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Look at that view from Château Eza! Wow. I really want to go there. I don’t really know anything about the hotel or Èze Village, but it looks awesome. Hyatt’s partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has grown to over 100 properties and counting. Château Eza is just one of many SLH properties where you can book through Hyatt in order to get the following perks:
- Complimentary wifi
- 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)
- Earn Hyatt points for paid stays; or book with Hyatt points
- Earn elite night credits towards Hyatt elite status
You can find the full list of eligible hotels here: www.hyatt.com/promo/small-luxury-hotels-of-the-world.
Irrationally Excited
I’m ridiculously excited about this partnership between Hyatt and SLH. Part of the reason for my excitement is really, really stupid. Last summer I had booked one night at a Marriott hotel, Roomers, in Baden-Baden Germany, but the hotel contacted me a couple of weeks in advance to let me know that they weren’t able to fulfill my booking due to a large group reservation. Instead, they put us up, at their expense, at the luxurious Brenners Park Hotel. It was awesome.
If Brenners was part of SLH, my excitement about the Hyatt situation would make a bit of logical sense. We had an amazing experience at Brenners, and so I’d very happily return, especially if I could pay with points. But Brenners is part of the Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) not Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH). Still, part of my excitement is the completely un-researched possibility that SLH hotels are in the same league as LHW hotels. I mean, the organizations have similar sounding names, right? As I said… stupid.
Unfortunately, even if my unfounded expectation of greatness is completely true, my excitement is still mostly irrational. Let me explain by way of an example…
Suppose I want to stay at the magnificent looking Château Eza for three nights in late spring. Hyatt would charge 40K points per night for a standard room:
Meanwhile, if I booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I could book the same hotel for as few as 20.5K points per night (that’s about half the Hyatt price!):
Of course, booking through Hyatt still has advantages such as free continental breakfast, a chance of a room upgrade, etc. Plus, the cheapest Ultimate Rewards price is non-refundable whereas hotels booked with Hyatt points are fully refundable. So, to make the comparison more apples-to-apples-ish, we could pick a different room from the Ultimate Rewards portal: Let’s go with the Elegance Room with no cancellation fees for 29K points per night. That’s still 11K points per night cheaper than booking via Hyatt and we would lock in that one room upgrade that’s just a possibility when booked through Hyatt. One downside is that we wouldn’t get continental breakfast, but we could cash in 6K Ultimate Rewards points per night for enough cash to cover full breakfast for two. And we would still save 5K points per night. Of course, if I was working towards Hyatt elite status it might be worth paying a little extra to book through Hyatt so that I would earn elite night credit.
Usually I wouldn’t recommend comparing point prices between two different programs the way I did above, but in this case it makes some sense. My primary avenue for collecting Hyatt points is through Chase Ultimate Rewards. I earn 5X in various categories of spend with my Freedom and Ink Business Cash cards, and 3X with my Sapphire Reserve and Ink Business Plus. And when I need Hyatt points I simply log into Chase and transfer Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. So, for me, it does make sense to compare Hyatt prices to Ultimate Rewards prices.
Excited nevertheless
Above, I presented an example of a real stay that I’m really considering. In this example, it doesn’t make much sense to book with Hyatt points since there are better alternatives. Still, there will be times where room rates at SLH hotels are exorbitant and the point price is fixed. That’s when the ability to book with Hyatt points (as opposed to Ultimate Rewards points) will be big.
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[…] Hyatt teamed up with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), I was excited for an absurd reason. One of my favorite hotel stays ever was the Brenners Park Hotel in Baden-Baden Germany. Brenners […]
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[…] course, now that Hyatt has acquired Small Luxury Hotels of the World, there are awesome opportunities all over Europe to use Hyatt points at good value in places that […]
The St James and Flemings Mayfair in London were bookable for 12k points for a few days. I wonder if anyone booked if Hyatt/SLH will honour the mistake rate.
I like this option because it opens up some smaller international destinations. Typically, if there’s a decent Hyatt around, there’s a slew of options. But in a place like Eze? Not so much.
Hopefully Hyatt is trying to lure the disgusted ex-SPG refugees.
Can I ask what you did in Baden-Baden? I’m considering the Roomers for a 7 night stay via 7 night certificate. Do you think that’s too long? haha
We were only there for one night so I don’t have much to tell you. We walked to a fantastic place for dinner (don’t remember the name). The incredible spa at Roomers kept us busy the next morning until we headed out. I definitely want to return. A reader said that he spent a week in Baden Baden and that it wasn’t enough time. I don’t know what he did there though
I appreciate the information, Greg!
Eze is amazing. Perched high up on the sea side cliffs of the French Riviera, one of my favorite destinations.
I noticed the hotel in St. Tropez was 1800 Euro per night in june/july thus even at 40,000 per night is a good redemption.
Sweet
Thanks for the booking comparison although the non-refundable rate is not comparable.
I want to advise to exercise caution, however, because a number of the rooms in the hotels that are offered for redemption are little more than closets!
The new Chateau in Normandy and the property in Edinburgh both only offer rooms for redemption that are less than 200 sq ft! So, be aware of what is being offered for redemption, as opposed to being able to book via another source of points.
Eze is a really cool place. I highly recommend
Greg, you mention using your Chase Sapphire Reserve card through the Chase Ultimate rewards portal. Could you use your Chase Ink Plus card and get the same hotel rate?
You can use the Ink Plus, but the Sapphire Reserve offers 1.5 cents per point whereas the Ink offers 1.25. So, you’ll pay more points with the Ink card.
What is interesting is that Ultimate Rewards doesn’t even list the Palazzo Vecchietti as an option for booking……….So for this reservation Hyatt is the only option……….so it’s pay thru the nose 40k but it is better than not having any option………
Rate differ greatly between SLH website and Hyatt.com’s. For instance, Hotel d’Inghilterra in Rome Italy for certain days in March booking 3 nights showing $214 per night on the hotel’s website to includes Breakfast and Taxes. While Hyatt shows $310 per night before taxes for the same exact dates!
This!
It pays to compare ALL possible booking avenues when it comes to the non-chain hotels being partners with a chain…
I would even compare the prices shown on sites like Booking.com (Al Maha of the Marriott Cat 7 is readily available on Booking.com and other booking channels on Chinese sites for example – cheaper than Marriott site if pay cash.)
Good to know!
Eza is a cute town..
Eze
Hyatt’s footprint is relatively small so it’s always great when they add more hotels.
With regards to your example, I think it’s similar to the usual “book using points or use cash” dilemma.
At the very least, now staying at these hotels actually earns Yu something (Hyatt points and credits).