Hotels have to be called out for behavior like this, because it’s not only inhospitable, but also highly unethical…
In this post:
Hyatt hotel makes up reason for canceling reservation
OMAAT reader Christophe booked three stays at the Hyatt Centric South Beach for next summer, in June 2026. The dates of his stay coincide with when World Cup matches are supposed to take place in Miami, and it seems the hotel’s revenue management forgot to raise pricing to account for this.
That’s hardly the first time this has happened — for example, I just recently covered a story like this regarding Coachella. Sometimes we’ll see hotels basically send an email along the lines of “oops, we forgot to raise our prices, and we won’t honor your rate.” That’s bad enough, but here’s what’s even worse.
Christophe received an email today from the hotel’s front office manager, informing him that his reservations had all been canceled:
Thank you for choosing Hyatt Centric South Beach. We regret to inform you that your recent reservation attempt has been cancelled, for three different reservations as we were unable to process the required 1-night deposit at the time of booking.
Unfortunately, the card provided was declined, and in accordance with our reservation policy, we are unable to hold the booking without successful payment.
If you are still interested in staying with us, we would be happy to welcome you. Please feel free to rebook your stay at the current available rate on our website or by contacting our reservations team directly.
So, a few points:
- Christophe’s reservation confirmation makes no mention of a one-night deposit, so the hotel retroactively decided a one-night deposit was required
- Christophe explains that he used a valid credit card and there’s no sign of an attempt for this to be charged, so the hotel seemingly made that up in order to have justification for canceling the reservation
- The stay is only a year from now, so even if the hotel had a one-night deposit required, and even if he hadn’t used a valid credit card, the hotel could’ve reached out to him to ask for those details
- I also love how the hotel describes a confirmed reservation as a “reservation attempt”
Go figure that the rate has since quadrupled, so how convenient that the hotel is still willing to welcome him, and just encourages him to make a new booking!
Here’s the positive update, though — Christophe reached out to the Hyatt Globalist line, and a supervisor helped reinstate the booking. Funny enough, that supervisor reportedly spoke with the same front office manager who signed the email, and the front office manager claimed that she was just following instructions from revenue management when unilaterally canceling the reservation.
This kind of unethical behavior really irks me
Maybe this bothers me more than it should, but it makes my blood boil to see hotels acting this way. This guest has top tier status with Hyatt, so is a loyal member. Not only did the hotel try to not honor his reservation, but the hotel also tried to lie about the reason for the cancellation.
If you’re going to cancel a confirmed reservation, at least be honest. Admit that the wrong rate was published, and that the hotel doesn’t want to honor it. That’s bad. But it’s not as bad as not honoring a reservation while also completely lying about the reason, retroactively making up terms, and then lying about a credit card not working.
I feel like Hyatt has grown too much in recent years. Among the major hotel groups, Hyatt used to be the one that seemed to have a commitment to do the right thing, and taking care of customers. But as it has grown, I think that part of the culture has gone out the window.
Look, I don’t totally blame the front office manager here. But I also wonder, if these are the instructions she was given and she just went along with them, what does that say about her ethics, and her desire to take care of guests?
“Hey, just make up a lie for why we have to cancel the reservation, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.” And she’s like “yep, sounds good?” If I were her, I’d go to the general manager and demand he intervene, and not force me to do that. I wouldn’t put my name on an email like this.
Bottom line
Hotels try to get out of honoring confirmed reservations far too often. But if you’re going to do that, at least be honest. In the case of the Hyatt Centric South Beach, the front office manager contacted a guest with confirmed reservations, claiming that a one-night deposit was required, and that his credit card was declined because his card was declined. Neither of those details are true, never mind that the stay is for a year from now.
What do you make of this Hyatt reservation situation?
Ben, thank you for raising these issues of unethical business in the public domain.
I do not think hardly any corporations could give a flying f*ck when loyal customers
complain anymore but one thing that they cannot abide is being named and shamed for their poor unethical practices to a large internet audience.
