Here are the full details of Hyatt’s new program which launches March 1. This is their biggest revamp since 2009.
Hyatt has improved their benefits for top tier elites, while making top tier tougher to earn. They remain uncompetitive at the mid-tier. And they’re diminished the importance of their credit card at a time the rest of the industry is swelling elite ranks through credit card partnerships.
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
Here are 12 thoughts on the new program:
- Hyatt’s footprint is small, and it’s not clear how they get bigger. They’re going to require 60 nights for top status and they’re a chain of 600 hotels. That’s orders of magnitude harder than staying 75 nights at Marriott which is nine times the footprint (and Marriott lets you qualify on credit card spend alone).
Hyatt failed to buy Kimpton and they failed to buy Starwood. Who is left to buy, OMNI’s 60 hotels? Their market cap is about the same size as IHG. At some level they’re probably more of an acquisition target than an acquirer at this point but a hostile takeover would be almost impossible given the extra voting rights the Pritzkers have. In the meantime, they’re focusing on their power stay guests rather than fighting for every guest. That’s a strategy, though given the choice I’d do both.
- Hyatt’s mid-tiers are still relatively unrewarding. Someone giving Hyatt, say, 45 nights gets just 4 stays at club level. Is it too much to ask for a suite upgrade or two?
Club Lounge, Hyatt Regency San FranciscoThey incentivize overperforming ‘Globalists’ with additional suite upgrades beyond qualification at 60 nights (an additional upgrade at 70, 80, 90, and 100). It strikes me that offering incentives for more than 30 but less than 60 nights would make sense, and that Hyatt could close the gap with Hilton and Marriott whose mid-tier elites always get club access or breakfast.
- No one loses next year. Anyone qualifying for Diamond in 2016, or at the beginning of 2017, will be top tier in next year’s program. Any current Diamond who doesn’t requalify gets a soft landing.
- Probably the most underappreciated piece of what they’ve done is the sheer amount of notice. They’re making changes to their program, but no one will have fewer suites or give up breakfast until March 2018. So even though the program starts in March (4 months away) they really gave us 16 months’ notice. That’s the right way to do it. Before the year starts, and people begin staying for a set of benefits in the following year, let everyone know what the benefits will look like. As a member I can take almost any change with that sort of notice, it sets a bar and draws a huge contrast with almost every other program.
Room service breakfast, Andaz 5th Avenue - Marginal Diamonds, who qualified on 25 stays, lose out. Hyatt has decided they were overinvesting in those customers. Some of those customers will leave. That’s a tradeoff, it’s theirs to make. And it’s understandable those customers will be disappointed.
- The Hyatt narrative about caring for guests, making them their best, and building loyalty versus providing a transaction program is… both true and not quite true. Benefits like “Guest of Honor” that let Diamonds gift great treatment when giving friends and family awards generate tremendous goodwill by placing Hyatt at the center of important life events (I gifted a cousin her wedding night hotel this way) but adding a revenue-based way to qualify for status and eliminating the check-in amenity (an offer of food — caring — when you arrive) doesn’t quite match. Neither does insisting that members redeem their free nights on Hyatt’s schedule (120 day expiry) rather than their own.
- Hyatt’s credit card gets less important. The card is already less rewarding for spend than others, I didn’t even love putting Hyatt spend (at 3 points per dollar) on the card compared to earning 3 transferrable points per dollar. But I put $40,000 spend on it to generate 10 elite nights. Starting in March that benefit goes away and you can’t earn more than mid-tier status based on spend, which is the opposite direction from the rest of the industry which now lets you earn top tier status with spend alone at Marriott-Starwood, IHG, and Hilton.
That’s consistent with how Hyatt’s Jeff Zidell explained the role of their credit card five years ago, carrying the Hyatt brand in their wallet rather than becoming the centerpiece of their program. He said they didn’t see the credit card as a monetization play, so credit card holders aren’t as important to Hyatt as their own frequent guests the way they are to other chains.
- Ultimately Hyatt offers the most desirable top tier. That was already true, and they’re stacking more confirmed upgrades, better upgrades when not confirming one in advance, and a dedicated reservations person. That’s on top of the best breakfast benefit (full, not continental, breakfast when a club lounge isn’t available).
