Update: World of Hyatt is now extending status and awards by at least a year; see here for full details.
I have to commend Hyatt for thinking outside the box with this gesture…
In this post:
Hyatt offering points for non-refundable reservations
In light of the coronavirus situation, many people are uncomfortable traveling. However, we haven’t seen any of the major hotel groups just completely drop their cancelation policies. They’ve done so regionally, but that’s about it.
That’s where Hyatt’s promotion comes into play. For those who booked Hyatt advance purchase (non-refundable) reservations, World of Hyatt is offering 10K bonus points per reservation if you no longer wish to travel.
The idea is that it’s not practical for Hyatt to outright refund all bookings in regions that don’t have advisories, but Hyatt at least wants to offer something to those who no longer wish to travel:
- This is valid for reservations made before March 8, 2020, and for stays through June 30, 2020
- If you no longer wish to travel, just contact Hyatt by phone, or at [email protected], and you’ll be given 10,000 points for each advance purchase reservation you no longer wish to use
- You won’t be refunded any cash for these bookings, but will get points
- You must cancel at least 48 hours before check-in
- This is even valid for those who weren’t World of Hyatt members; they can sign up for the program and still get points
- For regions where Hyatt does have a waiver, you can of course cancel your booking for a refund, but then you don’t get the points
Personally I value World of Hyatt points at ~1.5 cents each so to me that’s like $150 worth of points for every stay you no longer plan on using. Of course I’m sure many of us are now wishing we had booked dozens of stays at sub-$100 per night Hyatts. 😉
My take on this offer from Hyatt
On balance Hyatt has been generous in light of coronavirus. World of Hyatt was one of the first hotel groups to announce that they’d extend status for those in certain parts of Asia. On top of that, Hyatt is allowing free cancelations of bookings in Greater China, Japan, South Korea, and Italy.
What Hyatt is doing here is the most generous and creative concept I’ve seen from any of the global hotel groups when factoring in that this applies for stays anywhere.
In general I don’t expect hotel groups to have quite the generous cancelation policies of airlines. That’s because a vast majority of airline fares are non-refundable, while with hotels there are typically reasonable refundable fares, and when you book a non-refundable fare you’re choosing to save a bit in exchange for less flexibility.
This is different than airline tickets, where a non-refundable ticket may cost $100, while a refundable ticket may cost $1,000.
Bottom line
If you have a non-refundable Hyatt stay that you booked prior to yesterday and that’s for travel through June 30, 2020, you can contact Hyatt and get 10K points for canceling the reservation (though you don’t get a refund).
Obviously this is ridiculously lucrative for a one night stay at a cheap hotel, while it’s less lucrative for a $20K+ stay at one hotel.
I commend Hyatt for thinking outside the box here. It would be nice to see more of a global hotel waiver, though realistically Hyatt’s actions here are the most generosity we’ve seen from a hotel group without any sort of geographic restrictions.
Does anyone plan on taking advantage of Hyatt’s 10K points offer for non-refundable bookings?
@Amy, Hyatt is offering full refunds. I received one for a prepaid night.
We have a 4 night vacation booked in June of 2020 and because of COVID-19, we will need to cancel. With the 10K points, which is equivalent to 1 or 2 nights, this is not an equal trade as we lose 2 nights worth of payment. They should offer complete refunds. This is horrible customer service. Why would I book with Hyatt again if this is how they plan to treat their customers? At minimum,...
We have a 4 night vacation booked in June of 2020 and because of COVID-19, we will need to cancel. With the 10K points, which is equivalent to 1 or 2 nights, this is not an equal trade as we lose 2 nights worth of payment. They should offer complete refunds. This is horrible customer service. Why would I book with Hyatt again if this is how they plan to treat their customers? At minimum, if a refund isn't available, then give points for the equal proportion of days the customer already has booked. Come on Hyatt!
@Sebastian, Hyatt ended up offering full refunds on so called non-refundable rates. Much better experience than I am having with Cathay trying to get points back for a flight that no longer exists.
