Hyatt Grows Again With The Integration of Alila Hotels
Hyatt gets a bad rap for being too small as a hotel chain. They’ve been doing quite a bit to remedy that as of late:
- They added well over 100 hotels from Small Luxury Hotels of the World for both earning and redemption.
- They added the majority of Thompson Hotels to World of Hyatt, again for both earning and redemption.
- They’ve also added the Joie de Vivre hotels to the mix.
All of these additions have taken them over the 1,000 hotel mark. Now, they’ve announced the integration of most of the Alila Hotels. In all, 16 hotels will be participating in World of Hyatt in the near future. Hyatt was nice enough to provide me a list of the Alila Hotels with their onboard dates and award categories:
I really like that none of these new hotels are in the new Category 8, and only two fall in Category 7. That puts most of these properties within reach of most people looking to redeem points.
As an added plus, you can get a 10% rebate on any stays you book on points at these hotels this summer if you hold one of the Hyatt credit cards.
The Final Two Pennies
The great thing about most of the recent additions to World of Hyatt is that the properties are in places people are more likely to want to redeem. There’s no doubt that Hyatt is missing properties in some markets business travelers frequent.
I’ve referred to Williamsburg, Virginia in the past as an example market where Hyatt doesn’t have a presence. You’d have to drive 25 miles to find a Hyatt, whereas Marriott has 5 hotels in Williamsburg. The typical business traveler doesn’t need 5 hotels in a market. Sure, they may want their preferred brand (Fairfield instead of Springhill, for example). But, if they’re a Marriott loyalist and there’s only one or the other, they’re likely to stay at a Marriott property.
Hyatt is in the vast majority of business markets I travel to, and I’ve gone to some fairly out of the way places. But, very few of my paid business stays are at a property other than Hyatt unless I specifically choose to avoid a hotel. For me, having more hotels in places like Big Sur and Bali far outweigh a property in Williamsburg.
When you consider that you can double dip on points with the new Hyatt partnership with American Airlines and that you can earn night credits spending on the new World of Hyatt credit card, adding properties like Alila to World of Hyatt make their elite status more valuable.
If I’m being completely honest, while this is great news, I am a tad bit disappointed by one detail. When the Two Roads acquisition was announced, I was excited that might get a truly unique redemption opportunity. It was unlikely, but Alila Hotels essentially has their own pirate ship for private cruises. Could you imagine if you could redeem points for this????
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