Two weeks ago I wrote to Hyatt about a problem of hotels classifying themselves as ‘resorts’ to avoid honoring elite checkout. I had seen reports that both the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Park Hyatt Sydney, which are classic city hotels, were using this to avoid honoring benefits. Hyatt ghosted me.
Park Hyatt Sydney now shows itself as a resort on its web page:
Park Hyatt Sydney is now a “resort”, can we all admit that Guest of Honours are part of the issue now?
by
u/omdongi in
hyatt
Park Hyatt Sydney has a small pool, and it has a classic view of the Sydney Opera House, though many city hotels have views.
The property is in downtown Sydney, although less conveniently located than many others. Already the hotel is exempt from offering suite upgrades, arguing that there are no standard suites (although as always this depends on how you define suite – many hotels consider rooms without separate living rooms and bedrooms divided by walls to be a suite or at least a junior suite, and their Deluxe Opera View rooms certainly qualify). There are no grounds to speak of at this hotel!
The Park Hyatt Tokyo’s ‘resort’ status is now official as well.
This property is in the city, technically Shinjuku but not really walkable to anything. It’s part of an urban jungle. It occupies floors of an office building! It is inside Shinjuku Park Tower. Once again, there are now grounds to the property to speak of.
Neither hotel is owned by Hyatt, but Hyatt manages both of them. Usually there’s a better chance of a property honoring elite benefits when it’s actually managed by the chain rather than operating as a franchise.
However, as the manager of the Andaz Maui explained to me years ago – when that hotel was actually part-owned by Hyatt in a joint venture – he has to make the hotel owner happy and that’s why he was pushing for exemptions within Hyatt so that the hotel (or brand) wouldn’t have to honor elite benefits.
World of Hyatt really is no longer such an attractive program from an ‘earn and burn’ perspective. Already it was less rewarding of elites than other programs, because the Globalist bonus is only 30% (compared to top tier bonuses of ~ 100% with other chains). Now the points are worth less, too. The reason to be loyal to Hyatt is elite benefits. If Hyatt is going to increasingly allow its desireable properties to opt out of honoring those benefits, what will even be the point?
@Gary, thank you for the update. I hope you, as a prime influencer, have some sway over Hyatt’s planned changes. It would truly be a shame if they went the way of Hilton on devaluation. Hyatt has a great product and such a wonderful reputaton for consistent quality. As they say, it costs so much more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one.
Hyatt is still probably the best of the bunch. But i see it slowly going downhill with devals and this stuff. also note many hyatts are labelling suites As Premium to avoid giving upgrades.So i see my Globalist value slowly going the way of Hilton and to an extent Marriott. Maybe a new alliance will pop up to cater to loyal guest. I and many others would be happy to pay a premium to get real benefits
Hyatt is going down the same road as Marriott. This is disappointing, not least when they haven’t given us any new benefits anything positive. That aside, Park Hyatt isn’t even comparable to St. Regis or Waldorf-Astoria. It’s more like a Fairmont or JW Marriott.
The Cancer at World of Hyatt started circa 2023 as we started to climb out of the pandemic and now its rearing its ugliest head lately. Late check out is as big as a quality breakfast. Even in Marriott there are properties that offer a solid breakfast and a late check out despite the naysayers.Some not all
An early check out will stop my spending dead in its tracks if this is the new Hyatt norm
Its bad enough Park Hyatt Sydney refuses suite upgrades and won’t confirm them at time of booking with what we earn. With a chimpanzee being able to get Plat or Diamond status at select programs with a credit card I no longer have a need for Hyatt they have outlived most of their usable life and I will move on. Somehow they forget we can take our wallets with tens of thousands elsewhere. I have words for Hyatt a company I once respected but probably not appropriate here to state.Greed is the kindest thing I can say likely
Hyatt really ‘going for gold’ here… not.
