Hyatt has launched its partnership with SLH hotels offering points and elite credit earning on paid stays, and points redemptions.
So far they have 54 hotels online, out of over 500 in the SLH portfolio. That’s disappointing but Hyatt says more are coming.
These hotels – 49 of which are in Europe — are incorporated into Hyatt’s award chart and they’ve added a new category 8. Since only SLH properties are in category 8 (so far) and do not offer premium room awards, category 8 shows only standard room awards.
More options for where to use your points are better. Full stop. And there are some lovely properties included in this portfolio. This gives members more nice places to use their points.
I had a look at what these SLH hotels cost for paid stays and how many points Hyatt is charging to redeem. Some of these redemptions appear to offer shockingly poor value — as though the hotels are just miscategorized. For instance,
- The Palazzo Vecchietti is a category 8 hotel. It’s 40,000 points per night. And I’m seeing room rates across different seasons running $303 – $480 per night. The hotel ought to be category 5 not category 8.
- San Antonio on Santorini appears to be pricing at under $500 per night during peak season. There’s no reason for it to be a category 8 property.
- Centurion Palace in Venice appears to have rates running $248 – $476, yet it too is a category 8 property.
Hotel Le Strato, at least, has room rates that approach $1000 per night. It seems like category 7 adequately captures that value. But at least it’s not an awful redemption at 40,000 points per night. And The View Lugano in Switzerland does run in the high $800s during peak season.
Credit: On the Rocks, Santorini
I have to assume Hyatt is over-reimbursing properties in this relationship (compared to Hyatt hotels) and so has to price them more expensively to members.
As I look down the category list things don’t appear to get better. For instance Pangkor Laut Resort in Malaysia costs fewer points (category 5, 20,000 points per night) but has much lower rates too. Roughly speaking this appears to me to be a $200 per night hotel and you’re getting a penny a point in value.
Here’s the list of SLH hotels by redemption category:
| SLH Property Name | City | Country | WOH Award Category | Points/Night |
| Hotel and Spa des Pecheurs | Corsica | France | 8 | 40,000 |
| Hotel Le Strato | Courchevel 1850 | France | 8 | 40,000 |
| San Antonio | Santorini | Greece | 8 | 40,000 |
| Santorini Secret Suites & Spa | Santorini | Greece | 8 | 40,000 |
| Palazzo Vecchietti | Florence | Italy | 8 | 40,000 |
| Hotel Vilon | Rome | Italy | 8 | 40,000 |
| Centurion Palace | Venice | Italy | 8 | 40,000 |
| The View Lugano | Lugano | Switzerland | 8 | 40,000 |
| Columbia Beach Resort | Limassol | Cyprus | 7 | 30,000 |
| Elounda Gulf Villas and Suites | Crete | Greece | 7 | 30,000 |
| Margutta 19 | Rome | Italy | 7 | 30,000 |
| Villa Spalletti Trivelli Rome | Rome | Italy | 7 | 30,000 |
| Sikelia | Sicily | Italy | 7 | 30,000 |
| Ca’Sagredo Hotel | Venice | Italy | 7 | 30,000 |
| Palazzo Sant’Angelo sul Canal Grande | Venice | Italy | 7 | 30,000 |
| Nobu Hotel Marbella | Marbella | Spain | 7 | 30,000 |
| El Lodge Ski and Spa | Sierra Nevada | Spain | 7 | 30,000 |
| The Margi | Athens | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| Liostasi Hotel & Suites | Ios | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| Archipelagos | Mykonos | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| Pietra e Mare Beach Hotel | Mykonos | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites | Santorini | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| On the Rocks | Santorini | Greece | 6 | 25,000 |
| Relais San Lorenzo | Bergamo | Italy | 6 | 25,000 |
| Magna Pars Suites Milano | Milan | Italy | 6 | 25,000 |
| Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista | Verona | Italy | 6 | 25,000 |
| Sant Francesc Hotel Singular | Mallorca | Spain | 6 | 25,000 |