- But we don’t know what Hyatt’s new top tier upgrade benefit — which now includes suites when not redeeming a confirmed upgrade certificate — really means.
Hilton and Marriott ‘allow’ hotels to upgrade elites to suites, but do not require it. Starwood requires a hotel to provide the best room available at time of check-in, and actually violates program rules if a standard suite is available and not provided. Hyatt’s rules appear somewhere in the middle here.
They say that the hotel must provide the best room available including standard suites. But they also say there’s no recourse if the hotel doesn’t. We’ll have to wait until the program starts in March to see what it really means. My guess is it will vary substantially from hotel to hotel. Here are the terms, emphasis mine.
Globalists will receive the best room available at the time of check-in at Hyatt hotels and resorts, including standard suites and rooms with Club lounge-access. The best room available will be determined by the applicable hotel or resort in its sole discretion and may vary from stay-to-stay. The “best room” may, but will not necessarily be, of a room type/category higher than that booked by the Member.
Park Hyatt Chennai - They’re moving towards free nights (with short expiration) in place of check-in amenity points. Free nights are a concrete benefit that people like, although they vex me because it means I have to stress over using them rather than using points on my own time at my own convenience.
- I want to keep my top tier. And I expect I’ll be able to. Hyatt will lose some business from 25 stay Diamonds, they’ll get more from me because this year (while also going for 100 night Starwood Platinum) I’m giving them just 40 nights plus $40,000 in credit card spend and of course a few non-qualifying award nights. Next year they’ll get a 50% bump in nights from me.
- That tells us something about Hyatt’s strategy. They view themselves as the only chain focused exclusvely on upscale. They’re smaller, making a bet on their most frequent guests.
It all would have worked better if they had succeeded in buying Starwood giving themselves a bigger footprint. And launching a new program would have been the perfect way to introduce new guests from another chain to the program (rather than converting everyone at Starwood into Gold Passport). That’s how Starwood brought Westin Premier and Sheraton Club International together and made everyone a ‘Preferred Guest’. Oh what might have been…
@ Gary — “Exclusively on upscale”? Huh? I hardly call Hyatt Place upscale.
Hi Gary,
Qualifying for Diamond in Jan/Feb of 2017 (via 25 stays or 50 nights) still looks to be debatable as to whether or not one will have status throughout 2018 as well (ending in Feb 2019) based on http://freequentflyerbook.com/blog/2016/10/31/world-of-hyatt-more-on-the-chase-credit-card-and-chasing-status
Has there been any official word from Hyatt on this? Thanks!
It’s tempting for me to invest heavily in Calendar ’17 to try to slip in with 25 stays and qualify for Diamond, but when I ask myself “what if I find out I really love Hyatt and want to continue with them?” the threshold to maintain that status on an ongoing basis is too high for me (no telling how long my current position will remain travel-heavy, and I have backup plans with all other reward programs).
Hyatt has been a HUGE tease for me over the last 4 years, and a few recent positive experiences nearly lured me in – but this shuts it down completely for me. Hyatt is back to one (and only one) use for me – transferring into the program for affordable award stays when I have no other affordable options in a given area where I am traveling.
Glass half-full: At least I haven’t yet bit on the Hyatt Credit Card and haven’t invested time, money, or effort in chasing status. Walking away clean.
With these new changes in place, does anyone know come 2018, if they will loosen up the the DSU and the suite upgrades limitation on those exclusive properties where DSU were not allowed previously? E.g. Park Hyatt Maldives, Sydney, Beaver Creek, etc? I think allowing for the use of DSU at those properties would help lessen the sting and reward the top tier Globals that Hyatt is seeking to attract.
