In April 2023, Hyatt unveiled the details of its newest hotel brand, Hyatt Studios. There’s now an update, as details have been revealed about how the brand will participate in World of Hyatt, and it’s not necessarily what you might expect.
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What is the new Hyatt Studios brand?
Hyatt Studios is Hyatt’s new extended stay brand, which is described as Hyatt’s entry into the upper-midscale lodging market. The brand was conceived through direct collaboration with hotel developers, and more than 100 letters of interest have already been signed.
The first property will be the Hyatt Studios Mobile, Alabama. It will open on July 1, 2025, and is now accepting reservations. The second property will be the Hyatt Studios Marysville, California, and it’s expected to open later in 2025.
Surprisingly, Hyatt shares that this brand will entirely consist of newly built properties, and not of conversions of existing properties. That’s good news in terms of the guest experience, at least.
The Hyatt Studios brand will offer suites with kitchen amenities (not to be confused with full kitchens). Property amenities will include grab & go breakfast and a 24-hour market (with items that can be prepared in guest room kitchens, using a microwave).
Hyatt Studios will join Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and Caption by Hyatt, in the select services category. Here’s how Hyatt describes what precipitated this brand:
The immediate interest from the development community in the Hyatt Studios brand is a testament to Hyatt taking a developer-informed approach to creating this brand, prioritizing scalable construction options and an efficient operating model designed to adapt to local market needs across primary, secondary and tertiary markets alike. The brand is designed to be flexible based on developer needs, accommodating both extended-stay and shorter length-of-stay leisure and business transient guests depending on the hotel’s market and guest base.
Below you can see renderings of the Hyatt Studios brand.
Hyatt Studios’ participation in World of Hyatt
Hyatt has now revealed what we can expect in terms of how Hyatt Studios will participate in World of Hyatt, and it’s a mixed bag. On the plus side, you’ll earn one elite night per night, stays at Hyatt Studios will count toward the Brand Explorer promotion, and World of Hyatt’s co-branded credit cards will offer 4x points at these properties.
The major catch is that points earning at these properties has been reduced by 50% compared to Hyatt’s existing brands. You’ll only earn 2.5x points per dollar spent at Hyatt Studios properties, rather than the usual 5x points.
That’s of course quite disappointing, but it’s also not surprising. World of Hyatt was the only major hotel loyalty program to not have reduced points earning rates at some of its more limited service properties. At least you earn full elite nights, rather than half elite nights.
Why hotel groups create new hotel brands
Before I share my thoughts on the new Hyatt Studios brand, I think it makes sense to talk about why hotel groups start new hotel brands. It’s not necessarily to be able to sell to consumers, but rather to be able to sell to hotel owners.
For the most part, the global hotel chains don’t own most of their hotels, but rather they have management or franchise agreements for them. The reason they create so many new brands is so they have something to pitch to investors.
They try to make each brand seem unique, in hopes of getting an owner to choose their brand over a competitor. That’s why there’s also such little innovation when it comes to new hotel brands. Instead I feel like we just see each of the major hotel brands introduce similar concepts over and over.
My take on the new Hyatt Studios brand
I guess it’s nice that Hyatt’s portfolio will continue to grow, though everything about this brand screams “quantity over quality.” That’s fair enough, since Hyatt is a publicly traded company, but I can’t imagine I’m alone in not getting very excited here. A few thoughts:
- For a brand consisting exclusively of newly built hotels, I can’t help but find the whole design to be kind of bland, with the exception of a few nice-ish design touches
- I think the key point about Hyatt Studios is that “the brand is designed to be flexible based on developer needs” — in other words, don’t expect much in the form of brand standards, despite this all being newly developed properties
- Hyatt House is supposed to be Hyatt’s extended stay brand featuring kitchens, so is Hyatt Studios different in that there won’t be the same consistent brand standards and this will be a little lower end, or what?
- While I can appreciate when hotels have large suites that have a kitchen area, this room design just looks plain strange to me, with a kitchen just smack dab in the middle of the room
- Frankly many extended stay brands confuse me; what percent of guests really need a full size fridge, when there are limits to what you can really cook and prepare in the room?
