skj

P&C made a lot more sense before this year, when all point award nights didn't count toward status. P&C nights did count and I made good use of P&C at properties where the cash price would get sky high.

s0ssos

Ironically before this year I also didn't want extra nights. Made my DSU expire sooner.

I think this is one where the people who stay frequently win, cause P&C doesn't matter as much if you add in the free parking for globalists on point stays.
But I do wonder about the cost calculation, because you can buy points easily for 2 cents each, so why is the cash benefit so good? I saw bloggers complaining about the high-end, category 7, 30k points. But points and cash just means buying points at 2 cents each. It is a wash. Of course, at some levels it may make sense, if you buy your points with cash.

59Impala

i don't really understand all the noise around the changes.

OK - Cash rate will increase, but to be honest, the P+C rate was generally too good to be true.
I actually like the expansion of P+C to include Suites and even Premium Suites.

So far, WOH has improved again and is getting better and better in my opintion.

And what is the hassle around "early advise time"? any time prior to the effective date is fine in my view.

milehound

Already used this year's 1-4 cert for Boston this month. I had my eyes on the soon-to-be-opened Andaz Vienna for 2019, but it seems that's also out of the question with the new rules. In theory, you could still get sweet deals using points if you can rack up enough points through credit card spending and buying Hyatt points when they go on sale. But I've done reasonably well using airline miles for stays at independent boutique hotels, so that might be the way to go in the future (as well as using Chase UR points to book mileage-earning flights, instead of transferring them to WOH).

eefor jfp

Looking at a few cities (NY, Tokyo, etc.) it seems like right now there is only one suite level per hotel classified as standard and everything else is premium. But the lowest level premium suite isn't much better (and in a few cases was cheaper) than the standard suite. So if only the lowest level current premium suite is available for 100% of the basic room rate and everything else gets reclassified as premier or specialty, then this won't be much of a deal. The hotels I looked at didn't charge 25% more (standard rate) for the cheapest premium suite compared to the standard suite but that's the difference if we pay with points. I guess we'll have to wait until Hyatt releases the details of what classifies as a premium suite to understand if this is really a good deal.

59Impala

GH Tampa Bay is an exception. They have reclassified ALL suites to be standard about 1 year ago (except Presidential Suite). Currently, you have the option to choose any suite available with a TSU! Very generous.
I wonder if this will change again.

escape4

So a suite upgrade is 6k pts, and a premium suite upgrade is 9k pts. So can I book a standard room cash, use a Globalist suite upgrade award, and then pay 3k pts for a further upgrade to a premium suite? Sounds like the answer is no but I wonder if some hotels will allow it.

I am interested in premium suites but I am reluctant to pay 9k pts for it especially if I can get a standard suite without paying any points for it.

sm71

What are the chances that some hotels change the standard suite to a less desirable suite, and make the current standard suite into a premium suite?

sm71

I asked my WOH Conceirge that question. He said that it's not possible to do this. Hopefully they start allowing this.

spgplat21

I would love for this to be possible, but I see 0 chance that it will be. Even if they wanted it to work this way, I think this would raise all sorts of IT issues. And I have no confidence in Hyatt's IT to handle anything even a little bit out of the ordinary.

But I think (hope) this would make it easier to call and negotiate cash upgrades to those premium suites, since this should provide the property with another value baseline for quoting upgrades beyond just comparing the cash rates for two room types.

365RoadWarrior

Based on my personal situation (various travel policies, disinterest in suites, dietary preferences, don't drink) those United Club coupons were about the only real Globalist benefit to me - great when flights were delayed or cancelled. My employers get my points, so that part of recent program changes doesn't excite me.

MarkOK

I have always burned pts at 2 cents/pt or better. For a Cat 2, the cash plus pts (4000 pts +$55) is a pretty good deal for me because those 4000 pts I save only cost me 1.375 cents per point. So, I think that there is indeed -some- devaluation with this change, though, it is muted by the fact that I usually just don't seem much availability.

I did book one pts+cash stay yesterday for next summer at a Cat2 property.

As for the united passes, I didn't remember getting them this year, but then found them over the weekend in my card-drawer, so I must have just forgotten. There is one airport I go through each year that has a United lounge but not an AA admirals club lounge, so it is minor benefit loss as well.

I have a hard time imagining me giving up 9000 pts for a premium suite per night. All told, I think the changes net negative for me, but not hugely.

s0ssos

For cat 2, I find it hard. Depends on what taxes you are charged on the $55, cause usually with point nights there is no extra tax.
And currently Hyatt is selling points with 40% so it is 1.7 cents per point.
And with free parking on point nights for globalist it throws another wrench in, cause parking can be very expensive.