Hyatt has reportedly terminated hundreds of its remaining US-based call center agents, moving their jobs to El Salvador and the Philippines. That explains a recent call to make a date change to a reservation that left me scratching my head.
Hyatt Outsources Call Center
I recently picked up the phone to make a simple date change to an upcoming Hyatt reservation. I was unable to change online, which is a regular issue with Hyatt (it has always been weak on the tech side). An agent in the Philippines answered. While he was very courteous, it took far too long to do a date change that should have been near-instant.
I was put on hold during the call while he “looked up the hotel’s cancellation” policy and then came back and told me that I was allowed to change my date (no kidding…) and if I wanted to proceed. I felt like saying, “No, I just called you because I’m lonely.” He put me on hold again before finally coming back and saying the change was made.
After more than a decade of being a Diamond or Globalist (the top tier in the World of Hyatt program), this year I’ve dropped a level to Explorist and I figured that Hyatt (perhaps always?) outsourced its call center for its non-Globalist members.
But View From The Wing reports that Hyatt laid off almost all of its remaining US call center agents last week. Over the last eight months, Hyatt has eliminated the vast majority of US-based call center and support agents, moving these call centers to El Salvador and the Philippines.
Only about 35 US call center agents remain and these agents will handle Concierge duties for Globalist members and escalated customer service issues. The remaining agents will work remotely.
Call Center Agents Tell Stories
On reddit, (now former) call center agents have shared how it went down:
I went from joining a zoom call with the director of my team, to being forced to turn on my camera, to being told I was laid off effective literally immediately, to then having an HR rep say “you’re going to need to take notes now”, to me just saying. I’m sure all of this info is going to be in an email you’ll be sending to my personal address so please can I get off this call now?”
They literally shoved me out the door, sat there staring at me as I was crying and humiliated and confused. Then the realization hit me — how am I going to pay for my mortgage? Health Insurance? ETc. All while the HR rep and the temporary director of my team sat there in silence.…a 5 minute zoom to lay us off with literally NO advance warning or foreshadowing. They literally said your Hyatt email is going to deactivate in about an hour.
Yikes. How unprofessional. Or this one:
It’s incredibly annoying to be constantly told how much Hyatt Cares then to be faced with this. At the summit meetings a few months ago we were assured our positions were safe, and that we would be working with the foreign call centers. They would work the hours that we were closed.
However in checking my emails on the way out I noticed that we received one where Teleperformance was noted, and that they planned to open up a team in El Salvador on November 18th. Seems like that all worked out fine for them, and they sent out the emails meeting invites by the end of the day to fire us.
So during my shift I get a notice that I have an important meeting scheduled the next day (my day off) at 9:00 am and not to share this info. (It was at this point the panic set in) …
The meeting to lay us off was so unprofessional. People couldn’t get in, or they were unaware they had been scheduled. I had one person resort to calling me on teams to find out what was going on, and frankly she deserved to hear that from her employer not a coworker. It was just them blandly telling us “how hard this is for them” and that we no longer have jobs. I’m sorry but the alligator tears are just too much.
I don’t know about y’all, but every day I had at least one person tell me how thankful they were that English was my first language, or that I wasn’t AI when calling in, usually with less kind words but you get the drift. I can see how moving the call centers is in the best interest of the shareholders, but it’s definitely not in the best interest of the guests.
I’m upset because I feel like I was misled about the security of my job. My fears had directly been addressed at an in person summit and I was told not to worry. I received a promotion and consistently had fantastic scores on my calls. My feedback from guests included compliments such as “her kindness almost made me cry” and I thought I was doing this for a company who would at least care enough about me to fire me in a compassionate way, instead of a bungled teams meeting.
If Hyatt deliberately misled these folks, my respect for the company just went way down.
My Thoughts
There is always lament for those who lose their livelihoods, and I feel particularly sad for those employees who were given virtually no notice before being terminated. What kind of cruel employer gives one hour’s notice, even with a small severance package?
And talk about inefficient…my phone call anecdote above is a pervasive problem with outsourced call centers. When Hyatt can pay these workers in a month what it pays its US-based agents in less than a week, the financial motives are clear, but not sufficiently training them is unacceptable.
While Hyatt trying to maximize profits is hardly a surprise, I think it is going about it the wrong way.
