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.
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.