| Dukes London | London | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| Flemings Mayfair London | London | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| St. James’s Hotel and Club | London | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| The Capital Hotel & Apartments | London | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| The Atlantic Hotel | St Brelade | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| Alexander House Hotel & Utopia Spa | Turners Hill | United Kingdom | 6 | 25,000 |
| Hotel de Orangerie | Bruges | Belgium | 5 | 20,000 |
| The Sukhothai Shanghai | Shanghai | China | 5 | 20,000 |
| Les Etangs de Corot | Versailles | France | 5 | 20,000 |
| Ketschauer Hof | Deidesheim | Germany | 5 | 20,000 |
| Sesa Boutique Hotel | Kanali | Greece | 5 | 20,000 |
| Grand Hotel Parker’s | Naples | Italy | 5 | 20,000 |
| Hotel Lord Byron | Rome | Italy | 5 | 20,000 |
| Pangkor Laut Resort | Pangkor Laut | Malaysia | 5 | 20,000 |
| Nira Caledonia | Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 5 | 20,000 |
| Ashdown Park Hotel | Forest Row | United Kingdom | 5 | 20,000 |
| Hotel St. Petersbourg | Tallinn | Estonia | 4 | 15,000 |
| Park Hotel ai Cappuccini | Gubbio | Italy | 4 | 15,000 |
| Gaya Island Resort | Borneo | Malaysia | 4 | 15,000 |
| Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa | Luton | United Kingdom | 4 | 15,000 |
| The Arden Hotel | Stratford-upon-Avon | United Kingdom | 4 | 15,000 |
| Theoxenia Palace & House Suites | Athens | Greece | 3 | 12,000 |
| The Excelsior | Thessaloniki | Greece | 3 | 12,000 |
| Hotel de La Ville – Monza | Monza | Italy | 3 | 12,000 |
| Lanson Place Bukit Ceylon | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 3 | 12,000 |
| The Edison George Town | Penang | Malaysia | 3 | 12,000 |
| Tylney Hall Hotel and Gardens | Hook | United Kingdom | 3 | 12,000 |
This is an analysis of redemption value and not whether it makes sense to book a paid stay through Hyatt channels. For that it’s necessary to compare the pricing Hyatt is giving versus what you can get at SLH.com or by contacting the property directly. Since points-earning and stay credit only applies to bookings through Hyatt channels it’s important that you aren’t getting a worse rate for the privilege.
I just stayed a couple of weeks ago at the lovely Park Hyayy in Sydney for 30,000 while the room rate was $A1493 or or well over USD$1000 a night. So these new ones seem ridiculous.
*Hyatt* I meant.
They are definitely reimbursing at a higher rate considering that All members are getting elite property benefits on stays. Those extra costs would definitely factor into the reimbursement rate. These properties also probably have fewer discounts that they give for corporate rates, so there are fewer levers that can drive down their average daily room rate
I’m sure you will get much better value (and service to boot) from the Malaysian properties at Category 3-5 than the European ones at 6-8.
@Kalboz seems kind of similar on a rate-points basis.
Do you think these redemption rates are so lousy because these hotels are small and thus more likely to be full, which would increase Hyatt’s reimbursement cost?
At first blush this is making me much less excited about the addition of the Alila/Thompson hotels.
I wouldn’t be shocked if the reimbursement rates Hyatt pays are settled at a flat rate that’s been bilaterally negotiated and at around 20-50% of the standard rate for entry level rooms during off-peak dates for the Hyatt loyalty program enrolled properties.
@Frank, I think Hyatt should rebrand as Hyayy. You know, because millennials.
So don’t ever redeem points to stay at these hotels but at least we can gain the same amount of points using your Hyatt Card (9 points) as you can at any other Hyatt Hotel.
Take a look at London for good value. A number of 25,000 point per night options at some very nice and very expensive hotels. St. James, for example.
Are these hotels also available for 6000 point Standard Suite or 9000 point Premium Suite upgrades?
@wendy – no they are not