The Park Hyatt Sydney has recently implemented two extremely guest-unfriendly changes that undermine what loyalty should be built on and should not be permitted by Hyatt…
Double Whammy: Two Negative Changes Impacting World Of Hyatt Members At Park Hyatt Sydney
I do love the Park Hyatt Sydney. Located on “The Rocks” of Sydney Harbour directly adjacent to the Sydney Opera House, the location is ideal. The hotel rooms are also very nice and the breakfast is outstanding. I’ve had many wonderful stays at this hotel over the years.ae
But this is property is what I’d call a Globalist factory (though perhaps not as bad as the Ventana Big Sur or Park Hyatt Maldives), in which a disproportionate amount of guests hold elite status in the World of Hyatt program. That’s because, at least traditionally at 35K points versus $1,000/night it provided outsized value to redeem your Hyatt points at.
But the hotel–which is not corporate owned–recently took two steps to discourage Hyatt elites from booking.
First, Park Hyatt Sydney has re-designated itself as a “resort” (even though by all definitions, it is a city hotel and nothing close to a resort). Why? Because there is a resort exception clause to the late checkout guarantee for World of Hyatt elites. While late-checkout (as late as 4:00 pm for Globalists) is guaranteed at Hyatt hotels, resorts are excluded from that…and now a boutique city hotel has decided to rebrand itself as a resort.
That’s shameful.
Second, as I outlined last week, read the fine print of points redemptions at this hotel and you’ll find something dismaying: when you use points to pay for your room, even 13 months in advance, the reservation is non-refundable, non-changeable, non-cancellable…you’re totally out of luck if your plans change.
In some ways, that is even worse than the faux “resort” designation and clearly meant to discourage those from using their points (though oddly cash + points, which is half the points and half the daily rate, have a much more generous cancellation policy of 48 hours in advance). My understanding is that Hyatt compensates their properties well for points space, especially when the hotel is running full, so I don’t quite understand the commercial decision behind this move beyond just being punitive.
Can Globalists be demanding and a net negative when they indulge in breakfast and late-checkout? I’d say that is the wrong way to look at it. Instead, this hotel would not attract nearly the interest or price that it does without operating under the Hyatt banner.
I wish Hyatt would crack down on properties like this (the Park Hyatt Tokyo also recently decided to re-brand as a resort).
CONCLUSION
The Park Hyatt Sydney won’t let you cancel many bookings made with points and now has decided it is a “resort” propriety in order to deny late checkouts to World of Hyatt elites. I get that it can be difficult from a housekeeping perspective when half the hotel may have guaranteed late-checkout, but it is a supreme insult to call that hotel a resort or to enact such a stringent cancellation policy on points bookings.
While not Hyatt-owned, it is Hyatt-operated. So corporate, at some level, approved of this. It’s plain the direction that Hyatt is moving in. Of course, the funny thing is Park Hyatt isn’t even a luxury brand. It’s more like a Fairmont or JW Marriott.
JW is in the lux box with RC StR etc at Marriott
Fairmont’s very much pitched at the same level too.
JW Marriott is not luxury.
The “non-refundable, non-changeable, non-cancellable” part is egregious. But, from what I’ve heard (never stayed there, never would), people wanting to check in at the “official time” of 3pm can sit there watching a long stream out late check outs and not see a room until 6pm. High occupancy, a large number of Globalists wanting a 4pm check out, and a high percentage of check ins arriving before 4pm can’t be sustained if the percentages are high enough. You could leave rooms empty overnight when there is demand, but that is expensive. You can delay room availability to incoming guests (including globalists) until 6 or 7pm or later, but that certainly won’t fly. Or, you don’t allow 4pm check outs.
I have status at a number of hotels, not Hyatt. If I arrive at 1pm, hoping a room is free, but knowing I might have to wait until 3pm, OK. But, I’m sitting there at 4pm still seeing guests check out, I’m getting hot. Then, to not see the room until 6pm, I’m livid. So, yeah remove my late check out rights to solve that problem (my high-status accounts are at hotels that don’t guarantee late check outs. And, that ultimately may be a good thing.)
