UA-NYC

Alexsth2011

To clarify, it isn't "past" but it is still on-going obviously- I do know until when. I have been done with it for so long that it just seemed like a thing of past to me.
Didn't they start this at the time of WOH inception?

I thought Milestone rewards do have something similar to Brand Explorer - stay at 5 different brands and get a cat4 cert and probably stay 10 for another.
Even if Milestone doesn't start until March they will go back and start counting from January IIRC. So if OP did 5 different brands to get a cert from Brand Explorer in 2019 already, he should also get another from Milestone. My understanding is this is a new program/promo that has nothing to do with Brand Explorer promo, which should end on 2/28 with inception of this Phase Two WOH (or Milestone) although it was never announced. No?

hotturnip

You may recall that Hyatt was in contention for acquiring Starwood. I was really rooting for them, as I felt those two matched up much better in terms of both style and substance than did Marriott. It would also have been better for competition.

My impression is that Hyatt staff are in general better-trained and more focused on guest satisfaction than the other brands. (And I'm not just saying that because I used to work for Hyatt!)

spgplat21

Lots of great commentary here. As someone that splits my loyalty between the two, Hyatt nails confirmed suite upgrades and breakfast. But my upgrade experience has been worse with Hyatt when not using a DSU compared to marriott. And when im thinking about a vacation, I typically find several Marriott properties that fit what im looking for, but I feel like I have to make an extra effort to vacation with Hyatt. I think I could spend years trying to stay at all of Marriott's top end properties, whereas I think I've been to all of Hyatts (outside of the Asian properties) at last once and many more than once.

UA-NYC

ralfkrippner

Joining the club here - just switched some upcoming reservations over from Marriott to Hyatt. Let's see what I'll be thinking of Hyatt after the first year and how the situation over at Marriott will develop. I'm LTP at Marriott (long time loyal to spg) and have Exp at Hyatt.

I like the web booking at Hyatt, compared to a really inconvenient process at Marriott (only showing very limited rates). The Hyatt app however is not good for bookings, hotel and room info is very basic compared with the full website.

Gadot

Interesting post. I am/was Ritz platinum. I still get 3 upgrades per year to club floor at the Ritz and always at other properties. I get a suite 50% of the time. (not if you use web checkin). Suite 80% at "my marriotts" that know me. How often do yo get a suite at hyatt?

ralfkrippner

Sure the potential suite upgrade at Marriott is a big plus point - but as a "low" Plat I don't usually get suite upgrades. Those would be especially valuable for holidays with multi-night stays, but suite upgrades do not happen for such stays for me. So for quite some time I have booked such holiday stays where a suite matters with Interconti where I did get a reliable one cat Amb upgrade into a suite by booking one category below. And I'll see how that works out at Hyatt with the 9k points suite upgrade which can be arranged in advance.

embarcadero1

Gadot

[QUOTE=embarcadero1;30785760]

Visualp

​I (along with many others on this forum) have had the complete opposite experience as to what you have described. As someone who maintains both platinum on spg / bonvoy and globalist on Hyatt, I find that I am upgraded on Hyatt about 75% of the time and less than 25% of the time on Bonvoy. Over my last 5 stays on Bonvoy (since the IT merger), I have not been upgraded a single time. I have been upgraded on 5 of my last 6 stays at Hyatt properties.

Couple of other anecdotes: I stayed at the grand Hyatt baha Mar over new years when the hotel was completely sold out. I wasn't able to secure a suite upgrade in advance so I had resigned myself to a regular room. When I checked in, they had upgraded me to a residence suite that overlooked the fountains and that had a balcony that had a perfect view of the new years fireworks... I had a similar experience at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach (no suite upgrades available in advance but was given a very large suite upon check-in)

Long story short, I've been more than happy with world of Hyatt and they've certainly inspired increasing loyalty from me over the last couple of years. I've shifted most of my spend to WOH and I'm questioning if it's worth it for me to continue maintaining platinum elite status at bonvoy. The only issue is that I have 2m points to burn at bonvoy so will likely need to stay at the hotels...

spgplat21

What is your current bonvoy status? It looks like platinum, which is not an apples to apples comparison to globalist. As a current bonvoy ambassador and previous titanium, on my last few stays, I was in a suite at the ritz boston, am currently in a luxury suite at the st. regis deer valley over president's day weekend, and in between had a junior suite at the chatwal. With hyatt on my last few stays, I had to pay $$ to upgrade to a real suite at PH NYC, had to argue for an upgrade at the driskill and had a high floor at the hyatt cambridge. Both are solid programs and much better than my brief experience with Hilton and IHG, but my upgrade percentage is about the same and with marriott, i'm usually able to stay at a nicer place.

embarcadero1

Visualp

For 2019, I barely requalified as a platinum elite. However, I had an ambassador for all of 2018 (over 100+ nights the prior year) and was not treated much differently from other platinums. And in many cases, I was given a standard room when my colleagues with NO status received upgrades to suites. Needless to say, I've been pretty dissatisfied with spg / bonvoy. Who knows - maybe I'm on their sh*tlist for some unknown reason... But if you read the bonvoy forums, I think you'll find that far more people are having similar experiences to mine vs. Yours

GUWonder