@Mike The Traveler – I really don’t think so. There aren’t many ‘standard’ suites at Park Hyatt Sydney. While at Park Hyatt Maldives all the rooms are considered suites. I’d still love to be able to use one to upgrade to an overwater villa in Maldives – hah! Or I’d settle for a nice Grand Deluxe room in Sydney…
@Jeff – I’m in the same boat as you. I travel only enough to just hit Diamond, the new reqs will keep me out of the club. I’ll find better value with my current stays with other programs and now need to decide where my business will go. This past year as Diamond has been OK but I managed to only be able to use my benefits once. Didn’t even find a use for my DSUs. The most attractive current benefit to me was the check-in bonus points. My most recent trip on business got me 3k bonus points, my usual Diamond points per $, plus 3x points on my Sapphire Reserve card…hard to beat all those points for reimbursed spend. And I, like you, hadn’t yet bitten on the Hyatt card, and I’m very glad I didn’t!
@Jeremy – He is simply mistaken. It is 100% confirmed. I sat in Hyatt’s offices in Chicago on Friday. I asked (1) about 25 stays/50 nights at the beginning of 2017 and (2) spending $40k on the credit card in January/February to earn qualifying nights. Both are possible. Period.
@Gene you and I have different definitions than the hotel industry does… 😉
@Gary – thanks for the confirmation! One more question regarding the 4 diamond suite upgrades for diamonds… I believe the upcoming T&Cs say you will get 4 DSU once you re-qualify for Diamond in Jan/Feb 2017, but will you have to get 60 nights in order to get another set of 4 DSU in 2018?
Thanks in advance!
Gary,
1) If I have 25 stays booked from Jan. 1st. 2017 – Feb. 28 2017 will that qualify as Globalist through Feb. 28 2019 ? If so will I also receive 4 DSU’s for the 2019 qualification period.
2) If I charge $40,000.00 on my Chase Hyatt Visa between Jan.1st 2017 and Feb. 28 2017 will that count for 10 qualifying stays towards 2019 qualification status for the new Globalist category?
I would probably choose to matress run this if it flys. That would be my last hurrah as no way I can book 60 nights.
The Twitter team won’t answer these specific questions
@Gary @Gene — Hyatt Places are “upscale properties” to most people. I guess it’s where fancy travellers slum it.
Personally, I like them. They’re fancy enough for me, and give me perks (like breakfast) that “nicer” hotels overcharge for. That said, I’m glad I don’t really have to pay for them (I use points) because the rates they command wouldn’t actually be worth it to me. If I was paying in greenbacks, a decently-reviewed Comfort Inn would be good enough for me.
I’m probably like most diamonds — I average about 30 stays and 45 nights a year and that will make Globalist unobtainable.
So I’ll enjoy 2017 as a Globalist, max out the benefits, and then move on as a free agent — (I’m already a free agent/former Explat in 2017 anyway) and see what the best deals will bring me, elite benefits be damned! (Perhaps I’ll just use a Virtuoso agent to make up for those benefits?)
@Gary I’m a little confused about this transition period before March 1, 2017. Do nights earned durning January and February count toward status for 2018, or does the earning period start when the new World of Hyatt program is launched on March 1, 2017? If anyone could clarify that would be great.
Gary,
Will MLife count towards Tier Nights with WOH? Also, in its current state, 25 stays in MLife in Jan and Feb ’17 should count towards Globalist until 2/19?
Assessing this change dispassionate…
What WOH! has done is to make ridiculously difficult and expensive to achieve a status — “Globalist” — that is nothing more than the old HGP Diamond raised up a notch to almost rival the top elite level in the more stable and mature programs 🙂
So, here’s what the big fuss is about: after years of — bogusly — putting HGP on a pedestal, the realization that the program is just a big joke must be disorienting. None of this would have mattered if travel bloggers did not spill much cyber-ink spreading the canard that HGP was the “best in the business” when the program was no more than a perpetual WIP. WOH! itself remains a WIP!
dispassionately…
@Gary – Do the 2 stays with the Hyatt card still count for Jan & Feb 2017? 23 is easier than 25.
@Gary continues to misfire: “Hilton and Marriott ‘allow’ hotels to upgrade elites to suites, but do not require it. Starwood requires a hotel to provide the best room available at time of check-in, and actually violates program rules if a standard suite is available and not provided. ”
That claim is demonstrably bogus. There is absolutely nothing in the SPG [r.i.p] T&C that’s different with respect complimentary suite upgrades than what HH or MR offers their top elites. Under the definition used above to set SPG apart, one can also say that HH’s T&C “guarantee” their Diamonds upgrades to “the best room available [including suites] at time of check-in” [in fact, I am ALWAYS upgraded to a room on the exec floor as a HH Diamond or to a suite if it is AVAILABLE]. The problem, of course, is that travel bloggers would like for the contingency that a suite MUST BE AVAILABLE at booking [DSUs] or at check-in to go away. That is the only way anyone can ever claim that a suite upgrade is “guaranteed.” Since that contingency will never ever go away, it is simply ridiculous to keep making the bogus claim!
