In late July Hyatt expressed interest in NH hotels not realizing apparently that Thailand’s Minor International had nearly completed acquisition of the Spanish chain. Days later Hyatt would hold its earnings call and quickly got out word of a deal with Small Luxury Hotels of the World with details to follow late in the year.

That wouldn’t be an acquisition. Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a collection of independent properties, and it’s more of a booking relationship than a hotel chain. And Hyatt’s deal is something similar to what they have with MGM’s M life Rewards — let’s share customers, offering points-earning and redemption.

With over 500 hotels in 80 countries Small Luxury Hotels of the World held the potential to significantly grow the World of Hyatt footprint.

Hyatt has launched the partnership in December with just 54 hotels are participating though they promised ‘more in the coming months.’

Today they’re adding 56 more hotels:

SLH Property	City	Country/Region
Kristiania Lech	Lech am Arlberg	Austria
The Pand Hotel	Bruges	Belgium
Nimb Hotel	Copenhagen	Denmark
Hotel Haven	Helsinki	Finland
Hotel Lilla Roberts	Helsinki	Finland
Les Sources de Caudalie	Bordeaux	France
Chateau Eza	Eze Village	France
Le M de Megeve	Megeve	France
Grand Hotel du Palais Royal	Paris	France
Grand Powers	Paris	France
Hotel Relais Christine	Paris	France
Le Narcisse Blanc Hotel	Paris	France
Château la Chenevière	Port-en-Bessin	France
Muse Saint-Tropez	Ramatuelle	France
Hotel Regency	Florence	Italy
Lefay Resort & Spa Lago di Garda	Lake Garda	Italy
Grand Hotel Majestic	Lake Maggiore	Italy
Eight Hotel Portofino	Portofino	Italy
The Gray	Milan	Italy
Il Melograno	Puglia	Italy
Babuino 181	Rome	Italy
Hotel D’Inghilterra	Rome	Italy
Hotel Splendide Royal	Rome	Italy
Hotel Bergs	Riga	Latvia
Winselerhof Country Estate	Landgraaf	Netherlands
Palácio Estoril Hotel, Golf & Spa	Estoril	Portugal
Carmo’s Boutique Hotel	Ponte de Lima	Portugal
Alentejo Marmoris Hotel & Spa	Vila Vicosa	Portugal
Saint Ten Hotel	Belgrade	Serbia
Terra Dominicata	Priorat	Spain
Bank Hotel	Stockholm	Sweden
Wellnesshotel Golf Panorama	Lipperswil	Switzerland
The Grand Hotel	Eastbourne	United Kingdom
Langshott Manor	Langshott	United Kingdom
Spa Village Resort Tembok Bali	Bali	Indonesia
Viceroy Bali	Bali	Indonesia
Kasara Niseko Village	Niseko	Japan
The Luang Say Residence	Luang Prabang	Laos
Cameron Highlands Resort	Cameron Highlands	Malaysia
Tanjong Jara Resort	Dungun	Malaysia
The Majestic Malacca	Malaysia	Malaysia
Hotel Eclat Taipei	Taipei	Taiwan
137 Pillars Suites Bangkok	Bangkok	Thailand
137 Pillars House	Chiang Mai	Thailand
Aleenta Resort & Spa Hua Hin	Hua Hin	Thailand
Akyra Beach Club Phuket	Phuket	Thailand
Aleenta Resort & Spa Phuket	Phuket	Thailand
Keemala	Phuket	Thailand
Sublime Samana Hotel & Residences	Samana	Dominican Republic
Casas del XVI	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic
The Trident Hotel	Port Antonio	Jamaica
Sailrock Resort	South Caicos	Turks & Caicos
Wentworth Mansion	Charleston	USA
Rusty Parrot Lodge and Spa	Jackson	USA
The Betsy South Beach	Miami Beach	USA
The Plymouth South Beach	Miami Beach	USA

Les Sources de Caudalie, credit: Small Luxury Hotels of the World

I view this partnership as useful on the redemption side only, unless you really need elite stay credit. Members earn their regular 5 points per dollar spent plus applicable elite bonus. This applies to room revenue. Members also earn elite night credit for these stays. However,

• only bookings made through Hyatt channels are eligible for Hyatt points and elite night credit. Hyatt’s best rate guarantee doesn’t apply, and SLH’s own best rate guarantee doesn’t apply.
• booking independent properties direct may yield lower rates than going through a central channel, and in this case you’ll want to even check pricing that SLH.com is offering versus what Hyatt may be offering. There’s no promise Hyatt rates qualifying for points and status credit will be the best rates.

I don’t love the value most of these properties are giving on the redemption side, though of course more options are better.

Hyatt added a new top redemption category 8 to its award chart to accommodate the priciest SLH hotels, though most don’t command room rates that would appear to warrant such a placement. This suggests to me that Hyatt is reimbursing SLH properties more for redemption stays than their own Hyatt hotels, so they need to bill members for more points to cover it.

My hope is that the introduction of category 8 doesn’t make category creep easier for Hyatt’s own properties.

That said since there are fixed redemption prices (award chart) there’s still the possibility of getting a good deal when a hotel is running at high occupancy especially during its peak season.