Hyatt Gold Passport has eliminated its Platinum Extras Awards offered to Platinum elite members after every third eligible Hyatt stay. After earning an award, Platinum members received an email with a link to a page where they could choose from different benefits, such as an in-hotel amenity, room upgrade or bonus points.

Bottom line: Jeff Zidell, VP of Hyatt, notified Milepoint members about the change three weeks in advance of the discontinuation of Platinum Extras Awards. Zidell explained that they decided to discontinue the program because the majority of members didn’t redeem their Platinum Extras Awards. He said, “more than 75 percent of the awards earned by Platinum members were never redeemed. Therefore, it simply makes sense for us to focus our time, attention and resources on improving the program in new and innovative ways rather than administering a benefit that members don’t value.”

As Milepoint member, HaveMilesWillTravel pointed out, “I think one of the reasons why it didn’t get much use was that it seemed confusing to newly minted Platinums … If they wanted to make it easier for everyone, they could have just offered a 1,000 point bonus for every third stay or something like that. Alas, they chose to have the Platinum Extra Awards go the way of the Gx bonuses.” Gx bonuses were popular offers that were discontinued, offering 500 to 2,000 bonus points per stay at select properties.