While neither Hyatt nor the property did anything not agreed to during the booking, the real problem is that a points reservation is converted to a cash cancellation fee. This is an odious policy. If you commit to using 15K points, for example, then no-showing should cost 15K points. To add insult to injury, no EQN.

I agree. This is the reason I recently cancelled a Marriott booking for Moxy Vienna airport. The points rate was good but if I’d missed it, the cancellation rate would have been their rack rate which was stupidly expensive.

My experience is that some hotels are great and understand the issue, especially if you tell them you are booking a Hyatt in the town where you are stuck.
My recent experience was that the Hyatt Palm Springs charged me whilst stuck in Denver at the Hyatt Place at the airport.
In the past some properties have agreed not to charge the no-show.

I did not know marriott had the same system? managed to get to LTP without hearing that

I only knew because it was stated in an email from the hotel (Moxy Vienna). I then checked at the time (a few months ago) and noted that the hotels can indeed charge a fee at their own room rate.

Really silly I think. One would expect to lose the points (and therefore pay for the room) if cancelling late, but to instead charge an artificially high rate meant you’d pay significantly more if you couldn’t show up than if you did.

well I will have to pay more attention if booking marriott on pts thanks

Most business or city hotels are flexible in case you have a legit reason for last min cancellation. But that’s not true with resorts.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...ispreloading=1

Hilton does too.

That’s totally reasonable and understandable…. Just think of all the ancillary revenue the property lost when you didn’t show up. /sarcasm

Definitely something to keep in mind when booking awards with any stay. I think last year there was a discussion here about this case

https://viewfromthewing.com/world-of...s-father-died/

where a Hyatt award turned into a $5,500 no-show fee (Can’t find the thread right now).

Most credit cards offer trip insurance for free as an added benefit. So I'd say this is their only option, being just to file a trip insurance claim with their credit card company. I definitely wouldn't file a chargeback as that can get you banned from Hyatt since the charge would be valid based on the circumstances described in their post.

Are there any data points of trip insurance actually covering these damages, considering that the no show fee isn’t what was originally paid for the trip. Take, for example, the Lake Como example from last year - if you preserve for 63k Hyatt points and the hotel charges you $5500 when your flight delay causes a no-show, what are the chances of Hyatt or Amex travel coverage paying the $5500 charge?

And yes, a chargeback may not be a good option either if you care about your Hyatt account.

It's a moot point. See Posts 12 and 14.

15k points is worth much more than a $150 cancellation fee. If you think otherwise I’d be happy to buy some points off you!

It will not be covered if your flight is delayed. However, if you had to cancel your trip for a covered reason, and it’s within cancellation deadline, then it is covered.