- Hyatt states that Hyatt Studios will cater to the “high-end guests within its segment,” so I guess that means it’s more premium than something like Extended Stay Americas?
- While Hyatt is the hotel group I’m most loyal to, I can’t help but point out the amount of brand inflation we’ve seen at Hyatt in recent years; I’m happy to see the increase in number of properties, but the brand inflation is quite something
- We’ve seen several new limited service brands announced recently, including Marriott’s StudioRes, IHG’s Garner, and Hilton’s LivSmart Studios, so I have to say that at least Hyatt’s new extended stay brand looks like one of the more premium versions of these
Bottom line
Hyatt Studios is Hyatt’s newest hotel brand, and it’s an extended stay brand where each room will feature a kitchen of sorts. The big question is what differentiates this from a Hyatt House or Hyatt Place, and it seems that the main difference is that developers have more flexibility.
In other words, don’t expect much in the way of consistency when it comes to design or brand standards. Hyatt Studios will feature a complimentary grab & go breakfast, as well as food for purchase, which you can heat in your microwave. You can expect the first property to open in the middle of 2025.
As far as World of Hyatt participation goes, Hyatt Studios properties will earn elite nights at the standard rates, but will only earn points at 50% of the regular rates.
If you’re not excited, don’t worry. Just remember that these new brands are designed for hotel owners, and we’re just the product.
What do you make of the Hyatt Studios brand?
The address listed on their website for the new Hyatt Studios location in Mobile is 5190 Motel Court, Mobile, AL 36619. That's the address of a currently-existing Holiday Inn Express (previously a Wingate), whose website is currently taking reservations as far out as May 2025. The artist rendering of the Hyatt Studios looks considerably similar to that Holiday Inn Express, per Google maps. Unless I am misinterpreting something, that seems to suggest merely a re-flagging...
The address listed on their website for the new Hyatt Studios location in Mobile is 5190 Motel Court, Mobile, AL 36619. That's the address of a currently-existing Holiday Inn Express (previously a Wingate), whose website is currently taking reservations as far out as May 2025. The artist rendering of the Hyatt Studios looks considerably similar to that Holiday Inn Express, per Google maps. Unless I am misinterpreting something, that seems to suggest merely a re-flagging and cosmetic upgrades of the building already there rather than a new construction.
@Allen , good eye, you're exactly right!
One thing I noticed too - I don't think the room shots are renders- those are probably prototype rooms already built on the property. The dead giveaway is the top of the windows which were a signature of Wingate Inns and wouldn't be present in the exterior remodel.
This is in the Tillman's Corner area which is not a desirable area of town.
Feels like it’s a method to get around non compete agreements for a given property location by creating a similar but different brand.
7 day housekeeping is ridiculous though, compared to the SpringHill Suites I stayed in a couple of weeks ago where it was every other day
Love the spicy ending to this post. I say this even though as a blog reader I realize I’m just the product here too .
The rooms look kind of like a Home2Suites but the latter has more desk and counter space. I happen to really like a full size refrigerator for longer stays, it is easier to store restaurant leftovers as well as make a grocery store stop.
I stayed at a Hyatt House in a business park setting a lot in 2021-2022 when my father was ill. Many of the 1BR and all of the 2BR rooms were...
The rooms look kind of like a Home2Suites but the latter has more desk and counter space. I happen to really like a full size refrigerator for longer stays, it is easier to store restaurant leftovers as well as make a grocery store stop.
I stayed at a Hyatt House in a business park setting a lot in 2021-2022 when my father was ill. Many of the 1BR and all of the 2BR rooms were either corporate short-term relocation (waiting to close on a house) or insurance relocation from recent flooding. I interpreted the reference to flexibility not so much as a reduction in visible brand standards but an ability to customize room type volumes based on local market characteristics.
Did you notice the part about WEEKLY housekeeping? Not daily? Yikes.
Thats fairly standard in extended stay hotels and has been for years. Most like Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, Candlewood etc. will give a "re-fresh" around 3-4 days with full housekeeping on the 7th day.
