Beerman92

Apologies if this has been discussed previously. It seems that Hyatt chooses to run separate attractive promos for its GP members with a variety of credit card companies. What do people think about this versus a Hyatt partnered credit card that would allow you to earn points?

TravelGuy1965

Hi - Too bad I missed your DO. I was in Santa Clara this weekend and could have come up.

Well - my opinion, bring back the FFN Promotion! I'll take that over point earning CC like most airlines and other hotel programs have.

Beerman92

Don't worry, We will catch you next time!

I guess that is what I'm trying to figure out. I earn a lot of miles with my UA credit card. I would rather those were Hyatt points. Are the promos like FFN and the gift card worth more than a branded credit card?

TravelGuy1965

Well - With the FFN you earn one award stay for every other night. This is about the fastest earning promotion there is. During them I make quite a few stays at lower cost hotels (like santa clara on the weekends which is near you) and a bunch of the time get some good bonus's at the same time. Like G2 + 1W. So the points can add up quick.

At the same time I can continue to rack up miles with my AA card. I'm actually thinking of switching that to a Starwood Amex Card as it has stronger earning potential. I'll drop you a PM on another aspect of this.

Beerman92

Thanks TravelGuy1965. ^

gregorygrady

I was for a Hyatt point earning credit card last time this topic came up, but I think I'm changing my stance this go round. With all the FF/hotel programs recent (or rumored upcoming) devaluations, frankly I'd rather not have all the big credit card spenders racking up huge Hyatt GP point balances and then cashing them in for free nights. The more I think about it, the more I figure this flooding the market with points has to be somewhat correlated to program devaluation. SPG is rumored (actually confirmed by Starwood Lurker) to be about to undergo a big time ~25% devaluation. I hafta believe that is somewhat due to everybody earning boatloads of points on their SPG Amex cards and then everybody wanting to cash in (although it doubly stings SPG that they have no capacity controls on their free hotel award nights, that could play a huge part in it). But frankly, I'd rather see my current ~300K GP points actually be worth something in 3 years and I'd like to be able to actually use them for a free room rather than have the opportunity to earn more points through CC spending and have to jump through hoops to redeem the GP points as is the case with most FF airline miles.

Renard

The Starwood Lurker today added this late today (7/24) to the starwood forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...&page=16&pp=15
(post #236)

"Just as an FYI, the word that I got from on high today was that there won’t be a devaluation of 25%. As far as it stands now, there will not be any major changes to the program's award chart in the near future.

Doesn't mean it won't ever happen, however.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]
__________________"

gregorygrady

I know, I'm relieved to see that. Especially after he just recently said that a devaluation was coming sometime in the near future. Still, scares like that make me realize that I shouldn't be hoarding points. The day will come sometime when a devaluation happens (not just with SPG, but also with GP I'm sure), and I just realized I don't want to be left holding the empty bag!! I think I'm gonna concentrate on burning my points next year. Maybe I'll pick just one or two programs to concentrate my paid stays at and then the other chains where I have status and points I'll try to burn through those points and just give up the status. This damn FT is just way too addicting status-wise, heck I barely knew what status was before I joined FT, now I'm juggling 3 top-tier hotel statuses (4 if you count HH Gold which effectively is top-tier now) and 2 top-tier airline statuses!

Beerman92

I hear ya! For some reason I have no problem burning my hotel points quickly but for the life of me struggle to spend FF miles. Maybe I'm an FF type and there are HP types like yourself

OK, I will admit it. You are my idol.

Seriously though, I go back and forth on the credit card idea. Turns out looking at how much I charge on my mileage card that I would be rolling in the Hyatt points if I had a credit card with them. I'm conflicted though because I agree devaluation is a bad thing. Very bad devaluation....

gregorygrady

Oh trust me, my statuses are nothing, and a lot of them are due to generous promotions that suck me in and get me to make more stays than necessary. I stand in awe over the many posters here with the highest status in Marriott (75 nights per year) as well as other top tier statuses. Some of the FTers spend 90% of their lives in hotels. I just barely scrape by, doing matress runs with several chains if I'm a couple stays short at the end of the year. Luckily I haven't had to do that yet with Hyatt due to the generous FFN, but this year it looks like I may in fact have to do Hyatt mattress runs at the end of the year too. And one of the reasons I find it so easy to hoard points is because I can't afford award stays (HH the exception) because I need each stay to be a paid stay so it counts towards my elite status. Next year I'm gonna cut back though and pick 2 programs to keep (HH Gold with only 16 stays will almost certainly be one of them, the other I'm debating between either SPG or Hyatt).

JohnnyP

The chances of Hyatt getting a credit card in the near future are slim-to-none. It appears to me that the flexibility of choosing who to do marketing with is too hard to pass up.

Beerman92

I certainly agree that Hyatt has done very well with multiple marketing partners. Still not sure where I come out on this branded credit card issue but my guess is that the gift card promo going on right now is one more sign of Hyatt charting the path of not partnering with one credit card company.