Hyatt Revives A Beloved Elite Perk After 8 Years—But Only For Its Budget Brand

by Gary Leff

Hyatt Studios is Hyatt’s new lowest-end product, an “upper-midscale extended-stay brand.”

They’re planning for 250 of these, half in markets with no current Hyatt. And they’re doing one interesting thing to encourage the more upscale Hyatt customer to put up with these in order to redeem points for beach resorts.


Credit: Hyatt

Globalists receive a Welcome Amenity at Hyatt Studios property. A choice of:

  • $15 market credit
  • 500 bonus points

Elites receive the same free breakfast as every other guest at Hyatt Studios. There’s no club lounge. Perhaps this is meant to help soften the blow of base points-earning of only 2.5 points per dollar instead of 5 points at other hotel brands. (This saves owners money but reduces the incentive to stay.)

Welcome amenities, of course, used to be a top tier benefit, which was eliminated in the move from the Gold Passport program to World of Hyatt seven years ago. It’s been restored for one brand only. And it’s the brand where this is least valuable? Sometimes the food and beverage amenity was nice, even though too many Hyatts offered one or the other.

Hyatt Studios rooms should be smaller than Hyatt House, and grab ‘n go breakfast rather than hot buffets. Rooms get serviced once per week. The good news is that Hyatt hasn’t gone the Marriott route of offering less than one elite night credit per night at their low-end brands, so at least slogging it out here will help requalify for status.

And there’s $15, plus the “2K Next Stay” award at 20 and 30 nights, largely a make good for Globalists who don’t value club access awards, is currently listed as valid at Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption, and UrCove brands. That’ll be valid at these as well.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  1. Interesting. I’ve been offered that same welcome amenity choice at Hyatt Regency Denver (was only Explorist at the time of the stay) in 2023 and just two weeks ago at Hyatt Centric Midtown Atlanta (was Globalist during that stay).

  2. As a Globalist, I can never understand why at a Hyatt Place I don’t at least get a free drink or snack. I basically get nothing for my status, as they don’t even have room upgrades available.

  4. Welcome amenities at Hyatt wasn’t really limited to just top tier members. Platinums could get pretty much the same welcome amenity as Diamonds if redeeming a Platinum Extra certificate.

  5. Why would a Hyatt Studios property award fewer points per dollar than a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House?

  6. I just left a Hyatt Place in Malaysia and I was upgraded to a one bedroom suite. So some can offer upgrades. I just realised that some properties give less stay crdit than others. I have to take note

  8. “Why would a Hyatt Studios property award fewer points per dollar than a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House?”

    This is a lower end extended stay brand and that is done for the benefit of the owner who pays for it. These rooms will be perfect for people like travel nurses or airline crews where someone else is paying the bill and they want a product that’s functional, but also at the lowest possible price which is why you have the half points and only grab and go breakfast options.

    This is just Hyatt copying Hilton and Marriott with their LivSmart and StudioRes concepts.

Comments are closed.