Hyatt & Small Luxury Hotels Of The World (SLH) Partnership

In 2018, Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) launched a partnership, allowing World of Hyatt members to earn and redeem points for stays at SLH properties. In this article, I wanted to take a look at how this awesome partnership works.

What is the Hyatt & SLH partnership?

Historically, one of Hyatt’s biggest weaknesses compared to its competitors (Hilton, IHG, Marriott, etc.) has been its smaller footprint. Fortunately, this is one area where Hyatt has improved significantly in recent years.

On the one hand, Hyatt now directly manages around 1,000 hotels in 20 brands, ranging from Alila to Andaz to Park Hyatt. Hyatt’s own portfolio has grown significantly in recent years, with its 2018 acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality and its 2021 acquisition of Apple Leisure Group.

Beyond that, Hyatt has developed a marketing partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, which provides World of Hyatt members with access to hundreds of additional hotels. World of Hyatt members can earn and redeem points and receive exclusive privileges when booking these properties through Hyatt.

SLH is a group of around 520 boutique hotels. What differentiates SLH from other large hotel groups is that SLH as such does not manage these establishments. SLH is rather essentially a community of independent hotels that have no desire to directly join large hotel groups.

In other words, SLH has a marketing agreement with these hotels, and now Hyatt has a marketing partnership with SLH. We are winning as consumers because we have access to many more hotels with our points.

Which SLH establishments participate in the Hyatt partnership?

While Small Luxury Hotels of the World has around 520 properties, around 370 of them are part of the World of Hyatt collaboration. SLH properties in partnership with World of Hyatt span six continents and are geographically distributed as follows:

• 236 establishments in Europe
• 64 establishments in Asia
• 36 properties in the Caribbean and Latin America
• 16 properties in the United States and Canada
• 14 properties in Africa and the Middle East
• Four properties in Australia and the Pacific

Over time we have slowly seen more and more hotels being added, and besides, we have also seen some hotels removed.

Earn World of Hyatt points at SLH properties

The possibility of earning World of Hyatt points at Small Luxury Hotels of the World is quite solid:

The most important restriction to know is that you can only earn World of Hyatt points at SLH properties if you book through Hyatt reservation channels, including the Hyatt website, app, call center, etc. If you book through SLH, directly through the hotel, or through an online travel agent, you will not be able to earn World of Hyatt points.

Redeeming Hyatt Points at SLH Locations

World of Hyatt points can be redeemed at virtually any participating Small Luxury Hotels of the World (the one exception is Kontiki Expeditions, where you can simply earn points). Here is the price of World of Hyatt rewards for SLH stays (this follows the standard rewards table, including peak and off-peak rates):

A few other things to note:

• Hyatt Free Night Awards (whether Category 1-4 or Category 1-7) may also be redeemed at SLH properties
• While properties managed by Hyatt all fall into Category 1 through 7, SLH properties also fall into Category 8 in some cases (presumably, Hyatt’s cost to reimburse hotels for award stays is higher with SLH than ‘with properties managed directly)
• There are capacity checks on reward refunds at SLH properties, unlike properties managed directly by Hyatt

Granted, up to 45,000 points per night for an exchange is high, but there are still plenty of properties where it could be a phenomenal deal, based on my World of Hyatt 1.5 penny per point rating. For example, you can redeem 40,000 points per night on Calala Island, where the cash rate would be $ 2,550 and up. Talk about theft!

World of Hyatt benefits at SLH properties

Small Luxury Hotels of the World offer the following on-site benefits to all World of Hyatt members who book through Hyatt channels:

• Free WIFI
• Free continental breakfast every day
• Room upgrade (one category at check-in, if available)
• Early arrival (noon, subject to availability)
• Late check-out (2:00 p.m., subject to availability)

Note that:

Great use of Chase Ultimate Rewards points

The Hyatt & SLH partnership is of course exciting for those with World of Hyatt points, including those earning points with the World of Hyatt credit card and the World of Hyatt Business credit card. However, this is also useful for those with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, as it’s a great way to redeem those points for luxury hotel stays.

World of Hyatt also often sells discounted points, which could be a good deal for SLH exchanges.

At the end of the line

Personally, I have found the World of Hyatt & Small Luxury Hotels of the World collaboration to be extremely useful. This is an incredible opportunity to earn and redeem points at magnificent boutique properties that otherwise would not be accessible through loyalty programs.

This partnership has grown considerably since its inception in 2018 and now has around 370 hotels. I find the SLH partnership to be particularly useful in Europe, where there are so many boutique hotels accessible through this channel.

My favorite SLH stays have been to Calala Island in Nicaragua and Canaves Oia Epitome in Greece, although I have had other good stays as well.

If you have taken advantage of the Hyatt & SLH partnership, what has been your experience?