This past summer I stayed at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach. This hotel does not honor elite breakfast benefits. They used to at least compensate eligible guests with points as an apology. It seems they’ve stopped even doing that.

Hyatt calls it a resort but I’m not sure that it really is. There’s almost no service of any kind. There is a restaurant associated with the hotel only sort of. It’s not on the beach. And there’s just a small wading pool. It’s an urban building with no resort grounds. Still, it fit the bill for an affordable stay on dates where prices elsewhere were astronomical.

Hyatt Centric Waikiki

Hyatt Centric Waikiki

For years this hotel has done its best to avoid allowing points redemptions, with a limited number of rooms on offer only for specific lengths of stay. They also stopped honoring Globalist breakfast benefit.

• They claim that their restaurant is closed. It never re-opened after Covid.
  
• But there is a restaurant that they advertise in the elevator. You can charge things back to your room. It’s not inside the hotel proper.

Hyatt Centric Waikiki

They’ve been providing 1,000 World of Hyatt bonus points per night in lieu of honoring breakfast. That’s worth about $14. I had to chase down these points down after the stay. They did not post automatically.

Over the summer I reached out to Hyatt and asked,

• Whether an on-site restaurant is a brand standard for Hyatt Centric?
  
• Whether hotels were expected to have re-opened their restaurants post Covid?
  
• If Hyatt Centric Waikiki has a restaurant with charging back to the room, how do they not honor Globalist breakfast?
  
• And how is breakfast for a family of four worth only 1,000 points?

Hyatt Centric Waikiki

Hyatt did not respond to this inquiry. And I guess breakfast there is not actually worth 1,000 points for four people staying in one room – it is worth zero points. Reportedly, the hotel has stopped awarding even the points in lieu of breakfast for Globalists.

Previously, they offered points in lieu of the breakfast. They discontinued that in December. It is not on their website nor the app and they didn’t even tell me a check in. I’ve stayed here before knowing that I would get points and move breakfast. When I asked about it this morning, they told me they no longer participate it.

The guest reporting this is frustrated, “Hyatt is overall a great program, but the way they allow hotels to pick and choose what benefits to offer is very frustrating.”

I agree. Hyatt’s consistency in enforcing benefits seems to have fallen. A couple of months ago, I learned that the Hyatt Centric Old Town Alexandria was telling guests that there are no standard suites offered at the property – so suite upgrades do not apply, whether trying to confirm in advance with a certificate or at check-in.

Of course they are not listed as a non-participating property in the program terms and conditions. I reached out to Hyatt and was told that it would be added to the list of suite-ineligible properties.

Hyatt Centric Old Town Alexandria is a Suite Award Ineligible Property. This update will likely be reflected in our next update of the terms and conditions but we always encourage guests contact the Hyatt Global Care Center or visit a hotel or resort’s property page on hyatt.com for details on whether suite award accommodations are available at that hotel or resort.

Two months later, it has not been added, which means that the hotel continues to violate World of Hyatt terms and conditions – with the program’s permission. Meanwhile, I’ve asked whether there are other properties that do not participate in suite upgrade awards but that are not listed as ineligible in the program terms. Despite follow up, I have received no response.

The hotel only has a couple of suites, but there are other hotels that limit suite upgrades by playing games with the pool of inventory such that it’s as though they have this few. They also play games with the breakfast benefit,

While they have a restaurant with a full menu, it isn’t offered to Globalists. Instead, they have a “Globalist Breakfast” that gives you an option of two plain eggs and toast, cereal or a parfait. Probably the worst breakfast benefit I’ve seen at a Hyatt.

The Hyatt Centric brand can be expected to deliver inferior stays. It’s for hotels that don’t want to conform to brand standards, so there aren’t many standards. That’s the sine qua non of cheap owners.

Still, it seems to me that there’s an increasing sense in which Hyatt hotels are not abiding by program terms, or rather Hyatt’s rules seem to have changed for some hotels and customers just aren’t being informed.

Update: Hyatt Centric Waikiki is no longer violating World of Hyatt terms because they have ended the ability to charge restaurant meals to the room, and obtained an exemption from offering breakfast in the Hyatt terms. I would have hoped that Hyatt made them follow program rules, instead Hyatt changed the program’s rules to accommodate this property.

Hyatt thinks that makes my take wrong – the hotel is now compliant with program terms (nevermind that it wasn’t when I stayed there). Meanwhile, I think it underscores the point that hotels are getting away with running roughshod. And a Hyatt Centric not even needing to have a restaurant and honor elite breakfast certainly says something to me about the Centric brand.