mmgm

I have been a Hyatt Diamond member for a long time. I have read about the benefits of the Starwood Credit card.
I have also been impressed by some of the Starwood properties.
I go to SF,NY, Hawaii,Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale primarily.
I have been unhappy with suite upgrades, though I love the Regency Clubs.
I am also unhappy with the NY properties- including the Stanhope{I loved the UN Plaza when it was a Hyatt]
I would apprecite advice from those of you who have been Hyatt Diamond and Starwood Platinum.
Thanks in advance.

orix

This is a tough call, while Hyatt doesn't always upgrade the room, the regency club is much better than the clubs I have experienced at Starwood properties. And the Diamond amenity is far better than the Plat. amenity. If you are more concerned about the type of room you are in (how much time do you really spend there?) rather than a better lounge, go for Starwood. Also, Hyatt is real weak in NY. I agree the 2 proterties in NYC are not that great.

Another advantage at Starwood is no capacity control on free rooms.

I've been Diamond at Hyatt for the past 5 years, and have enjoyed the hotel chain, but this year I have been staying at more Starwood properties and enjoying them. I have had good success with room upgrades (as minor as they might be), but Hyatt has provided me with room upgrades about 85% this year.

Tough call, and I wish you luck.

BoSoxFan45

These are probably the two top programs.

Hyatt Pros-

1) Always get Regency Club Access. And most RC's are nicer than most Starwood longes, IMO.
2) Get a nicer amenity, and one that you want.
3) Greater consistency in terms of quality of hotel.
4) As a diamond, you get a higher bonus than the next highest level.

Starwood Pros-

1) More properties- with more ranges of properties. While most Hyatts are about the level of your average Westin (save Park Hyatts), there is more of a variety in Starwood's portfolio.
2) No blackout dates.
3) Better room upgrades. I often get nice suites, and occassionally get spectacular ones. But this varies, and some hotels are better than others, and the wording about suite upgrades is very vague.
4) Customer service. Hyatt has great CS, but SPG still takes the cake.

Now- a few changes to these programs may tilt the balance.

1) William referenced a change to the platinum amenity policy. My guess is that this will be an improvement, and that it will bring the amenities more in line with Hyatt. I might be wrong, though. We'll find out soon.

2) Starwood recently eliminated platinum upgrades to/ access to any club/executive/Astor level or lounge privileges for any level that has butler service. Now, I don't know how many properties have butler levels, but I think these probably have the nicer lounges. It's not too many in the U.S. I've not seen much outrage about this, but I'm kind of suprised. Maybe people didn't notice, because it's not in its own thread. But it could turn out to be a big deal, because some of the nicer suites are likely located on these floors. And I'm loathe to think that some of the properties in the U.S. with nicer club lounges, like the Sheraton Boston, which has a number of suites on the club levels, will add Butler service, and next thing you know, noone ever gets upgraded there. I'm not sure how this plays out, but I don't think it can't be good for platinum members , and I'm a little surprised at the lack of reaction, given the extreme outrage platinums on this board are prone to. (See the credit card thread, or any thread about phone charges).


So, in short, the balance still tips to Starwood. I will requalify for platnum by the end of October, and likely will not requalify for Diamond. I've been very happy with SPG, and hopefully they will only improve the program.

TerryK

I concur with above posters. In short, if you prefer club lounge upgrade/accesses, go with Hyatt; if you prefer suite upgrades, go with Starwood.

Hyatt lounges are more common and better, however, I have never gotten a suite with Hyatt without using points or coupons. You are lucky that you've gotten suites from Hyatt from time to time, as your post seems to imply. I've been Hyatt Diamond for years and SPG Platinum since inception. Oh yes, I qualified for both with stays, never comped.

mauld

BoSoxFan45, I'm interested in your statement about the elimination of upgrades for Platinums to Butler floors. Where did you see this change? I've got a reservation at the London Sheraton Park Tower in Sept, and had originally made it for the Butler floor, but then changed to an executive floor after seeing lots of availablity and figuring I'd probably get upgraded to the Butler level. Does this mean no upgrade for me??? Or should I change back to the Butler floor at 40 BP more each night???

LAOCA

I'd like to know more too. I read that Towers upgrades weren't guarunteed, s/a only. Never heard about all the floors with butlers or floors like the Astor.

BoSoxFan45

Mauld and LAOCA, and anyone else interested, here are the threads. William's comments regarding the butler floor upgrade elimination are near the bottom of each thread.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/002191.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/001078.html

You'll notice that this announcement was immediately preceded by pronouncements from two Flyertalkers that recieved superb treatment at the Astor floor of the St. Regis in Dana Point that they were of the personal belief that this lounge or any like it should be exempt from platinum upgrades, in that it is a "specialty floor". I was the only one who bothered to disagree. Soon afterwards, William announced the policy change.

I'm fairly certain that this decision was in the works long before these posters suggested that exempting such lounges from upgrades was a good idea. But I personally don't think it ever behooves frequent travellers to float on a board like this that "it'd be o.k. if Travel Company X changed their terms and conditions to diminish our benefits."

I am interested in others' comments on this specific subject. Feel free to start a new thread if you want. I didn't because, frankly, I thought I was the only one who cared, and I thought I was chastised for my criticism of the idea when originally floated on this board by other members.

