The World of Hyatt now has a property in a ‘country’ where no other chain has a presence

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Generally speaking, the big name brands of the hospitality industry shun locations that can be seen as controversial or where international law has very little influence, so you may be surprised to find that the World of Hyatt now has a property in a country that isn’t really a country.

A very brief history

There aren’t many parts of the world that view themselves as an independent nation only for the rest of the world to disagree, but once such example has existed in Europe since 1974.

The island of Cyprus sits at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and is a former British Colony.

In the years following the island’s declaration of independence (1960), its inhabitants (primarily people of Greek and Turkish ancestry) went through a significant amount of political upheaval and social unrest.

Tensions between the Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking communities were stoked by parties with their own agendas, and things came to a head in 1974 when an attempted coup by a group of Greek nationalists (they wanted Cyprus to become a Greek island rather than an independent state) gave Turkey all the excuses that it felt it needed to launch an invasion* that partitioned the island.

*Greek-speaking Cypriots saw this as an invasion while Turkish-speaking Cypriots saw it as a peace operation

The war of 1974 lasted a little over 4 weeks and left Turkish forces in control of the north section of the island (approximately 36% of the land mass) and the official government of the Republic of Cyprus in control of the south.

Greek-speaking Cypriots in the north were displaced from their homes and fled to the south, and Turkish-speaking Cypriots moved in the other direction.

Between 1975 and 1983, the Turkish-controlled north called itself the Turkish Federated State of North Cyprus, and in 1983 it declared itself a stand-alone nation called the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC).

Even though the international community refused to recognize the legitimacy of the TRNC (as far as most of the world is concerned, the north is an occupied territory), the TRNC exists to this day and its government is recognized by just one country – Turkey.

To say that the history of Cyprus over the last 100 years has been a sad one would be an enormous understatement.

So what does Hyatt have to do with this?

Up until recently, there were only 7 hotels in Cyprus at which points from Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, the World of Hyatt, or Radisson could be used and where elite status benefits could be enjoyed in full, and all 7 were in ‘South Cyprus’.

Because the TRNC continues to be viewed as an illegal state by just about every country in the world, there has never been an property in the north at which a major hotel currency could be redeemed.

Well, not until now.

In 2023, Hyatt purchased the Mr & Mrs Smith booking platform which a wide number of independent and boutique hotels use, and in 2024 it began to integrate those properties into the World of Hyatt program.

Part of the integration has seen the World of Hyatt gain 7 properties in Cyprus (all are Mr & Mrs Smith properties) and a little incredibly, one is in the north of Cyprus.

I have yet to find any award night availability at the Gillham Vineyard Hotel (which has just 31 rooms including 9 suites), but everything I’ve seen so far suggests that the property is bookable with cash.

To be honest, I’m a little amazed by this.

I’m not amazed in a critical way, an outraged way or any other kind of bad way (as I’m sure some people will be), but I’m amazed that a giant of the hospitality world is comfortable selling rooms at a property in an area of the world that most of the international community considers to be an occupied territory and where international law has little or no jurisdiction.

To give this some context, not only will you not find any other giant hotelier selling rooms at a property located within the boundaries of the TRNC (which, by the way, has a lot of hotels), you also won’t find any of the big fast food chains (McDonalds, Burger King, etc…), big restaurant chains, or big coffee chains (Starbucks) in the north, so Hyatt really is an outlier here.

I realise that none of this is particularly important – I just find it interesting – but I can’t help but wonder if Hyatt has accidentally found itself with this property attached to its loyalty program or if it knows and understands the history of the area and has chosen to take a leap that no other chain has been happy to take so far.

I also wonder how long it will be before Hyatt comes under pressure to remove the property form the World of Hyatt by the recognised government of Cyprus (which, itself, will probably come under pressure from hoteliers based in the south).

The government of Cyprus and interested parties from within the hotel industry located in the south of the island could well view the inclusion of the Gillham Vineyard Hotel within the World of Hyatt as a US corporation giving legitimacy to a territory they still view as being under occupation by an invading force, and they will be keen to ensure that this kind of behavior doesn’t spread.

This could be an interesting if almost entirely unimportant story to follow and I’ll follow up with another article if anything changes.

A note

I have been very careful to write this article in a manner that tries to stick to facts, that doesn’t judge, that doesn’t pick sides, and that doesn’t take any kind of political stance on the past, present, or future of Cyprus.

For a lot of people, this is a very difficult and thorny issue and I respect that.

With that in mind, any comments made on this article that attempt to bring politics into the discussion or that offer an opinion on the history of Cyprus will not be published.

Featured image: Gillham Vineyard Hotel courtesy of Hyatt