maybe Hyatt should punish those who make FFN's and don't use and cancel them by taking the equivalent number of GP points out of their account

Scuttlebutt is that besides some meeting planners/travel coordinators, it's a very small proportion of Diamond customers who have a 200,000+ point balance in their accounts. [If I was a betting person, I'd bet that a substantial amount of those (mostly Diamond) customers (with over 200,000+ point balances) fail to use all of their FFNs.]

I am not really worried about this -- especially not as a Diamond since Hyatt seems to routinely widen the redemption window for me -- and am quite comfortable with the official word from Hyatt that point stays can be converted into FFN stays.

That's why we are here crying, because the people that make four Hyatt stays a year for $60 to earn FFNs can't book them because those of us that stay all year have points and book what we have earned in advance.:t d:

OK it's actually much worse

I can somewhat tolerate point to FFN conversion as there is a limited number of points (good point noted) but this is just an invitation to hoard.

Last year I was new here (not to FT though). DH was doing a bit of MR in Orlando to earn 3 FFN. We were going to Kauai and was hoping to stay 3 nights at the Hyatt. We also were going to stay in our condo for a week. Well I didn't know that I could book the FFN when it was announced in September. Waited until he earned the nights and split out stay at one night in beginning and 2 the last nights -- one of which was NYE... didn't think it would become available. WOuld have been so much better to do 3 together. We only had points for 2 nights since Kauai had increased to 18K.
Fast forward to this year. Booked 3 nights using points in the spring. Learned my lesson that I could probably switch to FFN or just book them when it's announced. Then I found out (by chance, never was notified and couldn't find the award until I made diamond) that I got one of the Big Welcome nights. So now we have enough for 4 nights on points. Will talk to our PL as soon as Oct. 1st comes along to grab the FFN . Otherwise we'll just use the points... hard as they are to earn.
JMHO

This is not new. We were able to do this last promo period. As well, I didn't hear all that many complaints about people hoarding or not able to use their FFN. Some of the more popular properties had spotty availability - but I was able to find multiple 1 nighters at the Vendome last January - and that's the toughest property to get.

Yes, I did notice a rash of newbie questions on the board the last few days

I'm with Mary on this issue. I booked a trip to Japan in early October last April. My Hyatt nights are held with points. At the time I booked, I believed that my stay would be during the FFN redemption period, I would have earned nights, and I could switch. Guess what. We can't redeem til Oct 15, so that means no FFN redemption for me. But I'm still going, and I will use those nights.

I do feel that free nights ought to be held with currency, whether points or earned FFNs. That limits redemption to those of us who have been loyal to the Hyatt chain.

I'll chime in in support of the practice. I really think this is probably the most generous hotel promotion out there and is highly flexible for Diamond members. Better than SPG's FFN where they omitted their best properties. Hyatt's FFNs allows access to some incredible hotels, so long as you have the foresight to plan.

Its helping me a lot as I have 15 award nights already booked, that are pending me earning the FFNs. This has allowed me to plan several nice luxury trips knowing that my hotel and award F flights are secured in advance. In exchange, Hyatt gets a lot more business from me as I will pretty much double over qualify this year.

Same experience as mary2e - been able to hold ressies for awards without yet having the points. Is that a Diamond perk, or can anyone do it?

I think it is fair to allow point conversion to FFN's - but w/ the removal of capacity controls, allowing ressies without any type of commitment could be a nightmare..even for Hyatt.

Perhaps the correct answer is to allow the point conversion, but ressies can only be booked if you have points OR FFN's in hand.

Of course, Hyatt should feel free to make an exceptions for their Diamond members -

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe FFN inventory and points inventory come from the same class. So what is the big deal? If there are points reservations available, there are FFN. Booking ahead is just smart, and I have no problem with it.

I can see the logic, fairness and justification for allowing point stays to be switched to FFNs.

FFNs are announced on short notice, nothing wrong with that.

People typically book well in advance, especially for awards. In other words, most people requiring award stays in October, November ... even up to March and beyond would have booked them by now, on pts.

If one cannot switch pt awards to FFNs, those people will not be able to participate in the promotion and will do fewer revenue stays at Hyatt during the period.

This defeats the very aim of Hyatt in running the promotion.

Moreover, the customers Hyatt will lose out on in such a scenario will be its loyal core.

Hence, the logic, wisdom and necessity of allowing pt awards to be switched to FFNs.

Agree with azepine00 in certain respects since FFN redemption can be very limited at the top Hyatt properties if you're more a spontaneous trip taker. Heck, even at average resort properties, I couldn't find availability for FFN redemption on weekends in Feb-Mar 09. Waited too long last time around - oh well, lesson learned.

But I also understand Mary2e and others' position.

The FFN program as it currently operates is very good as it is. But it is absolutely astounding for those who (1) have loads of GP points and (2) can plan well in advance for the months of Nov-Mar, which has been the FFN redemption period for quite some time. And if you're like others here who find it hard to redeem FFN award nights during the promo period, at least we got the points option this time around.^

Gawd I hate it when people make such ignorant comparisons between the various hotel programs I do concur that Hyatt's FFN program overall is better than SPG's FWN program (not limited to weekends for one and this current Hyatt one includes double-stay credit) but NOT because SPG omitted their Cat 7 properties.

I love many of the top (Cat 5) Hyatt properties but NONE of them can command the rates and desirability of the typical SPG Cat 7 property. For instance, there are no posh Hyatt resorts on Santorini, Costa Smeralda (Sardinia), Bora Bora or the Maldives.

In my opinion, only a few Hyatt Cat 5 properties (PH Vendome, PH Tokyo, PH Moscow) can clearly trump similar (same city) SPG Cat 6 properties, which were included in their FWN program. Besides their increased quantity, locale of top properties (43 SPG Cat 6 vs 25 Hyatt Cat 5), the other advantage of SPG's FWN promo for me was that the redemption period occurred throughout the summer.

And no, I'm not a SPG homer. I'm just familiar with the offerings and properties of both Hyatt and SPG's programs and promos as I'm a fan of both.

The person is charged $$ room rate for a missed stay so they are "punished" and they don't get credit for the no-show

+1

Hyatt's generous w/use of FFN don't being restricted to weekends. I also found it a bit "amusing" when trying to use SPG night that at some locations I had to book 2 nights to even get a room (and this wasn't for just a level 6). That's why where we can we'll give Hyatt our business. Unf. w/DH travel highly restricted and monitored it's now coming down to just on our dime, but we'll manage