A decade ago Hyatt’s growth was almost entirely in select service. Sure, Hyatt Gold Passport was a great program but how many hotels had suites to upgrade into? And how many had club lounges? Their footprint was small and they were adding Hyatt Places where benefits are sparse to non-existent.
Hyatt has faced the challenge of a small footprint making it difficult to be loyal, but there are really two ways it differentiates itself:
- A better loyalty program. Their points have become increasingly devalued (though they remain the only large chain with an award chart) but where they shine is elite benefits – breakfast that isn’t just continental and where the specifics are spelled out explicitly in the terms; confirmed suite upgrades at time of booking (when Hilton does not guarantee even available suites at check-in, and Marriott is moving away from nomenclature around suites for its upgrades); 4 p.m. late check-out (which neither Hilton nor IHG guarantee) to mention just a few.
Smaller hotel chains have to be more rewarding to keep guests loyal. You can stumble down the street and fall into a Hilton, IHG or Marriott property but staying loyal to Hyatt takes effort since they don’t have the same presence.
- More upscale focus. Marriott of course has many upscale properties, and Hilton has increasingly added premium. While IHG will always be heavy at the low-end, they too have more premium. But Hyatt has really shifted from growing primarily in select service to acquiring full service options.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts
There were a number of failed attempts at growing in full service.
- Hyatt almost bought Kimpton, but were outbid significantly by IHG.
- They almost bought Starwood, but in an all-stock deal the different classes of shares (Pritzker family has outsized voting rights) was a complication that ultimately left room for Marriott.
- They tried to buy NH Hotels after a deal for that chain was basically already done.
I broke the news about Hyatt’s acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality which brought them the Alila, Thompson, Destination Hotels and Joie de Vivre brands. The acquired all-inclusives through Apple Leisure Group. They bought booking platform Mr and Mrs Smith, though the integration with World of Hyatt so far leaves much to be desired.
Thompson Savannah
Alila Marea
There’s no question that Hyatt skews more high end than Marriott, Hilton and IHG overall. 70% of its rooms are in the luxury and upper upscale segment and has higher average daily room rates than Marriott and Hilton overall.
Higher average room rates also fund more loyalty investment. Hotels generating higher rates can do more for customers (and must do more to continue to attract those rates, oddly unless it’s Ritz-Carlton).
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
The Wall Street Journal has a new video on Hyatt’s high-end strategy, “Why Hyatt Wants to Be Your Most Expensive Hotel Option” although that’s obviously not true. They don’t want to be the most expensive in a given comp set (so that they’re charging more on a given night for the Park Hyatt than St. Regis and chase you away) but rather they want to provide options at higher price points that customers value.
It’s been clear for many years that Hyatt pivoted to premium, but I’ve never seen explicit discussion of this. They talk about their premium focus, but not as much about how that’s actually a shift away from a focus on limited service growth. To be sure, they do want to serve that segment and Hyatt Place and have many times sought to incentivize loyalty program members to stay there (usually with points, as benefits are modest).
Hyatt Place
In 2005, Hyatt acquired AmeriSuites and it became the basis for Hyatt Place. The new builds were a real play at the premium end of limited-service, while many former AmeriSuites were… not very good. That same year they also acquired Summerfield Suites which undergirds Hyatt House. From there those were a core focus.
But around the same time they acquired Two Roads Hospitality they also purchased Miraval – not because they wanted a standalone wellness resort, but because they wanted to extend the brand and create an association with wellness across their hotels. That’s why they also purchased and later sold Exhale spas as well.
The trick is offering more than a play to sleep, eat and shower – it’s offering guests an overall experience, helping them tell stories not just about their stays but about themselves, and making their lives fuller when they’re away. That’s also why cutbacks on things like housekeeping make no sense at the premium end, while some guests say ‘I re-use towels at home’ or ‘I don’t make my bed every day’ that misses the point. This is all part of the experience that is more than the sum of each feature, that guests will pay more for and why they choose a premium property over a short-term rental.
In contrast, Marriott doesn’t seem to care what they add to the portfolio? Their CEO said, “When I die, they’ll put the net-rooms growth number on my tombstone.” Marriott will seemingly take a fee from any hotel, diluting their brands in the process. But when you do not own the hotel, all you have of any value is the brand. They’re just trading long-term revenue from a strong brand for short-term revenue boosts that diminish their ability to earn a return in the future.
@Gary: Why did Hyatt buy Ventana Big Sur and then turn around and sell it?