That’s like the now-dropped bogus claim that HGP suite upgrades are not capacity-controlled. There was nothing in the T&C that ever supported that claim. [Some] Bloggers simply made it up, just as they made up the claim that Starwood suite upgrades are “guaranteed” when the program’s T&C on suite upgrades are IDENTICAL to those of HH or MR! How do we know the claim is bogus? SPG felt compelled to introduce suite night awards (SNAs), without a doubt because their Diamonds bitched about not getting their “guaranteed” suite upgrades at check-in, except that SNAs also flopped badly, resulting in members soon being offered alternate perks. Imagine that!
There is nothing like claiming elite benefits for one’s preferred program that are more expansive than even the programs offering them are aware of!!!
The biggest disappointment to me is the decrease in status with MLife. The CC no longer matches to MLife Gold and the new top tier no longer matches to MLife Plat, so it’s a real downgrade in what was a good way to leverage both programs.
@ Gary – Will the credit card continue to offer mid-tier status and an annual free night just for carrying it?
With the new points qalification scheme – will I be able to attain status exclusively through in-hotel spending while not in residence? Eg can I spend 20k usd on spa and f&b then get globalist status?
With the new points qalification scheme – will I be able to attain status exclusively through in-hotel spending while not in residence? Eg can I spend $20k on spa and f&b then get globalist status?
Next to the heavy spenders, the biggest winners with World of Hyatt are lapsed Diamond Members; they will soft-land to something that’s even better than the current Platinum level.
@Martin the first level of status, and spend $50k for second level of status
@Christian you can still spend on the card and earn stays and nights in January/February.
@Goofy777 yes and yes
@Kaom – yes nights earned in Jan/Feb 2017 will count towards 2018 status (expiring Feb 2019)
DCS Fact Check Alert (bring some intellectual honesty to the discussion one time and stop lying):
– SPG not dead, benefits have continued to infiltrate MR
– Anyone with half a brain can see that the SPG suite upgrade T&Cs are much more favorable to the elite than HH…except you
– You’ve never had an SNA, and thus are wholly unqualified to comment on them…I’ve never had one expire and get a suite on every vacation I go to (in addition to the ~50% of the time I get a comp one)
– SPG is all about tailoring benefits, thus giving 50-stay consumers different options than SNAs if so desired. Nothing that’s a “bust” about them, that’s just your intellectual dishonesty speaking
You are a sad little individual who rants and raves for years on end about how great HH is…yet no one ever listens to you…because the program is mediocrity (at best) defined. You should go back to your lonely little corner on InsideFlyer where you can talk yourself in circles and no one cares.
@UA-NYC — Anyone with grade-level understanding of English would debunk your nonsense. Go argue or pick fight with people who are just as clueless as you are because at least there you might have a fair fight.
SPG is dead and Marriott folks are too smart to repeat the mistakes that contributed to the demise of Starwood. Get that through your head — then again, you are too clueless to be able to tell the difference between your wishful thinking and reality.
In the real world, returning HH members drove 52% or $15B of Hilton’s revenue last year. How many SPG members actually redeemed their points directly for award stays at Starwood properties? Marriott won’t make the mistake of having their points become more popular as a currency for booking award airline tickets than award stays at their properties! They have the models and they have figured out all the mistakes that SPG made, which they will avoid, regardless of how much SPG loyalists wish MR would be turned into a SPG clone. There is a reason why companies run loyalty programs. It is not to “guarantee” perks and guarantee none. It is to help the company’s bottom line. SPG did not do that for Starwood, and Marriott sure ain’t gonna adopt as its loyalty model one that it knows failed spectacularly, first hand!
G’day!