Welp, I’m a glutton for punishment, so I look forward to my stay at PH Sydney later this year (on points; it’s real, actually booked to stay there, bah!), including a room with no view, no welcome benefit, no complimentary bottles of water, exact official 5PM check-in (no sooner), and exact official 10AM checkout (no later).
Where’s @This comes to mind; he goes all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to Down Under at least once a year. You gonna get beat up by this PH, too?
If Hyatt cared, they would close the loophole. But this loophole has been reported a few months ago for PH Tokyo and still Hyatt has done nothing about it. Tell you where they stand.
This will also give a lot more Hyatt’s to chip away at your late checkout benefit. Already PH Saigon now wants you to go to a regular room if you want to late checkout.
I expect many more. That is why I am abandoning the pursuit of Globalist status. It was good while it lasted but the writing is on the wall.
I mean, I’d be just as happy if Hyatt de-flagged both of these…but honestly, I would actually prefer if they just killed off Park Hyatt as a brand and stopped trying to jam all of this luxury crap into the chain (I’m bleeping tired of “Look at our new batch of all-inclusives in our Pointless Collection!” or “Oh, here’s a bunch of boutique luxury crap so we have to add another award category”). The only times I consider the high-end hotels is if I have a Cat 1-7 award or unlimited FNA to burn.
I’d also suggest that /defining/ resort is a must…
@ Gary — So, what about bookings made prior to these changes?
I’d love to learn the inside story of “flipping” the rooms. If you have high occupancy, a 4pm check out means the room isn’t ready until 5pm. I’m being generous in the turnaround time, but also recognizing that some with 4pm check outs leave earlier. You can’t expect to have those arriving at 3pm (I believe the “official” check in time) to wait until 5pm. So, you either must have a number of folks arriving after 5pm to check in, or you must create a buffer of rooms that are not rented for a night. The latter is extremely costly if you could have rented it. But, here’s what may make the Sydney issue tough. International flights into Sydney tend to arrive early. ADL, MEL and BNE are a short flight away. This hotel might not get a large number of their check ins after 5pm.
I would not be surprised if this is what management would say, if being completely honest, is: if we gave to give “elites” a 4pm check out, we cannot have rooms available for guests as they arrive since so many of them arrive before or soon after 3pm unless we are willing to have room scheduled to sit empty for a night. We are further unable to properly staff large amounts of housekeeping after 4pm without a considerably increased cost.
“This comes to mind” is just trying to make excuses to justify Hyatt’s cutting back on 4pm late checkout benefit for Globalists.
The Park Hyatt Sydney and Park Hyatt Tokyo are happy to sell rate plans with guaranteed 4pm late checkout to Amex (FHR) and other travel booking agents: plus they offer guaranteed 4pm late checkout with some other corporate/negotiated rates. They just don’t want to offer it to Hyatt Globalists, especially not to most Globlalists staying on Hyatt award nights.
The Hyatt program’s best days are behind it for now.
I get that operationally a 4pm late checkout is a challenge, especially at properties with a high percentage of elites. But not delivering on your commitment is unacceptable. Sometimes it’s ridiculous things like this, but I’ve also experienced properties simply refusing to give 4pm, offering 2 pm instead. Id rather they just dial back the benefit to 3pm than play these games. In any case, it’s a death by a thousand cuts, Hyatt has lost my trust, and I won’t be requalifying for globalist this year or likely ever again.
I wonder when Hyatt will launch its “premium” Chase card…..
“I get that operationally a 4pm late checkout is a challenge, especially at properties with a high percentage of elites. But not delivering on your commitment is unacceptable.” But, what if giving 4pm check outs means many check ins, including elites, don’t see a room until. 6pm or later? Is that acceptable? Should they just leave rooms empty overnight when there is demand for them to dolve these? There may be no solution for this property to this that:
1. Gives Globalists a guaranteed 4pm check out
2. Has rooms ready for those checking in at 3pm or when they arrive if later
3. Allows them to maintain current occupancy during periods of high occupancy.
In short Hyatt may have promised something they can’t provide at all properties.