Hyatt launched their earning and redemption partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World a year ago. Initially they only brought about 10% of SLH’s 500+ properties into their portfolio.

They followed two months later with another 56 properties or 10% and then 57 more a month after that and a fourth tranche of SLH hotels in May bringing them to over 200 (or roughly 40% of) SLH properties in the portfolio.

Now they’ve added a fifth tranche, putting them at over 250 of the roughly 500 SLH Hotels participating in World of Hyatt.

• There are some incredible hotels
• It adds significantly to Hyatt’s footprint.

Canaves Oia, Santorini

Booking Paid Stays at SLH Hotels

The bread and butter for Hyatt members is in having more redemption options. I don’t find the partnership useful for paid stays.

You earn elite stay credit at participating hotels, but no elite benefits. Booking through Hyatt includes:

• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Daily Complimentary Continental Breakfast
• Room Upgrade (one category at check-in if available)
• Early check-in (noon, based upon availability at check-in)
• Late check-out (2:00pm, based upon availability at check-in)

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.

49 New Hotels For Award Redemption

Hyatt adding a new category 8 (40,000 points per night) for the priciest SLH properties. All SLH hotels are included on Hyatt’s category 1-8 award chart, and Hyatt is now the only major chain that still has an award chart which is great for members.

Hyatt points out some of the spectacular new options, including a hotel that has only four beachfront suites.

• Inverlochy Castle, an 19th century Scottish retreat in Fort William, Scotland, with majestic views of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK
• Ka’ana Resort in San Ignaci, Belize, featuring ultra-luxurious private pool villas surrounded by the Maya Mountains
• Calala Island, a private island resort in Nicaragua with just four beachfront suites styled after traditional Caribbean palapa
• Esperanza Resort and Spa in Trakai, Lithuania, an eco-luxury country retreat immersed in forest land and featuring an exotic bird park and Russian bath house on site.
• Point Grace Resort and Spa, a tropical hideaway on 12-mile Grace Bay in Turks & Caicos
• Currently the SLH “Hotel of the Year,” Canaves Oia Hotel in Santorini features suites with private verandas, al fresco dining areas and breathtaking views to the Caldera and the Aegean Sea.
• The recently opened Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti stands in the ski area of Madonna di Campiglio and is located in Pinzolo, the largest town in the Rendena valley.

Here are the SLH Hotels that have been added in this 5th tranche:

SLH Property	City	Country	Award Category
Hotel de la Soledad	Morelia	Mexico	3
Grand Hotel Yerevan	Yerevan	Armenia	3
Dinamo Hotel Baku	Baku	Azerbaijan	3
The New Jingli Hotel	Nanjing	China	3
Boutique Hotel Villa am Ruhrufer Golf & Spa	Nordrhein-Westfalen	Germany	4
Lanson Place Hotel	Causeway Bay	Hong Kong	4
Hangzhou Rose Garden Resort & Spa	Zhejiang	China	4
Hotel28 Myeongdong	Seoul	South Korea	4
Londa Beach Hotel	Limassol	Cyprus	5
Hacienda Zorita Wine Hotel Spa	Salamanca	Spain	5
Villa Le Maschere Resort	Florence	Italy	5
The Pillars Hotel	Fort Lauderdale	USA	5
Cape Fahn Hotel	Koh Samui	Thailand	5
Cape Kudu Hotel	Phang Nga Province	Thailand	5
Hotel Sahrai	Fez	Morocco	5
Esperanza Resort & Spa	Vilnius	Lithuania	5
Casa Colonial Beach & Spa	Puerto Plata	Dominican Republic	5
Villa di Piazzano	Tuscany	Italy	6
The Chesterfield Hotel Palm Beach	Palm Beach	USA	6
Kasa Hotel Parota	Tulum	Mexico	6
The Merchant House	Manama	Bahrain	6
Villa Maria Cristina	Guanajuato	Mexico	6
Villa Neri Resort	Linguaglossa	Italy	6
Noborioji Hotel Nara	Nara City	Japan	6
DasPosthotel	Tyrol	Austria	6
De Witte Lelie	Antwerp	Belgium	6
Hotel Goldgasse	Salzberg	Austria	6
Ka’ana Resort	San Ignacio	Belize	6
Casa Ellul	Valletta	Malta	6
Hounds Tooth Inn	Oakhurst	USA	6
1906 Lodge	Coronado	USA	6
Hotel De’Ricci	Rome	Italy	6
Alpin Royal	St. Johann	Italy	6
Gold Suites	Santorini	Greece	7
Grand Hotel Cocumella	Sorrento	Italy	7
Hotel ai Reali	Venice	Italy	7
Mont Blanc Hotel Village	La Salle	Italy	7
Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola	Lugano	Switzerland	7
Villa Orselina	Orselina	Switzerland	7
Greywalls Hotel	Gullane	United Kingdom	7
Inverlochy Castle	Fort William	United Kingdom	7
Il Salviatino	Florence	Italy	7
Lefay Resort Dolomiti	Pinzolo	Italy	7
Alex Lake Zurich	Zurich	Switzerland	7
Point Grace Resort and Spa	Grace Bay	Turks & Caicos	8
Calala Island	Pearl Cays	Nicaragua	8
Le Grand Bellevue	Gstaad	Switzerland	8
Canaves Oia Epitome	Santorini	Greece	8
Canaves Oia Hotel	Santorini	Greece	8

The Two Downsides to the SLH Partnership

There are two drawbacks to Hyatt’s partnership with SLH as I see them.

1. They do not offer a best rate guarantee for SLH Hotels reservations. You have to book through Hyatt to earn World of Hyatt points with your reservation, but should check whether you’re overpaying in order to do so.
2. Many of these hotels are expensive redemptions relative to their paid rates. Hyatt even created a new 40,000 points per night category 8 for the top hotels, which often aren’t more expensive than Hyatt’s own properties. I surmise, then, that Hyatt must be paying SLH properties more than comparable Hyatt hotels to compensate for points stays. As a result many properties seem overindexed on the award chart.

It wouldn’t surprise me to eventually see Hyatt’s own most expensive properties creep into category 8 now that it exists, and they’ll say “but it’s only for the small handful of most unique properties, while 99% of hotels remain in category 1-7.” Still, more choices are always better and this does open up some incredible spots for using Hyatt points so there’s no question this is a positive development. Hopefully they’ll continue apace quickly onboarding additional SLH hotels quickly.