Hyatt’s footprint in Los Angeles has improved nicely in the Los Angeles area in recent years. Unfortunately there’s now a bit of a setback, as Hyatt appears to be losing two of its properties. However, Hyatt’s loss is Marriott’s gain.
In this post:
Tommie & Thompson Hollywood to become Marriott properties
In 2021, we saw the opening of the 190-room Thompson Hollywood and the 212-room tommie Hollywood, located on the same block in Hollywood. Thompson is one of Hyatt’s popular lifestyle brands, and tommie is essentially a more budget friendly version of that, with smaller rooms (this is one of only two tommie locations, with the other being in Austin).
Unfortunately there’s some bad news for World of Hyatt members. It has been confirmed that as of October 28, 2024, the tommie Hollywood will leave Hyatt and join Marriott. Specifically, it’ll become the Hollywood Volume, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio property.
While a date hasn’t yet been announced for the change, the expectation is that the Thompson Hollywood will also rebrand as a Marriott, and it’s suggested that it will be branded as a Marriott Autograph Collection property. This is strongly rumored, but like I said, there’s no exact date. Furthermore, if one property is rebranding, it would make sense that they both do, given that the hotels have the same owner.
Why are these hotels leaving Hyatt and joining Marriott?
Us consumers are never really privy to the contract negotiations that go on between hotel owners and the major hotel groups, but suffice it to say that it’s not normal for a hotel to rebrand just a few years after opening. That’s especially true when we’re talking about a brand like Thompson, which has been performing really well, and is growing fast.
According to discussions on FlyerTalk, and as reported by bcosinteno, it appears that this may be related to a contract dispute over perimeter rules for various brands. Keep in mind that Hyatt recently acquired Dream Hotel Group, and the Dream Hollywood is basically right across the street from the Thompson and tommie Hollywood.
It would make sense if this were the reason, though that also kind of sucks for Hyatt loyalists. I’d say that losing two properties in order to gain a Dream property in Hollywood isn’t a very good trade (though I understand this was part of a much bigger deal).
Now, it’s not like these properties won’t have competition in the area in the Marriott portfolio. Quite to the contrary, the W Hollywood is just a few blocks away. However, given Marriott’s much larger global footprint, the company has a relatively smaller footprint in Hollywood.
I feel like in the cases of these contract disputes, we sometimes see companies switch branding on principle, when they feel slighted, rather than taking a big picture look at the situation.
Bottom line
Hyatt appears to be losing a couple of properties in Hollywood. The tommie is leaving Hyatt’s portfolio as of October 28, and will become a Marriott Tribute Portfolio property. Meanwhile it’s expected that the Thompson will rebrand in the near future as well, and become a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel.
This seems to come down to a contract dispute between Hyatt and the property owners, given Hyatt’s acquisition of Dream Hotel Group.
What do you make of the tommie & Thompson Hollywood leaving Hyatt in favor of Marriott?
Oh well, there goes Thompson to be ruined by Anthony C at Marriott.
I've started at both. The tommie is no loss at all; it's right the size of NYC's Yotel without the efficient design. A waste at any price.
The Thompson, in a corner suite at least, was lovely. Interior rooms were, as described above, lousy especially at the $ or WoH points rate. Service (shortly after they opened) was frigid, but one hopes they've fixed that?
The fact is that all of the major hotel brands are underrepresented in West Hollywood / Hollywood. For Marriott, the W is seen a pretty tired, so these hotels will help bolster that. The Edition is excellent, but just one hotel. Andaz West Hollywood is fine but is getting long in the tooth as well. Hilton, from what I can tell, has zero hotels in West Hollywood/Hollywood (they obviously have stuff in Beverly Hills, as...
The fact is that all of the major hotel brands are underrepresented in West Hollywood / Hollywood. For Marriott, the W is seen a pretty tired, so these hotels will help bolster that. The Edition is excellent, but just one hotel. Andaz West Hollywood is fine but is getting long in the tooth as well. Hilton, from what I can tell, has zero hotels in West Hollywood/Hollywood (they obviously have stuff in Beverly Hills, as the others). There are a lot of independent hotels in the market. However in general LA is a really difficult hotel market from what I can understand. High costs, and the local industries (content production) aren't using as many rooms as they used to.
For Marriott, W properties just about everywhere are kind of tired. The decor and overall feel at many properties is like taking a time machine back to 2000-2006. I don't think the early 2000s contemporary or postmodern W vibe with nightclub-esque music blasting is something that will last in the long run.
It's like Edition. Edition was created to get millenials who wanted luxury but didn't want to stay at the Ritz-Carlton their parents or...
For Marriott, W properties just about everywhere are kind of tired. The decor and overall feel at many properties is like taking a time machine back to 2000-2006. I don't think the early 2000s contemporary or postmodern W vibe with nightclub-esque music blasting is something that will last in the long run.
It's like Edition. Edition was created to get millenials who wanted luxury but didn't want to stay at the Ritz-Carlton their parents or grandparents stayed at. Those millennials are now in their late 30s and early 40s.
Meanwhile, Ritz-Carltons have ditched the so-called old-fashioned decor. At the same time, Generation Alpha (the cohort who succeeded millennials) are into luxury goods, big time.
There was a comment a couple of days ago (I think in the W Vegas post) defending W for many locations that I agree with. There will always be young people that want a hotel with clubs, alcohol, music, etc. Ws in the US/North America that I think work well are Montreal, South Beach, Scottsdale. Boston is also OK, primarily because it’s such a tight hotel market overall (party hotels like Liberty and Envoy also...