For too long hotel chains and airlines have hidden behind their ridiculous six-page 'terms and conditions' that we agree to when...
Ben, thank you for raising these issues of unethical business in the public domain.
I do not think hardly any corporations could give a flying f*ck when loyal customers
complain anymore but one thing that they cannot abide is being named and shamed for their poor unethical practices to a large internet audience.
For too long hotel chains and airlines have hidden behind their ridiculous six-page 'terms and conditions' that we agree to when purchasing a product which is almost entirely worded to allow them to pretty much do whatever they want with our travel reservations.
Delta beware. It has significant growth in revenue that past several years and let's hope they don't lose their way like Hyatt appears to be doing.
It makes me really sad to see Hyatt hotels now doing the same sketchy things that Marriott hotels have done for years.
Ben: please cover the ongoing Hyatt Zadar award issues in a future post (see Flyertalk thread). The hotel opened bookings in early Feb. for May 1 opening day. During that period, the march WoH award categories changed. Then, a month after the hotel had opened (& 4 months after award bookings were available),...
It makes me really sad to see Hyatt hotels now doing the same sketchy things that Marriott hotels have done for years.
Ben: please cover the ongoing Hyatt Zadar award issues in a future post (see Flyertalk thread). The hotel opened bookings in early Feb. for May 1 opening day. During that period, the march WoH award categories changed. Then, a month after the hotel had opened (& 4 months after award bookings were available), the hotel increased in categories. When people asked their Globalist concierge, they were gaslighted that the hotel was "always" at the higher category. Later, they apologized for the "temporary issue" even though it was active at the lower category for over four months. Has Hyatt abandoned only doing announced category changes in March?!? It seems so....
The hotel did not try to lie. They did lie and quite badly at that. I hope corporate crucifies them for pulling bs tricks like this.
Seems like the GM at the Miami Centric needs to go.
First, it's Miami Jake. Second, it's Hyatt Jake. Third, it's America's ripoff capitalism Jake.
I think that specific property just has management issues. They were incredibly disingenuous about their reservation last year - they did not ever disclose to booked guests that the entire restaurant and pool was out of commission. I checked their website a few times prior to the booking and there was no notification or banner. They also seem pretty stingy in terms of Globalist benefits.
Wrote this out and saw that other people have had issues with them too.
Another example, that especially in the travel industry (airline, hotel and car rental) that there is absolutely no limit to the lies that an employee will tell a customer, no matter what your status is.
Hyatt is worth billions, its pretty messed up that they are willing to screw a person over for a measly thousand bux or whatever. Then again, I'll never forget how Dillards closed my account because I had a retroactive balance of $0.10 (ten cents) after paying my bill in full. The largest corporations are the pettiest and the most classless.
This is exactly what Americans voted for: deregulation and a 90% cut of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Americans should stop whining when they're getting exactly what they voted for.
This kind of thing also happens when a London hotel room's A/C breaks down in the middle of summer and a repair crew won't be able to come til Monday to have a look. It's the same thing as a Tokyo hotel unnaturally enforcing check in times 30 minutes early for a jet-lagged family with small children.
If you want a world forced through litigation to play by rules, then have at it. I prefer a world with a customer-forward approach.
Ethics?
Desire take care of guests?
Now THAT is disingenuous
You and all is here know that Airlines, Hotels and other hospitality corporations are nothing else than wallet predators
At least in North America and in the majority of major cities around the world.
And their hires behave accordingly they are nothing else than executors
Sleazy, unethical behaviour must be called-out publicly. Thanks for doing so.
@Ben I’ve had a similar issue with that same exact property. I’m a Hyatt Globalist and Marriott Ambassador. Look I like my reservations prepaid because it helps me budget my trip but 60-70% of prepaid rates are never charged due to the age old “fraud” concerns. This property in particular says that they don’t charge in advance. I’m glad they’re being called out on it. And for anyone here willing to back these shady hotels,...