The new 120 day expiration seems quite unreasonable. I would hope they at least mean you have to apply it to a stay within 120 days, even if that stay is a year out?
Here’s a hint as to how dumb, obfuscating, and generally confused DCS is…his theory that SPG’s downfall is somehow a creation of the good point-to-airline transferability is a creation of his own feeble mind. How do we know this?
– It was never listed as a material concern in any SEC filings (let me guess…you don’t know what a 10-K is)
– Never a topic on analyst calls
– Never discussed publically in any fashion, nor “leaked” to any blogger or those with insider contacts
Not only was Starwood profitable the past three years, net income % was actually higher than Marriott during that time. Given the lucrative customer base Starwood is known for, and with companies always looking to scale, it was a natural acquisition target. And BTW loyals to any loyalty program make an outsize contribution to company revenue…note the ~15% of AA/UA flyers who contribute half the company revenue. Hilton is nothing special in this regard (despite what in your heart of hearts you really think)
Maybe DCS will crawl back into his hole now and stay out of discussions he has no clue about. Mic drop.
@UA-NYC — I will crawl back into my hole and stay out of discussions with a moron who is too dump to know what to do to stop being ridiculed and punished publicly…after I punish and ridicule you one last time.
Neither the facts nor Starwood shareholders, who early last year canned the CEO who’d led the company since 2007, would agree with the rosy picture of Starwood’s economic performance.
Here’s the Wall Street Journal: [bits and pieces provided below, link in next comment]. If you re too dumb to understand this, you are too dumb to address. Period.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Starwood Hotels CEO Frits van Paasschen Resigns
Chief Executive Frits van Paasschen faced pressure to increase the number of hotels in Starwood’s system.
….
— His sudden exit shows how hotel companies have little tolerance for mixed results at a time when the industry is booming, rising group and leisure travel are lifting revenue-per-available room to new highs, and hotels are fetching record sales prices.
….
— Starwood’s stock returned 10% over the past 12 months, including dividends, lagging behind the 30% or more enjoyed by rivals like Marriott and Hilton.
…..
— Some analysts also suggested the board was unhappy with the number of hotel owners that have dropped a Starwood brand recently. In 2014, Starwood added 74 hotels and 15,000 rooms to its system, but it also lost 28 hotels and 7,000 rooms during the year.
….
— Last year, Thayer Lodging Group said that Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, with 998 rooms in Hollywood, Fla., would leave the Starwood brand and become affiliated with Hilton.
“We were convinced that Hilton would be more effective at driving convention and group business to that hotel,” says Leland Pillsbury, Thayer’s CEO.
______________________________________________________________________________________
There is no excuse for telling tall tales or making demonstrably bogus claims in the internet age, when most of the answers lie at one’s fingertips. That you keep doing it again and again just shows how dump you are.
Now, get lost because as far as you’re concerned I am lost!
There is no excuse for telling tall tales or making demonstrably bogus claims in the internet age, when most of the answers lie at one’s fingertips.
Link to the WSJ piece referenced above: http://www.wsj.com/articles/starwood-ceo-frits-van-paasschen-resigns-1424172767
Now, at least have the presence mind to know when you are over-matched and quit!!!
BTW, the repeated use of “dump” rather than “dumb” above is a “Freudian slip” that’s got me contracting “dumb” and “Trump” [hold your fire! That’s supposed to be an apolitical statement! 😉 ]
Well….during the past years I had accumulated hundreds of thousand of SPG points….never used them for a hotel stay…
I received this reply from my Diamond Concierge: Good morning.
Dear Mr. xxxxx
As of today, your Gold Passport account lists your current tier as Diamond – Valid until February 28, 2018. Per the corresponding chart on hyatt.com, based on that criteria, your World Of Hyatt membership tier assignment on March 1, 2017, will be Globalist – Valid until February 28, 2018.
Regarding activity in January and February 2017, the tier status beyond February 28, 2018, will be determined by the criteria the member met during 2017. Meaning for any member who has Globalist status and wishes to continue with that status beyond February 28, 2018, will need to meet the qualifications of retaining Globalist during the 2017 calendar year. The activity in January and February will of course count as part of this activity, but earning the 25 stays or 5 credits during that time, would not have any bearing on your status beyond February 28, 2018. When the program converts to World of Hyatt on March 1, 2017, tier status is earned by that program’s guidelines.
