Tl;dr – Last year, Hyatt acquired Standard International and is now set to incorporate all of the chain’s properties into its global portfolio.
In the coming weeks, Hyatt will welcome yet another set of properties into its portfolio. As I’ve written about in the past, Hyatt has been in hypergrowth mode, leaning heavily into the luxury, all-inclusive, and (ugh) ‘lifestyle’ segments. After its 2024 acquisition, Hyatt will welcome the Standard International brands—Standard Hotels, Standard X, and Bunkhouse Hotels—into the World of Hyatt family. (The Peri Hotel and The Manner are two independent Standard International hotels that are also joining Hyatt.)
Though it won’t be immediate, the plan is for all of these properties to fully assimilate into the World of Hyatt loyalty program, meaning members can earn and redeem points at these hotels just as they would with any other Hyatt property. All properties should also nestle into a numbered category on Hyatt’s award chart, and members should also (eventually) enjoy the standard World of Hyatt benefits associated with their loyalty tier.
Hyatt’s ongoing expansion means its ever-changing Brand Explorer chart has changed again. Fire up your Brand Explorer passport, and you’ll see a new stamp to check off.
The Standard brand has never been in my wheelhouse—I view it as a less gimmicky but still-trying-too-hard (does the logo need to be upside down?) ‘W’—though I admit that after my stay at the W Conchal in Costa Rica, I may have been too hard on the W. I’ve stayed at only one Standard hotel—the Standard NYC—and it was years ago, way back when I was in my prime ‘what’s the vibe check?’ years, and it was ‘OK’.
When I look at the Standard’s current and upcoming locations, two properties stand out: the Standard Brussels and the Standard X Melbourne.
The Standard Brussels recently opened, like last week, and the early reviews of the property are promising, with folks highlighting the friendliness of the staff. This property is mostly intriguing to me because, to my knowledge, there aren’t that many notable hotels in Brussels, particularly points-forward properties. I had to go outside the ‘core-four’ hotel chains to find this property on Accor. BTW, while looking through the photos of the Le Louise Hotel Brussels – MGallery Collection, I noticed this angry smurf art piece and got curious.
Somehow I didn’t realize that the Smurfs are from Belgium?!?!).
…and…
The Standard X Melbourne caught my eye for similar reasons. I recently stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne as part of a bigger trip to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and while the hotel was solid, it is one of the city’s few luxury properties. While the Standard X isn’t a luxury brand, it’s at least somewhat upscale in its lifestyle-liness. It can serve as another point-ready option in an underrated and hotel-underserved city.