There seems to be alot of Hyatt PR employees on here backing the selfish ways of scamming people out of their money.
There seems to be alot of Hyatt PR employees on here backing the selfish ways of scamming people out of their money.
People who are booking these advanced purchase rates think that nothing bad could ever happen, but what they really need to do is take half a second and check for other applicable discounts that are the same or come close to the locked in rate. Some discounts can even surpass it or grant more cancel flexibility than the standard rate. AAA, senior rate, government rates, member discount, and corporate employee discounts all have the potential...
People who are booking these advanced purchase rates think that nothing bad could ever happen, but what they really need to do is take half a second and check for other applicable discounts that are the same or come close to the locked in rate. Some discounts can even surpass it or grant more cancel flexibility than the standard rate. AAA, senior rate, government rates, member discount, and corporate employee discounts all have the potential to do this. Just a suggestion for when people start travelling again.
Hilton already has/had a policy for non-refundable bookings. Elites were able to cancel a non-refundable for a fee. Certain restrictions applied. Not every property participated.
I'm not sure how this will apply now.
When you book a non-refundable reservations you assume all the risks that comes with making that type of reservation. If you want the freedom to be able to cancel don't book a non refundable. I think Hyatt is doing a good thing.
I have a few hyatt certificates expiring April and May. Is there anyway for me to extend these? Don't see myself traveling anywhere in the next month or so.
It always makes sense to check if you have a travel insurance (via credit card for example). If you have to cancel in case of sickness, you would need a doctors note and the insurance will step in.
@Florida sunshine
You booked non-refundable.
What part of non-refundable do you don't understand.
Just because some got lucky but you didn't doesn't mean you can take this for granted. You either get nothing or 10k points. For me that is already generous.
At the very least, you could go and stay under your non-refundable bookings. St. Kitts or Maldives isn't destroyed by the virus. Too bad you cancelled your flights too.
Next time...
@Florida sunshine
You booked non-refundable.
What part of non-refundable do you don't understand.
Just because some got lucky but you didn't doesn't mean you can take this for granted. You either get nothing or 10k points. For me that is already generous.
At the very least, you could go and stay under your non-refundable bookings. St. Kitts or Maldives isn't destroyed by the virus. Too bad you cancelled your flights too.
Next time maybe don't be as cheap and book refundable rooms and get some travel insurance.
Don't take pandemic, volcano eruption, nuclear meltdown, terrorism, alien invasion, etc. for granted just because it hardly can happen. Because when it does, you room is still non-refundable.
@Matt I understand what your saying, but booking refundable vs non refundable is not much f a difference or discount. If people booked refundable, then Hyatt would have to do without the revenue. It seems to me, that the best possible customer service act would be simply to refund those reservations - even the ones that are canceled. Hyatt will regroup that revenue once the health crisis is over. As @matt explains, most people are...
@Matt I understand what your saying, but booking refundable vs non refundable is not much f a difference or discount. If people booked refundable, then Hyatt would have to do without the revenue. It seems to me, that the best possible customer service act would be simply to refund those reservations - even the ones that are canceled. Hyatt will regroup that revenue once the health crisis is over. As @matt explains, most people are not booking Hyatts off the side of a midwest highway. They are spending oodles of cash because they are dedicated customers.
@Florida
Why do you have to alter your plans? And why is that Hyatt's fault?
With all do respect to you all, I had numerous Hyatt nights booked from earlier this year. At Park Hyatt’s. For my girlfriend and I. Soon fiancé. Have to alter my plans. We prepaid and 10k points per stay is awful. So two stays totaling to over 12,000 dollars I get 20k in points. I commend Hyatt. But it is not the same as a member staying in Indianapolis vs St. Mitts or Maldives. Everyone...
