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Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ Expand Relationship

Continued growth gives members more rewarding opportunities to experience luxurious destinations around the globe

Hyatt and Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH) today announced the ongoing expansion of their existing loyalty alliance, celebrating a milestone of over 300 participating SLH hotels around the world for World of Hyatt members to earn and redeem points and enjoy on-property benefits. Since launching in November 2018, this alliance has grown by 500 percent with the number of participating SLH properties in the World of Hyatt program for members to enjoy, and will continue to expand throughout 2020.

“Since launching this alliance, many members have shared their positive experiences when staying at participating SLH properties around the globe and enjoying valuable World of Hyatt loyalty benefits,” said Amy Weinberg, senior vice president, World of Hyatt. “This strategic alliance has grown at rapid pace and is a direct reflection of our commitment to caring for our members in more ways and places beyond our hotels. We remain focused on delivering unique experiences and exclusive benefits for members in order to enhance how they live and travel, and are thrilled that this alliance helps us meet our members in more locations globally.”

World of Hyatt members now have access to more than 300 of SLH’s luxury boutique hotels that offer new locations across growth markets for Hyatt, including:

  • Le Refuge de la Traye, a mountain retreat in the French Alps with newly renovated eco-luxury chalets set between lake and mountain in Les 3 Vallées ski region
  • Arima Hotel, a boutique hideaway in the Basque region of San Sebastián, Spain with leading authority in eco-friendly lodging that offers majestic views of the Miramón forest
  • Vista Palazzo Lago di Como, a 19th century Venetian-style Palazzo offering 18 palatial rooms and suites, known for its glamour and panoramic views of world-famous Lake Como
  • Ksar Char-Bagh in Morocco, a stunning Moorish palace in a Marrakech palm grove oozing opulence and tranquility with its Persian-style gardens and plunge pools
  • French CoCo, an all-suite Caribbean escape set on the beautiful island of Tartane, Martinique
  • The Reef by CuisinArt, a luxury beach resort in Anguilla nestled on the southerly shores of Merrywing Bay overlooking the beautiful coastline

“Our purpose at SLH is to perfectly match the world’s independent travelers with the most individual, intimate and intense hotel and travel experiences around the world,” said Jean-François Ferret, Chief Executive Officer, Small Luxury Hotels of the World™. “This strategic alliance has allowed us to significantly expand our brand awareness by sharing our distinct properties with more than 16 million World of Hyatt members. Our independently-owned hotels participating in this program have seen immediate results and the benefits of sharing their vision with World of Hyatt members.”

Since launching, the World of Hyatt and SLH alliance has added 27 new countries where World of Hyatt members can earn and redeem points, including places like Sweden, Laos, Turks & Caicos, Portugal, Kenya, Iceland, Belize, New Zealand, Belgium, Anguilla and many more. Additionally, hotels that are part of this exclusive relationship have seen a significant uptick in bookings, including Enso Ango Fuya II, The Sukhothai Shanghai, Hotel Eclat Taipei, Claris Hotel & Spa, and Hotel Éclat Beijing. World of Hyatt members of all tiers can take advantage of the following loyalty benefits when booking a participating SLH hotel through a Hyatt channel:

Earning and Redemption

  • World of Hyatt members earn five Base Points per $1 USD spent on eligible room revenue
  • World of Hyatt members will receive their standard tier Bonus Points on eligible room revenue spend (10 percent Discoverist, 20 percent Explorist, 30 percent Globalist)
  • Qualifying nights at SLH hotels will count toward earning World of Hyatt elite-tier status
  • World of Hyatt members can redeem points to use for free night awards on SLH hotel reservations; each SLH property has been categorized into Hyatt’s existing hotel award chart.
  • All World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers will earn an additional four Bonus Points, for a total of nine World of Hyatt points, per $1 spent at participating SLH properties. Hyatt Credit Cardmembers will earn an additional three Bonus Points (U.S. only).

Member Benefits

Participating SLH properties will provide the following on-property benefits to all World of Hyatt members who book through Hyatt, regardless of status:

  • Complimentary Wi-Fi
  • Daily complimentary continental breakfast for two guests
  • Room upgrade (one category at check-in if available)
  • Early check-in (noon, based upon availability at check-in)
  • Late check-out (2:00pm, based upon availability at check-in)

SLH 3K Stay Promotion

To further celebrate the continued expansion of this relationship, World of Hyatt members can earn 3,000 Bonus Points for every eligible paid stay at participating SLH properties. To participate, travelers must:

  • Be a World of Hyatt member (enroll here – membership is complimentary)
  • Register for the promotion from December 10, 2019 through January 31, 2020 by visiting the promotion landing page on hyatt.com or through the Hyatt Global Contact Center in order to earn Bonus Points
  • Complete an eligible paid stay at any participating SLH hotel between December 10, 2019 and March 2, 2020.