I agree with this 100%. I might use a 4PM checkout once or twice a year at most. With that said I often arrive on overseas flights landing in the morning (especially to OZ and Europe) and pray for an early check in -which rarely happens because of late check outs.
With that said I’m imagining this is less about U.S. guests as most flights back home leave in the morning. As well less an issue with Aussie guests. The issue is more likely Asian guests wanting the room until the evening bank of flights depart SYD. The past few stays there I noticed that Asian guests dominated at the hotel and were checking out in large swaths later in tbe afternoon.
I actually prefer the option to block a room with an eye towards early check in with matching early check out. But even then I rarely use the My 24 system.
Late checkouts are not a big deal to most and actually cost the hotel extra expenses on labor so I get it. As for the cancellation policy that does seem excessive.
My question is why the rates are so low that it creates this much demand among elites? And would the hotel rooms be full at $1000 a night without the points customers? These answers will provide the answer on why they did this. Half the hotel (maybe an exaggeration) staying at 35k points does seem to be a negative for the hotel.
Talking about late check out or room not ready for check in? How about disgusting hotels charging extra to let you check in earlier? Arrived a few weeks ago from an overseas flight in Chicago and got into Radisson Blue Chicago at 11:30am (official check in time was 3pm). I gave my passport and credit card to the person at the reception desk and asked if I could check in earlier as I was coming from a long flight and would appreciate a shower. Her response: “We have your room ready but to let you in before 3pm we have to charge you a fee.” What a great customer service, right? It is not that she was making any special accommodations and giving me a different room or anything. It was my room that was available but she wanted more money to let me in. I waited until 3pm without a shower and will never stay at that hotel again.
I absolutely agree. Denying check-in to an available room at 1130 without paying extra is plain old nickel-and-dime behaviour. If we’re arriving somewhere very early (like 0500) we’ll always book for the night before to ensure our room is ready to occupy immediately, but when the room is ready and available at 1130 and they still say no? Any hotel playing those games will go on my shit-list, permanently.
I don’t agree, this is the sort of thing that’s best given on a complimentary basis to elites. How would you have felt if you had been Radisson Unobtainium and turned up just after the non-elite customer who was given free early check in only to be told that there’s nothing else available and you can’t enter your room for another two hours?
They were willing to let him occupy the room for a fee, though. If it had been earmarked for a potential “elite” guest arriving early, the offer wouldn’t have been made.
It’s one thing if they’re selling things to non-elites and quite another if they’re giving them away for free. Accor certainly list an elite benefit of early check in ‘depending on availability’, and the price tag obviously serves as a deterrent to anyone who doesn’t desperately need early access- also see airline seat selection fee waivers for elites.
Park Hyatt Tokyo also designated itself a resort a couple months ago. I expect this will be the trend unless corporate steps in.
Attempted a 9:00 AM check-in upon arrival from the U.S. this past January. Room was not ready until after 5:30 PM, so I can see how late-checkout may not be viable at this property based on high number of Gloablist/high demand for late checkout/early arrival and overall smaller property.
Maybe a rolling 24-hour check-in/check-out window is best?
Would have been ideal for us since we were out of the room by 6:30 AM the next morning.
24 hours minus tinevto clean the room. But still, the logistics becomes troublesome (it’s akin to the problem satellites had years ago, maybe still today). I want (let’s make it)22 hours starting Monday a 11am. You want 2 days plus 22 hours starting Tuesday at 4 pm. But, can we align my reservation with yours? But, there’s 7 hours between my departure and your arrival, do we’re wasting time. Unimportant with empty rooms, but at high occupancy rates, fitting the puzzle pieces together is tough. Good news, people have been working on these algorithms fir a while (the satellite issue), but now add the human element (e.g., late on the departure, room needs “extra attention”).
