How does GP reimbursement to hotels work?
 

Just finished three nights at the Stanhope Park Hyatt on FFN. My TV folio during that time reflected how much GP reimbursed the Stanhope for each night of my room -- $ 63 and change.

Forgive my ignorance, but is this the way it always works, GP reimburses the hotels (at a minimal rate) for FFN or points redeemed? Is it always a standard rate? What does GP get out of the deal? I.e., who pays GP's bills?

My understanding is that this is the way it works for most, if not all, hotel loyalty points. From what a few people have mentioned, it is different rate depending upon the location, property, etc. and type of award used. For the FFN promotion, MasterCard is paying for part of it at least.

For paid stays, I assume that part of the room rate goes to GP. I was told that this is one of the reason why some properties charge resort fees. Since it is not part of the room rate, they keep the full amount and do not need to pay a percentage to GP, SPG, HHonors, etc.

That's a great topic and I was always wondering how it is done. Can I add another question to that? If you upgrade to Club Floor using either a Plat Extra Cert or any other Club Floor upgrade cert the hotel sends the voucher to GP in the US. Does that also mean that they get some form of compensation from GP for allowing me into the lounge etc?

If so, it would seem that they should prefer to upgrade people with certs rather than Diamond members. As discussed in the most popular thread here, this might be a way to get your upgrade if they say the Club Floor is full. Well, they might still have a room but they want something in return. If you use a cert or even points they might, however, consider to upgrade you to the Club Floor. Should be a win win for both sides then.

Haven't you noticed that sometimes on FFN stays you do get some GP points for the amount that the hotel is reimbursed for the stay? As with the PL stays the FFN $$ amount is occasionally shown on the checkout screen.

I haven't had this happen to me yet on FFN or award stays. Sometimes I've seen the PL rate shown on the check in signature forms though.

Have you noticed if the amount of money varies or is the same for different properties?

I'm sure the amount is different for different properties. This was the case with Hilton for awards stays redeemed with points. There is no way Hyatt Kauai is going to accept the same $$$ amount as Rickeys or Hyatt SJC or any of the other cheap dumps that are complained about here all the time.