Do you have housekeepers at your house everyday ... probably not even weekly if I have to hazard a guess... LOL
I wonder how this brand will stack up against Hyatt House. Many Hyatt House (and Hyatt Place) properties are showing their age and losing their appeal. The main advantage I see of a new Hyatt Studios brand is that the rooms will be fresh and new. (That was one thing I liked about Holiday Inn Express, that most of their properties are new/modern yet still inexpensive). The grab n go breakfast and half-rate point earnings...
I wonder how this brand will stack up against Hyatt House. Many Hyatt House (and Hyatt Place) properties are showing their age and losing their appeal. The main advantage I see of a new Hyatt Studios brand is that the rooms will be fresh and new. (That was one thing I liked about Holiday Inn Express, that most of their properties are new/modern yet still inexpensive). The grab n go breakfast and half-rate point earnings are obvious ways that hotel operators and Hyatt will use to save money.
Hot take but Hyatt's limited-service portfolio needs a rethink and help.
Hyatt Place - once my favorite limited service brand - seems stuck in 2009. While I didn't mind that aesthetic and I very much like the bones which I considered excellent in 2009, in many cases we're seeing 16 year old room designs with furniture really beat up and falling apart. The rooms feel dark and the overall experience is just not competitive...
Hot take but Hyatt's limited-service portfolio needs a rethink and help.
Hyatt Place - once my favorite limited service brand - seems stuck in 2009. While I didn't mind that aesthetic and I very much like the bones which I considered excellent in 2009, in many cases we're seeing 16 year old room designs with furniture really beat up and falling apart. The rooms feel dark and the overall experience is just not competitive with Marriott or Hilton, let alone Holiday Inn Express.
Interesting take. I almost always choose the lower-end Hyatt properties in my areas of travel (SE USA, NYC, Texas) because they are the only lower-end and extended-stay properties that don't look teleported from the 90s, have tweakers and drunks on the property and ambulances coming and going late at night.
I fail to see the difference between this and a Norwegian prison.
The difference is you earn a few Hyatt points here.
Standard size fridges sound better to prospective guests than mini fridges which are terrible at keeping frozen items IMO. There are of course in-between options, but standard size appliances are often the cheapest to buy and replace. Odd size appliances are often more expensive.
Upper midscale and Hyatt is only offering half points? That's just wrong.
The majority of the Hyatt Houses I've stayed at haven't had proper kitchens (only a minifridge, microwave and a few glasses/coffee mugs) and were much closer to this rendering. It's really a crap shoot whether you get no kitchen, a halfway kitchen or a proper apartment-style kitchen, so I don't see any real differentiation here except for the reduced earnings rate.
I don't really earn steadily on stays anyways with Hyatt, so no bones...
The majority of the Hyatt Houses I've stayed at haven't had proper kitchens (only a minifridge, microwave and a few glasses/coffee mugs) and were much closer to this rendering. It's really a crap shoot whether you get no kitchen, a halfway kitchen or a proper apartment-style kitchen, so I don't see any real differentiation here except for the reduced earnings rate.
I don't really earn steadily on stays anyways with Hyatt, so no bones about it from me. But for a road warrior, I'm not sure what the particular appeal with this would be compared to other extended stay options.
There will be one in the Virginia Beach area in the vicinity of the Town Center area (where there's *already* a relatively new-build Hyatt Place), as well. It hasn't been announced yet, but I was told by employees of the aforementioned HP that it's coming, and I think the building itself is already under construction (and visible from the HP). But hey, for those of us with 10 properties visited and no plans to hit...
There will be one in the Virginia Beach area in the vicinity of the Town Center area (where there's *already* a relatively new-build Hyatt Place), as well. It hasn't been announced yet, but I was told by employees of the aforementioned HP that it's coming, and I think the building itself is already under construction (and visible from the HP). But hey, for those of us with 10 properties visited and no plans to hit up resorts, a new (cheap) checkmark on Brand Explorer isn't a bad thing.
Most likely hypothesis: Migrant housing play
Most likely hypothesis: you’re a simpleton brainwashed by agenda-driven for-profit news media amplified by their simpleton audiences. You’ve got nothing going on in life so you make everything about politics because you don’t have any of your own important things to attend to.