This omits any mention of the credit card in the strategy and its strengths and weaknesses. Return on ongoing spend is one weakness that they have not yet addressed.
Gary: I think it’s important for you to better acknowledge just how much IHG has caught up in elite benefits. For example, the breakfast benefit is also clearly defined, just like with Hyatt – it’s explicitly the full buffet or an entree plus unlimited non-alcoholic beverages, and it applies to ALL IHG brands without any exception – so it’s effectively the same as Hyatt and nowhere near Marriott’s policy. The IHG confirmed suite upgrade policy obviously isn’t at good (only confirmable 14 days before rather than at time of booking), but still it’s more generous that Marriott’s (formerly known as) SNAs.
I wish Hyatt had more locations, it prevents me from being loyal for work travel. Also many of their flagship Hyatt Regencies in a lot of cities are very rundown and unattractive.
Yeah hopefully there is some added benefit for Mr & Mrs Smith. I don’t really see the point at the moment. Certainly not from points redemption perspective.
Hyatt’s CEO says their customers spend more during stays on F&B than other chains. And yet, Hyatt cheats customers by never giving points on food and drinks.
Years ago I noticed Hyatt had already had pivoted to a premium focus — as in premium nightly rates focus — over comparable hotels in more or less the same general neighborhoods. The Hyatt “premium” rate situation is a substantial part of the reason why I looked more at IHG as of the last couple of years when it came to things like airport hotels with airport shuttle vans. Still a Hyatt Globalist and a fan of Hyatt hotels, but Hyatt’s focus on “premium” hasn’t been on service as much as “premium” in rates/prices for my travels’ hotel stays. In other words, I have seen a slip in service levels at Hyatt hotels even as the hotels cost more and have more of a premium price than used to be the case for my travels.
@FNTDelta…
Not technically true- where not prohibited by law, they do give points for F&B….. It’s just that this gets “forgotten” more often than not and requires a call to correct (I’ve never had a problem getting F&B points when applicable).
But because of the extra step being needed more often than not- your point is well taken.
To address nsx at Flyertalk, perhaps Hyatt’s buying the property was a way to lock in a management agreement and get the property in the Hyatt fold before selling it to free up cash to use for other purposes and let some others eat the costs for capital investments, maintenance and other operational needs.
Nice analysis. Hopefully the myopic troll who shall remain nameless will miss this one.
The constant attempts to prove the “superiority” of World of Hyatt not only betray the program’s inherent weakness — yes, size does matter — they are getting sillier, especially when the program has demonstrably gotten less rewarding by making it increasingly more difficult for members to earn enough points to afford decent award redemptions.
Thus, while Hyatt is being lauded for adding high-end hotels for which higher and higher numbers of points are required to redeem award stays, World of Hyatt has made it tougher for members to earn significant numbers of points because the program has run almost no promotions or it as has been selling their points with smaller and smaller bonuses, which have gone from 40% before the pandemic to 20% in their latest offering. How do you spell deafening cognitive dissonance!
So I’m looking at Zurich, and Hyatt has only 1 option apart from airport hotels, the Park Hyatt Zurich. It’s not really what I’m looking for, but checking Mr & Mrs Smith there are 3 options, all of which which may work, but I’m better off booking through Expedia, since none show up on Hyatt or have any Hyatt elite benefits. Why were these properties excluded from the integration?
lol… Hyatt is not “luxury”.
Anyone who thinks Hyatt is luxury has never stayed at a true luxury hotel.
I had a great run with Hyatt from the time they bought Amerisuites (so I’d have somewhere to stay for work travel) and FFN until I stopped traveling both for work and for visiting my parents in 2022. I paired Hyatt up with first Starwood, then IHG for overall reach. At this point, Hyatt’s definition of luxury doesn’t mesh with my much reduced travel patterns, so this will be my first year in nearly 20 with less than 5 Hyatt nights.
@GaryLeff
We planned a stay at “luxury all inclusive” Impressions Moxche by Secrets for January. Tried to apply my globalist suite upgrade and was told that category of Signature Suite Ocean Front Suite was sold out during our stay. Emailed my Hyatt concierge and asked her to try and also to verify that is the correct room category for the upgrade. She gave me the same response – sold out. No where can I find that category for any date I tried. Looked on Open Hotel Alert for the room category. Nowhere to be found. Are they gaming the system with availability so as not to upgrade anyone? Could you look into this for me?