Looks like mattress running for status until 2019 will not work
Any Advise?
@martinplas you are fine to mattress run in january/february for status through february 2019.
As a fan of Hilton first and Hyatt second, I really wish DCS would just be quiet. Many of his arguments are nonsense and, really, he’s just a jerk. He makes my favorite brand look bad.
Hmm, maybe he’s actually paid by Hyatt or one of the others to shill, badly, for Hilton.
@OtherDave — Your wish is NOT granted because your only purpose here is to insult, which is always a sign of a weak mind, evident in the childish line that “as a fan of Hilton first and Hyatt second…” You are a clear HGP fanboy who is unhinged because I do not mince my words when describing the colossal failure that the purportedly “best programs in the business” have been.
If you have something specific and coherent you’d like for me to address — I rather doubt it — then shoot. Otherwise, take your puerile insults to a schoolyard where they and you belong.
G’day!
We need to unionize frequent guests, so we can get value out of free-agency.
Who will be Curt Flood and get screwed.
“…your only purpose here is to insult” HAHAHAHA!
Hit a little too close to home for our resident insult-master, I guess.
@losingtrader – I like that!
@OtherDance — If had not too busy being childish, you would’ve noticed that this “insult-master” is actually insult-master only toward insulters and puerile taunters, like you. Did you notice that I’d never ever addressed you before until you called me names without being provoked? Well, I give it just as good and it’s the only way I have been able to get rid puerile taunters like you.
So, if you wish to duke it out, let’s do it and get over with it.
Your move.
“… had not BEEN too…”
LOL! Someone is bothering to respond to DCS – he’s getting what he wants!
Hey Gary, if I’m cluttering up your blog too much by responding to your resident troll, just let me know – I’ll drop it and let your fun little anti-fan have the last word.
Sure, D, where do you live? I’ll come over and we can “duke it out”. You thinking street rules, boxing rules, or MMA rules?
What name did I call you, “jerk”? That’s not a name, that’s just a fact. Review your posts on any article in Gary’s blog – 3 out of 4 will be nasty and rude. Besides illogical.
What next D? 😉
I have to assume they are preparing themselves to be taken over. The tier names are too confusing. Just make changes with the same names.
Is credit card, like UA Presidential Plus, still going to give Hyatt Platinum equivalent?
@OtherDave – you make excellent points 🙂 DCS is much like another blowhard (all bark, no bite) who will be out of sight come next Wednesday…hopefully he’ll follow his lead.
DCS may be able to cut and paste articles, but he is really pretty clueless when it comes to actually cross-comparing programs…half of the things he claims HH benefits aren’t even really “a thing”! He spins a lack of any real published benefits as some great thing as it makes them “unlimited”…LOL.
I see that the village idiot — that’s you, UA-NYC — is back for more punishment and ridicule, brought out of hiding where he went to lick his wounds after the last beating by another moron.
Just in case it has not occurred to you – and I am sure it has not — every comment you write attacking DCS as clueless simply solidifies your role as the village idiot, the “court jester.”. Attacking my ability to post evidence that shows just how clueless you are is vintage Trump. One thing I pray for and, horror!, agree with is that at long last Trump will be forever gone after next Tuesday. I just hope you and the “OtherDave” will have the presence of mind to follow your role model out the door, but I won’t hold my breath.
This thread is closed for me. Knock yourselves out until you cross me in another and I will punish and ridicule you some more.
@OtherDave — As a parting shot, I’ll just say that you do not have the intellect to understand my comments, and to be that completely free of the “ravages of intelligence” is, well, enviable.
G’day!
Gary
If I mattress run 25 stays in Jan. /Feb. f 2017 for Globalist status through Feb. 2019 Globalist Status what is the status of the 4 DSU’s for 2018.
If my last qualifying stay in 2017 is Feb. 27 :
1) Will i be rewarded 4 DSU for 2018
2) If so will these DSU’s be good until Feb. 2019?
DCS is right, and everyone else is wrong…every single time…must be lonely in his echo chamber. LOL.