Hyatt made an announcement today about the changes taking effect on January 1, 2015, on FlyerTalk (access here).
Hyatt has made a decision to discontinue the Bed Type Guarantee for elite members and not to extend the My Elite Rate discount for Platinum and Diamond members beyond the end of 2014. They also hint about enhancements coming to the Points + Cash program.
You can access Hyatt’s web page for elite benefits here.
Hyatt My Elite Rate Announcement:
My Elite Rate was launched as a beta test for the calendar year. At this point, we have chosen not to roll out My Elite Rate on a permanent basis, and it will not be available in 2015. I realize that many of you enjoyed My Elite Rate and were strong advocates for its continuation; however, the results from our beta test did not warrant a permanent roll out.
Would be interesting to know the results from the beta test. Did it not raise the number of stays of the elite members or just lowered the overall rates (some members may have just paid the higher rate if this discount hadn’t been available).
Here’s my take on the My Elite Rate when it was launched: Hyatt Gold Passport “My Elite Rate” 20% Discount
Hyatt On Points + Cash
Points + Cash has been very successful, and we are looking at ways to enhance it even further. Points + Cash was launched with the full intention of making it a permanent element of the loyalty program.
No doubt that the Points + Cash has been successful. Hyatt can write down the number of points the guest uses and property gets the cash part that is usually higher than the baseline award reimbursement.
Hyatt “guides” guests to use Points + Cash because it is eligible for all the promotions and generates stay/night credits unlike award nights, which do not.
Here’s my take on Points + Cash when it was launched: Hyatt Gold Passport Points + Cash Awards Now Available
Bed Type Guarantee Gone
One thing that will be changing effective January 1, 2015 is the existing bed type guarantee policy. Today, this is applicable to elite members only, and members are awarded 5,000 bonus points if the reserved bed type is not available upon check-in. Less than 0.1% of elite members did not receive their confirmed bed type – so in the future we’re guaranteeing that upon check-in all guests will receive the bed type confirmed, and there will no longer be any bonus points associated with non-compliance. Rest assured, the hotels are committed to getting this right!
Here’s where it gets murky. Hotels are committed to get the bed type guarantee right, but there is no disincentive to non-compliance. Previously, the guest was entitled to 5,000 bonus points if the bed type received was different than the one booked.
Hyatt here is referring to 0.1% of elites that did not receive the bed type that they had booked. This is probably calculated from the number of time the properties paid the 5,000 bonus points for the guests due to this. I would imagine that most of the Platinum and Diamond members are not even aware of this guarantee and didn’t claim it when they could have.
Here’s my example of bed type guarantee: Compensation Clinic: Hyatt Regency Bandung
Hyatt About 2015
We are currently working on a variety of new programs to make your travels in 2015 more effortless, more personalized and more rewarding, and you will begin to hear about some of these initiatives in the first quarter.
Well. They could start by fixing the website that is down for hours at a time midweek. Let’s hope that they have interesting promotions coming.
Conclusion
Hyatt never promised that the My Elite Rate would be permanent part of the program, so cannot fault them to discontinue it.
It is sad to see the bed type guarantee gone. There is no disincentive for the properties to get it right. Do we now have to start calling the Consumer Affairs, start sending Tweets or post on Hyatt’s Facebook page when we face these issues? I have collected the bed type guarantee total of 2 times of way over 500 nights (probably 600 by now) with Hyatt, so it is rare.
I would wish to see the Points + Cash rate to be available for online bookings. I just hate having to call to book it. Can it be THAT difficult to program?
We must all be very interested in to learn about the other initiatives that Hyatt is planning to launch in early 2015.
Hyatt and Hilton are in a race for the worst Hotel Chain IT with Hyatt presently being tops. Their website is a disgrace. Especially canceling award reservations proves to be impossible without calling reservations and that on totally unrelated matters. I had two reservations (both booked online and in sequence) for the same hotel in tokyo. I had to cancel them both. One could be canceled online, the next prompted me to call reservation. Then the case of having to book cash & points through the phone. It is damn annoying to deal with this.