While I’ll spend most of the time talking about the new SLH (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) properties that Hyatt partnered with and now added to their points program, the map below has all new properties.
I feel that right now there are a few distinctly great deals that need to be booked soon before the award prices change. On the low end, here are a few examples:
- Hungary Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest (cat 2) – Hotel starts taking reservations in September and already the award availability is poor. Probably because it’s a $300 to $400 hotel for 8,000 points!
- Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere Austria (cat 3) – Opens soon as a category 3! Yes, an Andaz and a hotel in Vienna for only 12,000 points!
- Hyatt Regency Bali (cat 2) – I stayed at this hotel in 2012 for 5,000 points and now it’s newly renovated and only a cat 2! Rooms are only 8,000 points, and Club Rooms are 12,000 points.
But what I’m about to get into is the large number of luxury hotels Hyatt just added. Many hotels over $1,000 a night.
Stats Showing How Awesome The SLH Deal Is
For years I’ve heard people complain that Hyatt had a good rewards program but lacked hotels all over the world, especially in the most popular continent for Americans- Europe.
Sure there were hotels in the few business capitals, like Berlin and London, but many vacationers want to go to Italy and Greek islands.
However, this partnership greatly solves that issue:
- Hyatt had 1 hotel in Italy (PH Milan), and there are 28.
- Hyatt had 1 hotel in Greece, and now there are 23.
- Even in Asia, Hyatt had 7 hotels in Thailand, and now 19.
The vast majority of these additions are international.
As the name “Small Luxury Hotels” suggests, the majority of these new hotels are also high end and high category:
- 100% of the Category 8 hotels are new
- 30 of the 40 Category 7 hotels are new
- 50 of the 86 Category 6 hotels are new
Map Of New Hotels
If you want to see the updated map of all Hyatt hotels, check out the Complete Map Of Hyatt Hotels. This one below is only the hotels labeled “New” with the update, the majority of which are SLH hotels.
(Click in the top left corner to (un)check categories, & in the top right corner for full screen)
Most Notable NEW Hotels By Category:
Category 2 hotels = 8,000 points
- Hungary Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest
Category 3 hotels = 12,000 points
- Cameron Highlands Resort
- The Excelsior Hotel Thessaloniki
- Perfect 5* on TA.
- Akyra Thonglor Bangkok
- High value, but not very central.
- Akyra Beach Club Phuket
- Éclat Hotel Taipei
- Antigua, Guatemala
Category 4 hotels = 15,000 points
- Gaya Island Resort, Malaysia
- Tanjong Jara Resort Malaysia
- Hotel Eclat Beijing
- $300/nt hotel for 15k
Category 5 hotels = 20,000 points
- Bank Hotel, Stockholm Sweden
- That amazing one in Bali!
- Diamonds Mequfi Beach Resort Mozambique
- Pangkor Laut Resort Malaysia
- Can you upgrade to OVERWATER BUNGALOWS (“sea villas”)?
Category 6 hotels = 25,000 points
- Tons on Greek islands, but most notably the number in Santorini: On The Rocks, Aressana, Naixan (books into suite).
- Hotel d’Inghilterra Roma, Italy
- 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok
- All suites
- Elite Spring Villas, China
- You book straight into a 300sqm room with a private “hot springs spa pool”! Only in China.
Also, I wonder if you can upgrade into the two bedroom villa?
- You book straight into a 300sqm room with a private “hot springs spa pool”! Only in China.
Also may be worth mentioning the Pimalai Resort and Spa (in Krabi, Thailand), mostly because I wonder if you can upgrade to a Villa.
Category 7 hotels = 30,000 points
- Chateau Eza France
- Sailrock Resort Turks and Caicos Islands –
- Great deal! $1,000/nt, basic room is “Ridgetop Ocean View Suite”, and many Caribbean resorts are expensive anyway.
- Margutta 19, Rome
- $700/nt when I checked – oddly enough the “classic suite” at 42sqm, is the same 30k points price as the 24sqm “deluxe room”. No brainer…
- Viceroy Bali Indonesia
- Amazing!
- 137 Pillars House Thailand
- Hard to pay 30k points in Chiang Mai… But it’s a $700 suite!
