At midnight tonight Hyatt will kill one of the first hotel programmes that I ever joined, and one of the first where I earned elite status. Looking back over my years at Hyatt I find that I still have my first statement – from 1990, showing that my first ever stay was at the Hyatt Regency Dallas Fort Worth in April of that year.
The awards were pretty decent then – Hyatt awards, plus Airline awards, plus car awards and Cruise Line Partners. At the time all Hyatt hotels were in the same Band making it easier to cash in points. Of course, Hyatt had a much smaller number of hotels then too.
In 1992 I quickly became Platinum and Diamond. Back in those days you could earn airline miles AND Hyatt points. In addition Hyatt gave 300 Gold Passport points if you flew one of their airline partners, and 300 if you drove one of their partners too. Every stay was extra rewarding.
I have been Diamond every year since then.
In 1995 I did 32 stays in a year and crossed 250,000 points earned.
By 1999 I had crossed 500,000 lifetime points, not of course, base points which count towards lifetime status. (That offer didn’t exist then either!)
Fast forward to today, just as Gold Passport dies, Hyatt has just reminded me that I now have earned 925,227 base points – just 74,773 ($14,954) to go to the magic one million. One million is Lifetime Diamond Globalist status.
Tomorrow sees the end of Gold Passport, the end of check-in bonuses (or a food and beverage amenity), and the end of Diamond and Platinum status. The new scheme, unless you can make 60 nights a year is a big step back.
I want to say ‘Thank You’ to all those members of Hyatt’s staff that have looked after me in the intervening 27 years. I’ll use my one year status as Globalist, matched from Diamond, and see if I get close to 60 nights. Unlikely. I need to wait to see what the Marriott/Starwood combined scheme looks like as I might well be jumping over there.
If you’re Hyatt Diamond now, what plan do you have for tomorrow.
Grand Hyatt Berlin
I am going to enjoy my points at Globalist status this year. Then, transfer my loyalt to the CSR and airbnb, and use the points earned to other partners.
WOH is a shell of the old fabulous HGP. ITS SO SAD Hyatt deconstructed what was the best loyalty program in the industry. They will probably study this marketing mistake at Harvard Business school one day, much like the mistake Coca Cola made with New Coke.
I did a MR recently to keep status for two years, so I have some time to see where things go, but I will not qualify for Globalist unless free stays count. Diamond status has been exceedingly valuable, so I suppose that I’ll make use of my status, then find a program that offers a fair shake for fewer nights.
On a separate note, what is a Dreamscape? It’s listed as the top hotel redemption on the old chart.
THE OTHER CHANGE HYATT MADE IN 2016-17 IS THAT THE DIAMOND SUITE UPGRADES NOW HAVE TO BE USED ON STAYS COMPLETED BY THE EXPIRY DATE OF THE UPGRADE CERTIFICATE.. IN THE PAST, AS LONG AS THE RESERVATION WAS MADE BY THE EXPIRY DATE, THE CERTIFICATE COULD BE USED FOR A FUTURE STAY.
I CHALLENGED GOLD PASSPORT CUSTOMER “CARE” AND THEY CLAIM THAT WE WERE NOTIFIED BY EITHER A LETTER OR AN EMAIL. I DO NOT RECALL EVER RECEIVING THIS; AND GOLD PASSPORT CAN’T SEEM TO LOCATE A COPY OF THE LETTER/EMAIL.
THIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF RATHER POOR COMMUNICATION OF POOR POLICY CHANGES MADE BY SOME BEAN COUNTER AT HYATT WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS OF IRRITATING ITS MOST LOYAL CLIENTS…
I’m kissing them goodbye. Just returned from a magnificent trip to the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. Was treated like royalty the whole stay because of my Diamond status which ends tonight at midnight since I didn’t re-qualify. I was a few nights short.