My Streak Of Bad Luck With Hyatt

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: June 1, 2021
Published: April 5, 2021

89 comments

It goes without saying that there are much more important things going on in the world, but I feel like it’s only fair for me to also share some criticism of Hyatt, for once, since I’m usually so positive about the brand.

In this post:

Hyatt does a great job with managing expectations

One of the reasons I’m so loyal to Hyatt is because both the loyalty program and hotel group as such do an amazing job managing expectations. I’m ordinarily a huge Hyatt cheerleader, not because I’m paid to be, but because the company treats me well and earns my loyalty with every stay. I say this as someone who is currently living in hotels, and who has spent a vast majority of nights this year at Hyatts.

Hyatts aren’t going to always be the best hotels in their respective markets, but I know I’m going to be treated like a valued guest, I know I’m going to get what I’m entitled to without having to beg, and I know I’m not going to be disappointed. That’s why I seek out Hyatts.

My Hyatt stays haven’t been very seamless

I’ve had a bad luck streak with Hyatt lately. Individually these are all minor things, but when you add them up, the friction reminds me a lot more of what I usually experience with other hotel groups, rather than with Hyatt. And perhaps it just makes me plain appreciative of how easy my Hyatt experiences usually are.

While things will occasionally not go right with every hotel group, the number of things that have gone wrong with Hyatt lately have been disappointing, even if they’re individually minor.

Points not posting correctly, being pulled incorrectly

Is World of Hyatt having issues with posting points correctly? Until recently I don’t remember a Hyatt stay ever not posting automatically, while in the past few weeks:

I had two stays that didn’t post at all, and I had to manually request for them to be credited
For one of those stays, it was a hotel that chose not to serve breakfast, so since I’m a Globalist member I was promised bonus points, but of course those didn’t post either
I made a Guest of Honor booking for a friend and the points were pulled correctly; then on the day of check-in, the same number of points were pulled again (incorrectly), without any notice or communication

The points didn’t automatically post for my stay at the Hyatt Centric Brickell

Denial of suite upgrades

I find that World of Hyatt does a great job with suite upgrades. Usually I’ll just use a Globalist suite upgrade award to confirm a suite at the time of booking, but in the past couple of weeks I had two short stays where I figured it wasn’t worth burning a suite upgrade.

Okay, fortunately Globalist members receive unlimited suite upgrades subject to availability at check-in, but I was denied at both properties. That’s despite the fact that both hotels were still selling suites at the time of check-in.

Again, it’s not a huge deal, but this felt to me a lot more like what I’m used to with Marriott Bonvoy than World of Hyatt, especially since one of the hotels was really empty. It makes me wonder, is Hyatt actually not doing a good job on delivering on suite upgrade perks lately? Have I just not had these issues because I’ve been applying suite upgrades in advance for virtually all reservations?

We were assigned a standard room at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands

Disappointing hotel experiences

My last two hotel stays were at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands and the Thompson Chicago. Both stays were… not great. The two properties had some stuff in common:

Both denied suite upgrades, even though they showed suites as being available for sale
Both chose to keep their restaurants closed (despite no local rules requiring that), and offered no reasonable alternatives other than a small number of points

In the case of the Hyatt Highlands Inn, I’ve gotta say, I found the hotel to be extremely underwhelming, aside from the view, and badly in need of some TLC (this is a Category 7 property, just like the Park Hyatt Paris or Park Hyatt Sydney).

If you’re going to have your restaurant closed, fine, but the hotel didn’t even have snacks for sale. Like, why would you pay $500+ per night to stay at a hotel and they don’t have a morsel of food for sale on property (not even a bag of chips)? It makes me yearn for Marriott’s new breakfast vending machine.

Hyatt Carmel Highlands

And then where do we even start on my Thompson Chicago experience, which was such a contrast to the other Thompson stays I’ve had, which were phenomenal?

