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Introduction: Etihad First Apartments And Park Hyatt Mideast Suites Trip Report

by Gary Leff on November 23, 2023

Nov 23 2023

Back in July, when Etihad loaded the return of their Airbus A380 to the London – Abu Dhabi route, there was wide open award space for First Apartment award seats. That seemed like a great reason to put together an award trip with my wife and daughter.

We flew British Airways business class to London, Etihad A380 first class to Abu Dhabi and back, and stayed on points in suites at the Park Hyatts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and at the Hyatt Regency The Churchill in London.

Hyatt Rolling Out Online Confirmation Of Suite Upgrades

by Gary Leff on November 11, 2023

Nov 11 2023

Hyatt is rolling out confirmation of suite upgrades online. This is a big advance in convenience for using these suite upgrade awards. I always worry that inventory will disappear during the time it takes to confirm a suite. I also worry that the manual process won’t be completed correctly.

Use Gift Cards To Top Off Hyatt Elite Status – For This Year Or Next

by Gary Leff on November 1, 2023

Nov 01 2023

Here’s the trick. Since these gift cards don’t expire, you can choose when you want future stays through the Mr. and Mrs. Smith group to count towards status.

If you need to top off status this year, buy gift cards now and hit your status goal Or get a head start on next year. If you qualify for status early in 2024, that status will count for the rest of 2024 and for 2025 (through end of February 2026).

Customer Service Blunder: How Hyatt Charged An Elite Guest $137 For A ‘Free’ Gift

by Gary Leff on October 19, 2023

Oct 19 2023

A reader stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay for his wife’s 50th birthday weekend. He’s a “Globalist,” a top elite with Hyatt for the past decade or more. And one of the benefits of this status is a dedicated ‘concierge’ who helps with reservations, upgrades, billing and points issues and other hotel matters.

Since his concierge knew that it was a special weekend, she contacted the hotel about delivering something to the room for the occasion. The hotel did. And they charged the guest for it, at full room service prices.

[UPDATE: Now Live] Hyatt Launching Homesharing Platform Like Marriott Homes & Villas

by Gary Leff on October 19, 2023

Oct 19 2023

Marriott has an affiliate commission-earning business, and they rebate part of that commission in the form of points.

Hyatt is getting into the homeshare marketing business too with Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt. It will launch “in the coming weeks” with domestic markets “like Hawaii, Florida and Colorado,” and eventually expand to international markets as well.

There Are Going To Be A Lot Fewer People Qualifying For Hyatt Globalist Next Year

by Gary Leff on October 16, 2023

Oct 16 2023

I’ve heard from several people wondering what their next-best path to earn Hyatt Globalist will be, since they can’t credit cheap Excalibur stays to Hyatt (without actually traveling anywhere) going forward.

The Two Worst Hyatts For Free Nights Have Mended Their Ways

by Gary Leff on October 14, 2023

Oct 14 2023

Two Hyatt hotels that developed a reputation for never allowing you to use your points for free nights were the Park Hyatt Aviara and the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach. That’s been fixed thanks to the enterprising efforts of one woman who found they weren’t just harming program members, they may have been breaking the law.

Hyatt Loses Tax Court Ruling With Huge Implications For Loyalty Programs, IRS Sought To Tax $250 Million

by Gary Leff on October 3, 2023

Oct 03 2023

The IRS audited Hyatt for the tax years 2009 – 2011 and found that it wasn’t paying tax on loyalty program revenue. It didn’t include the revenue received for what was then Gold Passport (now World of Hyatt) in income, and didn’t include payments from the program as expenses. It just ignored the program, even though it collected money and invested it earning a return.

The IRS wanted Hyatt to not only pay up for those years but to go all the way back to the beginning of the program in 1987, with a quarter of a billion dollars of income at issue and a tax deficiency of $65 million.

More Hyatt Hotels Are Ignoring Elite Breakfast Benefit Rules, And Getting Away With It

by Gary Leff on October 1, 2023

Oct 01 2023

A chain’s most valuable customers are its elite members, who deliver an outsized portion of room nights to hotels. To entice them, they’re promised benefits like upgrades and free breakfast.

Knowing that hotels are going to try to cheat, Hyatt spells out in its terms and conditions what the breakfast benefit is for Globalist members when no club lounge breakfast is offered.

Hyatt Hotels Increasingly Getting Away With Not Cleaning Rooms

by Gary Leff on September 17, 2023

Sep 17 2023

Hotels are ignoring chain rules. Guests book properties assuming they’ll get what the brand promises, and then the individual property doesn’t deliver, choosing to cut costs instead. That devalues the brand, while helping the bottom line of the individual hotel.

This often manifests in properties skimping on or ignoring elite benefits like breakfast. But it also covers housekeeping. And it’s certainly not limited to the best-known offender, Marriott.

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