CONCLUSION
Hyatt has reportedly laid off its remaining call center agents, leaving a small team of just 35 agents to handle VIP guests and escalated cases. This is very sad news not only for the employees who lost their jobs, but for all Hyatt guests who will not have to endure the inefficiencies almost inherent in an overseas call center.
image: Hyatt
To be fair, customer service from a call center in the Philippines is often better than the United States and certainly better than a Spanish-speaking country. The Philippines has one of the highest, if not the highest, English fluency rates in the world. Plus, the people are polite and there’s a genuine service culture. Your average Filipino probably speaks better English than your average American, who has a seventh or eighth grade reading level.
It may be that these agents in the Philippines are polite and can speak English, but my experience (over and over and over and over) again is that agents are not trained to think outside the box, poorly trained in general, and not empowered to do anything complex without involving their support team. With airlines, with hotels, with other industries too…
Well said,
had this issue just recently on Doordash where the 5$ was not automatically credited and they could not find out. Several times on hold. I have to find out there is a switch fro that but only when you update the app.Agent probably from Cebu he could not figure it out. Time wasted on the call was costlier than those 5 $ but luckily i got paid for that time anyway.
Agreed. If you’re going to give them the job, give them enough scope to solve the problem. In my experience they rarely go “off script”, which is frustrating for the customer and, I’m sure, frustrating for the agent. You’re right that their English language skills are usually well developed; and many speak it with an American-like accent which is reassuring to callers from the US; but if they have to ask for help every time something “outside the box” arises, it’s a waste of my time, and theirs.
Absolutely agree Matthew. Wonderfully nice people, have to ask to “escalate please” to get further assistance with agents in the PI. Calling into what seems to be a large room full of operators and noise makes it an even more unpleasant experience. United was using Philippine call centers for a while, even the 1K line, on weekends. Not cool if Hyatt cut the USA-based agents.
If they are looking to save money, eliminating bonuses or an outright pay cut in the executive suite could have been done, but no, it is always the “little” people that gets the brunt of it.
Agreed.
Unfortunately, many times layoffs are done just like this… no notice, and little to no time to gather your personal belongings. Being misleading about job security is pretty low however. The plan to expand the outsourcing was certainly in the works at the time of this summit
I had two baffling experiences with Hyatt customer service over the past ~5 days. First, I tweeted them asking to add my wife’s name to a reservation, as I would be arriving after her and wanted her to be able to check in. The first response I received stated that since I was redeeming points for the stay from an account in my name, I had to be present at the desk for check in. I pressed them on this, and was then told my wife could check in but I would have to come to the front desk with a photo ID when I arrived to prove I was actually staying at the hotel and not redeeming points for someone else. I told them to forget about it, called the hotel directly, and the problem was solved immediately. Then, the night of our stay, the hotel fire alarm went off at midnight, 2:30AM, and 5:30AM and the water stopped working at 3AM, requiring us to use the toilets in the lobby. I contacted Hyatt support via chat through the Hyatt app and was told they would offer 3,000 Hyatt points, “allowing you to get a free night at this or any other Category 3 property.” When I pointed out that Category 3 properties start at 9,000 points for off peak dates, the agent said “oh, would you like 9,000 points instead”? Uh…. yeah? Very, very bizarre and this explains it!
Marriott laid off 800 from the corporate office in Bethesda. However the state and county required a WARN notice in November and employees were not terminated until January. Reason being given * profitability and more flexibility for the franchisees * . I don’t know why the Hyatt employees were so badly treated unless remote workers are not provided the same type of protection.
I haven’t heard from my Hyatt globalist concierge for more than a year.
They haven’t replied to messages from you? Or they haven’t reached out to check in? Genuine question — not snark I swear!
The three times I emailed her in the last year, she was out of the office or it was over the weekend and it took 2-3 days for someone else to respond because, apparently, Hyatt doesn’t have 24/7 globalist agents on duty (unlike Marriott). I’ve never received an email from them despite regular stays. Not one.
Yup.. had to call to apply a TSU to a corporate rate yesterday. Transferred to 2 people and finally one person could figure it out. Took 5x as long as it used to take.
Moving call centers to countries with little employees’ protections reduces legal liabilities and costs. It also eliminates documentation of wrongdoings by franchisees.
I hate call centres with a passion. Even when they actually manage to resolve an immediate issue, they’re often designed to avoid addressing its causes. The problem is that a lot of companies make herculean efforts to prevent people from contacting them in writing, and, even if one sends something by post after having failed to encounter a relevant email address, the responses can also be inane and composed with the intention of wearing the customer down in order to get rid of them. Some companies just won’t attempt to seriously address a concern unless and until one sues them.
THIS is corporate America. Wouldn’t trust a boss not a single word. They lie to you shamelessly to your face.
That why there is also no loyalty between the employees and they also leave from one moment to another. No wonder why.