bp888

So I'm saying to myself: How does the new Hyatt policy enhancement of guaranteed-at-reservation suite upgrades four timer per year compare with SPG's theoretically unlimited-but-subject-to-availability-at-check-in suite upgrades? At first blush it seems to pale but you know what, I'm beginning to like the Hyatt policy better. When do I really need the upgrade? Not when I'm traveling on business for 1- or 2-nighters at your basic Hyatt but when I'm on vacation and staying at a high-end property for a week or so. Even though SPG has been pretty good about suite upgrades -- I'm hitting 80% I would say -- still it's nicer to have the suite upgrade guaranteed when on vacation and family is along.

AZ Travels the World

I completely agree with this.

I was at a dinner with some SPG execs recently and they asked me what one thing they could do to elite benefits that would enhance the program the most. My answer was to provide some small number of elite upgrades, say three or four, that can be confirmed in advance -- exactly what Hyatt is doing now.

I used the same logic -- that 90+% of my stays are such that I could care less about being upgraded to a suite -- but that there are a few occasions a year where it would really matter to me.

As we talked about it further, one issue became clear that I had not considered -- very likely, all the top-tier elites would identify the same few hotels for their special upgrades -- Hawaii, Rome, Venice, Tokyo, Sydney, etc., likely in the same high-occupancy seasons, and few would be booking early to snag an upgrade at, say, the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center.

We agreed that would make such a program problematic. It will be interesting to see how Hyatt fares with it.

777 global mile hound

I agree this new initiative of electronic suite upgrade can add great value if
it is fairly executed.
Remember Starwood /SPG always had suite upgrade at time of check in since 2000 and at select hotels where one can sometimes see the upgrade well in advance of arrival.
One also always had the option of upgrading with SPG at any eligible rate with points.
If Hyatt GP can really get this right it could become a game changer for many members.However if you have seen what they can call a suite in some select Hyatt hotels you might have a rough time telling the difference between a suite and a regular guest room.That said I remain optomistic that this still all sounds very promising.And in the right property it culd make the difference between an average stay and a great one

777 global mile hound

Actually electronic suite upgrades was in the pipeline with SPG many years ago and finally eliminated before the official roll-out.It had even been written about in the press as a done deal at the time.
Keep in mind that Hyatt with less hotels has many fewer members in Gold Passport then SPG too.
I think Hyatt may be able to execute suite upgrades reasonably well.
One thing for certain it won't take GP members long to test the water

gregorygrady

SPOT ON!!!!! My feeling exactly. I could care less if I'm in a 100 sq ft broom closet during my business trips as I'm only there to sleep anyways. What I really care about is having a CONFIRMED Suite when I am on vacation with my family, and that is what Hyatt has now so generously provided! ^ Hip hip hooray for Hyatt for listening to us during that survey last year. I think I made identical comments to these on my survey (and here on FT) and Hyatt has delivered. If Hyatt can publicize this well enough and get the word out, I think they can steal away a lot of participants from other frequent stay programs. ^

I actually did consider this. Everybody is going to want to use their Suite upgrade certs at GH Kauai, HR Maui, HR Waikiki, Victor, and the PHs. I really wonder what GP is going to do to compensate these hotels for the huge influx of upgrades coming their way. They won't have any more Suites to sell since they'll all be pre-confirmed upgrades from now on!!!! It certainly will be interesting to see how Hyatt fares with this. But I do give them 2 thumbs up for being the first program to offer confirmed Suite upgrades (although IC RA may have briefly done this a few years ago, I'm not absolutely positive about that).

PhillyPhlyer40

BUT...the new e-suites will only be able to be used on PAID stays!


When I need them is when I am using them for POINTS stays. I have used the old certs on FFN's AND points stays before. Even though they were not allowed (IIRC) the check in agents manually put them in! My fear is they will not be able to do that!

jumpdogjump

...is bring along friends/family so we'll have 1 nice suite to hang out in.


Oh, and since this thread is remarkably short of complaints, My happy upgrades havent posted yet, Waaah!

johnep1

I'm sure this will get better, but the first Hyatt I stayed in after this announcement did nothing extra for me and didn't have any idea about free wi-fi.

When I heard of these actual enhancements earlier today (April 2), I cancelled my reservation at another hotel and booked a night at the Hyatt Greenville, SC. This was done primarily to reward Hyatt for these enhancements, even though I need the point/night credit more in the other program right now.

Well, I book a regular room on the Hyatt site and noted that the highest level room below a suite is a "deluxe" room. I read the description and it sounded like the first room I had (but have not had since) at the Hyatt Greenville when I started staying here earlier this year. So at check-in I asked if there were any "deluxe" rooms available. The desk agent said yes and said he would upgrade me to one. Now, I know that all "deluxe" rooms here probably don't look alike, but my room is tiny and I can't figure out where they hid the sofa. Anyway, once I was in the room it would have been a pain to go back downstairs and switch rooms, and I'm only staying for 1 night by myself so don't need a large room. So not really a big deal.

But what is a big deal is that the staff at the hotel not only had no idea about this huge announcement that Hyatt made today, but also that the desk agent lied to me about my room and probably thought I wouldn't notice. And yes, I also went on the internet in my room and confirmed that there are "deluxe" rooms still available.

So don't be surprised if you have to educate a few hotels in these first few weeks.

But kudos to Hyatt for rolling out these true enhancements.

agrater

They'll have suites to sell because the upgrades are capacity-controlled.

johnep1

I thought about this too and figured it to be ingenious on the part of Hyatt. Next time I go to Kauai for a week, it will be a very tough choice whether to use points/FFNs or cash with an upgrade cert. So this offer will likely encourage me to switch some vacation stays from award to paid.

gregorygrady

I fully agree with this point as well. ^ I will likely be switching some of my stays where I would have stayed with points instead to paid stays to take advantage of the confirmed Suite upgrade. ^^

gregorygrady

Was this confirmed somewhere that you saw???

agrater

T&C

JonathanIT

I don't think it's very reasonable to demand a refund on points already spent. They have decided on a change in terms to compete in the current market climate... it does not mean they must be retroactive. Should we expect them to refund all the WiFi charges that have been racked up as well?? And how far back should they be expected to go to refund all these points? 2001?

I almost used Passport Plus rates for an award stay in Paris in February... but decided to wait for availability to change (I got lucky). They had a program in place with certain rules which we all understood for many years... if points were used for Passport Plus it's because we decided at the time they were worth the stay for those dates and that property.

Just my $.02

gregorygrady

I think she is saying if you have any FUTURE Passport Plus reservations then you should call and get a refund of those excess points.

Or you could simply do it yourself by cancelling the reservation and rebooking at the now lower non-Passport Plus rate.