Hyatt

I've just been checking for award availability at a Hyatt property in California and stumbled across a small but potentially significant anomaly that I didn't know about - it's possible for the Hyatt website to display no award availability for your chosen travel dates when the property that you'd like to stay at actually has rooms available for award bookings on the dates in question.

I’m a big fan of Hyatt and I make no apologies for believing that the World of Hyatt program is the best major hotel loyalty program around…and by some considerable difference. I am, however, getting more than a little tired of seeing an ever-increasing number of World of Hyatt properties charging guests inexcusable Resort/Destinations fees. It’s also very disappointing to see that a new Hyatt that’s soon to open in Los Angeles will be adding this rip-off fee to most guest’s folios.

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At the beginning of January, it looked like Hyatt was going down a similar path to both Marriott and IHG as it entered into a dispute with an owner of 22 properties that were flagged under the Hyatt Place brand. At that point, it looked like Services Properties Trust was going to move control of its Hyatt Place properties to Sonesta, but following negotiations, it now seems that an agreement has been reached in the case of 17 of those 22 properties.

India already has over 30 Hyatt properties spread across the vast country with most Hyatt brands represented, but 2021 will see a further 6 properties (across two brands) added to Hyatt's India portfolio and the hotelier plans to have over 50 properties in the country by 2023.

In the past four days, Hyatt has announced the opening of two properties that are new to the World of Hyatt program, and with both properties belonging to the upscale Alila brand and with both properties located in my home state of California, this is news that I'm genuinely excited about.

Hyatt already has a foothold in Las Vegas through its partnership with MGM but following a major refurbishment of the Rio Las Vegas, World of Hyatt fans visiting Las Vegas will soon have the option of enjoying multiple Hyatt full-service properties too.

Back in December, Hyatt announced that it expects to open 13 new US lifestyle brand properties in 2021, in January it announced that it was adding 3 more properties to its European portfolio, and now it has named a further 16 properties that it says we can expect to open their doors and welcome guests at various points this year.

Yesterday, Hyatt continued its run of offering promotion after promotion (a run which now dates back to September of last year) when it announced a number of offers for stays made through the middle of September. Some of these offers can be great money-savers, but they're also offers that can be easily missed when booking a stay on the Hyatt website.

Back in the fall, I took the opportunity of a gap between the first two lockdowns in the UK to pay a visit to the Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill to take a look at what London's most central Hyatt property has to offer. I stayed at the Churchill for a total of five nights and although COVID-19 restrictions were still in force, they didn't have a major impact on the experience or on what the Hyatt Regency offers.