Earlier, I covered some rumored World of Hyatt program changes, including an overhaul of award pricing, plus the introduction of a premium credit card. This was based on a very detailed but unsubstantiated report on Reddit. So along those lines, there’s an interesting update…
In this post:
Hyatt rumor spreader claims details were totally made up
The same Reddit user who posted the original rumors about the World of Hyatt program changes now claims that those details were completely made up. In a follow-up post titled “well this escalated quickly,” the person writes the following:
Time to clear something up.
The entire “Hyatt overhaul leak” post was not real. None of it.
It was all part of an experiment for a college class. It was trying to see how easily unverified information spreads online when it’s plausible, uses insider language, includes specific operational details, and confirms existing anxieties or expectations
I fed some plausible award changes into ChatGPT, hit post, and was curious to see what happened.
Didn’t expect literally every award travel blog to make this their Friday morning headline
Sorry for giving everyone anxiety. Hopefully Hyatt doesn’t do anything worse than what I cooked up
It’s hard to know what to make of this exactly…
So this was an experiment for a college class, to see how easily misinformation spreads? I mean, if you post something salacious and believable enough on a platform like Reddit, then yes, it’ll spread quickly. Is that really surprising? This seems kind of douchey to me, but whatever.
Understandably, some people might say “you dumb bloggers, why spread this kind of unverified information?” It’s a fair criticism, though let me note a few things:
- As much as people are annoyed when information doesn’t end up being correct, people love when there are leaks and they prove to be correct; that falls in the category of “you win some, you lose some”
- In a vast majority of situations when we do see detailed leaks, they end up being accurate, or mostly accurate; this applies to a vast majority of credit card and loyalty program leaks
- Usually we apply some logic in judging how reputable leaks are, based on the level of detail provided; when someone intentionally makes it detailed to trick people, well, that makes it a little more complicated
- People are obviously very invested in these programs, so when people hear rumors, they want to read more; every time there’s a rumor on Reddit and I don’t post about it, some people will reach out to ask if I’ve seen it, and ask for my take
- Of course it’s important to emphasize when a post is based on unsubstantiated rumors, so you have to read these topics with the right expectations
Lastly, call me a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if there might actually be more to this. Is this actually all fully made up, as is claimed? Or is the real lie claiming that the original post was a lie? Make of it what you will, but I’m not convinced this second post is fully truthful either.
Bottom line
Earlier there were rumors on Reddit about how Hyatt is planning major changes to its World of Hyatt loyalty program. Now the person who posted those rumors claims that they’re totally made up, and that this was a school experiment.
This is all very strange, so I’m not sure what exactly to make of it, at this point. Believe it or not, I’m not sure whether to believe the first post or the second post…
What do you make of this Reddit Hyatt rumor situation?
Ben - you clearly, upfront, labeled those posts as rumors. Good on you. The rumors seemed credible and they sparked productive discussion on the value of Hyatt status, points, and benefits. I see nothing wrong here. Blog long enough, accept enough "rumors" and some are bound to turn out fake - that's the law of large numbers.
Blog on. Travel on.
It's well established that 99% of your commenters are complete and total losers. (Not...
Ben - you clearly, upfront, labeled those posts as rumors. Good on you. The rumors seemed credible and they sparked productive discussion on the value of Hyatt status, points, and benefits. I see nothing wrong here. Blog long enough, accept enough "rumors" and some are bound to turn out fake - that's the law of large numbers.
Blog on. Travel on.
It's well established that 99% of your commenters are complete and total losers. (Not me though as a V10 equity partner - I won't belabor those details.)
This is not the first time that Ben got hit by "real" fake news and it won't be the last. In the blogosphere we are always on our own to sort out the crap.
It's okay, you're a blogger, not a journalist. I don't mean that in a bad way...I'd like to hear about rumors and speculation even if it ends up being wrong n
We all suspect Hyatt plans to do something like this. Hopefully they take the feedback and maintain the exclusivity (it’s not really) of Globalist and don’t try to leverage it with a high fee credit card.
Well, boy am I glad you got to make two slop posts about this! The quality of this blog is going downhill super fast this year. OMaaT and VFTW are basically the same now - blogging about social media posts, taking political stances, posting about things completely unrelated to travel (Tucker & Israel?).
I bet you were foaming at the mouth to be able to post another slop article about an unsubstantiated rumor.
Hey...
Well, boy am I glad you got to make two slop posts about this! The quality of this blog is going downhill super fast this year. OMaaT and VFTW are basically the same now - blogging about social media posts, taking political stances, posting about things completely unrelated to travel (Tucker & Israel?).
I bet you were foaming at the mouth to be able to post another slop article about an unsubstantiated rumor.
Hey Lucky, how about some quality journalism for a change instead of posting BS?
Long time reader, long time supporter, recently disappointed.
You're expecting journalism from a guy who posts hotel and airline reviews and offers commentary on travel industry events?
I suggest your expectations are a bit misplaced if you're expecting hard hitting journalism (what industry stories exactly have you seen broken on this blog, like, ever?). Informative reviews, maybe but that's still opinion, not Woodward and Bernstein breaking Watergate.
I don't confuse travel bloggers for journalists. I am clear-eyed when I read this blog.
Hahahahahaha
You run fast and loose with facts when you quote from social media and
pod casts. However, it hurts nobody but it will ding the integrity of the method you use to collect news/ info.
I'm with you, Ben. Hyatt's silence is supicious.
Suspicious.
Seems you can’t trust anything unless it comes from JonNYC.
Or Timmy.