MTM Travel June 9, 2026
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American Airlines is quietly blocking last-minute partner award space, Alaska is raising its partner and phone booking fees on July 1, and Shawn just had a really bad “five-star” stay at the Grand Hyatt Athens. On this episode of MTM Travel, Shawn and Mark break down the AA award change and who it actually hurts, the Alaska fee increases and how the Summit card can offset them, and a brutal play-by-play of a Hyatt stay gone wrong — slow undersized elevators, road-noise “motel” rooms, burned eggs, no elite recognition, and a manager who hid in the back — all against a flawless stay at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona. Plus why lounges are cracking down on taking food and drinks, the role of private-equity cost-cutting, and how Hyatt only displays its good TripAdvisor reviews. Let us know your own Hyatt experiences down below, and we’ll be back Thursday with more travel news.
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I booked Bahia principe luxuryAkumal akumal before it became Hyatt explore akumal.
I have stated this resort many many times before. I always had excellent on the phone talk talks with the Bahia before it became Hyatt. Now I am on the phone waiting over 50 minutes and finally get people who don’t know what they’re doing with Hyatt.
I escalated to the top customer service person with Hyatt hotels and got some help but now I’m getting no help from the Bahia property itself which I always had great support with before
This year, I am taking 20 family members and want to organize some things before we get there.
Still hasn’t happened. I don’t know what is happening with Hyatt but certainly no customer service and I am somewhat concerned about our upcoming Stay.
We stayed at Grand Hyatt Athens a couple months ago. I can only imagine how busy it is in the summer there. A few comments that might help others.
1. Do not even try to use the elevators near the front desk, just go to the back eleverator stack near the conference rooms.
2. I do agree the lounge food was OK at best.
3. Some staff are actually nice, including some really nice breakfast staff. I actually thought the breakfast buffet was fine, but we don’t really eat eggs for breakfast.
4. The lounge staff is very quiet, and I’m not trying to totally defend them, but when we talked to her, she was nice. However, otherwise, they just focus on cleaning the place. She was fast when we were there on cleaning up after guests.
5. Check in is insane. Staff just totally overwhelmed and exhausted. Never saw the elite desk manned.
6. There is a but stop right near the hotel, so you can easily get from the hotel to the tourist sites. Multiple bus lines work, they come every 5 minutes or so.
7. Cleaning staff seem to be mostly temporary workers from south asia. This really surprised me as I though Greece had an unemployment issue.
8. We spent 8 weeks in Greece. Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki was actually really great. However, overall, and this doesn’t apply to just the Grand Hyatt Athens, customer service is hit or miss in the country. That is a generalization yes, but don’t expect high quality service levels.
9. Grand Hyatt Athens recently moved up from cat 3 to 4. I wouldn’t spend money to stay there, but if you have certs expiring or want to use points, it’s still a decent deal if you have GOH or are globalist.
Hmmm.. I am/was(?) looking forward to an overnight stay at the Dream Nashville next week. (Waited to book till it was lowered to a Level 4 last month and I could use my free night award.) Will report back.
Shawn, in a podcast with your Disney pal a few years ago, you offered a characterization of many who are in the hobby. Hold that thought.
Regarding Hyatt, the subjective stuff matters.
After the recent Hyatt overhaul, another hobby site’s sole focus (seemingly) was cents per point and their conclusion was essentially “oh, it’s not that bad.” They don’t discuss the subjective stuff . . . such as the decline in service/standards that you and Mark discussed. Sure, everyone wants a deal but . . . More and more, their content reminds me of your characterization a few years back.