Hyatt Makes A Big Step, Folding Oasis Home Sharing Into Their Loyalty Program

When companies like Airbnb started to grow over the last 10 years, the initial goal didn’t seem to be to take market share from the hotel chains.  That definitely seems to have changed.  Airbnb and others have tens of thousands of rooms across the world that they are selling against traditional hotel chains.  Some hotel chains have reacted negatively.  Marriott has lobbied against the structure of Airbnb both publicly and legislatively.

Hyatt has taken something of a different approach.  Just a few months ago they announced a partnership with Oasis.  Oasis bills themselves as “Home Meets Hotel”.  Their target is clearly customers that like some aspects of a hotel stay.  When Hyatt announced the Oasis partnership they said that the potential to earn and burn points with Oasis was on the way.  That day has arrived.  According to this morning’s press release:

Effective March 1, 2018, members who stay at an Oasis home rental can receive the following World of Hyatt benefits, which are consistent with Hyatt hotel locations worldwide:

• Earn 5 Base Points per eligible dollar spent on qualifying Oasis nights
• Earn tier-qualifying nights for qualifying Oasis nights
• Earn Bonus Points on eligible Oasis spend for elite members (10% for Discoverist, 20% for Explorist and 30% for Globalist)
• Request late check-out for elite members (2 p.m. for Discoverist and Explorist; 4 p.m. for Globalist)Re

Given the differentiated style of offering that Oasis provides, the following are Oasis-specific World of Hyatt benefits:

• Redeem 15,000 points for a $200 credit toward an Oasis stay (and additional increments of 15,000 points for additional $200 credits)
• Enjoy a welcome amenity at check-in for elite members

Promotion

As part of the launch, Hyatt will be offering bonus points on all Oasis stays for the next few months:

For stays with a checkout date between March 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018, World of Hyatt members also have the ability to earn 1,000 Bonus Points per qualifying night on top of Base Points earned for stays at Oasis.

When combined with Night after Night and the AAdvantage miles bonus promotion, Hyatt has 3 unique promotion offerings for customers right now.

New Markets And New Ways to Burn

I had a chance to talk to Amy Weinberg, Senior Vice President of World of Hyatt about the Oasis announcement.  She confirmed for me that the evolution of the Oasis partnership means that members of World of Hyatt have properties in five new markets to earn and redeem at:

• Barcelona
• Ibiza
• Punta del Este (Uruguay)
• Rome
• Trancoso (Brazil)

While there are thousands of properties in existing markets, I was especially interested to see new options in Barcelona and Rome.  Hyatt continues to expand their footprint internationally, though much of that growth has been in Asia, not Europe.  Barcelona and Rome are two dots on the map where Hyatt was conspicuously absent.  I’ll be diving a bit deeper into those options in a future blog post.

This also marks a bit of a new way to burn points. Hyatt decided to offer Oasis redemptions at a flat rate of $200 towards an Oasis stay.  15,000 points will get you a $200 credit on your Oasis stay, with the ability to redeem as many $200 credits as you like.

Should You Redeem?

As I mentioned, I plan to dive deeper into the values at Oasis in a future post.  However, I’m sure folks want to know at the outset if this is a good value.  Value is definitely in the eye of the beholder.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a few international properties that seemed reasonably priced.  Should you convert 15,000 World of Hyatt points into $200 at Oasis?  There will undoubtedly be some bloggers telling you no.

I don’t think the answer is nearly that simple.  I think the way to evaluate this is to figure out what 15,000 World of Hyatt points (or an equal value of some other hotel currency) earns you in terms of a free stay.  The pricing and amenities of individual Oasis offerings vary greatly.

One Thing NOT To Do

If you’re looking to get as much value for your World of Hyatt points, you definitely shouldn’t redeem 15,000 points unless you can apply the entire $200 to your Oasis bill. For example, if you have a $300 hotel stay, redeeming 30,000 points to have a $400 credit towards a $300 bill would be a bad idea.

The Final Two Pennies

Hyatt is taking a very different path than their competitors right now with the Oasis partnership.  It’s a new way for customers to earn and redeem points.  Like any new program, your mileage may vary.  We regularly decry the large airlines for doing things in lockstep, virtually copying each other’s loyalty programs.  Regardless of whether you plan to redeem World of Hyatt points at an Oasis property, having the opportunity to do so should be seen as a positive.

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