File this under the section of rants. I’ve been in and out of work trips over the past couple of weeks, and I really needed a break from minding my own business, so I decided to check into the Hyatt hotels in Mumbai for some rest and recuperation. I’ve just checked out of the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and checked into the Hyatt Regency Mumbai.

Now, while I’ve had some superb experiences with Hyatt properties around India, I’ve begin to realise they are not all made equal. While the Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa, consistently makes me feel special and good about holding on to Hyatt’s Diamond Tier, the Hyatt Pune also did an above and beyond job by upgrading me to the suite while they did not have to.

Hyatt Regency Pune did meet expectations when they upgraded me to the club King room. So did the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, when they upgraded me to the Club room with lounge access privileges, which is a part of the benefits offered to Hyatt Diamond members. However, they did not deliver a letter or a note explaining those benefits to me, which is feedback for them.

See, here are the Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond membership benefits for your reference, and while I don’t expect to be upgraded to a suite when I check into a Hyatt hotel everytime I go there, I do expect the hotels to give the benefits that are due:

Enjoy the best room available upon arrival, excluding suites

So, I check into the Hyatt Regency Mumbai, and I go straight to the check-in counter, where they informed me they had a Club category room ready for me. Since I’d booked a base category room, that should have done the trick, except…

They had a Club Deluxe Category of rooms, still available (see below screenshot), which they did not bother to tell me anything about.

So, I call up the front desk, and the conversation went like this:

Me: I would like to find out what category of room am I allocated tonight?

FD: Sir, you booked a base category room tonight, and we upgraded you to a Club category room with access to the Regency Lounge

Me: Thank you for that, but is that the best category room available tonight

FD: Yes Sir

Me: I do see you have higher category rooms, called Club Deluxe King rooms available as well.

FD: Yes Sir, but we have already upgraded you to the next category of room for being a Diamond member

Me: Agree and I appreciate that, however the Hyatt Gold Passport terms state that a Diamond member would be able to enjoy the best available rooms (excluding suites) upon check in.

FD: Sir, let me have the manager call you back.

And it seems they did not ever do it like this, or no one ever challenged their interpretation of the Hyatt Gold Passport rules. So I get a call back after 5 minutes of twiddling my thumbs:

MoD: Sir, I believe you wanted to talk to me…

Me: I explained my concern to your colleague already

MoD: Yes sir, and I would like to inform you that we’ve already upgraded your room.

Me: But it is not the best available category, right?

MoD: Yes, but it is one up from what you booked.

At this point I was totally bedazzled by the very firm interpretation of the rules the hotel had, which was not in line with how the rest of Hyatt properties interpret it. So I invited this man for a chat with me face to face. We met in the club lounge for a few moments, and I pulled up the Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond benefits on my phone to show him.

He looked like he never had seen this before, and challenged the wordings of the GP program. So I explained him my experience in other Hyatt hotels, including those around India. At this point, he insisted that they were doing the right thing. Eventually, he told me he is going to upgrade me to the Club Deluxe room, and take my feedback to the management.

Was it worth it? I guess so. Here is the original Club Room and the Club Deluxe room, which are way different in terms of space.

The Club Room At Hyatt Regency Mumbai

The Club Deluxe Room at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai

So was it me being a spoilt brat, or was it the hotel trying to get away with under-delivery of committed benefits? Would you speak up to a hotel Front Desk if they really wanted to get away with something like this?

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