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- Feb 12, 2008
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I recently signed up for Hyatt's 60 day Diamond trial to coincide with an upcoming second half of an AONE4 nested into a US Air F Award (back to origination point ORD) so I figured I'd give it a whirl. I am travelling late June for 1 month.. The requirements to retain Diamond through 2013 were simple enough - stay 12 nights during that 60 day period. I sent through screen dumps of HH Gold and IC Plat status and voila! The Hyatt Diamond logo now appears on my profile. Sounded too good to be true...
For my upcoming AONE4 trip I already made use of some other hotel chain benefits (IC AMB 2-4-1) and some Priceline stays in three other cities, but for the rest I chose Hyatt properties as follows:
- Andaz West Hollywood: (4 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Grand Hyatt DFW (1 night): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (2 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Park Hyatt Seoul (3 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Park Hyatt Tokyo (3 nights): Negotiated (via email) a rate of 31,150 JPY ++ for King room (~ 20% cheaper than their advance purchase and corporate rates).
When I saw the pictures of PH Tokyo it was instantly a must stay, until I saw the price tag. Though I would likely have paid the price anyway, I suspected the hotels in Tokyo were suffering after the recent disaster so I figured I'd see if I could get away with a cheaper rate than publicly available and kept pushing them down and down until they said rock bottom no more. Ended up saving over $700 just by emailing and saying 'my budget doesn't permit this sorry.. can you do any better yadda yadda'. They played this game three times with me. Just goes to show how valuable a 2 minute enquiry email to the property can be even if you think you're getting a good deal.
For the US properties I used the IBM corporate rate (which I confirmed they would not ask for ID) but for the rest I found that the IBM and even my corporate rate (very similar) were no better than the advance purchase (although they did offer cancellation up util day before, fwiw). I have used my own corporate rate on GH HK and PH Seoul and am aware that I will need to present ID/credentials.
The best thing about this Diamond trial is that even if you do or don't have plans to meet the 12 night requirement in 60 days, you still have FOUR suite upgrade awards available to you. So with the exception of the GH DFW, all of my stays are now in Suites! WOOHOO! I calculated the difference between what I paid for the cheapest King rooms and the cheapest available suites and I've saved just over $5,000 AUD (half of which is attributed to the exorbitant rates at the PH Tokyo). My only disappointment was when I learnt that PH properties (excluding MEL) do not offer a Club Lounge and that the suite upgrade entitlement is for 7 days max per property, which means you could get up to 28 days of suite upgrades - now I feel like I've missed out by not staying longer.
I even have a 3 night stay in ORD at the Hyatt Regency I won via Priceline at 72% off their effective advance purchase for the same dates. I am told that all of my Diamond status privileges will also extend to this reservation despite the opaque booking. What a steal!
I must say the whole Hyatt experience so far has been very welcoming and professional (compared to ICH and to a lesser extent Hilton). Their customer service team for daytime in Australia is located in Melbourne. They're easy to work with and they don't have any spoken language difficulties.
The problem I now have is that this is yet another hotel loyalty scheme I will have to maintain on top of HH and PC. I don't have that much love to spread around!
I'm interested to see their Q3 promotions to see if I can extract even more value.
I hope my experiences are useful for anyone else that can book Hyatt stays in the near future and while they're still offering this status match.
For my upcoming AONE4 trip I already made use of some other hotel chain benefits (IC AMB 2-4-1) and some Priceline stays in three other cities, but for the rest I chose Hyatt properties as follows:
- Andaz West Hollywood: (4 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Grand Hyatt DFW (1 night): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (2 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Park Hyatt Seoul (3 nights): cheapest King room via Corporate rate.
- Park Hyatt Tokyo (3 nights): Negotiated (via email) a rate of 31,150 JPY ++ for King room (~ 20% cheaper than their advance purchase and corporate rates).
When I saw the pictures of PH Tokyo it was instantly a must stay, until I saw the price tag. Though I would likely have paid the price anyway, I suspected the hotels in Tokyo were suffering after the recent disaster so I figured I'd see if I could get away with a cheaper rate than publicly available and kept pushing them down and down until they said rock bottom no more. Ended up saving over $700 just by emailing and saying 'my budget doesn't permit this sorry.. can you do any better yadda yadda'. They played this game three times with me. Just goes to show how valuable a 2 minute enquiry email to the property can be even if you think you're getting a good deal.
For the US properties I used the IBM corporate rate (which I confirmed they would not ask for ID) but for the rest I found that the IBM and even my corporate rate (very similar) were no better than the advance purchase (although they did offer cancellation up util day before, fwiw). I have used my own corporate rate on GH HK and PH Seoul and am aware that I will need to present ID/credentials.
The best thing about this Diamond trial is that even if you do or don't have plans to meet the 12 night requirement in 60 days, you still have FOUR suite upgrade awards available to you. So with the exception of the GH DFW, all of my stays are now in Suites! WOOHOO! I calculated the difference between what I paid for the cheapest King rooms and the cheapest available suites and I've saved just over $5,000 AUD (half of which is attributed to the exorbitant rates at the PH Tokyo). My only disappointment was when I learnt that PH properties (excluding MEL) do not offer a Club Lounge and that the suite upgrade entitlement is for 7 days max per property, which means you could get up to 28 days of suite upgrades - now I feel like I've missed out by not staying longer.
I even have a 3 night stay in ORD at the Hyatt Regency I won via Priceline at 72% off their effective advance purchase for the same dates. I am told that all of my Diamond status privileges will also extend to this reservation despite the opaque booking. What a steal!
I must say the whole Hyatt experience so far has been very welcoming and professional (compared to ICH and to a lesser extent Hilton). Their customer service team for daytime in Australia is located in Melbourne. They're easy to work with and they don't have any spoken language difficulties.
The problem I now have is that this is yet another hotel loyalty scheme I will have to maintain on top of HH and PC. I don't have that much love to spread around!
I'm interested to see their Q3 promotions to see if I can extract even more value.I hope my experiences are useful for anyone else that can book Hyatt stays in the near future and while they're still offering this status match.