This “rude awakening” deserves quoting in full:
LOL. Do you think @Gary can do anything for you? The only thing he is good at is to gaslight his readers with bogus claims that raise false expectations, like, with Hyatt you get “confirmed suite upgrades at time of booking (when Hilton does not guarantee even available suites at check-in…”). The only problem is that in the real world and in every program, properties have full discretion to classify room types and are thus allowed to “game the system with availability”, making all elite suite upgrade benefits a crap shoot, like this reader who got gaslighted and did not manage his expectations well just found out.
Take a deep breath and repeat after me: “There are no ‘confirmed’ or ‘guaranteed’ suite upgrades in any program. Full stop.” Remembering that would allow you to better manage your expectations.
G’day!
@DCS
I disagree with you about Gary. He has many times called out airline and hotel programs and they sometimes listen to him. He fights for his readers and has gotten results for them. Not always, but it’s difficult when he has as many subscribers as he does.
I have many times gotten hotels to fix their availability, whether for standard awards or for suites.
In this case it appears the property regularly offers standard awards, and regularly offers premium suite redemptions on points (by the way – a fantastic deal compared to Hilton, DCS – a 1,776 Master Ocean Suite is generally available to confirm with points and not based on prevailing room rates at low value either as with Honors).
I’ve looked at I do not see any Signature Suite Ocean Front availability, so I’m checking with someone to see whether there may be a glitch in how inventory is being published, if the hotel is playing games with that inventory and is non-compliant, or whether it happens to be that the relevant room type really is booked.
Feel free to email me (gary -at- viewfromthewing.com) to follow up.
Best,
Gary
@Gary — When are you going to stop the charade and wishful thinking and recognize the simple fact that the T&C of every hotel loyalty program allow hotels to play “games with inventories or availability” ? You have been at this since you invented the cockamamie concept of “true redemption” according to which all SPG standard awards that were available for sale were automatically available for booking with points, and when that never panned out the accusations of hotels “playing games with availability” began ? After the demise of SPG, you simply transferred the same bogus claim to WoH awards without calling it “true redemption”. If you have occasionally gotten some properties to release awards, it was simply to avoid bad publicity and not because they thought they were not “compliant”.
@Bruce Wilderman — Got a keep the faith! We’ll be waiting for a report n how things work out with bated breath.
@DCS – you don’t know what you are talking about.
There are some things hotels can do, and some they cannot.
For instance, Marriott requires a certain percentage of rooms at all non-suite hotels to be classified as standard for points redemption.
Hyatt requires a designated room type to be available as a standard suite at eligible brands (eg not hyatt house, hyatt place) and that when that room type is available for sale, it must be confirmable for suite upgrade.
Similarly, whenever the designated standard room type is available at the standard rate it must be available on points for redemption. Hotels have played some games, like only selling standard rooms as part of value-add packages, and they’ve gotten their hands slapped by Hyatt. Similarly they’ve said they are withholding standard suites from upgrade, hoping to sell them, and gotten their hands slapped by Hyatt.
There are some things that ARE permitted, and therefore Hyatt doesn’t consider games-playing but I do – such as imposing minimum stay conditions on the standard room type (that apply both for sale and to redemption, but do not apply to other room types).
In any case, just because Hilton doesn’t have the same enforcement mechanisms to deliver on benefits – and doesn’t make the same benefit promises – doesn’t mean that other chains do not. Hilton simply does a lesser job at delivering benefits, outside of Asia of course where hotels simply do more for honored guests than required by the terms of a program.
@Gary — I know what you think you know about what hotels can or cannot do with various awards because you have been writing about it for a very long time, mainly in support of the “superiority” of your preferred programs. However, much of it was simply made up. For instance, you went on and on for years about how SPG guaranteed suite upgrades while Hilton “made no promises” (you are still repeating this lie), except that the SPG T&C clearly stated that the program’s elite complimentary suite upgrades were at the sole discretion of individual hotels, just like Hilton Honors’. Hyatt’s T&C also say the same thing.
What we have in your claims is termed the “paradox of propaganda“, whereby someone who sets out of brainwash others ends up brainwashing themselves. You created the myths and have repeated them for so long that you have convinced yourself of their veracity. Like the SPG “true redemption” fabrication. The self-brainwashing should really be called the “Goebbels Paradox” because that is precisely what happened to Josef Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister.
Do you know how you can prove your point? It’s not by simply regurgitating without any proof the same claims that you have been making for years. It’s, at long last, by pointing to chapters and verses in the applicable loyalty program’s terms and conditions — the authoritative document — that support the claims.. Without the links to the T&C, you have no credibility.
G’day.
@DCS you are simply making stuff up.