As mentioned above, this is a property where we were told no suites were available, even though they showed as being available
The restaurant was closed, but at least the hotel had a room service menu through a third party
However, as a Globalist member I was told that they wouldn’t cover breakfast through the third party room service, but rather they’d give me 500 points per person per day for not offering breakfast
I wouldn’t have a huge issue with that if the hotel were being reasonable, but 500 points simply isn’t an acceptable alternative to breakfast; I value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, meaning 500 points are worth $7.50 to me
I had booked through Hyatt Privé, which came with a $75 credit, though the only way to spend it was on a snack basket that they had in a back room, along with some drinks, and there was no alternative offered; it’s not easy to spend $75 on M&Ms and Diet Pepsi!
One of the two elevators in the hotel was broken, yet there was a sign saying only two people should use the elevator at once, so that went about as seamlessly as you’d expect
When I tried to check out at 6AM there was no staff member visible; I waited for a few minutes and yelled “hello,” but no one answered, so I just left (for that matter, I only ever saw one employee at a time)
Go figure they couldn’t even take off the ~$12 in charges that I had racked up during my stay for snacks from the hotel, so now I’ll have to follow-up on that as well

Quite a selection for using my $75 credit!

Our (not complimentary) breakfast at the Thompson Chicago

What’s my point?

Like I said, all of this stuff is individually quite minor, so what’s my point? In addition to just trying to be fair and to highlight some Hyatt experiences that are less optimal, a few things stood out to me:

To some extent your perception of a hotel group is only as good as your last stay; don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m losing faith in Hyatt, but I am at this very moment (temporarily) feeling lukewarm about the brand
It reminds me of how seamless my Hyatt experiences usually are, because typically I never even bother looking in advance if suites are available for sale, if my points posted correctly, etc., because I just know the right thing will happen; that hasn’t happened lately
Minor things can really add up and create annoyances — for example, if you’re going to choose not to serve breakfast, fine, but then don’t promise me points and then not post them, and make me beg for them
As people start to get out and travel, manage your expectations when it comes to the hotel experience; whether rates are lower or higher than they were pre-coronavirus, don’t expect the same level of service, in terms of amenities, staffing, etc.
Obviously hotels are in a rough spot financially, but there’s some element of chicken-or-egg here; what comes first, bringing back basic services, or expecting guests to pay for hotel rooms?

Am I the only one who has had bad luck with Hyatt lately? Anyone else have issues with points not posting, or whatever else?

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Ellen S Guest

June 12, 2025, 2:37 pm

I've been dining at the few Boston area Hyatt Regency's to save my points, since I don't travel as much now. Last night, after checking that it would take my points, I dined at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge. But it didn't take my points nor would it give me points. Turns out the hotel outsourced food service to a subcontractor which cannot access the loyalty database. When I called today to complain, the loyalty program said I should have been able to use points and opened a case. But even worse was that my meal was terrible, like it had been microwaved several times and still served cold. I suspect the same at the other Boston Hyatt's after seeing their minimalist generic menus. very sad.

