and cat1-7 award that comes from that number of stays (in perspective, I think perhaps that move is a stroke of genius to make sure that elite 60 night travelers always get something significant just for them outside of the tier matching/promos/and so on), but let's not pretend that there isn't a large enough group of people that might decide to stay Thanksgiving weekend at that HP near Grandma's house because of this promo. I said it many page back--- I don't care for promos based on principal and simpleness (even if I benefit from this one), but Hyatt probably is gaining something regardless of some hurt feelings from some people thinking they should get lougnes to themselves and suite upgrades all the time on top of their confirmed suite upgrades and free award stay just because they stayed 60 nights a year while others only stayed (at very minimum) 20 nights within four months (and more realistically, probably something like 30-59 nights).

iflyjetz

LOLZ! I was waiting for your response. You're always amusing.

Crawling back? Hardly; I stated when World of Hilarity was launched that I'd be back when Hyatt gave me an 'in'. And frankly, I wouldn't even take up this offer if not for a 3 week vacation in Oct. Sure, I'm even rearranging destinations in order to book Hyatts (Egypt will be there after I've burned all of my Hyatt points but there won't be any Hyatts where I want to go in Egypt this year or any time in the foreseeable future). I found the new Baha Mar's offering a week for <$200/night, allowing me to use one of my 4 remaining TSUs. Not even worth burning points there since it's 10Kpts+$125/night. I'll find another destination or two for the rest of the time - I've got >200K points left to burn and a Baha Mar stay isn't going to burn any.

Safety net/ego pusher? No; if I wanted an ego pusher, I'd renew my Fairmont Platinum status next year - that's more prestigious than glob status. But frankly, the value's not there for me at Fairmonts. After all, I can 'scam' all of the perks off of Hyatt that I want - a good free breakfast and lots of suite upgrades at checkin. That works for me; I chase perks and value, not status.

Where have I been? Getting Fairmont Platinum and sampling other programs (Hilton, Intercontinental, Accor). I have Starriott LT Plat but I mainly use that as a backup. This year was mostly devoted to Fairmont but I'll let my Plat lapse; just a couple more free Fairmont nights to burn in 2018. My experiences with Intercontinentals (better value to me) this year moved them up my list considerably and I'll likely move there once I've burned my hoard of Hyatt points. It'll take close to 2 years to burn the rest of my Hyatt points, especially with the brand explorer + credit card free nights thrown in.

It's so nice to know that you and I will share the same status at Hyatts for another year (maybe longer). Hey, maybe we'll stay at the same hotel sometime! And we can swap stories. Who knows, if I check in before you and snag the last suite, I'll let you know all about the room layout. Or just pay the extra $20 in advance and get something better than an entry suite. ^

Get the IHG credit card and try a few Intercontinentals. The annual fee is $49 and gives you Plat status and one free night at any IHG property. We've stayed at some great Intercontinentals on free nights - our opinion is that their product is better than most Fairmonts and full serve Hilton, Starriott, and Hyatt brands. And their prices are usually lower than the other chains. No breakfast, but as you stated, one can find breakfast outside of the hotel. This year, we found that the best overall value for us is Intercontinentals.

I'd go with petty over vindictive, but I suppose either would be correct.

JackE

In fairness, as others have already pointed out, top tiers are only a percentage of all guests. I was at a Regency yesterday and there were about 45 people queued up in the non-elite line (obviously a bus group had just arrived) and ZERO in the WoH line.

PortlySpartacus

So far this year pretty good. I'm speaking in terms of the complimentary suite upgrades that so many of the WoH haters want banned in the T's & C's because they consider the language fraudulent. I've been upgraded more times this year than in previous years. In reviewing the thread on the suite upgrade subject my interpretation is its a net positive to Globs this year. So from that stand point, thin away and my suite awaits me. Glorious!

dsquared37

That is a great question. For all who are running scared of this mythical and terrible beast I await your research.

My guess is the information can be found proximal to the Boogie Man and possibly alongside the noted and feral Rocky Mountain Nauga from which the wonderful Naugahyde is harvested.

JackE

Considering 25 nights and 25K points both usually have a marginal cost near zero, $3,000 was a nice return for Hyatt even using your numbers.

We know that Gold Passport was a great program. They told us that many, many times.

Then they got greedy and turned many of their biggest boosters into critics. Epic.

And what's your view on Hyatt now requiring TWENTY nights?

iflyjetz

On the suites, we agree. I've also gotten suites on just about every one of my free nights, something that didn't happen in the past.

777 global mile hound

Couldn't agree more Kacee
Out the window and I'm a pretty happy guy all things considered with Hyatt generally
Disappointed here to say the least not so much for myself but for the membership base who trusted Hyatt to deliver
a pristine above boards exclusive program that delivers to the highest caliber
Members will certainly be affected in some instances in the most popular cities like NYC,San Fran Andaz Maui etc

I'll be at 70 nights even as a Lifetime Globalist in a few months
and though I personally like many of the changes to the Globalist tier there are distinct negatives too
Hyatt seems unable to listen, consider amending the issues even with a reasonable approach
Perhaps the overwhelming negative early responses left corporate desensitized like an airline program?
Not a single survey was ever sent (perhaps to others?) to look into positives or negatives.

I was really looking forward to a cleaner more exclusive Globalist tier in 2018 .Its essentially toast now and makes hotels tighten up in some cases
Was looking forward to see hotels more elite friendly with recognition to the WOH members who have truly earned it through their loyalty

The popular Hotels are already struggling with the grandfathered Diamonds to Globalists and management shares with me their challenges
of Globalists seeking suites at check in and now a whole large group of elite lites further complicating the problem in no time
On a positive note I have had many positive exchanges this year with the WOH reservations and customer service this year who have been extremely responsible/helpful
above and beyond with almost any concern or issue raised or inquiry ^

MarkOK

At HH and HP, explorist gives me nothing really, but at HH New Orleans, I did get a room upgrade (even though they are exempt, and that was at Discoverist level).
The main value is those 2 or 3 week-long stays at Hyatt Regencies I have every year where I get club access (and room upgrades, which may be minor at times, but seriously, pre-status, I know what it is like to check into a Hyatt and be given the room with a terrible view for the week).

As for Amex Plat/ Amex Surpass -- I don't have them nor want those cards on top of my other cards, and I don't get corporate fast track anything (I work for a barely-state-supported-university), and UA rewards does me no good when I fly AA out of simple convenience of it serving my tiny airport. Everybody's valuation is different -- I for one find Hyatt's small footprint a near total non-issue (there are exactly 3 nights this year that I have to stay elsewhere), but I can understand that for others, that is a non-starter.

MarkOK

Before I step down from my soap box, ---Yes, I think 10 additional paid nights should mean more in regards to rewards programs. I for one see nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, wrong or bad about discontinuing status-earnings based on 'stays'.

As for the 25 stay diamonds - there are loads of them! I don't know necessarily their number of nights in each case (most don't say), but many of them make clear mention of 1-day and 2-day stays (and mattress running) in their protests. I apologize, but I won't do the forensics.

That being said, I would prefer for programs to be stable and straight-up about status and tier levels, and too many promos (like corporate fast tracks and even this offer) I think does violate a basic decency that hotels shouldn't be giving special rules for this group or that group.