I have read not only program terms and conditions but hotel guides as well, the agreements the properties have with the program.
I have identified non-compliant properties and gotten chains to get them back into compliance. There are numerous hotels that weren’t making awards available, or suites available, AS THEY WERE OBLIGATED TO, that started to after I flagged non-compliance. It was not up to them.
SPG was great because they also had tremendous power to fine non-compliant hotels, while Hilton mostly coaxes and cajoles but ultimately much is left at the discretion of hotels while that was not the case in the same way with Starwood. SPG corporate could compensate a customer and bill the hotel plus a fee, for instance (and they very often did) not just toss it back to the property.
Too much Stockholm Syndrome with Hilton for you I am afraid.
@Gary — I made up nothing. All I am doing is challenging your claims, which you are still repeating factlessly even now, instead of supporting them with links. I am scientist and no amount of self-aggrandizing claims of being a “thought leader” impress me. Give me facts, which in this case means links to programmatic T&C, the one credible and authoritative document.
The only instances of “true redemption” one can find are your own, beginning, ca., 2006 at FT, then every other instance simply refers to your claims that “true redemption” was even a real thing. It is how you have polluted travel blogosphere with bogus dogma. Like thundering ignorantly, “The Starpoint”, and then upon the demise of Starwood, “the Hyatt point is the single most valuable hotel points currency!”. Or that Hyatt’s breakfast offering is the best, while it is among the weakest. Few, if any of your claims, ever pass the laughter test.
If any of your claims are true, then you should be able to back them with links. No link, no credibility. That is my standard.
That is a clear attempt at a mis-direction. Make it seem as if this were about Hilton, when it has absolutely nothing to do with Hilton. I am not a one-trick pony like Tim Dunn, this site’s “bête noire”. I challenge your claims on a whole host of issues pertaining miles and points and your plethora of related bogus claims. This was my first comment on the piece here:
See that? It had nothing to do with Hilton. It contains cutting insights arguing that instead of pushing the notion that Hyatt is “eclipsing” Marriott and Hilton in “luxury hotels”, the reality seems to be that WoH members are not faring as well, because the program has gotten weaker and less rewarding the more Hyatt has added “luxury hotels” that requires more points to book without increasing the members points earning ability.
@ Gary — Why will IHG ALWAYS be heavy at the low end? Always is a long time. This is like someone saying Delta will always be the most profitable US airline. Not true. Things change.
@ DC — How are the F&B points “forgotten”. This should be done by a computer. The only way it would be constantly forgotten is intentionally.
@ DCS — Will you ever give up on your Hilton nonsense? Their hotels and locations may be better in many places, but their loyalty program is inferior to Hyatt’s. However, at the rate Hyatt is devaluing its points, Hilton’s program may soon actually be better.
@Gene — I will as soon as you get lost. My beef here or often has nothing to do with Hilton “nonsense”, although I will always correct bogus claims about Hilton Honors because I know more about it than even most Hilton/HHonors employees. It seems that it is you who are obsessed with proving Hilton to be “inferior.” I am here to set the record straight on a whole host of issues beyond HHonors, and you’d learn something and get smarter that you now are if you paid attention instead of spewing nonsense. I am done with you.
I’m also a Globalist for many years now. The thing that drives me crazy since the pandemic is that they’ve closed most of the Club Lounges in North America properties. Bring ’em back!
Please leave DCS. You are scientist. I am bored w your bluster.
@DCS you know all there is to know about HHonors except that there is only one H apparently. You are scientist. You are Hilton expert.
@ DCS — A simple ‘NO” would have sufficed.
@DCS has a good point. Does anyone know where Hyatt guarantees ability to book upgrades to available suites? I don’t see it in II.c.2 of their T&C.
Also, it’s getting progressively harder to find category 3-4 properties that take free night certificates. Couldn’t find any in the LA area couple weeks ago. Had to burn them at unpleasant Hyatt Houses/Places
Appendix B, II.c.2, to be clear
@ Jake-1 — If the hotel is so unpleasant, then why do you feel that you must stay in it when using the Cat 1-4 cert? One strategy for expiring Cat 1-4 certs is to just use them at whatever location is most conveneint for you on the way to wherever (airport, work, home, an actual trip, etc.) and get credit for the qualifying night.
@Gene, I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make. I had expiring certs and a trip in LA where I was trying to make good use of them. Couldn’t find cat 3-4 properties that took them, so wound up in cat 1-2 properties that did take them and that turned out to be unpleasant. I had other recent instances in other cities where cat 3-4 properties had no availability for free night certificate rooms, so am complaining about this seemingly greater difficulty in finding good redemption opportunities for these certificates.
