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Belmond owns or partly owns 46 luxurious properties and the uber posh Venice Simplon-Orient-Express rail service of Agatha Christie fame. Belmond properties are iconic pieces of real estate with historical significance ( and if you’re unfamiliar it may be because the name was changed in 2014 from Orient Express to Belmond). In fact, I was uber lucky to celebrate my 21st birthday at one of their famed restaurants, the 21 Club. While the rest of the hotel marketplace has opted to “operate” hotels vs owning the underlying real estate, Belmond hasn’t, and instead owns the vast majority of the properties that bear their name. Their lofty place in the market, as well as the pivot to lifestyle that Hyatt has employed, makes this blogger think an acquisition could be likely.
Acquisition sought
Over the years they’ve rejected numerous offers ( in part because of their distribution of voting shares allowing the board sole discretion to dismiss any offers), but things changed, and in August, the luxury brand publicly stated it was open to a sale. Notably, luxury hotels have had greater success as the economy has recovered and Belmond isn’t any different: occupancy rates have remained constant while average room rates soared.
VFTW wrote about Hyatt being a great suitor, and I couldn’t agree more. Since that article, Hyatt has a pivoted even more towards high-end lifestyle: the partnership with SLH ( Small Luxury Hotels ) and more recently Two Roads. reveals strategic differentiation that Hyatt seeks vs its larger competitors, namely Marriott and IHG.
Hyatt offers a pathway to keeping Belmond exclusive
Belmond had intimated that it doesn’t want to turn into another Ritz Carlton ( folded into a large conglomerate only to lose its original exclusivity and grandeur), and those concerns would need to be addressed, but Hyatt’s recent affinity towards high-end boutique properties is seemingly synergistic with Belmond’s long term branding goals.
Currently their hotels aim to compete with the likes of Rocco Forte, Raffles, Peninsula, Banyan Tree, etc. In order to squarely position themselves in the market, the depth of Hyatt’s pockets could greatly serve renovation needs that many of the properties require while also putting Hyatt in a league of their own in terms of the ability to earn and burn at iconic and luxurious boutique properties around the world. That seems like a win-win for both parties.
If I were a Hyatt exec – I’d be making my case.
*feature image courtesy of Belmond.com
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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