So Hyatt has a “pricematch” type of program where if you find a cheaper rate on another web site, they will match the price AND give you 20% for your stay. You can read more about the program on this site.
Hyatt’s rate
So I had initially booked my stay at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta on points. I then emailed the hotel to ask them how much it was to upgrade to the “plunge pool suite,” which is actually a 2 story suite. My coworker and I had a discussion whether “plunge pool” meant “infinity pool.” We came to the conclusion that they were probably 2 different things. Anyway, the cash difference on the Hyatt site was $150, but of course the hotel wanted to charge me $200 a night for the upgrade. I then thought it was ridiculous to spend 20K points + $200/night for a room (don’t ever do this by the way). That’s when I found out about the Hyatt BRG program.
So this was the price of the “plunge pool suite” on Hyatt.com. It’s $549 a night and when converted to Mexican Pesos, it’s 8026 MXN per night.
Expedia.mx
I then went to the Mexican version of Expedia’s site, expedia.mx. And that same room was 6416 MXN a night. I thought this was a slam dunk! So I submitted the BRG and after a couple of hours, I got an email back denying me the BRG because they said the rate was the same. Huh? Last I checked 6400 did NOT equal 8026. Here’s where things got RIDICULOUS.
Calling up Hyatt
So I called up Hyatt’s special care number. The lady asked me for my name and she was able to look up my failed attempt. Then I told her to go out to expedia.mx and search for the hotel. She proceeds to do that. Then she pulls up the hotel and goes, “Odd. The currency looks like it’s in British sterlings.” At this point, I found it odd that a Mexican web site would show the currency in sterlings. I asked her what was the amount, but she wouldn’t tell me. She then somehow clicked through to the “plunge pool” room and saw the confirmation screen come up. She then put me on hold for a minute or two. She comes back to tell me that because when she first pulled up expedia.mx, the currency shown was sterlings and then Australian dollars (she didn’t mention that before) to pesos, she would not be able to do the BRG because the currency kept changing. She then blamed it on the expedia.mx web site.
I told her it doesn’t happen to me in Chrome. I asked her what browser she was using and she said Internet Explorer. I asked her if she could try a different browse, and she said it wasn’t possible. Clearly she’s done so many BRG requests that her cookies are all screwed up. I should have asked her o do a new private session, but I just assumed she was using an old ass IE6 or IE7 browser. At the end of the day, I think we both knew she was being ridiculous, and she wasn’t going to budge. At the end of the call, I did ask her if I found a different site, if I could resubmit and she said sure. I think I’ll just call back tomorrow to get a different agent and try again. RIDICULOUS! And DAMN YOU MICROSOFT AND YOUR CRAPPY INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER!