Originally Posted by
GUWonder
The agreement hotels have with SLH is a lot more property owner-friendly/flexible on average than what Hyatt has with most Hyatt brand hotels, and so indeed the Starwood relationship with Design Hotels should be factored into the understanding of what has happened and will happen with SLH properties in the Hyatt tie-up.
Just curious... have you read the SLH (or Hyatt, for that matter) Franchise or Marketing Agreement? If, as I assume, you have not, then how would you have any idea how "owner-friendly" or "flexible" it is, or be able to compare it to Hyatt?
The whole SLH brand is a marketing vehicle where they are purposefully pushing their "independence" as an element of the brand. Unless you've seen the agreement, then you really have no idea how it compares to Hyatt - it might not be nearly as different as you think: SLH provides basically the same resource Hyatt provides to, say, Unbound... a reservations system, loyalty program, branding, marketing, etc.. which is the same services Hyatt, Choice, Best Western, and everyone else provide.