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Brooks Guest

June 27, 2022, 1:06 pm

We stayed in Downtown Tulsa (Hyatt Place, not an expensive hotel, but should have been at least minimally competent regardless), and the experience was beyond abysmal - we were actually concerned about our health and safety. The heat was particularly bad, even for Tulsa summer, and the a/c broke. They were not forthcoming about the a/c condition and lied to us at 11:45pm about the availability of a room with a/c, saying there was only one other room and that the a/c was broken in that room as well. We had two tired children, so we took the staff at their word and stayed in the room with no a/c. In the morning after one of the worst nights I have ever spent in a hotel, in the morning they quickly found a room with working a/c for us to move to; so, the night before, they did not tell the truth or at least were not forthcoming about what was happening with the a/c. The morning/day front desk employee was (or acted) completely unaware of the situation, starting with the attitude of "SIR, I just got here, so I am just finding out" and acting simultaneously passive-aggressive and as if she was a saint for finding us a habitable room. She then proceeded to be almost entirely absent from her post during her shift, and she threatened to call the police on a guest who walked into the employees only area to find her because he needed assistance when she was absent. She was often down the block or outside the entrance vaping. When we checked out and made it clear we did not intend to pay for Friday night, she went silent, writing down an email of a purported GM and a phone number, but answering no questions (silence, eye-rolling, and even laughing at us at one point). The credit card was on file so we were forced to pay the full bill, and she pressured us to leave, so we decided to leave and are now chasing it down to see if Hyatt will demonstrate some hospitality and honor (which were sorely lacking during our stay). Then, the worst: when we left after checkout, the employee followed us out and stood by the revolving door entrance staring at us with her phone pointed at us (again, we had our two minor children with us). We were sincerely concerned for our safety, feeling threatened. I would not expect this kind of horrible treatment from a cut-rate place, let alone a mid-tier hotel. I caution everyone to avoid Hyatt Place Downtown Tulsa.

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Jennifer Guest

April 18, 2022, 6:50 pm

Forgot to mention the church had recommended Hyatt place as one hotels out towers use , had their number on their information packet . All the folks we spoke to in hotel were also attending these conferences so with this kinda stuff not good for business

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Jennifer Guest

April 18, 2022, 6:43 pm

Recently friend & I stayed 4 days at Hyatt place Baton Rouge Louisiana . This was our first introduction to Hyatt and a Bad idea . When I booked wasn’t told hotel was under construction : main entrance lobby getting face lift (yellow crime tape loose concrete on ground , front building mess ugly )no access to covered unloading of baggage or handicap people . Could not drive up to front - we are handicap parking here really bad layout 4 handicap . Checked in had to be @ religious conferences for 4 pm hurried put items in room but noticed room stank then but no time to address issue . Came back room 10:30 pm to tired ,so slept . Got up went to breakfast ,hotel required you to fill out a meal sheet (like you in a hospital ) before meal each guest everyday . That’s not good idea especially when person just waking up or in rush . After breakfast i told employee behind counter that room smelled terrible like smoke perhaps drug use . In law enforcement so I know . Told her Toilet rocked around whenever you sat on it or moved to wipe . I asked why No microwave in room .( never heard of that before in my life ) I asked for few wash clothes & coffee for the 1 cup coffee maker provided by hotel .told coffee was offered down stairs at bar , trying phase the room coffee out but see what they could do to get some coffee for room sent up . Did not receive any wash clothes or coffee . next day I phoned desk to request wash cloths & coffee again, we couldn’t bathe until they came I got two wash cloths & 1 coffee , wow that’s generous . Late that night nearly 11pm arrived back hotel elevator was loaded with a group young teens 8 people in elevator sign says 4 per elevator anyway it wouldn’t go up for young adults , they was messing around holding up things After several attempts to try get elevator to go up they gave up , loudly fussing , cursing left for pool (I’m assuming because they were dressed for pool & floor was wet in elevator ) personally think hotel manager needs to review cameras in hall if they have them as I don’t think these kids were paying guest but may have knew someone working there or staying guest ? Desk clerk never appeared to see what was going on despite being only few steps to elevator . The couch in room ,carpet & beds in our room looked worn( need updating ) I should have taken pictures for posting to show .During our stay , spoke to 4 other guest in elevator at breakfast another lady said her toilet too , married couple said they would not be returning , older gentleman said same cause went down area and place . Before I checked out I told desk clerk and a man I’m assuming was manager someone been burning incense to help smell in that room because they left several of used burnt sticks in light fixture next to beds, my guess is they were aware of smell perhaps trying help try cover it ? Hotel is near next several run down shut down business with sprayed graffiti. I can say the room looked clean , the staff smiled , were basically friendly & trying do their job . I do feel another room should have been offered to us

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Alfreda Guest

July 8, 2021, 11:49 pm

I agree I been staying at Hyatt properties for years but have noticed a down turn in quality for the past 3years.

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