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The 50+ list comes out just in time for some great holiday travel
Hyatt announced today that, beginning November 29th, you will be able to redeem your hard earned World of Hyatt points with their new partners: Small Luxury Hotels of the World. If you’re an geek like us, you’ll recall that Hyatt introduced a new category 8 specifically for the SLH at 40k a night. One of the 50 hotels announced is Hotel Le Strato, an insane hotel ( featured image ) located in the Swiss Alps with rates cracking 1200 Euros a night. It can be had for 40k a night, over 3 cents per point.
In fact, in January it was letting me reserve a Junior Suite for 40k a night…1400+ Euros cash.
The vast majority of hotels are in Europe, with a heavy lean towards UK, Greece, and Italy.
Hyatt is its weakest in Europe so this is no surprise. With holiday travel still being booked, this may tip the scales from one property to another regarding either redemption or the opportunity to pick up nights for status.
Yes, there are some insane properties like the Hotel Le Strato above, but many of the hotels are better suited to cash rates in the off season than using points. I looked at the Nobu Hotel Marbella in January ( not exactly peak season ) and it required 30k points per night vs 264 Euro – terrible redemption rate.
Same goes for the Lord Byron, a boutique hotel in Rome that fetches 20k a night or just 183 Euros in January.
What benefits can you expect?
Per Hyatt:
World of Hyatt members can earn 5 Base Points for every $1 USD spent on qualifying room rates and can redeem points for free nights at participating SLH hotels. It doesn’t stop there, members can also enjoy exclusive in-hotel benefits when staying at a participating SLH hotel.
- Complimentary continental breakfast
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Early check-in 12:00pm (based on availability at check-in)
- Late check-out 2:00pm (based on availability at check-in)
- One category room upgrade (based on availability at check-in)
Can you use your free category nights? Yes…but read the terms and conditions
Here’s what Hyatt has to say:
REDEEMING WORLD OF HYATT AWARDS AT PARTICIPATING SLH PROPERTIES
Only the Program awards expressly identified below may be redeemed at Participating SLH Properties. Redemption of these awards at Participating SLH Properties is subject to the terms applicable to each type of award, except as expressly modified in these SLH Terms.
(a) Standard-Room Free Night Awards. Please note that at some Participating SLH Properties, standard-room inventory available for Free Night Awards may be limited, but there are no black-out dates at Participating SLH Properties.
(b) 5-Brand Free Night Awards. 5-Brand Free Night Awards may be redeemed at Participating SLH Properties that otherwise meet the redemption requirements for these awards. However, SLH is not considered a Hyatt brand for purposes of earning the 5-Brand Free Night Award and stays at any Participating SLH Property will not count towards earning this award.
(c) Category 1-4 & Category 1-7 Free Night Awards. Free Night Awards designated as redeemable at a Category 1-4 or Category 1-7 hotel or resort may be redeemed at Participating SLH Properties that meet the redemption requirements for the applicable award. Free Night Awards redeemable at a Category 1-4 hotel or resort are those described in Section IV(f) of Appendix C to the Program Terms and as otherwise provided by the Program or Hyatt (such as anniversary Free Night Awards issued in connection with the Hyatt Credit Card). Free Night Awards redeemable at a Category 1-7 hotel or resort are those described in Section V(i) of Appendix C to the Program Terms and as otherwise provided by the Program or Hyatt (such as Category 1-7 Free Night Awards issued in connection with the Hyatt Credit Card). Please note that some Participating SLH Properties may be excluded from the categorization system applied to Hyatt hotels and resorts under the Program or may be classified in a category other than 1-4 or 1-7.
Free Night Awards that are redeemable at Participating SLH Properties are eligible to be gifted to another person by the redeeming Member, as described in Appendix B of the Terms.
Is it worth it to use points?
I certainly have not gone through the steed of properties to suss out any sweet spots, but after looking at several hotels, I think the pricing of many of the properties seem to be more or less fair for high season – which I think the categories reflect. It’ll be interesting to see how well the program does with Hyatt, and whether the see an increase in credited stays, or aspirational redemptions. Time will tell, but the SLH addition is in line with Hyatt’s pivot to lifestyle and luxury.
Any properties that look especially appealing to you?
*feature image courtesy of SLH.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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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, 2027.
- $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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