Earlier this month Hyatt rolled out its new loyalty program called World of Hyatt. At the time they touted this as an upgrade to an already existing loyalty program that would enhance benefits for members.
For those members staying at least 60 nights the benefits are fairly robust including the ability to receive unlimited suite upgrades on checkin (based on availability). For others at that level (or Diamond members who were grandfathered in the first year) four suite upgrades are also available for use ahead of time. Gone are the 1000 point Diamond welcome amenity as well as the ability to qualify based on stays.
Hyatt still has work to do in my opinion with this entire new system, especially the ability to use suite upgrades ahead of a stay.
Over the weekend I made my first attempt to confirm an upgrade for an upcoming stay I have at a Park Hyatt property, and the experience itself was less than stellar and took three calls. My first call to new World of Hyatt number was answered by a lady who was clearly upset about something and extremely short in her responses - a shock since every agent I've interacted with up to this point has been extremely professional. When I asked to confirm the upgrade, I was put on hold for five minutes abruptly and then told it would be taken care of. I asked for an email confirmation and was assured I would receive one.
After 24 hours and no confirmation, I called again and talked to a different agent. Apparently the new system is difficult to use/navigate and agents are increasingly finding it difficult to help customers with no help from the Hyatt team. She confirmed that the suite upgrade had been processed in the notes but was concerned about the missing notifications and said "the system is completely different" and they were still tweaking things. In addition the changes to upgrades would mean no notification of confirmation as had been in the past. She said she would try resending.
I did receive the second try but the email itself was incorrect - it said "change" at the top but only confirmed my initial reservation and not the upgrade. Clearly they have form work to do in their notification system. Not only that but upon checking my account I had two suite upgrades deducted instead of one. That required a third call to an agent to get one returned which was successful.
Hyatt, clearly you have work to do. How about working to improve your notification system so that upgrades do not require a phone call to confirm? You're risking a negative impact to your existing relationships with your most loyal customers by not having a program system in place to correctly handle these changes.
For those members staying at least 60 nights the benefits are fairly robust including the ability to receive unlimited suite upgrades on checkin (based on availability). For others at that level (or Diamond members who were grandfathered in the first year) four suite upgrades are also available for use ahead of time. Gone are the 1000 point Diamond welcome amenity as well as the ability to qualify based on stays.
Hyatt still has work to do in my opinion with this entire new system, especially the ability to use suite upgrades ahead of a stay.
Over the weekend I made my first attempt to confirm an upgrade for an upcoming stay I have at a Park Hyatt property, and the experience itself was less than stellar and took three calls. My first call to new World of Hyatt number was answered by a lady who was clearly upset about something and extremely short in her responses - a shock since every agent I've interacted with up to this point has been extremely professional. When I asked to confirm the upgrade, I was put on hold for five minutes abruptly and then told it would be taken care of. I asked for an email confirmation and was assured I would receive one.
After 24 hours and no confirmation, I called again and talked to a different agent. Apparently the new system is difficult to use/navigate and agents are increasingly finding it difficult to help customers with no help from the Hyatt team. She confirmed that the suite upgrade had been processed in the notes but was concerned about the missing notifications and said "the system is completely different" and they were still tweaking things. In addition the changes to upgrades would mean no notification of confirmation as had been in the past. She said she would try resending.
I did receive the second try but the email itself was incorrect - it said "change" at the top but only confirmed my initial reservation and not the upgrade. Clearly they have form work to do in their notification system. Not only that but upon checking my account I had two suite upgrades deducted instead of one. That required a third call to an agent to get one returned which was successful.
Hyatt, clearly you have work to do. How about working to improve your notification system so that upgrades do not require a phone call to confirm? You're risking a negative impact to your existing relationships with your most loyal customers by not having a program system in place to correctly handle these changes.
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