an mec

No kidding. SLH has some very interesting hotels. If they become sensibly redeemable, it would make WoH the "king of Europe" among the major American hotel chain loyalty programs.

eefor jfp

deleted

Glenlivet

craigthemif

This will probably look a lot like Design hotels. No elite benefits, but night credit, etc.

I suspect we might see points redemption similar to the Oasis apartment rentals. i.e. a cents per point value to apply against the standard room rate. Some of these SLH hotels would require a whole new award category and I don't think anybody wants to go down that path!!!

antonius66

I guess this is where I am confused with some people's reactions. What is the point of an increased brand footprint if it isn't to earn and ENJOY loyalty benefits? Hyatt is not BUILDING500 new hotels...those hotels are there now, so if you want to stay at them, you can. You do not need Hyatt for that. I stay at Hyatt because I enjoy the properties, yes, but also because I enjoy the benefits of my loyalty. More options to earn credit is GREAT, but if the benefits from that loyalty are minimal or the places at which I can actually get any benefits are few, who cares about the loyalty? There would be no point to staying at a Hyatt or Hyatt affiliate at all with regards to loyalty. Sure, you can possibly maybe theoretically use points for some properties you want to go to in the future (the rates are yet to be seen obviously)...but beyond that? If I don't care about loyalty benefits, I can stay at any hotel anywhere right now! That makes 0 sense to me. Like I said before...earning credits would be great and it would be excellent to have those as options, and using points might be a decent value possibly as well, but if it is a non loyalty benefit set up (especially at the glob level) then the value to me personally will be minimal.

submonte

Fully agreed.

That brilliant step could bring me back to Hyatt. I was once Diamond in the old program when I had travelled to Asia many times. Germany/Europe is still not covered well enough by Hyatt brands, in order to go for higher status.

To slh group do belong currently 9 hotels in Germany, 9 in Austria, 14 in Switzerland, 48 in France, 63 in Italy, and many more in the rest of Europe. slh hotels are individually styled, ok for me for business, AND are very ok for holidays, give you a luxury feeling with local touch.

Football Fan

I really don't understand why you are trying so hard to make this look like a negative thing. First of all, we don't know yet how deep the integration will be - maybe (unlikely) one would also get full status benefits? Another advantage is being able to requalify at all - hard to do if there are barely any Hyatt hotels (like in Europe). Another one (especially for European members, but really for everyone) is to be able to earn towards lifetime status at a lot more hotels. And finally, these are nice hotels. Yes, I could stay at them already, but it would not help me to requalify for Hyatt's top status (and towards lifetime status). Now it will. And so on.

OsakaWino

Where is the benefit?

At minimum,

Earning Hyatt points and night credits at a much larger and much more interesting selection of properties.

Would you prefer to stay at these properties without points and stay credit?

Or on the other hand, will you limit all of your hotel stays to only those that get you glob benefits?

There's a lot more of the world to see than what Hyatt alone has to offer. I think a lot of people are just hoping to expand their horizons and would be grateful for just the bare minimum of the points and stay credit plus some reasonable redemption options.

PortlySpartacus

The ability to redeem my points at 500 more properties is a big benefit for me and also getting stay credit towards my Hyatt status. This combination is a great thing in my opinion. Also, the properties look unique and interesting as well so that is appealing to get new experiences and quality hotels around the world. I went to the website of Small Luxury Hotels (www.slh.com) and looked at the properties in various locations. This gives me more flexibility in where I can redeem my Hyatt points and is very appealing to me.

Also, at their website, I signed up for their "Invited" loyalty program. The benefits they provide as a member are : member exclusive rates, early check-in at 12pm, late check-out at 3pm, complimentary continental breakfast for two. After one stay, you then get a one category room upgrade if available. After 6+ stays they offer additional benefits.

I think this is a win-win for Hyatt and the SLH properties. It provides Hyatt loyalists with more redemption options to explore in more locations and it exposes Hyatt & SLH to each others program to cross pollinate and grow memberships. Hyatt is really impressing me with how they are building their brand and loyalty program.

zack14

So is this confirmed?

OsakaWino

It is confirmed that there will be a tie-up. Details, such as on which properties are actually participating, are supposed to come by the end of the year (IIRC).

1flyer

I disagree.

The higher the room rate, the higher the cost reduction the hotel enjoys when somebody's booking direct (as opposed to booking via OTA and the like). Hence, it should be able to provide better benefits.

shuuy

I imagine it will play out like SPG and the Design hotels tie-up

• Earn points nights
• Use points
• Do not get recognition of status (e.g., breakfast, late check-out)
• Cannot upgrade

beachfan

But the highest priced chains (Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental) don't give benefits like free breakfast to anyone, unless it's a higher rate. So what does price have to do with it, and how does that make this bad news?

1flyer

I'm not 100% sure what you're hitting at.

I thought it was common knowledge around here how hotel chains with rewards programmes work. Chain hotels pay fewer $$$ commissions if customers book via certain distribution channels. In return for the lower commissions, the hotel agrees to provide certain benefits to customers which are programme participants out of its own pocket.

The higher the room rate, the more $$$ the hotel saves if the booking is done via sanctioned distribution channel. Now, obviously the hotel might have an incentive to provide few benefits to programme participants/elite members due to the presence of positive externalities. But the fact remains that the higher the room rate, the higher the dollar savings for the hotel if the booking is done via official channels. Thus, the higher the rate, the more willing a hotel should be to enter into a contract with the chain which stipulates it needs to provide certain benefits.