Did Hyatt Hit a Milestone With Their Latest Announcement?

Hyatt has been growing quite quickly as of late and had another announcement last week that increases the size of their footprint.  That announcement comes on the heels of an integration with Small Luxury Hotels of the World where they’ve added over 100 properties where you can earn and redeem World of Hyatt points and enjoy elite benefits.  Let’s touch on last week’s announcement quickly and then dig in just a little deeper.  

Plenty of my fellow bloggers have covered this news already.  Even a few days past the announcement it’s still worthwhile to consider the properties being added to the mix.  Effective as of a few days ago, we are seeing the first fruits of the Two Roads Hospitality acquisition announced last year.

Thompson Hotels

There are 8 Thompson hotels joining World of Hyatt right now, though to my knowledge this isn’t the first Thompson hotel in the Hyatt system.  A few years ago, Hyatt acquired a Thompson hotel in South Beach and rebranded it The Confidante.  I had an enjoyable stay there not too long ago.

The properties are:

Gild Hall, NYC

The Beekman, NYC

The Cape, Cabo San Lucas

Thompson Chicago

Thompson Nashville

Thompson Seattle

Thompson Toronto

Thompson Zihuatenejo

The addition of higher end hotels like these make Hyatt more attractive to me as a business and leisure traveler.  We should also see the Joie de Vivre hotels folded in starting in mid-May, which should add another 15 or so hotels.

Hitting a Milestone?

Earlier this year Hyatt was in the mid-900 range for property count.  That includes all the properties where you can earn and redeem World of Hyatt points, not just those specifically under Hyatt brands.  If my math is correct, the addition of Two Roads Hospitality will put Hyatt over the 1,000 hotel mark.  That’s a pretty significant milestone for a hotel chain that had somewhere between 400 and 500 hotels when I started staying with Hyatt 10 years ago. 

That’s a far cry from Marriott’s mega total of over 6,500 .  However, it’s really not all that far from the approximately 1,200 hotels Starwood had under management prior to their merger with Marriott.  Plenty of my fellow frequent travelers enjoyed Starwood Preferred Guest as their primary hotel loyalty program.  They reasoned that the enhanced benefits offered to them as loyal members was worth their commitment to SPG.  While there are markets where Hyatt doesn’t yet have a presence, that list continues to get smaller.  Soon enough, Hyatt will be the size of what Starwood used to be, though I’m sure there will be folks who will still lament their footprint.  Those arguments will continue to hold less water.

Bonus Point Promotion

Hyatt is offering 2,000 bonus points for each of the new “brands”:

• Thompson Hotels
• Joie de Vivre
• Alila Hotels
• Destination Hotels

If you manage to stay at all four brands by the end of 2019, you’ll also earn a free night valid at a category 1-4 property.  Since we don’t know the dates for Alila and Destination Hotels, it’s a bit hard to gauge how easy it will be to score this free night.

The Final Two Pennies

Adding collections like Thompson, Alila and Destination Hotels balance well with Hyatt’s limited service expansion in the US and abroad.  They’ll never be as big as Marriott or Wyndham, and that’s okay.  When we sit here and look at all the issues Marriott has right now, I’m not sure bigger is better.  Wyndham has an expansive portfolio but also a reputation for going back on their word.  The Hyatt of today might not be as easy to attain top-level status in, nor be as rewarding for mid-tier status members as some would like.  But, the growth of the brand to include Thompson and other brands (along with, hopefully, a pirate ship) that guest want to enjoy is a feather in the cap for Hyatt.

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Features image of Gild Hall, NYC credit Thompson Hotels