There was a comment a couple of days ago (I think in the W Vegas post) defending W for many locations that I agree with. There will always be young people that want a hotel with clubs, alcohol, music, etc. Ws in the US/North America that I think work well are Montreal, South Beach, Scottsdale. Boston is also OK, primarily because it’s such a tight hotel market overall (party hotels like Liberty and Envoy also do well). W Union Square in NYC is almost done so we will see how that works. Internationally, Barcelona, Maldives, Algarve, and presumably a lot of the Asian/Middle East locations work well. You need a resort-y kind of location or a really dense urban market. W Hollywood is tired because the location is apparently a bit too grimy.
The newer W's in Europe are supposedly very well done though!
Talk about earworms. Any time I read about "Marriott Autograph Collection" (or the Wells Fargo Autograph credit card, for that matter), I think of that 80s hair metal band who graced us with their signature hit "Turn Up the Radio."
Not a big loss, as far as I'm concerned. The tommie rooms are too small to be practical for my partner and me traveling on business, and the possibility of getting put in an interior/atrium-facing room at the Thompson was a non-starter. I mostly prefer the Fig downtown, but I've also enjoyed the Andaz and the Shay when I need to be west side.
I dropped 60,000 points for 2 nights at the Thompson a couple months ago and got stuck in one of those rooms. I also hated the overall vibe of the property. I preferred the tiny room I had at the Tommie a year ago that I used a free night certificate on. I’m only an Explorist, so I guess the hotel didn’t find the need to find me a decent room. There was a 0%...
I dropped 60,000 points for 2 nights at the Thompson a couple months ago and got stuck in one of those rooms. I also hated the overall vibe of the property. I preferred the tiny room I had at the Tommie a year ago that I used a free night certificate on. I’m only an Explorist, so I guess the hotel didn’t find the need to find me a decent room. There was a 0% chance of me returning to the Thompson, so I don’t care that they’re leaving Hyatt. Good riddance. The attitude of the front desk staff was also quite off putting. Room service being nonexistent didn’t feel luxurious either.
Bummer! The Thompson Hollywood was my intro to the brand and it immediately became our go-to.
Such a great rooftop there and overall setup.
From the outside looking at Hyatt, it appears to be focused on vacation destinations, all inclusive properties/brands, and very high end properties. I still can't believe that in the 11th largest city in the US (Fort Worth) we have 5 Hyatt places, and then a Grand Hyatt and Hyatt at the airport. That's it. Nothing downtown whatsoever, and very few Hyatt Brands. There are often zero properties where I travel to as well. Hard to...
From the outside looking at Hyatt, it appears to be focused on vacation destinations, all inclusive properties/brands, and very high end properties. I still can't believe that in the 11th largest city in the US (Fort Worth) we have 5 Hyatt places, and then a Grand Hyatt and Hyatt at the airport. That's it. Nothing downtown whatsoever, and very few Hyatt Brands. There are often zero properties where I travel to as well. Hard to be loyal. Also as an AA loyalist, the program became less of a value for me, so I'm staying with Marriott at this time.
Yeah. Hyatt's trajectory is luxury properties, resorts and all-inclusives, and franchised limited-service properties. I suppose it's a reflection of the fact that US hotel owners by and large aren't building new, full-service hotels in many if not most markets for a variety of reasons, including labor costs, profitability (a Hyatt Place can be as or more profitable than a Hyatt Regency) and saturation (Marriott and other chains own so many markets).
And the Hyatt Regency at the DFW Airport is a dump.
A new or newly renovated Holiday Inn Express is nicer. The only "good" thing about it is the bar/restaurant.
What destructive behavior
It seems odd that a hotel objecting to Hyatt adding competing properties across the street from it would join Marriott since, to my knowledge, Marriott jettisoned its geographic exclusivities after or during the acquisition of Starwood. This was an issue with quiet a few legacy Starwood owners, especially in Southeast Asia.
Jeez, Thompson, SLH, & Tommie? It's been a tough year for Hyatt. It's a shame for a loyalty program that actually values its elites to continue to lose footprint.
Hyatt Please don't lose Andaz as well.
Wait...Hyatt dropped SLH as a whole...but this article is only talking about two individual properties.
Are you thinking that Hyatt is dropping more brands?
I don't think they're dropping the Thompson and tommie brand, in general. Just these two properties are leaving the Hyatt echo system.
I'm still bummed about the loss of SLH. The addition of Mr and Mrs Smith properties has been a bust for me, especially since awards do not follow the chart.
Maybe the owner of the Thompson and tommie didn't want to continue offering free breakfast to Globalist as a perk. By switching to Marriott, they can do as they please and blend the lines around; want brand recognition but not offering loyalty.
No loss it’s a crappy property however the big picture is more properties would rather be with Marriott these days as the program is massive with a much larger membership base.
Their elites are willing to pay more and get steamrolled and hood winked by hotels on average.
Hyatt has also become less interesting to do business with as room rates and award nights have skyrocketed and quality of experiences have severely declined...
No loss it’s a crappy property however the big picture is more properties would rather be with Marriott these days as the program is massive with a much larger membership base.
Their elites are willing to pay more and get steamrolled and hood winked by hotels on average.
Hyatt has also become less interesting to do business with as room rates and award nights have skyrocketed and quality of experiences have severely declined in North America
On top of that their non existent promotions and overpricing has me exiting their program after many years.All roads lead back to Marriott sadly.Newer hotels in more places and despite the higher price tag stays have been or may be better.
In the past Hyatt had high value fair enough pricing and great promotions.Unfortunately they killed the golden goose with atrocious management in the home office @ corporate and the company is going downhill imo
Luckily folks are still traveling but eventually the reality will likely set in when the numbers taper off or crash