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Points + Cash Availability For Hyatt Will Be Online Soon

ByEdward Pizzarello
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Good news out of Hyatt today.  Jeff Zidell, Senior VP of Hyatt Gold Passport took part in a video interview that Gary Leff of View From The Wing moderated today on Blab.

I was hoping to pop in and listen to the chat, especially given that Jeff would be answering questions.  I’m a big fan of Jeff’s and not just because I’m a Hyatt HomerTM.  While there were a bunch of people asking questions in the margin, there weren’t that many who had the tech in place (or maybe bravery/stupidity quotient) to want to show their mugs on video to ask a question.

So, I hopped in with a couple of questions.  The one that yielded an answer that will be well-received by Gold Passport members was:

Hey, Jeff.  When are we going to see Points + Cash availability online?

Jeff’s answer was a great one.  Paraphrasing, he said that they expected it to be within the next 6 months.  He was optimistic we might see it in Q4 of this year, but also backed that up with the comment that it might fall into next year.  He said he wished this had already been accomplished, but there were other large priorities on the “.com” front that needed to be addressed.

He also mentioned a larger refresh of the Gold Passport section of the website, though no firm timeline on that.

This is really good news for Gold Passport members.  It comes on the heels of this discussion I was having recently about what properties should be required to offer when it comes to Points + Cash availability.  And, I think we can have a much better discussion if we’re able to see what sort of availability properties have over the entire calendar.  It also might “encourage” some properties to make P+C available more often so they don’t look like they don’t offer the award.  In short, I can’t see a reason this is a bad development.

I’m hopeful it will come out before the end of Q1 2016, since that’s 7-ish months away.

Here’s the full video chat if you want to see what else Gary and Jeff covered:

 

https://cdn.blab.im/rec/03ee55b2bc0b4128938587a7756481ab/original/e1df24fde33b4c8790544ea66c4941cb_full.mp4

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

7 Comments

  1. You and Gary wasted 30 mins of your “valuable” time not getting answers to questions we have for long time.

    You guys missed asking 2 important questions. Why Many Hyatts worldwide are intentionally blocking awards while making them available for cash and why many hyatts are charging us rip off resort fees and Hyatt in India not disclosing how much in tax & fees and we would be charged during booking.

    Reply

    1. Maybe because those are questions for individual hotels to address, and not the head of Hyatt Gold Passport loyalty program?

      Of course, you were free to go online and ask this yourself. Or you can still do so by sending Jeff a mail. He’s not a hard guy to find.

      Reply

    2. tim, sorry for not replying sooner. Jeff is on record as aggressively working with properties who intentionally or unintentionally block awards. But, if you have specific examples, I’m happy to raise them with Hyatt. Resort fees isn’t really a Hyatt issue, all chains try to charge resort fees when they can. Not familiar with the India issue but happy to raise it.

      Reply

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