For more information about World of Hyatt and SLH, please visit hyatt.com/SLH.

The term “Hyatt” is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

Jet Industry’s Grand Masters Fight to a Draw in Dubai

Boeing 787 Dreamliner performs air display during the second day of Dubai Air Show in Dubai

DUBAI (Reuters) – After insisting for 15 years that the superjumbo is the future, Emirates airline has been forced by the demise of the A380 to embrace smaller wide-body jets, resulting in a flurry of maneuvers between planemakers at this week’s Dubai Airshow.

The 555-seat A380 is near the end of production, setting off a series of interlocking deals as top buyer Emirates reviews its fleet against the backdrop of fragmenting travel demand. Delays in the 406-seat Boeing 777X also weighed in the shake-up.

“We have to face the reality of the cancellation of the (A380) program and the effect it has on our network, which is why we conducted a root and branch (review),” Emirates President Tim Clark told reporters at the airshow.

The double-decker A380 superjumbo and the big twin-engined Boeing 777, plus mid-sized 787s and A350s, were all spread out in front of VIP chalets – the queens, bishops and knights in a game of industry chess being played out across the globe.

Big jets tend to be profitable especially when full.

Periodically, the industry designs smaller planes that match both the range and efficiency of larger ones, allowing smaller pieces on the industry chess board to topple larger ones.

While reducing its remaining orders for A380s, Emirates placed an expanded order at the show for 50 Airbus A350s but shelved earlier plans to order the 330-seat A330neo, an upgrade of an earlier model.

It substituted part of an order for delayed 777X jets for 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners – 10 fewer than originally planned in a tentative 2017 order – as part of a $25 billion order shake-up.

For passengers, the roughly 300-seat, lightweight mid-sized jets offer more choice and frequencies.

Many airlines say they can fly almost as profitably as the larger models but with less risk to the bottom line.

The downside? Planes fill more quickly and passengers can flee to other carriers. Airport congestion is also a concern.

Emirates insists the superhub model it pioneered – which takes advantage of Dubai’s location to capture global traffic using large aircraft – remains intact despite the new twist.

But the smaller planes allow some of its rivals to fly profitably with fewer commercial risks and this week’s deals imply Emirates no longer feels immune from such pressure.

“Given the changed environment, Emirates has been forced to adapt the tactics of some of the carriers they have been competing with,” said analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group.

STALEMATE

The shift sparked frantic talks by planemakers to ensure their models were included in the new mix of Emirates’ mid-sized jets. Each suffered losses but the result was broadly a stalemate, analysts said.

Airbus suffered a setback with the loss of the A330neo at Emirates and may have to cut output, they said.

But it ensured its own A350 picked up the slack and won a ticket to any future contests to replace A380s still in service.

Boeing <BA.N> cemented a key win for the 787 after two years of uncertainty over the earlier provisional deal. But recent 777X delays opened the door to Emirates readjusting the blend in favor of the Airbus A350, at the expense of the 787.

Emirates’ decision to expand its A350 order coincided with cancellations for the same jet at Abu Dhabi’s struggling Etihad, prompting speculation of a politically balanced adjustment.

Airline officials strongly denied any link and Clark said planners had identified more room for future growth in revenues with the A350 than the A330neo, which would nonetheless remain “in the mix” for the future alongside more 777X purchases.

Analysts said the net result of reducing A380 and 777X orders and switching to smaller models was about 18,000 fewer seats on order than previously planned before the show,

which some analysts described as a response to overcapacity.

“Manufacturers have sold too many airplanes,” Adam Pilarski, senior vice-president at consultancy AVITAS, said.

While the spotlight fell on the Emirates wide-body order rejig, the Dubai show highlighted Boeing’s efforts to shore up confidence in its grounded 737 MAX with fresh sales and changes sweeping the narrow-body markets. Beefed-up single-aisle jets increasingly cover distances reserved for wide-bodies.

Sharjah’s Air Arabia <AIRA.DU> ordered 120 Airbus including 20 of the long-range 200-240-seat A321XLR. Sources say it may leapfrog northern Africa to fly non-stop as far as Casablanca, a mission currently served from neighboring Dubai by an Emirates A380.

“The single aisles are the pawns of the industry but very effective ones,” Rob Morris, head consultant at UK-based Ascend by Cirium, said.

(By Tim Hepher and Alexander Cornwell; Additional reporting by Ankit Ajmera; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Emiratis walk past an airbus A350 displayed at the Dubai Airshow on November 8, 2015. Dubai Airshow took off today to a slow start amid little expectations of major orders to match the multi-billion-dollar sales generated at the last edition of the biennial fair. AFP PHOTO/MARWAN NAAMANI (Photo by MARWAN NAAMANI / AFP)