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Hyatt to buy The Standard hotel group

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Just over a month after early reports circulated, Hyatt has officially announced it is buying boutique hotel operator Standard International.

Founded by Andre Balazs, The Standard properties are generally aimed at a young, hip audience, sitting somewhere (in my view) between Marriott’s EDITION and W brands.

There aren’t many of them, but they are in places where you may want to be:

  • London (St Pancras)
  • Ibiza
  • New York (East Village)
Hyatt acquires The Standard hotels
  • New York (Meatpacking District)
  • Miami Beach
  • Bangkok
  • Maldives
  • Hua Hin
  • Melbourne

The pipeline for late 2024 and 2025 is:

  • Brussels
  • Dublin
  • Lisbon
  • Singapore

The two Los Angeles hotels have both closed.

Standard International has also introduced The StandardX, a sub brand that sits slightly below The Standard but still offers design-focused, boutique hotel stays. The first of these opened in Melbourne earlier this year.

Standard International, the parent company, owns two other small chains which are also included in the deal:

  • Bunkhouse (12 sites in the US and Mexico)
  • The Peri Hotel (2 sites in Thailand)

Does Hyatt really need three extra brands? Perhaps not, but The Standard will be a flagship brand for the company. I suspect the Bunkhouse and The Peri Hotel brands would be rebranded or slotted in under the JdV brand.

According to the press release, “The transaction is anticipated to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions.”

Part of the purchase includes creating a new ‘lifestyle group’ headquartered in New York City and made up of staff from Hyatt and Standard International. By the sounds of it, this sub division will be responsible for The Standard and other so-called ‘lifestyle’ brands in the Hyatt portfolio (I suspect Andaz will be one of them), perhaps in a similar way to how Accor’s lifestyle brands are under the Ennismore umbrella.

Once the transaction closes, you’ll be able to earn and burn World of Hyatt points at The Standard, The StandardX and other Standard International hotels.

PS. if you are wondering how much it costs to acquire an ‘asset light’ hotel brand (ie. without ownership of any of the actual properties), Hyatt is paying an initial $150 million for Standard International. Additional payments of up to $185 million will be made as (if) hotels in the current pipeline open.


World of Hyatt update – November 2024:

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

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Comments (37)

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

  • BBbetter says:

    Hi Rob, is it worth waiting to apply for the Virgin Atlantic Rewards+ card?

  • Novice says:

    Who would want to use Virgin tho? I have only used them once and it was a pathetic experience for the amount of money I paid for it. I wouldn’t bother with them unless I knew for sure that the business product will be the new one. That is not going to happen anytime soon from MAN.

    • PeteM says:

      I can understand that sentiment from MAN. Not from London.

    • Panda Mick says:

      Flew Virgin yesterday.

      Lounge: has a lovely beetroot smoked trout with dill mayo, flat white (not from machine) and a berry smoothy. Had a lovely shower too.

      I’ve flown KLM, ITA, Air Europa, Singapore Airlines, Delta this year. And I understand less your use of the word “pathetic” than I do about life itself.

      Flight: upgraded by Virgin into PE, Flught service manager came to say hello and explain why I’d been upgrade. A350 was great to fly on, bright clear screen. Being able to LAX on approach was amazing. Food was surprisingly good. A pollo milanese with garlic potatoes and greens. Really nice cheese board and perfect lemon cheese cake. Other smaller meals, especially the afternoon tea, were lovely too.

      • Panda Mick says:

        @rob

        There’s some weird voodoo going on. My second paragraph was actually written last.

      • mvcvz says:

        Beetroot smoked trout is probably the most disgusting food I have ever heard of.

        • Derek says:

          I concur. Like the sound of that pollo milanese though. Got an upper class flight to the west coast later this year and I’m now going to be totally disappointed if that’s not on the menu

    • mutley says:

      Virgin is a great airline, crew always fabulous, I recently flew to Delhi in Upper class, on touchdown I dropped my phone which disappeared under seat in front of me, three of the crew spent 25 minutes retrieving it when the aircraft had emptied. That’s customer service!

    • Jack says:

      The old business seat is better. No sure what your first world issue even is here other than the term “new” being involved.

  • Danny says:

    Brussels looked very neglected last time I was there throughout the city centre..weathered concrete brutalist architecture everywhere. Blackened, grimy monuments. Trash bags piled up. There seemed no effort on maintaining buildings or cleaning them up.

    Say what you like about London, but visually, it has been cleaned up massively from 20 years ago.

    Fine if you stay put in Grote Markt.

    Simple Google search shows I’m not alone in saying this.

    • Danny says:

      Meant to add this to page 1 sorry!

    • AL says:

      +1. I’m no Brussels fan – glad to get out after a day there, making it one of the only big cities that I say that about.

  • ChasP says:

    Love Virgin UC in every way apart from their “sales”
    More clickbait than sales as its so difficult to find which dates and destinations are on sale

  • AL says:

    The Standard, at least at KX, has fallen in to the Hyatt process of charging 5% to 10% per night service charge quite quickly:

    “We wanted to let you know that a 5% optional service charge will be added to all accommodation charges. This fee is not included in the rate shown when booking the room nor will it appears on your confirmation.

    The 5% bedroom service charge is an optional fee for services provided during your stay. This charge is designed to reward the staff for their efforts, and 100% of it goes directly to them as a gratuity, ensuring they receive the full benefit of your generosity.”

    I have no issue with staff getting tips, but the addition as a presumably separate line item is more hassle for me to expense than it would be if they just upped the room price a little per night. It’s a bit of an LCC thing to do to charge add-ons. Yes, it’s optional, but I’m not the type of person to remove it unless service was particularly bad – and, if it was, 5% would be the least I’d be expecting!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      LOL all the London hotels have been slowly adding it … and Hyatt isn’t even involved in the hotel yet so not sure it has anything to do with them

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Also There’s seperate VAT treatment for truely optional service charge. Hence why the price isn’t just increased 5%

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