With all do respect to you all, I had numerous Hyatt nights booked from earlier this year. At Park Hyatt’s. For my girlfriend and I. Soon fiancé. Have to alter my plans. We prepaid and 10k points per stay is awful. So two stays totaling to over 12,000 dollars I get 20k in points. I commend Hyatt. But it is not the same as a member staying in Indianapolis vs St. Mitts or Maldives. Everyone that booked inexpensive one night stays, it’s a win. But not for others paying lots more. Slap in face. I’d even be ok with Hyatt if the cancelled reservations and allowed rebooking over next year. So I wonder how prepayment is working in Amex platinum. At least delta was generous to me. Hyatt told me to stiff it, but in fairness I have very small status on them.
@ Christian
I understand your POV but bottom line is Hyatt really doesn't have to offer anything for non-refundable rates. Is any other chain offering anything for non-refundable bookings? Is Expedia? Is Priceline?
10k Hyatt points is at least something. If you think you're going to get 10k points for every $200 spent, well that's just nuts man.
What a bunch of ungrateful entitled turds in this thread. What part of “non-refundable” is hard to comprehend? You assume the risk of losing your reservation to unforeseen events when you PAY THE DISCOUNTED RATE. Amazing how cheap and petty some ppl can be. If you can afford to stay at the hotel you can afford to pay and not go. A hotel cannot afford to run on no revenue!
Lmao.. These people saying this is not worth it is speaking nonsenses.
You know the risk of booking a non-refundable stay. These hotels and airlines are taking their social responsibilities roles by providing a way for their customers.
They are helping their customers without breaking their banks and systems.
This pandemic is nobody’s fault. Not customers fault, not vendors fault.
I had to cancel a trip to Vegas and only received a credit for my...
Lmao.. These people saying this is not worth it is speaking nonsenses.
You know the risk of booking a non-refundable stay. These hotels and airlines are taking their social responsibilities roles by providing a way for their customers.
They are helping their customers without breaking their banks and systems.
This pandemic is nobody’s fault. Not customers fault, not vendors fault.
I had to cancel a trip to Vegas and only received a credit for my airfare and stays.
If you have an issue with how they handle the situation, go on with your trip. They would be even happier if you decided to do so.
Put yourself into other shoes before putting on the judge hat.
@Reginald - For myself, you bet. For people who had their SXSW experienced wiped out, not so much. Businesses use nonrefundable rates too. I own a business and have a nonrefundable hotel booked for a convention at the end of the month. At this point, all I can do is hope the convention goes through. Going for a nonexistent convention is obviously not going to happen. Personal choice aside, the IRS just wouldn't understand.
@Christian
If you spent that much for a non-refundable booking, how about you just go on your trip?
@Reginald - So a week long trip costing four figures in a big city prime location is the same as the Hyatt Place Atlanta at $79 for one night? I'll bite, how do you figure?
@Christian
There doesn't need to be any sliding scale.
10K per night is great. 10K for a week long stay in pretty much any Hyatt is just horrible. While I commend Hyatt for creative thinking, there has to be some sort of sliding scale here.
Now will Hyatt claw back if I did have couple of non-refundable (yes, under $150) coming refunded just to rebook those rooms again.
When you book a non refundable fare you are taking a risk you can’t travel, so this is commendable on Hyatt’s part. On an upcoming trip to Australia I have one of six nights booked on a non refundable rate. I really hope I don’t have to cancel the trip (flying from Japan), but if I do I would benefit as my rate was below $150.
@Ernest as you point out, it's nobody's fault (probably), so it's also not Hyatt's fault. Should it suffer despite not being at fault?
Think bigger than yourself. Losing the money on one booking won't break any individual. However, losing the money for EVERY booking would break the hotel.
Also, travelers are just fine doing all those things, knowing they're filthy dirty, every other day of the year... get over yourself.
@Ernest
Or they can offer you nothing
I'm sorry. This seems to be a world wide health issue. Hyatt needs to refund people as none of this is anyone's fault. No-one wants to be on filthy dirty planes, transit through dirty crowded airports and sit in their hotels not knowing how they disinfect the property. I find 10,000 points insulting.