My title is in jest as a way to sum up the populist sentiment among Hyatt Gold Passport members recently bypassed by Hyatt’s targeted promotion for 3,000 points after 3 nights, up to 30,000 bonus points for stays from August 5 through September 30, 2011. This targeted Hyatt Gold Passport offer was posted on FlyerTalk on the morning of Friday August 5.
An even better Hyatt targeted promotion appeared within 30 minutes on MilePoint.com for 5,000 points every three nights, up to 30,000 points for stays from August 5 through September 30.
In the 12 years I have followed FlyerTalk, I probably have earned more than 100,000 miles and hotel points from targeted promotions where I was not one of the targeted class. That being said, I have also seen dozens of promotions where outrage is expressed by frequent flyer and frequent guest members who feel slighted by not receiving a promotion bonus from a targeted promotion.
As a general practice I do not write about targeted offers on Loyalty Traveler blog. I see no reason to write about offers that readers are unlikely to receive. Certainly I miss sharing some good deals with readers that earn points or miles when the targeted class is expanded to include the whiners, but I frequently see deals mentioned on other travel blogs that are targeted and then readers are upset and complain when the points or miles do not post.
Case in point is the current Hyatt promotion for 3,000 points or 5,000 points every 3 nights. Hyatt Gold Passport Concierge started threads on both FlyerTalk.com and Milepoint.com yesterday to address the issue of these targeted promotions. The initial terms and conditions included the word “or” which some Hyatt Gold Passport members interpreted as a viable loophole in language that qualifies them for the promotion despite all the wording on the promotion pages stating these offers are exclusive to the email recipient and nontransferable.
Wording on the promotion registration page explicitly states:
Bonus points will be awarded exclusively to those members who were chosen to receive this offer.
The consensus deduced from FlyerTalk is this promotion targeted general members and Platinum elite members with fewer than 5 stays in 2011. No Gold Passport Diamond members, including me, appear to have been part of the target group for these promotions.
Another issue generating hope for points from Gold Passport untargeted members is the ability to register for the promotion and receive an immediate confirmation of registration from Hyatt Gold Passport.
Please remember that this offer is not transferable and will be awarded only to those members who were chosen to receive this offer.
Gold Passport members still hold out hope that Hyatt will expand the promotion to all who registered.
The Social Network Doesn’t Keep Secrets
One of the issues of social networking is the ability to access information about targeted loyalty program offers. Hundreds of thousands of frequent flyers and frequent guests share details of their interactions with travel companies.
Targeted offers can generate a backlash in social media. I have to say that a large part of my moving away from Hilton HHonors was several years of seeing lucrative targeted  offers for bonus points that I was ineligible to receive. I had the feeling that being Hilton HHonors Diamond was keeping me out of the most lucrative HHonors promotions. Eventually I moved on to other hotel loyalty programs where I could take advantage of better value offers.
The discussion on Milepoint and FlyerTalk shows frustration with Hyatt for launching a valuable points promotion targeted to a select class of Gold Passport members while the members with plenty of hotel stay activity have seen property specific bonuses for 1,000 to 2,000 points per stay disappear from Gold Passport over the past six months and Faster Free Nights where two hotel stays earned a free night at any Hyatt take its longest hiatus in years.
Hyatt Gold Passport has seen plenty of changes in the past couple of years as the loyalty program offered members incredibly lucrative promotions prior to Hyatt Hotels going public on the stock market in 2009 and launching a Hyatt Visa credit card in 2010.
Hyatt Gold Passport was the small fry loyalty program with blockbuster promotions among the major hotel loyalty programs of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, IHG Priority Club and Starwood Preferred Guest. Social media and round after round of high-value promotions helped the Hyatt Gold Passport loyalty program grow substantially in membership over the past couple of years.
“Damn you Hyatt. I’m not targeted, but give me the points anyway!” is the other side of living in the social media material world of loyalty programs.
I registered for the 5,000 points after three nights promotion anyway as the screen shots show in this post.
You never know.
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