[This message has been edited by BoSoxFan45 (edited 08-31-2001).]

mauld

With regard to upgrade availablity to Butler floors, I just called SPG to check on my altered reservation, and asked about going back to my original 270 BP Butler floor room, and was told by 'David' "you will probably be upgraded to the Bulter floor, so you should stay where you are". I then mentioned those floors being exempt from upgrades for Platinums, and he said, no, that was not the case and he had not been told of any changes. I then rechecked the web site and could find no mention of this new exemption for Butler/Tower floors upgrades.
Starwood Lurker....whats up???

Starwood Lurker

mauld, I just call them as I am told. If you want to take the chance that the word has not gotten out to the Park Tower Sheraton, then leave the reservation as is and hope for an upgrade. I assure you that I am not going to call them in advance of your stay to enlighten them.

Since this a fairly new development, I am sure that not every hotel that has Butler service is on to it. Also, it will take some time to filter down to our frontline people. It may also be that this applies to the North American Division only. I will have to check further on that.

As for us changing the Terms and Conditions; well, it is our perogative to do so whenever we feel it is necessary.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

mauld

Thanks for the infor Lurker, I'll just take my chances and stick with the Executive room. I wasn't meaning to question the ability of SPG in changing the rules, it was just that in previous postings, mention was made that this change in policy was already written up in the Terms & Conditions, but I couldn't find it. I assure you, that I have no problem with Starwood changing policy--as they have every right to do so, I just hadn't heard about it before reading these posts and then couldn't seem to locate it on the SPG web site. (Then again, my eyes are not quite what they use to be )

Starwood Lurker

That's okay, mauld; your eyes are not deceiving you. Apparently this is so new, we have not gotten the opportunity to update the web site. My comments about us changing policy were not directed toward you - sorry if it didn't come out that way - but was just a reminder to others that we reserve the right to do so. Of course, I guess that doesn't mean everybody has to be happy with it.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

LIH Prem

Hyatt has 1-800-CHECK-IN

Starwood has 1-800-WILLIAM

-David

LAOCA

I'm a little bit puzzled by the policy. I understood Tower floors to be the same as Club floors in Tower properties. Does this mean the hotels will no longer be upgrading us the these floors? Or just that they are not required to when busy?

One of my regular stays is in Sao Paulo where they have always upgraded Plats to the butler floor. Is my hotel there no longer going to be putting me there after all this time because they'll read this to mean that Starwood doesn't want them to now?

If it's because the amenities are too rich for some of the rock bottom rates some pay, can we pay an add on for the amenities? In the case of Sao Paulo there's no lounge but the nicer rooms are all on those floors.

While I still think the program is awesome, I hate to see little cutbacks like this. I see it as a bad signal from corporate to the properties. For example, I can here them no say in Sao Paulo "sorry about this but corporate told us not to do this anymore".

pegasus8228

siwtched from Hyatt Diamond to SPG Plt this year. i concurred bossoxfan's comparison.

i never got suite upgrade in Hyatt but got it 60-70% with Sheraton/Westin in USA.
In Asia/Europe they are both more stingy. usually i need to ask and they only gave me club floor when i stay at the property many times.

777 global mile hound

One of the best kept secrets with being Hyatt Diamond or lower as a Gold Passport Member for that matter is the Hyatts Corporate Services Dept.When a frequent guest has a true problem with a stay such as missing program benefits during a stay or quality control issues Hyatt will take care of the matter and make positive good rising above and beyond.Starwoods Corporate Services(not to be confused with the award winning Platinum line folks) goes deaf dumb and blind after taking any information and has a terrible track record including and not limited to losing the paperwork ( overall inferior in every way compared to when Westin was based in Seattle pre Starwood).Also the letters of unanswered or unresolved SPG complaints are everywhere.Platinum or not.This is there biggest darkest secret.Sometimes a communication is sent with an empty letter of apology without resolution or good will gesture of any kind. This is Starwood at its weakest moment.Hyatt you buy in 100%faith.Starwood its maybe its right or maybe its not better luck next time. Luckily they have a fair # of repectable and even some exceptional properties.Hyatt is fairer with phone rates and a somewhat better track record of room blockage for elite on the right floors.Suites rarely.Very often they the suites are not the best new rooms anyway (Starwood or Hyatt) for that matter or are just a door to a connecting room.You can also depend on Hyatts solid welcome exceptional ammenity program that Starwood has neglected for years to save money much like there lack of owning up to solve hotel issues in a fair and respectable matter.Back to the good news at Starwood.The Starwood Lurker.Hyatt is in denial with there lurker.William trys like non other to assist all those SPGs possible.Always with a sense of style.Starwoods great world class easy program redemption combined with the best earning opportunties and partnerships in the business.Rumors have it that my many repeated suggestions years ago to the White Plains powers that be will be finally followed up this year and a rollout out of a real ammenity program finally happen like the W in San Franciscos outstanding pilot ammenity program.Starwood could be become the greatest hotel company in the world with a little more effort.Program wise they are already there.A very close call between Hyatt and Starwood leaning more on the individual guest needs.It depends if award availabilty and the occasional suite is more important then the other issues above mentioned.Also which locations work better for you.And as said earlier the other #1 advantage with Hyatt is the much much better availability of highly satisfactory club floors that give you superior value over Starwood in many markets.The Westin in Boston has closed its club floor permanently.Can barely think of but a few Sheratons with club floors and usually in an airport .
Good luck in your choice.Happy Travels

------------------
AA & Starwood,Marriott Platinum
Diamond Hyatt, Hilton Diamond
U/A Premier Exec

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