Quick hit: what we think we know about World of Hyatt status transition

In this Monday's post, I explained why I thought a plain reading of the World of Hyatt terms and conditions made it possible, but far from certain, that Hyatt would grant World of Hyatt Globalist status through February, 2019, to Hyatt Gold Passport members who qualified for Diamond status between January 1 and February 28, 2017.

Then I launched into a pretty extensive rant on Twitter about the habit of loyalty programs to leak "confirmed" details, without attribution, to their pet affiliate bloggers.

What can I say? I get worked up about unethical bloggers occupying a privileged position in the loyalty firmament.

An actual Hyatt Gold Passport executive appeared to have answered the question in public

Under increasing pressure from hardworking independent bloggers (joking!), an account claiming to be that of Hyatt Gold Passport Senior Vice President Jeff Zidell tweeted that "25 Stays or 50 nights in Jan/Feb, would earn Diamond through Feb 2019, which would then transition to Globalist on March 1."

Pretty convincing, right? The simplest reading of the tweet is that anyone who qualifies as a Diamond through February, 2019, would be transitioned into Globalist status for the same period.

Who is @jeffzidell and who is @BinghamtonDaily?

I don't know Jeff Zidell. I don't get invited to the Freddies, and I don't have one-on-one chats with loyalty program executives. But it's clear that the @jeffzidell Twitter account is not the Twitter account of someone deeply invested in the nitty-gritty of loyalty program logistics. He mostly retweets other people's posts about Hyatt's loyalty program, marathoning, and being a vulnerable leader.

Meanwhile, his supposedly definitive tweet about Diamond requalification in 2017 was directed at @BinghamtonDaily, which is a Trump-supporting sockpuppet account. Recent representative tweet: "NY 22 Three candidate field of non-compelling candidates. Write In Eric Trump."

@BinghamtonDaily deleted whatever tweet @jeffzidell appeared to be responding to, so we have no public record of the entire exchange.

I personally believe Hyatt will transition 2018 Gold Passport Diamond status to 2018 World of Hyatt Globalist status

But this is not about my personal beliefs. If a loyalty program wants to earn loyalty it has an obligation to make the terms of the program as clear as possible, and where ambiguity exists, to resolve it publicly on equal terms.

So don't attack me for calling into question what will happen to Hyatt Gold Passport Diamonds after March 1, 2017. Join me in asking Hyatt to make clear, in public, with attribution, whether they intend to transition 2018 Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond status to World of Hyatt Globalist status through February 28, 2019. It's a simple yes-or-no question, and Hyatt's refusal to answer it on the record is a problem.