Hyatt’s New Brand: The Unbound Collection
Luciana Mangas March 03, 2016
Hyatt Hotels Corporation has launched its 13th brand, titled The Unbound Collection by Hyatt. This new brand of independent hotels will include new and existing boutique and luxury properties around the world.
Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, announced that this collection of properties will allow Hyatt to better reach the modern traveler who seeks unique experiences, but will also enjoy the benefits and reassurance of the Hyatt loyalty program.
“The Unbound Collection by Hyatt provides us with a myriad of opportunities to grow, not only in new markets, but also in places we know our guests want to go,” he added in an announcement.
According to the Chief Marketing Officer of Hyatt Hotels, Maryam Banikarim, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt will differ from other such collections because it could include lodging opportunities other than hotels, such as a river cruise. The properties will be four- or five-stars to maintain a high-quality but will also take fun and social media shareability into consideration.
“Consumers generally are focusing more on experiences than things,” Banikarim said. “We’ve been getting a lot of demand from owners wanting a product like this and demand from consumers wanting a product like this and we thought the time was right.”
At the moment, the hotels that have joined the new collection include: The Driskill Hotel in Austin, The Hôtel du Louvre in Paris, and The Carmelo Resort and Spa in Carmelo, Uruguay. The Coco Palms Resort in Kauai, Hawaii is also expected to be a part of The Unbound Collection when it re-opens in 2018 after a renovation.
[Photo: Driskill Hotel in Austin, Hyatt]
I miss the days when brands were simpler and neatly fell into four categories: 5, 4, 3 or 2 star. Then came the intermediate brands that fell in between those grades- like the 3.5-star Sheraton Four Points or 4.5-star like Conrad which reasonably filled some holes in the market offering the consumer more choice, but still within an easily understandable grading system. Nowadays though, there are 'lifestyle' and 'boutique' brands that are more about design and image than about certain standards of amenities so it's difficult to know what one is getting before arrival. The article describes the "Unbound" collection as including 4 and 5-star properties... well, there's a big gap between 4 and 5-star so how is one supposed to know what one is getting when booking? To this day, I have no idea whether new mega-group brands like Tribute, Aloft, Element, Indigo, EVEN, EDITION, AC Hotels, MGallery, Sebel, Curio, Canopy, and tru are supposed to be luxury, premium or standard (ie. where between 3 and 5-star).