What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?

What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?

It has been a while since we did a dedicated article on Hyatt Prive and – as the most generous American Express hotel cashback deal this Summer comes from Hyatt (£100 back on £250 spend) – I thought it was worth looking at how you could combine the two.

What is Hyatt Prive?

Hyatt Prive is, like Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hilton Impressario, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club and IHG Luxury & Lifestyle, a special benefits programme which can only be accessed by selected luxury travel agents.

These schemes are driven by the US travel market. Whilst virtually unheard of in the UK, most wealthy Americans will use a personal travel advisor. These tend to be self employed individuals who contract with a bigger travel group to provide access to deals and back-end support. It’s similar to how, in finance, St James’s Place works in the UK.

In order to keep ‘front of mind’ with travel advisors, the big hotel groups offer access to special benefits. The travel advisors can offer their clients these exclusive privileges for booking with them, which guarantees the booking and their future loyalty. Everyone wins.

Well, everyone wins except people who don’t have access to a luxury travel advisor. Don’t worry, however, as you can use our hotel booking partner, details below.

Are Hyatt Prive rates the same as online rates?

Yes. You will pay the Best Flexible Rate shown online.

There are likely to be cheaper Advanced Purchase rates are available, so if you are happy to commit in advance and don’t need a refundable rate then you need to do the maths.

What benefits does Hyatt Prive offer?

Hyatt Prive gets you the following benefits:

• $25 to $100 hotel credit per stay, depending on brand (majority are $100)
• One category room upgrade confirmed within 24 hours of booking
• Daily full breakfast for two
• Early check-in (from 9am) and late check-out (to 4pm) subject to availability
• Welcome gift and letter

Clearly, if you would otherwise book an Advanced Purchase rate, then you are paying a small premium to lock in these benefits.  The free breakfast, upgrade and $100 hotel credit should easily put you into ‘profit’ though on the price difference.  If you would usually book a flexible rate, these extra benefits are genuinely free.

For clarity, you will earn World of Hyatt points and elite night credits on top and you pay on departure. If you have Hyatt status, the benefits will stack as best they can. Our article on what World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

The real value is in the guaranteed upgrade

The real value here is from the guaranteed upgrade.  If you want a specific room category, you can book a cheaper one, one category lower. 

I have done this multiple times to make a big saving on suites which sleep four. I book the room one category lower than I need, which can be considerably cheaper depending on how the hotel prices its different room types, and wait for the upgrade to clear.

The upgrade benefit has been slightly degraded in recent years. It used to confirm instantly with no exceptions. It now takes 24 hours to clear and a hotel is allowed to block it if it believes that it will be full on the night of your stay.

This isn’t a huge problem. If your upgrade doesn’t clear, you simply cancel the booking. It is possible that moving to cancel the booking may prompt a rethink anyway.

Which Hyatt brands take part in Hyatt Prive?

All hotels from the following brands participate:

• Park Hyatt
• Andaz
• Alila
• Thompson Hotels
• Miraval Resorts

Selected hotels from the following brands:

• The Unbound Collection
• Grand Hyatt
• Hyatt Regency
• Destination Hotels
• Hyatt Centric
• Joie de Vivre

There is NO minimum stay requirement at Park Hyatt, Miraval, Andaz and Thompson Hotels. These brands also guarantee $100 of hotel credit.

Other brands have a two night minimum stay and the credit will vary between $25 and $100.

How does this offer work with the current American Express offer?

If targetted, you will receive £100 cashback on a £250 spend at a participating Hyatt property. The deal runs until 31st August.

It is restricted to selected European hotels, although most of my favourites are there including Park Hyatt Hamburg pictured above, Grand Hyatt Berlin, Hyatt Centric Madrid (reviewed here) and the reborn Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, top photo on this page. The new Malta hotel is NOT included.

All of the UK hotels are there, except for the new Hyatt Place in the City.

So …. you book a room via Bon Vivant for roughly £250 at one of the participating hotels. Let’s assume its an Andaz, which triggers the Hyatt Prive benefits on a one night stay.

Because it is a Hyatt Prive booking, you get the guaranteed upgrade, free breakfast, $100 of hotel credit, welcome gift and early check-in / late check-out if available.

Because you will have spent £250, you will get £100 cashback from American Express.

This means that you will get quite a lot of stay for not a lot of money.

To book

If you want to make a Hyatt booking with Hyatt Prive benefits, Emyr Thomas of Bon Vivant, who we partner with, is a Hyatt Prive agent.  You can drop him a note via the form here.  Emyr has worked with us for a couple of years and readers have booked well over £1.3 million of rooms through him.  I also use him for my personal travel when I can.

Other Hyatt bookings can be made directly on hyatt.com. The American Express offer requires, in theory, that you book a ‘pay at check out’ rate but – as long as you book on hyatt.com and not via an intermediary – this is usually not an issue with these promotions.

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World of Hyatt update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion.

New to World of Hyatt?  Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Until 30th December, you will receive a 30% discount, equivalent to a 43% bonus, when you buy Hyatt points – click here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.