- Keemala
- Looks amazing! but couldn’t find award availability. But upgradable to tree houses?
Category 8 hotels = 40,000 points
- Nimb Hotel, Copenhagen
- Eight Hotel Portofino, Italy
- easily $1000/nt and beautiful area with few other points hotels
Actually, basically, all the hotels on the category 8 list are super expensive. See the map or check on the Hyatt list here.
I found two problems with these hotels:
- I personally dislike that the category jumps from 30k to 40k.
- Award availability seems worse on these hotels, maybe because they’re popular and sold out. But I couldn’t find any availability for the one in Jamaica or Tanzania.
Conclusion
The best example of the great deals out there (besides the 3 I mentioned in the intro) are:
- Searching Greek Islands like Santorini and Mykonos shows tons of hotels.
- Searching any of the main spots in Italy: Rome, Naples, Venice, Florence, etc…
- Viceroy Bali Indonesia for 30k
- Sailrock Resort Turks and Caicos Islands for 30k if you find awards.
- Elite Spring Villas, China for 25k… But seems far from sites I have saved.
- In general, hotels in remote parts of Malaysia, like Borneo.
- Diamonds Mequfi Beach Resort Mozambique for 20k, if you find awards.
- Hotel Eclat Beijing for 15k.
![Most Valuable Hyatt Hotel Redemptions [A Data-Driven Look]](https://travelisfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/data-driven-look-hyatt-120x86.jpg)
*So* glad you’re back to writing, Drew! Missed you during your hiatus. Glad to see you identify so many of the same hotels I did as the best value. 😉 I missed that Category 2 one, though. Didn’t think there were any under Cat 3! This partnership makes Hyatt even more valuable than they were before.
Also, the Sikelia hotel is out on the island of Pantilleria, toward Tunis. Looks like you have it in the middle of Sicily.
(Also thanks, I think I fixed that hotel location!)
Thanks Ian! Definitely a big upgrade for Hyatt!
Hyatt did NOT buy SLH. It just made a deal for a ‘strategic alliance’ to make SLH properties available on the World of Hyatt platform. Win win for both companies imho.
Yep, edited that. Thanks!
my question is somewhat related. For points stays, Hyatt states standard rooms. I am planning 2 nights at the Sydney Park Hyatt (room rates around $1k) and for points its 30k but the points room is not one of the view rooms. In fact, the points room does not come up when you search for paying with money. I think I read its a room only for points redemption and does not have any views. Is this correct? And to relate to this post I guess the question is how different are the standard rooms in these higher end hotels?
Honestly, I know nothing about the PH Sydney… I mean other than walking by it and thinking “that looks really nice!”
But I’d search for the flyertalk thread on the hotel and people will have posted their specific upgrades.
But OFTEN what you can do is look at the cash rates and see what the next category up is. So you’ll see your standard rooms and “deluxe” rooms, and the next upgrade is a “club” (if the hotel has it).
And often the next level up is the first hotel labeled “suite”. Often it’s a jr suite, but at least you can see the value, pictures (most of the time), and room details to see if it has a view.
If the jr suite (or whatever the first “suite” is) is a $40 difference and the room size is barely bigger but it has a coach… maybe not worth it.
But if the hotel “club” room or entry level “suite” is huge, has a view, comes with club lounge access, and significantly increases the value, it might be worth calling about to see if you can apply an upgrade.
I just check HR Bali and it says 8K points and 12K for Club Level. When is it 5K points.
My bad! I didn’t think any of the “New” labeled hotels would be changing categories, as none of the new SLH hotels changed categories as they were JUST added. But that didn’t apply to some of the old Hyatt’s.
So the Hyatt Complete Map should be completely up to date, and that should be the only hotel mentioned in the post itself that changed categories just now.
Still a good deal, I think.
I was able to book a few days at Keemala this year. Upgraded to tree house for $150 a night.
Looking forward to that and Viceroy.
Awesome! Do you know if there was a points option to upgrade to the tree house or not?
Either way, looks stunning! Enjoy!
Nothing in Australia and New Zealand
There are on the Complete Map of Hyatt Hotels, just nothing new added.