Additional Fee for using 6000 point suite upgrade?
 

Hi All,

Just completed 7 nights at the Andaz Mayakoba. I booked a standard rate and then used 6K points per night to upgrade to a suite.

Upon checkout, I was billed the equivalent of ~$35 per night, in addition to the points, for the upgrade. There is a line item each night that just says "World of Hyatt Suite Award" and a charge of 773 MXP. I wasn't aware that there was an additional fee for using a points upgrade, but we were running late and there was a bit of language barrier, so I wasn't able to investigate further when checking out.

Can anyone confirm that it's normal to have an additional fee associated with the 6K suite upgrade awards? Many thanks.

C

Perhaps that fee wasn’t supposed to be on your foliobut a billing to Hyatt corporate

I agree. Had something like this happen at HR Princeton -- not an upgrade charge, but the anomalous other charge was $35 (IIRC). After an interesting discussion with a person at the hotel in accounting, I learned that it was indeed a misplace intra-Hyatt billing.

I'd call the hotel for starters.

Thanks for the feedback. I reached out to Hyatt Concierge via Twitter, and they're looking into it for me.

I guess we have learned the internal valuation of a point suite upgrade.

The hotel definitely needs to refund that amount. There is no copayment associated with upgrade awards.

Interesting data point. That's only about 1/2 cent per point. I wonder if this is fixed or tied to occupancy level? :confused:

That's interesting; I've seen something similar on my hotel folio for a comped stay in a Vegas hotel. There was a nightly charge. I asked about it and they explained that that was the amount that the hotel charges the casino marketing department. I guess those charges are in the full summary, but are supposed to be filtered out of the copy that they give you. (I wasn't actually charged that amount -- it was just showing up on the itemized folio).

One thing I'd do is add up the numbers on the folio. Are you actually being charged that amount, or is it just a line item that doesn't change your total?

I never updated my comment -- but funnily enough on a stay in March on points at HR Tulsa, I got a bill for ~$35 on my room. I went to the front desk after breakfast asked if that isn't for some internal billing, they confirmed, apologized, and immediately removed the charges from my statement -- the card was never charged.

It's been noted in several threads here that reimbursement for points stays varies based on occupancy. I don't recall seeing similar statements regarding suite upgrades. I wouldn't assume they follow the same reimbursement schedule.

Yeah, the properties take a hit on the base level suites regardless, since they're the ones that go for (free) TSU redemptions.

There could be a few places where you pay a local tax based on the type of room that was occupied or some per person tax/fee.

OP here. Just an update.

I tried the twitter team, who passed me off to corporate accounting. They sent one email asking me for more info (that I had already given them), and then went silent. I've sent 5-10 emails over the past 2 months to the accounting department asking for an update or reply, and every single one has gone unanswered. It's been a really pathetic showing on their part, and honestly, surprising. At this point, I'm not even sure it's worth pursuing anymore.

Pretty disappointed with Hyatt. Too bad, as I've had only positive experiences over the past 10 years.

How did the property respond when you raised the issue with them?

I'd call Hyatt. The Hyatt agent can call the property in Mexico. (Or you could call directly for a penny a minute using Google Voice.)

Either this is a resort fee or the hotel mistakenly billed you the Hyatt reimbursement amount (happened to me recently at GH Shenyang and also HR Tokyo this month).