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Hyatt will be revamping its Hyatt Place brand and changing its focus, as well as changing some of the benefits on offer at Hyatt Place hotels. Like most changes, some are good, and some are not so good — although in this case one of the changes is simply bizarre.
Key Changes
According to the Hyatt press release, the brand will be focusing on 3 key areas:
- Design: including rooms, bathrooms, as well as enhancing the lobby and culinary experiences at the hotel
- World of Hyatt Explorist and Globalist can take advantage of early check-in, and mobile entry
- Improvements to the Exhale spa experience at Hyatt properties including in-room video content, and enhanced spa facilities
- World of Hyatt members will receive complimentary free breakfast
The Hyatt press release mentions an important point about the free breakfast:
“Reimagined Breakfast: World of Hyatt members will be able to enjoy the newly reimagined breakfast for free at Hyatt Place hotels.”
According to View From The Wing, Hyatt has left a nugget of information out of the above sentence. In fact, regardless of status, members will only receive a free breakfast when they book with Hyatt direct, and not via a third-party booking site. Non-members who sign up for World of Hyatt on the spot at check-in will receive the free breakfast regardless of how they booked their stay.
Breakfast Chaos
Hyatt’s new breakfast policy is going to lead to some bizarre scenarios. A non-member who booked via a third-party but signs up for World of Hyatt when checking in will be entitled to free breakfast. A top-tier Globalist who booked through a third-party site will not receive free breakfast, and since they are already a member, they cannot sign up to benefit from the offer. So, at Hyatt Place, new members get better benefits than top-tier elite members if they don't book directly with Hyatt.
We also have to wonder: How on earth will Hyatt enforce this policy? Imagine the line at the entrance to get breakfast, as the staff has to check whether a person is a Hyatt member, and cross-reference that with whether they have booked direct or via a third-party site. For a hotel brand that aims to cater to business travelers, large lines at breakfast will not go down well at all.
Our Take
The improvements to the Hyatt Place brand are welcome. However, the new breakfast policy seems like a bad idea.
Source: View from the Wing
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