Hyatt has announced an agreement to purchase Mr & Mrs Smith, a platform offering direct booking access to a collection of over 1,500 boutique and luxury properties in some of the world’s most desirable locations.

At the moment, many of these Mr & Mrs Smith properties participate in IHG One Rewards. (click here for details)  Presumably the IHG One Rewards link will be severed once the properties are ready to transition over to World of Hyatt.

According to the press release…

The transaction is anticipated to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions. At a later date following the closing, Hyatt plans to unveil direct booking access to properties within the Mr & Mrs Smith platform through Hyatt’s distribution channels, including Hyatt.com and the World of Hyatt app. The anticipated move will have the potential to unlock access to more than twice the number of global boutique and luxury properties within Hyatt direct booking channels, and Hyatt is exploring ways to enable World of Hyatt members to earn and redeem points across eligible hotels in the Mr & Mrs Smith collection.

Bottom Line

Even though it is usually exciting when Hyatt adds to its global footprint, many of these hotels were already accessible to points collectors via IHG One Rewards. (often at quite reasonable award pricing)

Because these are small, boutique hotels, normal World of Hyatt benefits are unlikely to apply, much in the same way that World of Hyatt members receive few benefits at Small Luxury Hotels…