Originally Posted by
lost_in_translation
Booking direct with the hotel will probably result in a better upgrade if you have GHA Titanium, but you might have to pay for breakfast as well as missing out on night credits.
If you book direct with the hotel you can choose to book under not only GHA (+2 upgrade, no breakfast) but also SLH (+1 upgrade, including breakfast). So booking via SLH gets you the same benefits as via Hyatt but for cheaper. You will earn SLH night credits and those have some value if you plan on staying 13+ nights at SLH during the year, if not then Hyatt night credits might be more useful than SLH nights.