Tag Archives for hyatt.
I had reserved a points stay with confirmed suite upgrade at Alila Marea, but that hotel shut down for a private event and moved me to the Seabird Resort. It turns out that this was a lucky break because the suite I had at the Seabird was truly magnificent. Service and food on property were excellent, too. And I might never have stayed here otherwise!
The very first Caption by Hyatt, the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis, will open this summer as a category 3 redemption. Additional properties are planned in Shanghai, Osaka, Tokyo and Saigon.
Since the brand was launched, Hyatt has opened its first tommie hotels as well. And I’m not sure I understand how the concepts are really supposed to be different. Hopefully seeing a Caption property open will help explain this.
Hyatt’s elusive and excellent Alila Ventana Big Sur has quite a lot of free night availability all of a sudden for booking between February and May.
The hotel is well-located. It is quiet, as they seem not to have the entire property open. My room was clean and comfortable. It used to be one of the best for elite treatment, but with the club closed no restaurant for breakfast it no longer is. Still, when this is where you need to be in the city and the price is right – it was less than 1/3 the cost of the nearby Andaz 5th Avenue for instance – it can be the right choice.
As you can see from this chart, only Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta has changed pricing, going from 20,000 points per night to 25,000 points per night. Hyatt tells me, though, that Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta will be moving to Category B at 20,000 points in the next week.
I have to give Hyatt a lot of credit here. My first instinct is to wonder whether assigning existing all-inclusives to a new award chart would be an opportunity to raise the price of redemptions. Surely at most programs it would be! And they have not done this here.
Hyatt is introducing a new award chart for all-inclusive properties. That’s because they used to have the Ziva and Zilara brand, but are now starting to bring the 100 Apple Leisure Group properties into the World of Hyatt program that they acquired. In fact, 6 hotels are already live and 50 more will be joining the program May 9. Kudos for speed, this took about 8 months from deal announcement rather than the traditional 18 months.
Hyatt will run a 25% off sale between March 15 and March 22 for stays running April 1 – May 31, 2022. And the deal is even better outside the U.S. because in addition to 25% off the Daily Rate, it comes with free meals and discounts too.
Hyatt is making annual hotel category changes – making some hotels to more expensive points redemptions, while making other hotels less expensive, based on the room rates those hotels are projected to achieve. These changes will go into effect at 146 hotels on March 22, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. Central time.
What’s significant here is that even though slightly more hotels will go down in category (76) versus going up in category (70), this should still be seen as a devaluation – and in some cases a big one. For the first time ever Hyatt will charge category 8 prices for hotels that have been in their own portfolio for years, not merely partner hotels or hotels that are part of newly acquired brands.
If you book an award stay and your flight diverts on the way to your vacation, and you can’t check in as scheduled, call your mortgage broker for a second or third lien on your house – quick!
Hyatt, like Marriott, charges you cash in an undisclosed amount (rather than points) if you have to cancel an award trip inside of the cancellation deadline for your stay.
One sweet spot is that MGM Rewards grants Gold elite status to Hyatt Explorist and Globalist members. This now includes a waiver of resort fees, upgrade at check-in if available (view, high floor); dedicated line at restaurants; and complimentary valet parking.
However if you’ve gained your Gold status via Hyatt you will not receive the Gold level’s $100 tier achievement celebration dinner. And if you redeem Hyatt points for your stay you will not have your resort fee waived.
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 »
