Tl;dr – As Hyatt closed its deal to acquire all remaining shares of Playa Resorts, it appears that there are some casualties in the form of existing guest reservations at select Playa Resort properties.
There’s one thing that always stood out to me about the Playa Resorts deal with Hyatt – despite already owning ~50% of Playa Resorts’ shares for some time now, many of Playa Resorts’ properties were partnered with other hotel chains.
I’ve written about the Hyatt-Playa Resorts deal a few times now, and most recently, I mentioned that it’s expected those non-Hyatt-Playa-Resorts properties would require translation. In the race to finalize this deal, some casualties have occurred. Various outlets reported that guests with existing reservations at Hilton (as well as other properties) have seen their reservations canceled without notice.
This is not a good look, and I hope that Hyatt (and any other parties involved) can step in to rectify the situation for guests who have been affected by these cancellations. It’s worth mentioning that this is not the first time in recent history that a transitioning Hyatt property has left guests out to dry.
A few months ago, I wrote about the curious case surrounding the Dreams Las Mareas. Earlier this year, the Costa Rican property abruptly closed its doors and didn’t inform guests who had reservations, including those with full-on, imminent weddings booked, only for ownership to announce later its plans to reopen as the first all-inclusive JW Marriott in Costa Rica (and only the second ever).
Yikes!
