Skift Business Traveler: Hyatt Scooping Up Estranged Elite Customers From Rivals

What to Know Now

Fresh on heels of Marriott announcing its purchase of Starwood and the subsequent outcry from business travelers, Hyatt appears to be fishing through the backwaters and picking up defectors.

Now’s actually a great time for Hyatt to woo the community. Many Starwood elites are concerned that their precious Preferred Guest program is going down the tubes and with 2016 around the corner, a full year of their loyalty is up for grabs. According to The Points Guy, Hyatt is offering some pretty serious incentives — so if you’ve been thinking about making a switch, now may be your time to act.

Social Quote of the Day

I wonder if Hyatt will match my Total Wine “Reserve” status?

– @RobertDwyer | Wine, Points & Miles, Family Travel, Deals

Airlines

5 Charts Showing Pros and Cons of Spend-Based Airline Loyalty Programs: Now that all three major U.S. carriers’ loyalty programs place more emphasis on amount spent on airfares than number of miles flown, following American Airlines AAdvantage program changes this week, it’s worth looking at the benefits and setbacks of this new era of airline loyalty. Read more at Skift

United Airlines Finally Has a New Labor Agreement With Pilots: United Continental Holdings Inc. has reached a proposed two-year contract extension with its pilots union, continuing a run of improved labor relations at the airline. Read more at Skift

Why 3 of the Next 4 Weeks Will Be Super Tough for Upgrades: If you want to have the best change of an upgrade, you want to fly when there’s the least amount of competition for scarce upgrade seats. Read more at View from the Wing

The U.S. Is Now Headed Into Lost Luggage Season: Heading into winter, fliers should take extra precautions with their checked luggage — December and January are traditionally the worst months for lost bags. Read more at Skift

Airports

Changi Airport Continues Making the World’s Best Airport Better: Speaking to attendees at the APEX Asia Conference in Singapore this week, Mr. Tan Lye Teck, Executive Vice President, Airport Management for the Singapore Changi Airport Group shared the challenges of providing passengers at the aerotropolis a smooth passenger experience while preparing for unprecedented growth. Read more at Skift

Mexico’s Richest Man Is the Only One Able to Build Mexico City’s New Airport: Mexico’s largest infrastructure companies have waited more than two years to get a piece of the capital’s new $13 billion airport project. Now as bids get under way, most are in poor position to compete. Enter billionaire Carlos Slim. Read more at Skift

FAA to Airports: Clear the Snow This Winter. Or Else: Major winter storms aren’t just a colossal hassle for airlines and their passengers—airports have a huge job when it comes to monitoring their runways and keeping them cleared. Failing to do so can prove very expensive, as airport executives in Detroit and Cleveland learned recently. Read more at Skift

This Startup Promises to Sell a $19 Ticket Out of Airport Hell: As holiday travel and winter weather converge, the annual ritual is about to unfold at U.S. airports: Flights are canceled, and disgruntled masses throng ticket counters and flood airline call centers hunting for alternatives. Happy holidays? Read more at Skift

Tech

Video: Why Instagram Is the New Language of Consumer Travel Engagement: Jeremy Jauncey, founder of Beautiful Destinations, spoke at the Skift Global Forum about the power of visuals to influence consumer behavior. Read more at Skift

Mobile Will Represent More Than Half of All Online Travel Bookings in 2016: Online travel is about to reach a tipping point: 2016 will be the year when, for the first time, more than half of all online bookings for U.S. travelers will be completed on a mobile device. Read more at Skift

Hotels

Interview: Accor Hotels CEO on Moving Fast While Others Fail: Sebastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of Accor Hotels, thinks the hotel industry has been a self-inflicted victim of inertia, having failed to respond over the last 15 years to the emergence of online travel agencies, their integration of travel metasearch, and now the sharing economy. Read more at Skift

Free Stay and Triple Points with Choice Hotels: Join as a new member of the Choice Privileges frequent guest loyalty program, and you will be rewarded with enough points for a free night: 4,000 points right away; and another 4,000 points earned after your first stay at one of greater than 5,500 locations worldwide. Read more at InsideFlyer

Starwood Warns Hackers Accessed Credit Card Information at 54 Hotels: Starwood says hackers were able to see debit and credit card information of some people that dined or shopped at 54 of its hotels, including some Sheraton, Westin and W locations. Read more at Skift

Hilton Will Experiment With More Restrictive Cancellation Policies: Hilton Worldwide is testing a new cancellation policy at approximately 20 of its properties across the U.S., including at its Hilton, DoubleTree, and Embassy Suites brands. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Banksy’s Dismaland has not been shot in 360.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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