Hyatt has been on quite the shopping spree lately. In recent years, we’ve seen Hyatt acquire Two Roads Hospitality, Apple Leisure Group, Mr & Mrs Smith, Dream Hotel Group, Standard Hotels, me and all hotels, and more.
Continue reading: Hyatt Acquires Playa Hotels & Resorts, Grows All-Inclusive Portfolio
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
You have to wonder what the plan is for differentiation in some of these saturated markets. They now have four properties in a half-mile stretch of downtown Playa Del Carmen: Hilton AI, Grand Hyatt, Centric Main House, and Centric Beach House. These are practically next door to each other. Maybe the Hilton becomes a Ziva?
Lucky you might enjoy one of the two Impression properties, if you’d like to humor us with an AI review.
The downtown playa del Carmen Hilton will be interesting. The beloved Royal became a Hilton several years back, did a terrible remodel, and the property has been in a downward spiral. Will most likely become a Hyatt Zilara - as the Zilara in Cancun used to also be the Royal.
I don't understand Hyatt's thinking here. Even though some of the resorts are nicer, they're all in three countries considered the bottom-tier of Caribbean destinations. IMO, the $ would've been much better spent expanding their European (or even US) footprint.
As a Globalist member, this is disappointing because it's a lot of Hyatt $ tied-up in places I have no desire visiting. I thought Hyatt was targeting higher-end properties (Park Hyatt & Andaz) in higher end Caribbean countries. Guess not. The only benefit I can see (for those who visit) is that at least Hyatt elite benefits should be enforced.
Maybe they're thinking there's a lot of $$$ to be made partnering more with AA on Caribbean vacation packages?
How many all-inclusives can Hyatt own? So many of its acquisitions seem repetitive. How about adding some Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt (let alone some Hyatt or Hyatt Centric) in North America and Europe?
I can't help but recall one reader's comment to another article. In essence, Hyatt's growth focus seems to be on a certain type of guest (warm-destination leisure) and not on a more common guest (who seeks a broader footprint of "regular" properties). My guess is that there might be greater consistency of revenue . . . which might lead to less dependence on loyalty . . . which might free Hyatt to pursue dynamic pricing.
See my comment immediately above. I think this might be very intentional. I think there might be a shoe waiting to drop.
Impression by secrets moxche or the secrets moxche is no cookie cutter all-inclusive. Really luxurious experience, especially the food exceeds many of those a la carte restaurants. Like the suki offers unlimited otoro tuna cuts
Meh. Went to Impression Secrets near Playa del Carmen a couple of years ago due to a great redemption. It was my last gasp for All Inc and it failed. Over 4 nights, still not nearly the diversity and quality of food and drink to keep my attention.
On the other hand, the Thompson in the city was first rate. Was able to use free night certs (beach house was a level 5), but that allowed those that stayed at the Thompson to use the beach house facilities, including pool, beach and breakfast. Nice to have access to both properties. Not sure how the Centric rebranding affects their status/relationship.
Like you, I get it, but for Hyatt would have preferred making some more luxury acquisitions or something that would expand footprint for middle market in the US a bit more. That said, I'm sure they ran the numbers etc.
So dynamic pricing is coming - I'm not convinced this acquisition is related though. I think this really falls more into a "because they could" and wanted to prevent someone else from acquiring.
Dynamic pricing will be a slow rollout as Hyatt has so many elite and even credit card aspects related to the categories. However, we will likely start seeing more elements very soon.
I get Hyatt's ambition ('asset light = we do a little and get a lot selling our brand'), but the issue is the more they move into the space, the less control they get over the actual experience. WoH concierge just throw their hands up whenever a hotel doesn't stick to terms.
More locally, this move looks like a private equity takeover: we're going to buy it for billions, sell the land to investors, operations to hospitality specialists and turn an ongoing profit for ourselves.
What is the point of going for Globalist status when in 9.5 out of 10 Hyatt properties the status means nothing (AI, HP, HH, M&Ms)??
When they are charging 58K for a night at Impressions or 115k if no standard rooms available....thats is already dynamic pricing...
Hyatt's strategy is completely different than Marriott, Hilton or IHG's strategy. Someone's strategy is right and someone's strategy is wrong.
And so many of these all-inclusive properties being acquired by Hyatt are really down-market. Wyndham! Hyatt has always claimed it commands higher RevPar than other chains and that it has richer customers. But buying a Wyndham?
I don’t think this is right. Hyatt’s strategy is very similar to Marriott and Hilton - growing the system size (through third party development and/or acquisition) while minimizing hotel ownership (and cash outflows generally). Like Marriott and Hilton, Hyatt either manages or franchises most of its properties (in terms of how the financial world views it, there is little difference between managing and franchising). Hyatt may have higher RevPAR, but that is probably just a function of mix; there are more Hampton Inn in Hilton’s portfolio than Hyatt Place in Hyatt for example. Property for property, room rates are going to be similar across these brands
In terms of this deal, I think I posted this already, but Playa was likely always going to be sold, and Hyatt was the logical buyer. They are used to taking on assets and selling over time.
In terms of complaints about Hyatt’s focus, they are just working with what is available in the market. There aren’t many portfolios of luxury urban and resort hotels they can rebrand to Park Hyatt or something. Developers want to build select service. Investors don’t want Hyatt spending billions of its own money building new hotels from the ground up. It is what it is. There are plenty of options to chose from in terms of urban hotels and resorts as a customer.
To those that keep saying that they wish Hyatt would focus on adding higher end hotels in cities and in resort locations, there are not many group really doing a lot of that right now. The two that are are...
Four Seasons - they continue to add urban hotels and resorts, though almost all through third party owners
The New Starwood! 1 Hotels has opened up in Nashville, Hawaii, Seattle, San Francisco recently, adding to exposure in New York, South Beach, etc. Starwood's real estate arm has shown the interest/ability in owning real estate, redeveloping, and then selling to third parties.
My wife and I have stayed at the Zilara Montego Bay a number of times in the past. Nice enough place but not generally worth the cash price and with the recent sets of points price increases it's not worth it on points anymore either.
Interesting but don’t think it matters. Many folks go to AIs not for the country, but instead just to stay on the property. We did it at Ziva cap Cana and had a great time