Explore

I haven't bought points this year as I anticipate a big devaluation next year, with dynamic award pricing. The question is, how severe? I think it'd be hard for Hyatt to reduce the value of a Hyatt point to say, that of a Marriott or Hilton point, but I can see rarely getting more than 1.5c value per point. Then in 2025, according to Matthew Klint, we can expect a minimum spend requirement for Globalist... which it seems to me could be close to what Marriott requires of Ambassadors, or maybe a bit less.

Thoughts?

ElevatorEnthusiast

There's rarely a reason to invest in buying points unless you have a specific redemption in mind. That being said, predicting doomsday based on unsubstantiated rumors seems fruitless.

notquiteaff

Is this speculation based on something…?

Explore

Based on remarks by the Hyatt CEO a few months ago. Refer to analysis in the Live and Let’s Fly blog. We know Hyatt is moving to dynamic award pricing in 2024.

Seagull689

can you share a link from that blog? I've never read it before, but just looking at the most recent articles it looks pretty solid...

notquiteaff

Don’t make everyone here search for the post, please. This one?

https://liveandletsfly.com/hyatt-ceo-loyalty/

Daftryan

The first problem with this post is you're talking about buying Hyatt points. Why would anyone ever buy Hyatt points? They're so easy to acquire and are never a good value when purchasing.

Clemson

With respect to Matthew, he cites zero sources for his speculation that there is going to be a minimum spend requirement. There is nothing in the underlying Skift post he cites that even implies that there will be a minimum spend requirement. That doesn't mean that there will never be a minimum spend requirement, but there's no evidence that it's going to happen in 2025. Most of the article is just pushing back against the idea that Hyatt is going to capture loyalty moreso with "great experiences" rather than the value of their points program or status perks.

Matt4200

What are you smoking?

I read the exact quotes from the CEO of Hyatt and there’s nothing that implied either dynamic pricing or a minimum spend.

The CEO basically just said that they have to focus more on leisure travelers which is true that the market has shifted towards leisure travel versus business travel. Which is why they’ve made several leisure brand acquisitions in the last 18 months.

Rather than a massive devaluation couldn’t Hyatt say just not run a promo like the Bilt one that hands out Globalist status like Candy? That’s just a thought.

People who are blindly loyal to Hyatt are few and far between, the other 99% will vote with their wallets so to speak. Which is why brands have to tread lightly, especially these days.

travelingdrsuz

Matthew is trying to get readers and clicks. Hyatt switched to a different system--which their IT needs. Suddenly Matthew and Gary are negative prognosticators. Could it happen? Sure. Do they know anything? Nope. You see how Klint cites Leff? They do this a lot now. They are part of the Boarding Area blog world and clickbait pays the bills (Klint said so himself the other day on his comments). Hyatt has said nothing. These posts were because of idiotic "experiences" statements from Hyatt. No one knows what 2025 brings. Hyatt does change award categories annually for some hotels, but that's unrelated. Why anyone would base their decisions on clickbait bloggers befuddles me. If, and only if, actual news from Hyatt comes out, then worry about it. Meanwhile, find a way to earn Hyatt points. Buying them is not a great value. I bought 2000 recently for $48 because it put me over the top for an award that would have cost me $150. That's about the only time I see the point.

Dave510

Delta elites were already used to the abuse from their FFP and the blowback from their (now post ones) major devaluation was swift and severe.

If Hyatt were to have similar devaluations, it would be catastrophic, given how many WoH elites are the ones who care most about elite benefits (otherwise we would’ve went with hotels with larger footprints, or just free agents).

SHLTP

I've been told by properties it means going above and beyond to make guests happy. That fits me. If I have a problem, I don't want points. I want the problem resolved.
.
​​​i had an issue at a PH recently. They tried to give me a free night. I turned it down. Next time, they gave me free shisha delivered to my terrace because I told the gm once I love shisha.

That to me is what the CEO meant. I hate the points and discount me

Matt4200

I feel like each approach is very brand and property dependent.

For example -

I booked a suite using a TSU at a HH months in advance, when I arrived all they had were the base rooms for 60% of our stay. The TSU was already consumed and both Hyatt and the property basically said you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. We ended up in a base room for the entire stay, actually the first base room we stayed in the neighbors were smoking cigarettes and marijuana all day and night which seeped in so we had to move. All front desk said was , Yeah we’ve had a lot of complaints about the guests in that room”.

It took roughly a month to get compensation from the property after significant amounts of back and forth sadly.

There is no problem solving in that situation only compensation.

The compensation was only the difference in what it would’ve costed to book the suite, which was 3k additional per night for a whopping total of 15k. Of course I would’ve rather had the suite we booked! Not to mention the nightmare of getting any compensation at all from the property.

I’m sure if a similar situation happened at a Park Hyatt they’d just upgrade to a Premium Suite and/or offer points, snacks, anything as compensation. As their goal being Park Hyatt is a luxurious and memorable experience, at least that’s how it seems based on the 2 times I’ve stayed with Park Hyatt.

I do have to agree about what the CEO meant, they need to focus more on what’s important to leisure travelers and giving them those experiences as that is what keeps business coming.

SHLTP

I would not accept that as compensation. That's truly horrible service. I'm not sure how/why they wouldn't return your tsu. Sorry for that.

Matt4200

It was a Cat 1 so I guess I got the cost of 3 nights free to them, but in reality it would otherwise be 8k per night for the suite so that’s just the difference in the suite which was what was booked and what was provided.

Hyatt apologized but said it was up to the property to remedy the situation and that once a TSU is redeemed it can’t be put back into your account. The property didn’t even want to provide the 15k points they offered 500 per night which I said absolutely not. It took a lot of pushback to even get that sadly.

I feel like that’s a major difference you’ll see between limited service and full service Hyatt properties.