UA-NYC

Not all of these hotels are the MO, Pen, or Aman - but when you can rack up Hyatt status benefits for a (oftentimes) small premium vs. the SLH-direct rate, there are a lot of positives for us plebeians

(also just redeemed 40K/night for a SLH hotel room that was going for 1,300 EUR/night...YMMV)

WasKnown

I agree SLH is great for redemptions. For someone that books the majority of his Hyatt stays on UR points, I am satisfied with the partnership for this reason exclusively. There are a lot of very interesting SLH properties.

However, I fail to see how there is a benefit to booking SLH on cash rates if the WoH rate is meaningfully more expensive. Hyatt benefits at SLH are minimal and the perks are oftentimes not even exclusive to booking through Hyatt. There are also far cheaper ways to earn EQNs and especially Hyatt points. If you are close to hitting Globalist or even a milestone for suite upgrade certificates, maybe it’s worth the extra price? Idk I would still rather just pay the 1 point / dollar opportunity cost and put my Uber’s/tolls/whatever onto the WoH card and earn the EQN that way. Also, if you’re within the first $15K of annual spend on the WoH card, the opportunity cost is 0 and the EQNs are free.

So for me, the only situation where I think it could be worth booking a SLH rate on cash is when all the following are satisfied:

I have already hit $15K spend on my WoH card for the year
Price difference is less than $35/night
I’m close to a milestone reward that I am confident I wouldn’t otherwise hit

Idk just seems backwards to me to warp my behavior for a “loyalty” program. I want loyalty programs to reward me… I don’t want to reward the loyalty program. But, I also realize that this is a forum where people mattress run for status so I’m guessing this will fall on deaf ears. It’s probably impossible to convince people on the internet to change their preconceived notions on how to earn/spend money. To each their own.

demue

Well everyone needs to make their own decisions as you said. I've been assessing whether to book via SLH or Hyatt for a hotel in Vienna, Austria and given I won't know if there will be 3x earnings promo or something like that next year, it was easy to go with SLH directly (as a member of their loyalty program though).

Price difference for 4 nights for 2 rooms came out to ~500€ and benefits are same incl. breakfast (maybe minus a potential upgrade, who knows). Somehow, for this property, booking via Hyatt also meant getting charged a fully refundable deposit (rate cancelable 72hrs prior) and I wasn't keen on 1.5k € being charged like 9 months prior to my planned stay. So certainly YMMV and for each cash booking one needs to assess anew what fits.

kiwifrequentflyer

Edit: wrong post

WasKnown

I think you made the right decision. 500 euros for essentially the same benefits is just donating money to Hyatt lol. That sounds pretty bad. Not sure what level you are in INVITED but their mid-tier is eligible for complimentary room upgrades too. TBH, you could prob get a similar upgrade just by asking nicely.

demue

Agreed on saving the money. I'm just basic member in Invited though if that stay in Vienna happens I shall make it to the mid tier which comes with breakfast and possible upgrades. Handy if a rate should not include breakfast, though more often than not SLH hotels include it by default. YMMV.

As we said, points redemptions can be great value, for cash bookings to make sense to go via Hyatt a few stars need to align.

ArthurSFO11

I'm trying to book the Miramar myself for 2022 and am seeing this exact issue. Do you have any idea of why it's not available through Hyatt?

Beyond the booking, what are your thoughts on the hotel? Would you recommend a stay?

hailstorm

At long last, Karuizawa Prince Hotel East can be booked using Hyatt points.

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/ja...tel-east/hndyk

Unfortunately, this hotel is rated a Cat 6, so not a very good value to be had with Hyatt points reservation. But if you're limiting yourself to using an international chain hotel, it's a better location than the Marriott option, and probably still cheaper than the Hilton option.

ECR12

Realize this is a very old post but did you end up staying at the Naxian Collection? Have been looking at that property but not a lot of reviews from bloggers I'm familiar with.

Schutzee

I am trying to book a SLH hotel in the Lake Como area for May, 2023 and am finding no availability through WOH. Perhaps I am trying too far in advance? Does anyone know how far in advance SLM inventory is loaded?

ECR12

SLH hotels seem to have more leway playing games with award availability than other Hyatt brands. Many times there's plenty of availability of base rooms on the SLH hotel site but on Hyatt theres restrictions (minimum night stay, no availability at all, or cash availability but not award availability). I've always thought about it as - if the property is confident it can sell a room directly for more than Hyatt's going to pay them, theyre going to be stingy with availability. We see these SLH hotels join/leave Hyatt a lot and many are in seasonal locations (Greece, Switzerland, etc).

Best bet is to check back often.

Tonyr4

Yes the hotels I've booked do play games with availablity. They like the advertising on the Hyatt website but don't like paying Hyatt the commission. I'm sure Hyatt isn't a fan of paying the point redemptions either especially during an in demand timeframe.

skj

SLH is not a Hyatt brand. It is a collection of independent hotels some of whom have a marketing relationship with WoH. Hyatt is also clear that SLH properties are free to not allow Free Night Award redemption, per the SLH T&Cs ...

"Some properties that otherwise qualify as a Participating SLH Property for purposes of these SLH Terms do not have standard rooms or otherwise do not participate in the redemption of Free Night Awards and, as a result, no Program award of any kind is redeemable at such properties (unless otherwise specified by Hyatt in other terms and conditions applicable to a particular award). No Program award may be redeemed at any Excluded SLH Property."

Cheetah_SA

Yes we stayed there for 4 nights and thought it was splendid. Extremely stylish place, friendly and personable service. And the food was excellent - pricey but high quality fine dining so good value. The proximity to Agios Prokopios provides a wealth of other dining options - though a car is required.

ECR12

Didn't end up staying at Naxian, but did have mostly positive experiences at both Canaves Oia Epitome (Santorini) and Summer Senses Luxury (Paros) last week. Canaves was points redemption (3 nights) + 1 paid night (SLH, not Hyatt). Awesome property (even though unfortunately didnt get an upgrade). Summer Senses I actually used Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit for the first time in years, the cash savings were well in excess of the Hyatt point value.

I've loved the partnership for redemptions but on cash stays the premium for booking through Hyatt is often well more than the value of the points (and most SLH offer free breakfast in base rates so minimal value to globalist benefits). Always worth doing the math though.