There are ways to address this. First, not every Globalist uses 4pm check out. We certainly left early due to our flight time when we stayed. We also arrived at 10pm from Melbourne, not at 3pm demanding a suite. Second, you can address this by incentivizing the desired behavior, rather than punishing every Globalist. Offer 5,000 points to Globalists who check out at 11am. Offer points or a credit to to people who can accept their room after 6pm. Restrict late checkout for GOH bookings, or make it 1-2pm. But just a blanket “sorry, we’re a resort now” it’s complete BS.
That’s shocking especially given your early next day departure. Did you complain?
This article is wrong!
First off, the Park properties are part of the luxury line of hotels, not resorts. This has been the case for at least 4 years now.
Second, the information about non refundable is also, inaccurate. That is true if you are booking over holidays, or special events, but is not the Standard practice. I am currently looking at dates available in June, and it is a 2 day cancelation policy.
Finally, the late checkout is always based on availability. They are not saying no due to being a Resort, they may be full and have other Globalists asking for an early check in, a lot depends on dates.
Please research better. Spreading your experience as a “new rule” when it is just your experience, is lazy reporting.
No Kim, it is a resort. Check the homepage:
https://www.hyatt.com/park-hyatt/en-US/sydph-park-hyatt-sydney
And no, late checkout is guaranteed for Globalists…except at resort properties.
And no, award bookings are non-refundable for ALL dates that I found space:
Please don’t post your garbage here.
I just put in random dates in October and it says “No Refund/No Changes” when booking with points. That’s worse than MMS’s 30 days…
Yes, it’s through end of schedule.
I wanted to book several nights here before devaluation and did not because of this horrible new restriction.
Park Hyatt Tokyo also recently reclassified itself as a resort, which is such a shame. I think the underlying problem is likely the excessive amount of Guest of Honor awards currently floating around. It was never an issue until Hyatt restructured the Guest of Honor benefit to be transferable without a condition, ultimately overwhelming these luxury properties.
Could be.
I’m not opposed to some high demand properties restricting GOH benefits if they can show it is impacting guest experience. However, Hyatt wants to have it both ways. They incentivize people to share GOH certificates by earning one elite night credit, and the program is designed to get you to experience Globalist benefits so that hopefully you become one. But they want to do that and at the same time renege on those benefits once people try to use them. If the GOH program is causing the issue, then dump it. There are other ways to address this, and not every Globalist stays until 4pm. We didn’t even arrive at the the PH SYD until 10pm on our flight from MEL.
I tried some random dates in July. The most expensive suite at the Sofitel Wentworth (51 sq m., rate comes with lounge access and breakfast) is 568AUD per night, whereas the cheapest room at the PH (40sq.m.) starts at 1102AUD (no breakfast included). If you are happy paying that, the resort classification should be the least of your worries.
I left the Hyatt scheme some years ago IHC is much more flexible consistent and fair . They also have more hotels of differing grades in more places . There are many better hotels in Sydney unless you spend your time staring out of a window at a bridge is your thing !? Did you ever try walking !
I have stayed at the PH Sydney twice and both times was unimpressed with the service (which is kind of cultural in Australia). But even with a great breakfast, my room view was terrible as a Globalist, I was largely ignored with the few requests I had. Breakfast was great, but the service lacked hugely.
I will say that they let me check in by 10am – but I had plans to just drop my bags and would have been fine with that.
The deeper issue here is that Hyatt is finally coming around with the other big hotel chains of reduced benefits, rising fees and costs, and soon enough their redemption rates will be up there with Marriott and Hilton – laughably high. Enjoyed it while it lasted.
How is guaranteed late check-out supposed to work if, as you say, the guests nearly all have elite status? Either arriving guests are screwed on check-in time, or you’re relying on enough guests not availing of late check-out. “Elite” status doesn’t work if everyone has it.
Off topic but Grand Hyatt Dubai has a water park on hotel premises for kids/adults. However if you book your stay with points, they will not let you access this activity. You have to be a paying guest inorder to enjoy this perk.
That’s horrible!