I am a Hyatt Diamond Gold Passport member. I don’t know many people who don’t love the perks of Hyatt status. The fancy breakfasts, the room upgrades, the wi-fi, the club access, the points. It is truly wonderful. I’ll (begrudgingly) sit in coach, but when I get to my hotel, I really like my Diamond!
I first attained Hyatt Diamond status because I went on the Star Mega Do 3, and Hyatt generously bestowed Diamond status upon all of the attendees. What’s even better, I won that trip from a contest by the Points Guy. (see, And the Winner of the Star Mega Do 3 First Class, Great Seatmate Giveaway Is…)
It is not terribly difficult for a business traveler to qualify for Diamond status, but it is more difficult for a leisure traveler, such as myself, to accrue 25 stays (not nights) in one year. I could have remained a Platinum member by virtue of my Chase Hyatt Visa Card (a card which I own and recommend), but instead chose to spend the year, busy as a bee, chasing Diamond (or rather retaining Diamond).
Others, have chosen the Hyatt challenge. It’s simple: if you have sufficient status at another hotel chain, Hyatt will extend diamond status to you if you stay 12 nights in 60 days. During that trial time, Hyatt will provide you, the challenger, with all of the valuable Diamond benefits. The challenge is a coup of a deal! The purpose of this is the expectation that most such challengers will then transfer their hotel loyalty to Hyatt.
Now, Hyatt has pulled the cord. At least for the time being, the challenge as we know it is gone. Actually both the Diamond and the Platinum challenges have been pulled without date by Hyatt. And, according to the Hyatt memorandum, this has been done so it can evaluate the success of these programs.
It is my opinion that, like Amazon Payments, bloggers and others got too complacent with the benefit. Everyone bragged about it, blogged about it, went on TV about it, and generally assumed they owned it. They told others the trick was to take the challenge just to get the 60 days of benefits on that special trip to Milan or the Maldives to get the upgrade and the lavish breakfasts, and then to abandon it. I have to assume that, at a certain point, with more and more people using the challenge in not quite the way it was intended, it was no longer a loss leader for Hyatt, and it was pulled.
I don’t want to be sanctimonious about this – I know far less than many, but, just because a benefit (trick, hack, or whatever you want to call it) has been around for a while, that does not mean that broadcasting and flaunting it are appropriate. Maybe some people were just too in Hyatt’s face with it? I’m not saying that secrecy is the answer, but perhaps some modicum of restraint could have kept this benefit alive a little longer? A private institution has no obligation to continue a benefit – our right to use it is not inherited or grandfathered in. We do not own it.
I have never used a Diamond Challenge, but was hoping that perhaps next year I might try it. Or perhaps the year after. I hope that if or when Hyatt creates a new rendition of the challenge, it is still beneficial on balance considering all of the interests involved.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I agree 100%. The “travel hacking” industry has grown too large to remain stable. It is time to cut back. Most days the BA and P2B homepages are all the same story only rewritten slightly. The individual stories and personalities have vanished. It’s either the one popular story of the day, or the credit card of the week. It is sad 🙁
I agree too. I’m trying to write original content as much as possible.
food for thought: Maybe its not just the bloggers at fault for writing the same stuff, but perhaps the readers only want to read the same stuff over and over.
I like your content a lot, I didn’t mean to imply yours was cookie cutter or anything. Your Cleveland marathon pieces were great, I grew up there so it was nice to read about my hometown. It gets a bad rep sometimes, and is ignored quite a bit with the small airport and United pulling out. :/
I’d agree some of the problem is the readers, reheated content is still new to newbies but with the increase in criticism lately I think maybe the new reader levels are falling. The number of blogs and message boards has exploded over the years but the market for the product hasn’t kept up. The travel industry is doing better but much of the public is not, and cannot jump into the game with the level of expense gradually increasing and perks falling. But that’s just my 2 cents. Thanks for responding btw, I appreciate it 🙂
brian – I didn’t take offense to your comments. on the contrary, I’m grateful for your input and thoughtfulness.
“Maybe its not just the bloggers at fault for writing the same stuff, but perhaps the readers only want to read the same stuff over and over.”
I respectfully disagree. I hate reading the same thing again and again. I will admit though that if a topic is being written about again and again on the same day, I tend to read only 2 bloggers’ posts (the ones I trust) and that’s it.
Do readers want to hear about the same stuff? I would love to see some BA or P2B stats on page clicks for this type of content. If I see a Top 10 CCs post, I generally skip. I want to hear more about people’s trip reviews. If they build in how they hacked it a bit or plug a cc at the bottom great. Unless there is a new or inventive hack, the rampant brow beating about pathetic limited time offers makes me yawn and is a major site turnoff.
@Joey and @heather – I agree with both of you – I don’t like repetitive content either. I was just throwing that thought out there.
Or worse, maybe there is just not enough content to support the number of blogs.
I don’t disagree
It used to be travel & points enthusiasts were a close-knit, secretive bunch. Secrets were shared amongst each other discretely. Now, we are all victims of the instantaneous news cycle. If a deal is found, it is posted on the websites and blogs instantaneously. The Deal or hack dies very quickly and we all worse off because of it. Yes, The hotels and airlines read the same material that we do. Yes, the airlines do indeed catch on when instead of a few people taking advantage of mistake fare, thousands of people try to book. We are all victims of our own hubris and a few bloggers who broadcast our secrets to all.
Did we expect any different outcome?