toomanybooks

I did go and meet the sales manager in person to firm up the deal.

2/3 empty hotel; he seemed happy for the business.

coleslaw

Interesting.

Was it predicated on it being a mattress run (i..e. that you wouldn't be using the room, needing house keeping, getting breakfast, parking, etc)?

GrayAnderson

Hindsight's 20/20 but I wish I'd been able to finagle something like that late last year or in Jan/Feb because of how it would have incremented onto things...

toomanybooks

Initially it was predicated on being a mattress run, but later he told me I could come and go if I liked.

Of course, I had no real reason to stay, being a local. Unless I guess I wanted to use the pool.

I was sending other people there on true mattress runs, one for something like 20 nights and another for I think 15, so the hotel got a non-trivial amount of money for almost nothing.

josephstern

Completed a stay and got my bonus points and extra cc bonus right with the points from the rest of the stay.

I wish it were the previous promo!

But at least it was very fast.

Matt4200

So what’s everyone’s take on this promo?

For normal times this would be a decent promo, not great, but not bad.

Being that we’re in a Global Pandemic where many localities have a lot of things closed or only available to local residents (such as Disneyland only allowing CA residents access) I find this promo to be lackluster.

I had at least 7 stays booked with Hyatt during this promo. Due to its severe lack of incentive I ultimately ended up cancelling 5 of those stays, only staying 2 stays at the end of May.

It certainly doesn’t inspire one to spend with Hyatt at all. As has been mentioned it only incentivizes stays with lower end Category 1 properties. Which I honestly don’t think need an incentive as they’re already the lowest priced stays with points and typically with cash as well.

I’m hopeful Hyatt will add an additional portion to this promo for the last 30 days of it, but time will tell.

hailstorm

In light of the fact that increased travel promotes increased spread of the coronavirus (and potentially increased deaths), should we be criticizing hotels for not providing overly generous incentives to travel at this time?

Matt4200

Considering that -

Vaccinations are widely available

Q3/Q4 Promos were significantly more generous despite 0 vaccine availability

and

Every other hotel chain is offering significantly better promotional offers than Hyatt for Q2.

I see no issue with Hyatt offering something decent for those willing to travel.

hailstorm

Not here. About 1% of the population in my country has been vaccinated, and very few people that want it can get it. Last I heard, Hyatt is a global company running global promotions.

Matt4200

As are Hilton, Mariott and IHG who are all running much stronger promos in comparison.

Running these promos gets people in the door, which creates Jobs, Builds Revenue, Cultivates a Customer Base, and Inspires Loyalty.

All of these things are crucial to a property’s survival. Especially considering the vast majority of properties in Hyatt’s portfolio are franchise locations rather than corporate owned.

Alternatively Hyatt has run regional promos in the past, there’s nothing stopping them from doing that now either. Though again their competitors are running their promos on a Global Scale.

hailstorm

Then stay at a Hilton, Marriott, or IHG?

As for me, they earned my loyalty with the previous promo. I'm sticking with Hyatt even with no promos until 2023. Everything else is just gravy on top.

Matt4200

I am staying with Hilton, Mariott and IHG I’ve shifted 4 stays there from March and April alone that would’ve gone to Hyatt.

You’re saying you’re in a country with only 1% vaccination. What about the rest of the world?

Countries that have loosened travel restrictions and have millions vaccinated. Should their hotel operators go out of business?

I’m not saying Hyatt should create another bonus journeys promo like the last one, but rather what I’m saying is to add to the current one. Something that drives in revenue stays, it could be as small as Globalist Complimentary parking on paid stays. This costs hotels literally nothing as they have their parking lots anyways, but it drives more business in than they’d have otherwise.

It could be a 3rd or 4th Night “Free” as was offered via Hyatt Prive’. A good amount of times I checked those rates the cost only ended up being $10 or so cheaper than the “Member Rate” or “Member Advance Purchase Rate” because it’s based off the Standard Rate.

Little things like these make a big impact, and it’s something that could easily be added to the current promo, which I would say is insufficient.

I’m genuinely asking you this question -

Would this current promo inspire you to book leisure travel you didn’t already have planned with Hyatt?

I genuinely feel it does not.

FlyerTalker324193

Hyatt is the most US-centric of the major brands. I would have to look at the annual report to give you the exact number but I assure you it's in there and it's higher than the numbers of the competitors.

With the exception of China, the US market is farthest in its recovery from the pandemic. And that fact is more important for Hyatt than for other chains.

Of course, despite its strong US presence, it's debatable whether Hyatt should run strong promos right now. The argument pro decent promos is that it is helpful to the part of its base which is just starting to travel again. The con is that there is a lot of pent-up demand, occupancies increasingly look solid. Why throw money at people through promos when business is strong anyway?

Matt4200

And I’m not advising that Hyatt should “throw money at people”. I agree the previous Bonus Journeys promo was way too much. Even as a consumer I disagree with that play for Hyatt.

But what I am saying is to use the assets hotels already have such as offering Complimentary Parking on Paid stays for Globalists. This gets Globs in the door and spending money. A lot of properties that charge excessively for parking don’t have tons of business. They especially have less in the US because most, if not all properties are running at a 50% or less capacity.

Offering things like Parking Costs the hotels literally nothing.

I just find it hard to justify going to a “resort” property with no restaurant breakfast, no club lounge, severely scaled back amenities and on top of all that a $30-$50 daily parking fee.

I’d strongly recommend Hyatt to consider Glob parking on paid stays at least through 12/31 to ramp up paid stays. Otherwise it’s only incentivizing award stays which doesn’t bring in new money.

FlyerTalker324193

I teach economics and can't help myself but put on my teacher's hat here.

The actual accounting cost of a parking space is of little relevance to Hyatt's decision-making. What matters is the opportunity cost of the parking space. If Hyatt believes globalists are gonna book anyway simply cough up the parking fee if need be, then the opportunity cost of running the free-parking promo would be equal to the parking fee (=the foregone revenue). So in the world in which globalists do not need the incentive, that promo is very costly. Again, it's up for debate if demand is that strong that we're in that world already.