AndyKehn

Both Marriott and Hilton don't reduce their qualifications, instead they provide incentives. Like 15 eqn per credit cards for Marriott and rollover nights for Hilton. Hyatt already provided a temporary bonus boost (3 eqn/5k). I'm hoping they'll bring it back. Marriott also provided extra eqn based on last year status. Hilton has rollover nights which help next year qualifications. This year is already tossed.
​​​​​​
I'd rather Hyatt follow these 2 brands or adopt a hybrid approach. They shouldn't lower Globalist requirement since it's still the best top status among the big 3.

antonius66

I personally have had to cancel tons of nights this year and have been able to get about 22 nights and it is not for lack of trying. Frankly, I would like them to just extend everything to the end of next year, and make it as if this year did not happen. The current mish mash where I have DSU that expire in Feb and some free nights expiring in Dec 21 and some in middle of 21 is garbage honestly.

Mary2e

I hope they allow us to roll over this year's nights. I was at 20 before everything shut down and I'm going to have 3 more upcoming. I had to cancel a bunch of travel this year.

Matt4200

Oh, my Casino cycling wasn’t using the CC at all at the casino. I was just showing how easy it is to cycle through high dollar amounts with only a short initial amount.

You could easily cycle 100k on the WOH with only a 10k credit limit though legitimately and legally.

Matt4200

While I understand what you’re saying, Airlines and Hotels are two vastly different things.

Lets take Southwest for example - Yes, they extended status, have some small promos (2x points through 8/31), and gave a Points Boost added 40% of the way to hit A List (not usable just progress towards it).

While that may work for them they’re an airline and are still filling their planes to IIRC 80% capacity on many flights.

The Hyatt’s I’ve stayed at are running from 10-30% capacity, still way behind so rather than just Boost everyone they are incentivizing stays, making them greatly enticing. Personally I’ve gone to San Diego, Chicago, Park City, Texas solely because of these offers. Just gotta wear a mask, stay away from people but there’s still so much to enjoy without needing to interact which is why we’ve gone to all these places with much more planned for the rest of the year.

By enticing people into staycations they are making some profits, but just boosting everyone like SW did or offering double nights would cost them significantly more with Milestones, Globalist status potentially at 30 Nights, and that would devalue the status to those who have been loyal Diamonds/Globalists for years.

txhyattlvr

I think that manufactured spending IS a form of money laundering - but hey, that's just me.

Matt4200

To each their own, I’ve heard of IRS agents coming to a Walmart to follow up because Police suspected it to be illegal (like you) and the IRS agent laughing letting them know it was entirely legitimate.

I gave up on MS’ing after the physical and mental toll it took. I was able to make Globalist with the help of MS and determination and from there every year following I plan on meeting it organically. Had I not made it that first year though I more than likely would not stay with Hyatt or do 60+ nights a year with them organically. I see it as a good thing in my case as it gave me that extra push. This year I’ll do about 68 actual stay nights (mostly revenue stays about 8-10 nights on Points/Certs) and get 22 from natural (non-MS) spend on the WOH CC.

craigthemif

It's not just you.

It is money laundering, just screwing banks and other fintechs instead of the taxman.

Matt4200

The definition of money laundering explicitly states the money is illegally obtained. So using that term to define MS is completely off base.

To obtain the gift cards and Money Orders required to MS effectively requires ID, SSN, Address, E-mail and repeat visits. Anyone doing anything remotely illegal would not want to provide any of that at all.

I don’t see it as “screwing banks” either. Everyone gets paid in the process. The banks get their swipe fees, the GC companies get their purchase fees, then Walmart gets their Money Order fees. Banks have long known about this process and could easily add terms to ban such transactions for betting rewards. They don’t because they are ultimately profitable for them.

https://www.travelcodex.com/i-was-de...ured-spending/

It’s a common misconception, I just hope to educate people on the entire process.

josephstern

I hate to further sidetrack this discussion, but while I agree that MS isn't laundering (one being legal and the other not) I don't see how you can say "Everyone gets paid in the process." How can everyone make money without anything being produced? Some party is losing money, and I think the banks are generally betting/hoping that it's the buyer of gift cards/debit cards who isn't fully draining them.

Matt4200

Based on my research and asking the gift card distribution’s admins at Simon Mall (I’ve had a relationship with them for years so we’re on a personal basis) they say banks are most definitely making a good profit off them. The ones losing out are Blackhawk Network the company who actually backs the gift cards used for MS.

So basically in the case of MS’ers who buy 10-25k in gift cards BlackHawk uses that as a very low interest loan for themselves to keep the company afloat and to fund their ventures.

Banks are getting 2.5-3% (especially so if not more in the case of using a Business Credit Card which has 3-4% swipe fees). A lot of MS’ers will use a Biz credit card because they tend to give significantly higher credit limits. For example my Chase Biz Card had a 40k credit limit while personal only got as high as 12k on the WOH card.

Just my insights based on 4-5 years of MS’ing part time and full time depending on the year.

peteropny

Ok let’s get back to the thread topic of f requalification/qualification nights after all this is not a thread in manufactured spending.

peteropny- co-mod - Hyatt

Maui4me1

Thank you

Matt4200

Thank you

TRANSWORLDMARINE

Is anyone Familiar with "Trial Tier Promotion" where you can get Globalist status with 20 stays in 90 Day period? My question is,Do you get ALL the Benefits of Globalist or Limited?