Hyatt takes two more London hotels from IHG

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• NigelthePensioner says:

  12 Jan12 January 05:49

  Holiday Inn to Hyatt Regency????

  • Andrew J says:

    12 Jan12 January 07:37

    That Holliday Inn isn’t good! Although handy that Shake Shack is just downstairs.

    • Sam says:

      12 Jan12 January 15:42

      @Andrew J Think that is the point. In no way a Holiday Inn should turn into Hyatt Regency without a major refurb.

      • Rob says:

        12 Jan12 January 16:26

        Even with a refurb, it’s not a huge hotel and I’m not sure the facilities merit the Regency name.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          12 Jan12 January 23:53

          Not sure regency’s are meant to be big

          Grand Hyatt’s actually are plus have iconic Spa / pool facilities.

• Nick says:

  12 Jan12 January 06:43

  Yup, I’m really going to miss Crowne Plaza – The City, which, as Rob says, was probably the best IHG property in London (I rated it above the IC Park Lane). The whole experience, every time we stayed there, was excellent. I’ll always remember that, on one of my birthdays, when i had several family staying there, in 5 rooms using my IHG points, they upgraded them all to club rooms!

• Will in SJC says:

  12 Jan12 January 07:43

  I’ve always thought the Regency brand on The Churchill was also odd given the price of rooms and the standard of regency hotels in the US.

  • Matt says:

    12 Jan12 January 08:21

    Agree, it should probably also be a Grand Hyatt – doesn’t quite hit the mark for a Park Hyatt but certainly a lot better than a Regency.

    • Coleslaw says:

      12 Jan12 January 10:34

      It’s nowhere near big enough to be a Grand Hyatt. The Regency brand doesn’t fit it very well, but it’s a better fit vs Grand Hyatt. Really it should be an Unbound / Destination.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 Jan12 January 12:19

        Probably better as a Thompson tbh

        Doesn’t have a spa/pool does it?

• Toddy says:

  12 Jan12 January 07:58

  A shame.
  I’ve spent about 15 nights at that HI, at good points redemption rates (especially before the intro of dynamic pricing).
  Perfect location for cycling events at the velodrome.

• Dirtyneedlebluesky says:

  12 Jan12 January 08:11

  Love the retro feel of the review from 10 years! Just out of interest I’ve looked at rates for tomorrow night (sold out tonight) and the points required are less for both properties then they were after the devaluation!

• Sandy says:

  12 Jan12 January 08:44

  It seems there is a mass defection of IHG: I see many HI or CP defecting all over cities where I had my habits: London, Dubai, Chicago, etc.
  Does someone has any idea why this is and why this trend seems reinforcing over the last few years? It does seem independent from the pandemic though!

  • Rob says:

    12 Jan12 January 09:03

    Could be many things:

    * IHG imposing quality thresholds which hotels are not willing to invest to meet?
    * fee hikes?
    * saturation of IHG hotels, to the extent that the fees don’t justify access to a thinly spread group of loyalists?

    I would love to see the economics of swapping from a no-brand 3-star to a HI. How much does occupancy jump overnight? Does it offset fees? Is the ‘oversight’ too demanding?

    In some ways IHG brands work well – no need to give out any free breakfasts or upgrades to elites, for a start, which in Central London would be a high % of guests.

    The old CP Kensington, for eg, now has to give free brekky and lounge access to Hilton elites plus they will be more demanding of upgrades and late check out. Was it worth the switch to DoubleTree?

    • toddy says:

      12 Jan12 January 09:41

      Some interesting stats from IHG’s last investor pack:
      – net room growth is 5.6%
      – IHG have 4% of global room supply but almost 11% of global pipeline
      – share for the top 5 brands has increased from 20% in 2015 to 24% in 2020.

    • Andrew. says:

      12 Jan12 January 11:14

      Interestingly, my last breakfast in an IHG Holiday Inn was complimentary.

      But it wasn’t due to being a Platinum member. When I asked if this was a new benefit, they made it clear it was a thank you because of my loyalty to that specific hotel. More than one kind of recognition.

    • BuildBackBetter says:

      12 Jan12 January 11:50

      Rob, you seem to claim hotels lose out on breakfast for loyalty program members. But the breakfast cost isn’t big. The revenue loss is not real – if they had charged for breakfast, those customers will move to another hotel. So it’s a bit difficult to say with certainty that free breakfast is a huge revenue loss for management. They’d happily take the room revenue and give breakfast away which doesn’t cost much.

      • Rob says:

        12 Jan12 January 11:54

        Not really. The bulk of guests in most branded hotels are business travellers, at least historically, on expenses.

        It is generally accepted in the hotel business that breakfast is the most profitable meal service. £20 for a buffet for 100 people is far more profitable than charging £50 per head for 2-hour restaurant meal eaten by 20 people in an average night.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 Jan12 January 12:39

        “But the breakfast cost isn’t big.“

        When you say this what exactly are you considering? The cost of a few pastry’s on the continental? Or the real cost which is all the extra staff you need to service your new found free breakfast customers.

        While Rob has a point on business travel most corporate rates are lower than leisure and include breakfast anyway. Status doesn’t really change much here.

        The real answer is there are a multitude of reasons why a property might switch brands and a large one maybe the investment the brand and the business itself is willing to put into refurbishments and marketing.

        If you believe status benefits drive locality than the property may feel offering tangible standardised benefits is actually a positive even if it costs a few breakfasts and G&Ts in the lounge.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          12 Jan12 January 12:39

          Loyalty not locality.

  • Irons80 says:

    12 Jan12 January 09:38

    As each hotel is independently owned and IHG has specific brand standards which are applied (supposedly in some cases) to every hotel, we can only speculate why hotels switch. IHG have said themselves they constantly review their portfolio and hotels come and go all the time… in the case of the CP City, maybe it was too good to be a CP but not enough for an IC or not right to switch to Voco, etc… perhaps when their management contract came up for renewal at these hotels, the owners got a better fee / opportunity to charge higher room rates with another brand… there’s a myriad of possible reasons and none of will ever really know…
    However a lot of speculation I see from people on this / other sites often lacks an understanding of how business and brands – especially with franchising models – which really surprises me

• Jack says:

  12 Jan12 January 08:47

  Any idea when Marriott will be running a buy points promo?

• meta says:

  12 Jan12 January 09:54

  Radisson is also running time-limited award sale. 15% off points redemptions. Book by 18 January, stay until 31 Dec 2022.

  Just rebooked my stay for tomorrow. Saved 50k points.

  • Rob says:

    12 Jan12 January 09:55

    Thanks, they never told me about this.

  • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

    12 Jan12 January 15:13

    The Radisson January sale prices are non-refundable so potentially not a great deal. I’d say their current rewards promo (15% off) is where the deals are to be had. Effectively a flexible booking and often get free brekkie thrown in too. One example I can see is two nights in the Radisson Blu Jersey in a family room over the June bank holiday weekend – £300 per night member rate for b&b or 47,813 points per night. You can buy the points at the moment with a 25% bonus and with Sterling strong v the Dollar at the moment that per night rate is less than £200. At the rate I bought my points last year it becomes £124 :).

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