Determining Missing Points When Hyatt Shortchanges You...
 

It's well-known that Hyatt routinely shortchanges members when it comes to points awarded for a stay. Typically the "eligible spend" on a folio statement is significantly below the member's actual expense, once taxes and fees are subtracted. Thus, members are forced to approach Hyatt customer service to get credit for the missing points.

One grey area is alcohol expenses. The rules say that in certain jurisdictions, points may not be awarded on alcohol charges. But I'm guessing such jurisdictions aren't common in California and Florida, for example. Also, why would a local government care if points are awarded or not, as opposed to whether alcohol is sold or not?

Can anyone give a sense of where points might legitimately be withheld for alcohol purchases? Otherwise, presumably the onus should be on Hyatt to justify such withholding each time.

What experiences do FTers have in getting credit for missing points, including alcohol...especially since such charges are often folded in with meal expenses?

Here is a similar thread from earlier this year:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyat...t-contact.html
Also see:
https://viewfromthewing.com/some-hya...-away-with-it/
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/hy...ntal-spending/
Some jurisdictions have outlawed happy hour; others have gone further and provide that a person may not be rewarded or provided incentives (including by earning affinity points) for purchasing or drinking alcohol. And according to Gary Leff some hotels aren't awarding points just because they can.

Some states and countries have laws which specifically don't allow you to offer "incentives" for people to purchase alcohol. That's the only blocker as far as I know of why Hyatt has that verbiage in the WoH T&C.

IIRC StarwoodLurker (William) once researched this and posted the list of states where alcohol couldn't earn points. Of course, that information might be out of date now.

One of my recent stays I got less eligible spend that was less than my room rate. I guess because it included parking that reduced eligible spend. I basically got $300 less spend which is extremely annoying.

I just finished a stay at a HR in Virginia and noted the following (I’m a Globalist):

1) Breakfast staff insisted on me leaving a tip, despite my status, with the excuse of “You still have to leave something, but the front desk will take it off.” I wasn’t in a mood to argue, so I left a tip, then confronted the front desk at check out. At first they assumed it was my choice to leave the tip, that I could have just left it blank. I told them about the wait staff’s insistence, and then the mood changed. They took off the tip charges on my folio, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.

2) My eligible spend was significantly lower than my actual spend (way more than simply subtracting taxes…and oddly looked like my forced tips were doubled then subtracted from what should have been my spend). The redeemable spend also was larger than my actual spend somehow. I challenged the front desk on this, also, and was confronted with a brief blank stare and then a quick “you’d need to speak with our revenue department because I don’t know how it’s calculated.” I thanked them and as I did, the front desk agent quickly and hurriedly thanked me for my business and apologized for the inconveniences…I got the impression she wanted to be rid of me.

Not the greatest look, Hyatt.

The only way to do it - and win here - is to keep the food and beverage receipts where it does specifically mark what is eligible and what isn't (look for the asterisk in the summary section down the bottom).

I've had success with my concierge where the amount is way, way less than the sum of the base room charges. Above that it's a bit of a fight.

The problem is adjustments. Some properties have set up breakfast particularly poorly, where you are earning negative points for breakfast spend (because it doesn't earn points), but the adjustment to make it "free" has negative points.

UPDATE: So my stay posted today and the points credited based on the qualifying spend amount doesn’t even match the folio eligible spend amount 😂😂😂

So now I have one number for actual spend, one number for redeemable spend, one number for eligible spend, and one number for spend as credited. And I thought I was bad at math…

How do you even get this rectified? I had an award stay with ancillary expenses that should have counted, and I was awarded zero points. I clicked the "request missing points" link and put in the location and dates, and it said you've already been credited for this stay. I selected "missing bonus" instead (the only other option), and it required a promo code or it wouldn't submit. I don't see anywhere to just submit a generic request?

In my case I’ve had general good luck reaching out to the Hyatt Concierge on twitter. Still, I shouldn’t have to do this. I know it happens with other chains as well, but I’ve yet to experience this with either IHG or Bonvoy (irony!). I don’t stay at Hiltons, so no data points there.