Nobody confirmed that FFN starts in Sept. Nobody here has that knowledge, and like you say, Hyatt only announces FFN about 1-2 weeks before it starts. Plus, in the past Hyatt certainly has started FFN at different times during the year. So a June or July FFN start very well could be possible.

That said, I personally hope Hyatt doesn't start an FFN until Sept. There are just so many free nights I can earn and redeem. I'm trying to work on SPG & IC starting now, I don't need to add a THIRD hotel program to that mix. If I do I may go crazy trying to earn and redeem at so many hotels in such a short amount of time!!! :p

I just remembered what I forgot to ask Renee: When is Hyatt going to offer a points-earning credit card?

I'm crossing my fingers that the June announcement is a credit card. If it is, even at half a point per dollar, I will move my spending to it from my Southwest card.

There has been lots of discussions on this in the forum - "most" here (including me) view this very negatively - at the very least it will lead to massive point devaluation or many more people chasing the same awards.

Yes, that is to be feared if you think Hyatt will follow the path that virtually all other travel companies have taken. They pocketed the money from selling points as pure profit without providing a matching increase in awards.

From what I can see, Hyatt's loyalty program management is a cut or two above such tactics. I would trust them to allocate more awards rather than pocketing the money. Why? Because especially in the hotel business award stays lead to paid stays as you hook the customer on your property.

OTOH, perhaps the HGP decision makers fear that their bosses may not be able to resist the lure of short-term thinking, and that therefore it's better to keep HGP out of the affinity credit card game.

Thanks for the insight. I think I'm with you now: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When I was profuciously, as my brother says, thanking Rashae for the Big Welcome promotion etc. etc., she said, "Wait 'til you see what's coming in June!" I: "How can you afford any more free nights after The Big Welcome?" She: "It's much bigger!" Given their "warmup" (my characterization) I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, and imagine that it is. As I said at breakfast, I hope my post isn't raising expectations too high. But what the heck? From all we're seeing from them these days, and her certainty.....

I think the Big Welcome promo is a big flat farce since it is based solely on luck and gives nothing for customer loyalty or patronage. It is a huge waste of money that might better have been spent on a real promo to match the other chains. As it is announcing Free Nights a week or two before the actual start date is wasted on people who must book their travel months in advance.

At this moment, I forget exactly what is "Big Welcome" promotion and what's rule changes that came at the same time, but I'll take the Diamond and Platinum four annual free suite upgrades, no blackout and no capacity control free night redemption, free wifi, and 2,500 GP points if the Regency Club is full. Are you a Diamond?

Ditto.

I don't recall any restriction on booking as long as the stay falls within promo timeframe.

Hyatt GP is probably the only program outthere that doesn't dilute the benefits and understands the meaning of the word enhancement. If they promise a good promo in june I trust them.

While I haven't won anything in the current offer it greatly improved my diamond benefits and it seems to attract new members with free nights. I hope they'll end up staying with the chain after trying.

Geez, you are EASY!!! 1/2 a point and you're switch from your SWA Visa?!??!?! Methinks you need to get yourself an SPG Amex where you get 1 SPG pt per $ spent..................and an SPG pt is about 33% more valuable than a GP pt IMHO. If they came out with a Hyatt CC offering even 1 pt per $ charged, I certainly wouldn't switch my charging from an SPG Amex over to the new Hyatt CC.

I think Hyatt must not have done a very good job at getting out the word THAT THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY CAPACITY CONTROLS ON AWARDS STAYS!!!!!

Both the elimination of capcity controls and the new "enhanced" full Diamond breakfast seem to have sailed way above most people's heads..............and these are astute FTers, not your ordinary Joe Shmoe off the street who is clueless anyways.

With the elimination of capacity controls, 1 of my 2 main reasons for being against a Hyatt branded CC is now gone (BTW, my 2 reasons are the same as Peter's above). I too was worried that all the big CC spenders would gobble up all the limited award rooms. That is no longer a problem or concern of mine. The other concern is still valid, that this huge influx of brand new GP pts will cause a large devaluation down the line (maybe not this year, but probably next year and the following year). Flood the market with GP pts and their value inevitably goes down.

Wow, I'm surprised that they have such a big promo planned!! I mean how much bigger/better a promo can you get than FFN!?!?!?!? FFN just blows away all the other chain's promos, I'm extremely curious to see what will be rolled out in June. I'm still giddy over last months enhancements!!! And now a promo that is "much bigger than the Big Welcome"? Definitely sounds like it won't be another FFN though, that's kinda too bad as I love FFN.

Spot on!!! ^^^^^^^

This may not be a problem right now but I see it as a possible big problem down the road - there's many ways to add capacity control without announcing them as actual capacity control.

True. SPG seems to keep their Starwood properties in check for the most part. Hopefully GP can keep the Hyatt properties in check as well with the "room category tricks".

Hyatt has a problem keeping hotels in check now. They continue to let hotels like Maui deny diamonds RC upgrades when they are still selling them online.

Yes, I know. GPs lack of control over individual properties does have me worried just slightly, but I'm hoping it doesn't become a problem........