“… more than a play to sleep, eat and shower …”
@ Jake-1 — My point is DON’T STAY in a hotel that sucks just becuase it is “free”. If it is going to be so unpleasant, then don’t use the cert for a hotel stay, but at least get a qualifying night credit by using it to book and check-in to a Hyatt somewhere. Check-in and leave. Pay to actually stay somewhere better.
FWIW, I wouldn’t recommend flying on a free transoceanic flight in coach either.
@Gene, lol how does one know it sucks for sure till one stay there. It had good reviews on TA for what that’s worth. Burning certs just to get night credits? I suppose folks have differing perspectives depending on their economics but why even bother with chasing status if one’s in a position to do that as well as turn down a free flight?
I am curious if DCS has some kind of real or imagined financial/economic relationship with Hilton that drives the person to try to make the Hilton program appear better for elite status benefits relative to other programs than the Hilton program is. Hilton’s program is weak on elite status benefits when comparing what Hilton Diamonds get to what Hyatt Globalists get in the same market.
DCS’s reference to Goebbels when speaking of Señor Leff is whacked out and should be taken as an indication of DCS doing the propagandist thing. Did a Hilton in Stockholm or Hanoi hold DCS and turn DCS into a Hilton propagandist? People aren’t born that way; people are born with a brain and should use it to arrive at independent thoughts and not buy the unhinged propaganda from corporate or government apologists.
I have my criticisms of the Hyatt program and some Hyatt hotels that just didn’t seem to want to deliver on the program, but its at-hotel elite status benefits are still about as good as it gets in a mass market hotel loyalty program.
Like Jake-1, I too am critical of the Cat 1-4s becoming less useful with hotel category migration. But since the Cat 1-4 awards are transferable, I have managed to make the awards more useful. My last use of Cat 1-4 awards landed me in a near-peak-period direct pool access suite at a resort that was asking about $800+ for the night. Unfortunately, after my extensive use of that play, the resort itself seems to have categorized away the room as a standard suite.
IHG has a lot of HIX and HI properties and the big in-thing in hotel development and hotel financing around the world is limited-service properties. That is unlikely to change anytime soon, and so there is no current viable path for IHG to flip and become “luxury heavy”.
Hyatt has been going down market but still gets premium rates.
@GUWonder sez:
First, if you paid attention instead firing off your cyber-mouth mindlessly, you’d know that you got that backwards. I have never tried to make Hilton Honors’ benefits appear “better” relative to other programs’. Au contraire, what I do is I debunk bogus claims, mostly by this site, about how Hilton Honors’ benefits are “weak” relative to other programs’. You can see the same disparaging claims in this very piece.
Second and for the Nth time and then I will ignore every moron who makes an ignorant comment like yours again, I will recycle what I already wrote in this space and you would have seen if you’d bothered reading prior comments before pontificating:
…
…
I am not a one-trick pony like Tim Dunn, this site’s “bête noire”. I challenge… claims on a whole host of issues pertaining to miles and points and [a] plethora of related bogus claims. This was my first comment on the piece here:
See that? It had nothing to do with Hilton. It contains cutting insights arguing that instead of pushing the notion that Hyatt is “eclipsing” Marriott and Hilton in “luxury hotels”, the reality seems to be that WoH members are not faring as well, because the program has gotten weaker and less rewarding the more Hyatt has added “luxury hotels” that require more points to book, without increasing the members points earning ability.
Considering the volume of gaslighting that goes on here, I stand by my “Goebbels paradox” analogy.
The soapbox is yours; knock yourself out because I am outta here…
@ DCS — All while ignoring the OUTRAGEOUS points prices for “Premium” Hilton rooms, pathetic room upgrades, and the chintzy F&B credits that have replaced full breakfast. Hilton’s program sucks for almost everyone except Lifetime Diamonds. So, while the program may be great for DCS, it is weak relative to Hyatt for most everyone else.
Hilton Honors’ elite status benefits are “weak” relative to Hyatt’s elite status benefits. I don’t know how to objectively get around that reality in locations where I have a choice between a relatively comparable Hyatt hotel and Hilton hotel.
Whenever I think I am out, they pull me back in…
That is another myth promulgated mainly by self-anointed “thought leader”, but also by other self-anointed “travel gurus”, which weaker minds (like yours) have uncritically accepted as fact, just they accepted utterly bogus claim that the Starpoint or the Hyatt point was/is the “single most valuable points currency”.