@Ben I’ve had a similar issue with that same exact property. I’m a Hyatt Globalist and Marriott Ambassador. Look I like my reservations prepaid because it helps me budget my trip but 60-70% of prepaid rates are never charged due to the age old “fraud” concerns. This property in particular says that they don’t charge in advance. I’m glad they’re being called out on it. And for anyone here willing to back these shady hotels, sure someone is going to commit credit card fraud booking a hotel months in advance. Give me a break!!!
That Hyatt Centric on South Beach is the worst. I valet my car there for a single night and the next morning I received damage on my vehicle and then I received the run around from the Hotel and the Company managing the Valet. I had to eat it at the end of the day.
Happened to me at a Hyatt in Glendale. The valet damaged my car and said it was like that when I brought it in. The valet service is contracted out by the hotel and they gave me the runaround. I guess you need to take pictures each time you drop off your car like when you rent a car to document its condition.
I’m also a Hyatt Globalist and I can say with certainty that the worst actors in the Hyatt family of brands almost always seem to be Hyatt Centric properties (not counting franchised Hyatt Place, but few benefits apply there anyway so expectations are lower to begin with).
This stuff should not only be illegal, but should also come with a substantial financial penalty for pulling off. If you cancel a valid reservation it should come with at least triple rate cancellation fee.
Hahahaha. Americans voted exactly for the OPPOSITE of this: less regulation, less Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
You are better off using local or state consumer agencies that are better situated to handle these kinds of local issues.
Calm down shhhhhhh. This is what state AGs are for, it’s not a fed issue.
I experienced the same with Thompson Palm Springs. Ultimately I still ended up with a pretty great rate (~$250+SUA for a Canyon Upper Stories Suite), but was initially going to be $150 with no SUA for the same thing.
They came back with "The rate you booked is ineligible for Suites"- which was hot steamy garbage. But MHC was unable to force their hand.
The infamous Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami again! They have the reputation for cancelling (likely lower revenue) reservations ahead of travel with made up excuses, time and time again. Some of the reviews are now buried in the Google Reviews, unfortunately.
@Ben - Sorry this is unrelated, but I saw this recent Reddit post about a person who had their Alaska Mileage Plan account hacked and miles redeemed for a QR Business Class ticket. I figured you might be interested.
Here's a link to the post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/s/XSqNzdbb9I
Terrible hotel for so many reasons. I’m glad south beach is getting some new Hyatt properties
How sure are you that the new hyatt properties won't do the same thing?
As there are no consumer protections, and no true accountability, I don't see how this news is relevant to this article? The issue isnt a soecific Hyatt, but that generally all hotels (and airlines) can do whatever they want. If a hotel (or an airline) does something wrong, they investigate themselves and (shocker, I know!) find themselves innocent of any wrong-doing.
Reminds me of how a couple of years ago Kenya airlines decided not to honour a mistake fare ("due to a fare filing error"). They explained not being able to honour the (confirmed) ticket, and advised I "top up the difference".
Name 'em and shame 'em!
Keep up the good work Lucky.
I've had the Hyatt credit card for ten years and this is my last, due to the four-part weirdness around my last booking that led me to freeze the card itself. The company obviously goes for the least expensive customer service team it can get and then doesn't train them at all.
Not surprised. They don't treat globalists very well at that property tbh.
Hyatt is a great loyalty program but some properties need to be avoided. This is one such example. Glad corporate was able to make things right
Blatant unapologetic lying is the new norm . . . for some reason. It is apparently widely acceptable and rewarded.
It happened to me before during a Super Bowl. They asked me to cancel it but I refused, so they cancelled internally but never updated it on Booking.com.
In the end I didn't go, didn't pay, but still got 13,000 avios as I'd booked through the Aer Club portal. Worked out well for me.