Hyatt has announced the beginning of the integration with Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Earning and redemption will be possible at 50 SLH hotels as of December 6, 2018. You can already search and find those 50 properties at Hyatt.com. There is some good news — all World of Hyatt members are going to get free breakfast and late checkout at these properties. That’s awesome for those who do not have status or a Globalist friend.
This partnership was announced a while back, but details were light. I think the biggest piece of positive news is the benefits given to all World of Hyatt members who book directly via Hyatt (which should include award stays):
- Complimentary wifi
- Daily complimentary continental breakfast
- Room Upgrade (one category at check-in, if available)
- Early check-in (noon, based upon availability at check-in)
- Late check-out (2:00PM, based upon availability at check-in)
Globalists won’t find anything surprising in that list — except for the fact that these benefits will be available for all World of Hyatt members, at least for now. Since it is free and easy to join World of Hyatt, anyone booking an SLH hotel through Hyatt certainly ought to join and avail themselves of these benefits. Considering the fact that it’s only 50 hotels, this is a relatively small win, but it’s certainly nice for those with a stash of Ultimate Rewards and no Hyatt status.
In terms of bad news, we already knew this was coming, but hotels will fit into one of eight categories rather than the seven in the current Hyatt award chart. Here are the point requirements:
- Category 1: 5,000 points
- Category 2: 8,000 points
- Category 3: 12,000 points
- Category 4: 15,000 points
- Category 5: 20,000 points
- Category 6: 25,000 points
- Category 7: 30,000 points
- Category 8: 40,000 points
The SLH hotels are spread over several categories — they aren’t all Category 8 hotels (see my screen shot above of two hotels that came up when searching Milan — one at 25k and the other at 12K). But seeing some SLH hotels in Category 8 certainly isn’t a positive sign for World of Hyatt members. How long will Hyatt allow SLH properties to have more perceived value than the Park Hyatt New York or Tokyo? I’d say it’s only a matter of time before some of the top properties from the Hyatt portfolio move up.
That said, this is a net win for the time being. World of Hyatt members will be able to earn points on their room rate at these SLH hotels, though not on incidentals. Over time, more hotels are expected to be added as IT systems become integrated.
For more on this development, see the Hyatt announcement and One Mile at a Time.
H/T: One Mile at a Time
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