The correct answer? YMMV.
You accuse me of claiming the superiority of Hilton Honors relative to other programs, something I have never done, and yet it is you and others pushing the purported “superiority” of World of Hyatt — a program with the weakest points earn rate (almost no promos, terrible bonus on purchased points, while award costs keep increasing at their “luxury” hotels); no 4th or 5th award night free perk (quantifiably, the most valuable perk in hotel loyalty); and, biggest limitation of all, tiny footprint. I would not accept the WoH Globalist status even if it were offered to me pro bono, especially now that I am a LT Diamond. In fact, I am one of few who did not go for status match when as HGP the program gave away practically for free its Diamond status. Either as HGP or WoH, it is simply not a program that works for my style of travel and award redemption. I am 100% sure I spend more nights in suites with Hilton’s now globally automated upgrades that clear 72 hours before check-in than do WoH Globalists with their ‘confirmed’ upgrades that one must jump through hoops to confirm.
I could go on, but you get the picture: I have not drunk the “Hyatt is best” kool-aid. I am perfectly happy with HH, especially now as a LT Diamond, the program’s de facto top elite status.
G’day!
I pity, @Gene, you for being so badly misinformed, without a doubt from drinking too much kool-aid.
FYI:
(a) “Premium” awards:
Where you see those OUTRAGEOUS-ly priced HH “premium” awards, other programs would simply show no awards available at all. You just need to decide for yourself which of those two situations is more annoying.
(b) for breakfast
(i) Outside the US: Hilton Honors Golds and Diamonds get free full restaurant breakfast by default, and at properties with both an exec lounge and a restaurant, Diamonds have the option to have breakfast either in the lounge or in the restaurant. For Globalists, the default venue for breakfast is the lounge, unless there isn’t one, in which case it is full restaurant breakfast — i.e., it’s one or the other and not optional.
(ii) In the US: Hilton Honors offers Golds and Diamonds F&B vouchers, which I happen to prefer, in lieu of breakfast. However, get this: there are ~5.9K Hilton hotels in the US and of those ~4.2K hotels, or ~71% offer free breakfast to all guests. On the other hand, there are just ~800 Hyatt hotels in the US, which means that free breakfast is offered to all guests at 5x more Hilton hotels than there are Hyatt hotels in all of U.S. of A. Think about that and see how ridiculous is the brouhaha about the F&B credit vs. breakfast “debate”.
Overall, contrary to the claim, Hyatt has a weaker breakfast offering than either IHG (always fully restaurant breakfast) or HH (see above)
And, oh, I am a HH LT Diamond, i.e., your exception 😉
See? You just need to stop drinking the “Hyatt is best” kool-aid and get informed about what is really going on.
G’day!
@DCS
“FYI:
(a) “Premium” awards:
Where you see those OUTRAGEOUS-ly priced HH “premium” awards, other programs would simply show no awards available at all. You just need to decide for yourself which of those two situations is more annoying.”
This is simply false. See the Hyatt premium award and upgrade published chart
https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en/rewards/free-nights-upgrades.html
“Overall, contrary to the claim, Hyatt has a weaker breakfast offering than either IHG (always fully restaurant breakfast) or HH (see above)”
That’s funny.
@ DCS — I will agree that Hyatt’s program is weaker than it once was. You make valid points about weak point earning, elevated prices for purchasing points, and the occassional disappointment of being forced to take breakfast in a lounge rather than the restaurant (although this is not a common occurence in my experience and is still better domestically than Hitlon’s cheap food credit). Hilton’s Diamond status is also weaker than it once was due to everyone having Diamond status from AMEX cards.
IHG Royal Ambassador is better than either of these programs, with guaranteed 10 AM check-in, guaranteed 4 PM check-out (Hilton’s biggest weakness), guaranteed 2-level upgrades, very frequent complimentary suite upgrades, free club access, free full breakfast in the restaurant, F&B credits, 4th night free on award stays (BETTER than Hilton’s 5th night free), and plentiful promotions and strong points earning.
I would agree with those things. Hyatt’s points earn and burn is much degraded, earn was always weak with modest elite bonuses (and capped free night awards replacing check-in amenity points) and burn has gotten much worse. I was not here discussing the overall program (both redemption and elite benefits) but only elite benefits.
And sure, Royal Ambassador is a separate matter and has been for many years. I miss that status, and had some of my very best upgrades ever with it (presidential suites and the like) in addition to the old minibar benefit.