Update: Mr & Mrs Smith attributes this to a technical glitch. According to Helen Bailey, their Head of Global Communications,
We’re sorry! This morning, due to a technical glitch in our systems, a selection of AMAN properties were listed on hyatt.com for a brief time. This error was quickly rectified and preventative measures have now been put in place. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.
Hyatt acquired Mr and Mrs Smith, the booking platform for a curated set of independent hotels – some of which are amazing. You now earn Hyatt points and stay credit when booking the properties in this group that have been onboarded with World of Hyatt through Hyatt channels, and you can spend points at those hotels too. Unfortunately they’ve set redemptions up at a roughly (low) fixed value against prevailing rates, so it’s almost never a value to spend your points this way.
I was hopeful that this partnership would really expand the luxury footprint that Hyatt could offer. There are very special places that have been part of Mr and Mrs Smith, including Virgin Limited Edition (such as Moskito Island) and Aman Resorts.
Unfortunately, back in April when Hyatt launched redemptions with Mr and Mrs Smith, Aman told me explicitly:
[W]e will not be participating in this point redemption scheme with Hyatt and Mr & Mrs Smith.
And yet it appears that several Aman properties now have Hyatt webpages under the Mr and Mrs Smith banner!
- Amangiri in Utah
- Amanruya in Bodrum, Turkey
- Amankora in Bhutan
- Amansara in Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Aman-i-Khas in Ranthambore, India
Amangiri, Credit: Hyatt
These properties do not currently appear to have booking inventory, either for paid or redemptions stays, when searching through Hyatt. However the addition of these specific property pages to the Hyatt website is still notable. Will there finally be a way to spend a hotel loyalty currency for Aman stays? Hotels in this chain are among the most exquisite in the world.
If points redemptions do become available, though, don’t be surprised to see pricing at a place like Amangiri north of 400,000 points per night.
(HT: khabah_)
The new management of Aman has already begun all manner of cheesy stuff, cheapening the brand, so this would be no surprise.
Who are Mr. and Mrs. Smith , what is an Amangirl , why would customers wish to go to mosquito island ?
Answers : retired professors from UK , a girl from Amantown , and to make a scientific study of mosquito bites .
400,000 points?
Hyatt and Mr and Mrs Smith is still an epic fail. You get less perks and points than you did with IHG. Worse yet, your Hyatt co-branded credit card is coding Mr and Mrs Smith properties for the bonus points. I’ve done two Mr and Mrs Smith properties through Hyatt. Other than the World of Hyatt elite-qualifying nights, there was no value. There certainly isn’t ANY value to EATING or DRINKING at a Mr and Mrs Smith since any on-property F&B spend will NOT earn points.
Nothing cheapens a brand more than adding point redemptions…
1cpp or worse redemption means super high points per night when the rooms can run $4000 USD plus/night.
IMO there’s actually value to be had here (regardless of how redemptions pan out)… if you were planning to book Amangiri anyways and have a WoH card, you’d be earning 9x points (meaning $4000/nt in low season = 36k points). Basically, for every night at Amangiri you book, you get another free Category 8 night anywhere (which can easily retail over $1k/night).
This doesn’t surprise me. Aman has been marketing to mainland Chinese customers a lot over the past decade and the brand has suffered as a result. I’ll refrain from any specifics so as not to offend but as a frequent Aman customer (previously before the prices skyrocketed and service and customer experience tanked), I see this Hyatt relationship as just another nail in the coffin. There’s nothing left that’s truly high end any more. Everything was cheapened after Covid while prices have grown dramatically.
That’s nice!!
I’ve stayed at two Mr and Mrs Smith properties the past few weeks. Neither of them, including the GM of one, had any clue what the Hyatt relationship was. They were even more bewildered about Hyatt and how this even mattered to them. I suspect many are simply checking off boxes of being included without having any idea of what it means. Mind you, both were in Sri Lanka, but one GM was German and was quite blunt in saying, “I have no idea what the owners are thinking…we have 12 rooms…we do not need Hyatt.”
With that, I imagine this is nothing more than a glitch with Aman. If not, they are clearly getting desperate and finally realizing that they are not so precious to charge $3K a night for what is a slightly better experience.
The problem with Mr and Mrs Smith is it was never a brand. It is just a booking platform, not unlike AAA has member rates and certain benefits or Virtusso has certain packages.