Hotels have to be called out for behavior like this, because it’s not only inhospitable, but also highly unethical…
Continue reading: Low: Hyatt Hotel Tries To Scam Its Way Out Of Honoring Low Rate
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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.
Blatant unapologetic lying is the new norm . . . for some reason. It is apparently widely acceptable and rewarded.
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
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.
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".
Terrible hotel for so many reasons. I’m glad south beach is getting some new Hyatt properties
@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
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
@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!!!
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
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.
Hahahaha. Americans voted exactly for the OPPOSITE of this: less regulation, less Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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.
You are better off using local or state consumer agencies that are better situated to handle these kinds of local issues.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
First, it's Miami Jake. Second, it's Hyatt Jake. Third, it's America's ripoff capitalism Jake.
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.
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....
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.
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.
Ben you haven't heard anything yet. We have a Hyatt case from New Years. We have been trying to reach to management for 6 months because all else failed. We have been derailed by someone.
We hope soon we will have someone in management to listen to our case. We'll let you know.
Mary, so you think that just because one side of the coin wins that both sides are the same? Since Hitler won the election that means all of Germany are Nazis? I can understand being tired of the complaints, but I don't think it's accurate to make blanket statements like that
This is not a Dem vs Rep issue. It’s an issue with the American corporate system which has been a cesspool of corruption for decades. You people are so screwed…
I don't know about Tokyo, but in London you'd definitely be protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You go to a comparable hotel, pay the going rate, and use the HMCTS Money Claim Online system to get the ball rolling on a County Court claim for £35 or something.
Your assessment that “Hyatt has grown too much in recent years… and as it has grown, I think that part of the culture has gone out the window” absolutely hits the nail on the head. This perfectly captures my own sentiments based on my recent experiences at the Hyatt Centric Arlington. My personal conclusion? The loyalty they’ve long enjoyed is no longer earned—nor deserved.
Airline has right to cancel error fare tickets. I see this as a hotel’s mistake/error fare and it was obvious that this person knew that the hotel forgot to inflate rate for the event and took advantage of it. Yes, hotel did lie but it’s not not understandable to be honest. I hope two parties bend a little and find a middle ground.
Bravo Hyatt for making it right. Hilton or Marriott would've just told the guest to pound sound and reaching out to corporate would have amounted to nothing. I've read a lot of horror stories about the same situation with the other two brands and I'm happy to see Hyatt take care of their Globalists.
Stop with the willful ignorance. This has happens all the time just google it on reddit. Plenty of stories the past few years of this exact same situation except no positive resolution. In this case Hyatt corporate reached out and made things right NOT a useless complaint to the CFPB. If anything it just shows how useless the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is and deserves to be shut down.
Stop with the willful ignorance. This has happens all the time just google it on reddit. Plenty of stories the past few years of this exact same situation except no positive resolution. In this case Hyatt corporate reached out and made things right NOT a useless complaint to the CFPB. If anything it just shows how useless the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is and deserves to be shut down.
Difference being he got his room back after reaching out to the Globalist line. That never happens with Hilton or Marriott.
I'm not surprised. Hyatt has been going down hill fast. Especially since they relocated almost the entire reservation call center to El Salvador. You get what you pay for. Their greed is going to take them out.
Fun Fact: Hyatt is owned by the Pritzker Family: Democrat mega-donors, Democrat politicians, Harvard Board Members, etc, etc.
Most disturbing attitude of major hotel chain. Last night I was trying to make reservation for wedding in NJ and had a hard time and finally gave up . I think these new employees are not taught or trained for what is coustmer satisfaction or service. Only thing they are worried about bottom line of making more money for the company they work for.
Unless these employees are not trained by these companies we are doomed and other foreign companies will take over our companies. That is what these new employees have to learn otherwise we all will go down together.
Look up the Pritzker family. You don't become billionaires by giving things away.
I am an owner at the Hyatt in Maui. Recently I went for my annual stay with my family and when I got there they said my reservation was cancelled due to non payment of annual fees that I thought I had paid. I was given no other alternatives of where to stay after flying all day. I was just told that I had to wait 48 hours until corporate opened up. Finally one employee helped me reserve at the Westin. Days later things were resolved but my family was out 3000$ with no repayment. Ten years of going there and this is the service I received
What are they giving away? They made a sale (or reservation) and then refused to honor it. That’s not “giving things away”. In this instance it’s simply incompetent business to not foresee hotel demand for a global event.
I just posted this under the follow up story but I think more people should see this so here I go again:
The Hyatt Regency Shanghai Jiading has also pulled a similar stunt.
I saw this on a Chinese frequent flyer forum:
A poster used points to book a room during the Shanghai F1 race. The hotel sent him an email requesting a deposit and even pretended to have him try multiple cards. Then they claimed all payments were declined and canceled his reservation.
The Hyatt Regency Shanghai Jiading is a Category 1 hotel. Off-peak rates are often under $100, but during F1, prices soar to $1,000.
And link to the original story(in Chinese) : https://www.flyert.com.cn/t-4687764-1-1.html?utm_content=thread&utm_term=4687764
The Urcove hotel represented Hyatt in selling points (admitted by the hotel in court) in china. Afterward, Hyatt froze thousands of member accounts citing fraud, causing many point-based bookings to be changed to rack rates. Some members who purchased points on the official website had their entire balance of hundreds of thousands of points frozen (illicit gains by Hyatt). In recent years, Hyatt has become increasingly disappointing.
I think it has to do with the fact that in many regards customers are just a number to these big hotel groups. Consider the number of people that have high status with each group and consider the lucerative partnerships and bonuses the hotel groups receive such as through travel or credit card partners, then look at the issues guests have because the status does not give you those kinds of benefts without overcrowding, lack of buffet management/service, etc....We should also consider some of these benfits are not revenue centers for the hotels anymore too. Generally speaking most hotels have made it easier to obtain the benefits but that comes with some drawbacks too.
I think Dan was suggesting that some of their (Priztker) billions were acquired by less than honorable means.
How Shameful and Dishonest business practice. Hope the hotel get stiff social penalties from public!!!
Boooo Hyatt. Ill take my business elsewhere. #badpractice #dobetter #honorreservation