Hyatt Regency Phuket Terrible Experience Follow-Up
Awhile back I wrote about my terrible stay at the Hyatt Regency Phuket. During my stay a ton of things went wrong including me getting charged for a tier suite upgrade (confirmed suite upgrade) certificate when I wasn’t given a suite. I was also switched into a very very dirty room and Ellie got injured on their crumbling pool deck. Overall the property is not in great shape and there are a ton of issues so we ended our stay early. (See my previous post for a ton more info & pics!)
Overcharged!
To get you up to speed, here is what you need to know about the cost of our stay:
- We stayed 3 nights at a rate of 12K points per night or 36K total
- The hotel offered to reimburse one night (12K) after we were taken to an inferior room than the one we were checked into and were lied to about it
- My final cost leaving the hotel was to have been 24K points for the stay
A few days after we left the hotel I checked my World of Hyatt account and noticed two different 36K point charges for the Hyatt Regency Phuket along with the 12K point credit. I wasn’t sure if this was just a formatting issue with the Hyatt site, so I emailed my Hyatt concierge to confirm the points were taken twice.
Escalating to Hyatt
Before I go further let me back up. I had emailed her previously about the hotel to share my experiences detailed in the prior post. During this exchange I made it clear compensation wasn’t an issue, but instead I wanted it escalated to someone who might care.
I wrote, “Honestly I’m not worried about compensation but am more concerned that these issues get in the right hands. This hotel is in terrible shape and the management doesn’t seem to care. Thanks for passing it along. “
She responded indicating she had read through what happened and would escalate this to upper management. I never heard back on that issue, but a few days later I had to email her again about the double charge. She quickly confirmed I was charged twice and refunded the points. The refund was simple, but 36K points are incredibly valuable!
Sorry Is Not Enough
At that point I believed (and still do) that the second charge was done purposely by the hotel and out of spite. Perhaps I am wrong and that honestly doesn’t matter since I WAS charged twice by a hotel that had previously tried to charge me for a suite upgrade when I wasn’t in a suite.
After getting my points back I wrote the following:
At this point I am going to have to ask that you escalate this to a manager at Hyatt corporate so they can reach out to me about this. This hotel took a suite upgrade cert while not upgrading me to a suite (not to mention all of the other issues which were significant) and now tried to steal 36,000 points from my account. That is A LOT of points and has significant value. At this point I no longer believe this was a mistake considering the pattern of dishonesty from them. I believe they purposely took these points just like they purposely charged me a suite upgrade knowing they were giving me a standard room.
Did I come on too strong? Perhaps, but that doesn’t change all of the issues I encountered. Either way, she quickly responded with both good and bad news.
Thank you for your feedback. I checked your account and do not see any suite upgrade awards that the hotel redeemed. There was one issued out previously but when I returned the points to the account it also returned the suite upgrade award as well. You currently have 4 suite upgrade awards available through February 2020.It was not the hotel directly that redeemed these awards. It was our international World of Hyatt team. I will ensure that they are followed up. This was an error on their part and not something that typically happens. I have added and additional 30,000 points to your account for this inconvenience.
If you read my original post then you know the upgrade was taken out and then put back only after I called out the GM via email. This was conveyed to her in my original email, but somehow she had forgotten. I also don’t like the assertion that Hyatt corporate took the points without the hotel getting involved. Why would they grab the points if not asked to? I don’t think they just randomly went into my account and charged it again. I believe the hotel requested those points, but I could be wrong. Maybe I am.
Fair Compensation
Even with her forgetting about the suite upgrade, my Concierge’s response was effective. I felt the offer of 30K was more than adequate, but also still felt someone should know about this hotel. Here is how I responded:
Thank you I think your compensation is more than fair but the hotel did call Hyatt to take the suite upgrade when I was on property. It was only after I sent the GM a screenshot showing I wasn’t in a suite that it was returned. Again, that is all documented in my post and backed up with emails between me and management. But you’re right it has been returned. I just had to force their hand.
Seeing as you have more than made it right I won’t bother you anymore. I do think this property does your brand more harm than good but I’ll leave it up to you if you think someone higher up needs to see this complaint.
By this point I was traveling elsewhere and tired of dealing with this, but I wanted to make it clear that I was willing to talk to anyone who cared. Basically I left the ball in Hyatt’s court as to the escalation. It has been a couple of months now and no one has reached out so apparently it was never was escalated. That’s a shame.
Hyatt Regency Phuket Terrible Experience – Bottom Line
I recently just requalified for Hyatt Globalist status having spent about 50 nights in Hyatt hotels since March, 2019 and have spent hundreds of Hyatt nights in my many previous years as an elite. I can honestly say my experience and this hotel were the worst I have seen from Hyatt and don’t ever plan on making a return visit.
To sum up: If anyone at Hyatt is reading this, the hotel has issues. See above and here. Thanks for the points, but that won’t fix the real problems. – Shawn
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Why not just rent a car and go to a more local Thai hotel. My experience with thailand and Phuket especially. Is the brand name hotels are grossly over priced for what you are getting. Koh Samui has this same problem.
I’ve stayed there a few years. Hardware wasn’t bad, but its management and service left quite a bit to be desired.
I was looking at this hotel for a future stay. which other hotel do you recommend to stay in Phuket?
The compensation is indeed generous, but no compensation can undo a ruined vacation. Sorry to hear about your terrible experience.
I have stayed at hotels of a number of brands that were sub par and later I found out that they dropped out of the main hotel program, whether that was a Radisson, a Hyatt or a Hilton or Marriott. Those hotels simply got old and tired and clearly did not want to live up to the standards of the “brand” name. I too received compensation where it was due……….which was fine. But, later I found out the “brand” dropped them. It is always good to write.
It looks quite shabby & grotty, & for such a lousy location one would expect some luxury to compensate. The club lounge is rather sad too. No reason to stay here unless you’re trying to earn/burn Hyatt points. So many better places to stay in Phuket.
Terrible! I hope that you can just let it go and say phuk it.
Headed to Phuket soon, and honestly this just looks like a terrible hotel. I will definitely avoid now.