Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) is a loose collection of independent hotels that use SLH to distribute and promote their properties while having a loyalty program built in.
SLH has had a distribution partnership with Hyatt, where a selection of SLH hotels appear on the rate search, and there has also been minimal availability using points. The collaboration with Hyatt, however, will dissolve due to Hyatt’s purchase of the Mr & Mrs Smith platform. The date of this termination is unclear, as is when Mr & Mrs Smith hotels will become bookable through Hyatt.
You can access SLH here, and Capital One here.
It seems that SLH has formed a new deal with Capital One where some of their hotels are bookable through Capital One Travel, and those stays qualify for SLH’s guest loyalty program that awards stay credits, upgrades, and daily breakfast for two.
The above email from SLH hit my inbox on Friday, but the link resolves to Capital One Travel’s web page with no further information about this partnership.
Capital One Travel lists SLH Hotels as part of their collection.
The Premier Collection and Lifestyle Collection come with some benefits.
Some of the SLH hotels appear on Capital One Travel, but there is always the pricing issue that has plagued SLH’s partnership with Hyatt as well.
You pay a significant premium to book any of these SLH hotels on SLH’s website and an even higher price if you book through partners, such as Capital On Travel or Hyatt. Third-party websites, such as Trip, sell many of these SLH hotels at a significant discount compared to the rates at which SLH itself sells them.
Rate Check: Palazzo Manfredi February 12 – 14
Note that I have not checked what room type the lowest rate corresponds with these four websites.
SLH
The lowest price for a two-night stay is 1127 euros ($1,235)
Capital One Travel
The two-night stay would set you back $1,612.
Hyatt
The price through Hyatt would be 1,282 euros ($1,406)
Trip.com
And the lowest price on Trip.com is $813 for exactly the same dates.
Conclusion
SLH has quite a few interesting hotels in its distribution portfolio, but the examples above demonstrate why I have always had great difficulty booking through them.
The hotels have always been significantly less if booked through one of the OTAs (not necessarily Trip), and why would you pay 50% to 100% premium to book through one of SLH’s partners, such as Hyatt or Capital One Travel? It just doesn’t make any sense.
There is no information about this supposed partnership on Capital One Travel’s website, to which SLH refers to members to whom they sent out the email above.
It is unclear when SLH hotels will disappear from Hyatt’s website, but that date cannot be that far out. Whether award reservations done using Hyatt points past the termination date are honored remains to be seen.
