Hyatt rolls out Mr & Mrs Smith gift card promotion amid uncertain timeline on loyalty integration
With respect to the true integration of Mr & Mrs Smith hotels with the World of Hyatt platform, one can’t help but feel a bit like that popular meme from “Caddyshack”: Well? We’re waiting!
Hyatt first announced it was buying Mr & Mrs Smith, a London-based travel booking platform comprising more than 1,500 boutique and luxury hotels and villas around the world, back in April. The deal closed in June and was a big win for Hyatt’s continued push into luxury and lifestyle hotels while dealing a blow to IHG Hotels & Resorts, which had been a loyalty partner with Mr & Mrs Smith.
The company has been a little less clear on when you might be able to earn and burn loyalty points at Mr & Mrs Smith-affiliated hotels, but it rolled out a new promotion this week that is a good stopgap until that full integration occurs.
World of Hyatt members who buy a Mr & Mrs Smith gift card via Hyatt through March 31, 2024, get 5 World of Hyatt base points for every $1 spent. For every $300, members will earn a tier-qualifying night credit toward World of Hyatt status. There’s also a 40% discount off 60 Mr & Mrs Smith-affiliated hotels — including several of IHG’s Six Senses properties — on the website through Nov. 6 as part of the brand’s birthday sale.
To earn points and qualifying night credits, purchased gift cards must be redeemed through the Mr & Mrs Smith website and not directly with the hotels.
It’s a strong offer for those looking to build up World of Hyatt status via stays at Mr & Mrs Smith hotels, as you could buy a gift card and use that toward a stay at some of the fabulous properties included in the birthday sale, like the Six Senses Rome, Capella Sydney and the legendary Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood — all while earning World of Hyatt points and qualifying night credits.
But beyond that, one can’t help but wonder if analyst chatter earlier in the year surrounding the difficulty of integrating all the hotels listed on Mr & Mrs Smith with a hotel company loyalty platform is easier said than done.
After all, there are still Six Senses properties — affiliated with IHG — on Mr & Mrs Smith. Further, when IHG and Mr & Mrs Smith had their partnership, only select hotels opted in. It might be different considering Hyatt now owns the platform, but it isn’t clear when we’ll get full integration and can start earning points and night credits without having to buy a gift card first.
A Hyatt spokesperson said via email they could “share more soon” when it comes to an integration timeline. Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian noted Thursday on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that “soon members can look forward to World of Hyatt benefits extending to the Mr & Mrs Smith platform.”
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As for what “soon” means, we’ll wait to find out.
Hyatt’s strength in numbers
Hyatt reported a $68 million profit for the third quarter and experienced a 6.2% increase in net room growth. The World of Hyatt program added 8 million new members in the last year — a nearly 24% increase that brought its total membership to more than 42 million. The company also opened its largest Andaz, the 715-room Andaz Macau, in September.
“Overall, we’ve expanded our portfolio of properties by 70% over the past six years, which has enabled a 300% increase in the World of Hyatt loyalty program membership,” Hoplamazian said.
Similar to Marriott leaders earlier in the day, Hoplamazian pointed to the ongoing recovery in Asia as a growth driver for the hotel industry going forward.
But leisure travel demand across the entire Hyatt network remains at elevated levels: 22% above 2019 levels and a 30% increase over 2019 for just the month of September. Luxury hotel rates are currently running as much as 26% above 2019 levels.
“We’re going to see continued leisure demand,” Hoplamazian said. “I think rumors of the decline of leisure have been greatly exaggerated.”
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