What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?

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What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?

With Hyatt just launching a new British Airways American Express offer of 3,000 Avios for a £300 Hyatt spend at selected hotels, I thought it was worth another look.

What is Hyatt Prive?

Hyatt Prive is, like Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hilton Impresario, 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 our hotel booking partner, details below, is a Hyatt Prive agent.

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.

You will pay at check-out as usual.

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.

(Let’s be clear. Getting a $100 hotel credit AND free breakfast on a 1-night stay is an exceptional return.)

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 (some cheaper Andaz hotels require a two night minimum stay)
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

Park Hyatt, Miraval, Andaz and Thompson Hotels guarantee $100 of hotel credit. It may be lower at other hotels.

Park Hyatt, Miraval, Thompson Hotels and some Andaz hotels give these benefits on a one night stay. Other brands have a two night minimum stay and the credit will vary between $25 and $100.

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 £1.7 million of rooms through him.

I also use him for my personal travel when I can – he booked our recent stay at Hyatt’s Alila Jabal Akhdar in Oman which I reviewed here.

World of Hyatt update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: World of 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.

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.

Category

World of Hyatt

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

BSI1978 says:

1 Jan1 January 08:28

Clearly not the main thrust of the article but I’d imagine the figure of £1.7mn has moved quite a bit since you first ran this article?

Might be worth updating for next time.

Happy New Year team/all!
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 10:53
  
  Over covid the maths got messy due to cancellations! If you count the lifetime value of bookings from HfP readers to Emyr I would guess it’s far more than double.
Gordon says:

1 Jan1 January 09:01

Just to make it clear for anyone that is not aware,
Rob mentions that he has secured a suite upgrade by booking a room category below, You need to book a suite below, you cannot upgrade from a room to a suite. I guess you meant a suite to suite, but it didn’t seem clear.
- Emyr says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 12:51
  
  Hi Gordon,
  
  Some hotels do upgrade from room to suite but generally speaking it’s room to room or suite to suite upgrade.
  
  Best wishes,
  Emyr
  - Gordon says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 13:15
    
    Hi Emyr,
    
    That’s interesting, and good to know! I will be contacting you in the near future, regarding potential properties for a return to Singapore and Indonesia in Q4.
    
    Speak Soon,
    Regards,
    Gordon.
BBbetter says:

1 Jan1 January 09:15

Is the room credit per room? If I book 3 rooms in same name, do I get 3x $100 credits?
- Gordon says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 09:19
  
  Emyr might be the best person to ask that question to be 100% sure, he will get back to you within a few hours normally.
  
  emyr.thomas@bonvivant.co.uk
- Kevin C says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 09:37
  
  Yes you will get $100 credit per room.
- Emyr says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 12:51
  
  All the benefits apply per room booked, so it would be 3x$100.
Richard E says:

1 Jan1 January 09:52

Rob wrote: 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.

Rob, in your experience, who is best to cancel with? The Prive travel agent you have booked through (who will then take it up with the hotel) or calling the hotel directly?

Thanks and happy new year!
- Gordon says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 10:02
  
  The Privé agent, I have done this several times.
  - Richard E says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 10:58
    
    Thanks Gordon!
The Savage Squirrel says:

1 Jan1 January 10:11

“It’s similar to how, in finance, St James’s Place works“. I’m not sure Emyr will thank you for being tangentially compared to a company whose offering is so opaquely overpriced that they are viewed by many as borderline crooks 🤣.
- Lady London says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 10:30
  
  Yes and reading recent multiple finance press coverage they are finally, after apparently being too much of the industry for their reported nasty rates and practices to be dealt with.. (this commented amongst the industry for years but meanwhile them continuing operating like this) finally there’s coverage that indicates this seems to be coming out and they’re having to change some things quickly perhaps after talks with regulators.. and they have lost value… I thought the same when I saw their name mentioned in the article.
  
  I know that’s hearsay etc and I’ve not followed every coverage but an outsider it seemed to me for a long time everyone in the industry knew their practices but innocent investors wouldn’t and it wasn’t being dealt with. Now it seems there is some progress.
RussellH says:

1 Jan1 January 11:41

The bit that confuses (and slightly concerns) me is that while Emyr says that the room upgrade is confirmed, he also says that “it won’t show on the confirmation”. He is right – it is not showing.
So all that I have in the event of any dispute, is a print out of his e-mail to me saying this.

Though if the breakfast is still as good as it was last time I was at the hotel, we shall still be ahead.
- Emyr says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 12:50
  
  Hi Russell,
  
  The upgrade is always confirmed in writing to me, but only the original room booked will show on the confirmation.
  
  Best wishes,
  Emyr
  - RussellH says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 14:07
    
    Thanks!
    Still seems to be a very odd way of doing things.
    I trust that the hotel **does** have confirmation of the upgrade on its system!!
    
    I do recall checking in to a hotel booked through you that my partner had booked, and a trainee was on the desk and knew nothing about the extras.
    Fortunately there was a manager sitting at a table off to the side, playing with his laptop. He overheard the conversation and he came over and showed the trainee where the extras were confirmed – this took a few click-throughs as I recall.
    - Emyr says:
      
      1 Jan1 January 14:28
      
      If you get any problems in the future you can just contact me and I can sort with the hotel.
Bernard says:

1 Jan1 January 15:11

This is the sort of service Amex should provide. But doesn’t or won’t.
Just like Amex is now useless for lounges.
Privee is a good service. For leisure trips the value of the breakfast being included is also of significant benefit.
They also have more integrity and a less aggressive sales approach than SJP.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 15:48
  
  Amex does provide this service – Hotel Collection for Golds and FHR for Platinum. FHR has a guaranteed 4pm check-out too which is a real point of difference for some people on some bookings.
  - Bernard says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 22:52
    
    But as any US Amex platinum will know, the FHR inventory has been severely reduced as hotels bypass Amex for privee services.
    So Amex in ‘theory’ but in practice it’s like the Amex priority pass: once useful not not useable or useful.
    Also certain privee vendors can secure Kate check out too.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

What is Hyatt Prive and how does it work?