Hyatt Hotels and Spotnana have partnered to relaunch Hyatt Leverage, the hotelier's small and midsize business programme, the companies announced on Friday (30 October).
First launched in 2018, Hyatt Leverage offered SMEs property-set discounts of 5 per cent to 15 per cent on direct bookings through Hyatt.com and its reservation centres. Under the old programme, companies entered a discount code at checkout on Hyatt’s site, according to Spotnana partner director of content and distribution Luigi Tiberio.
The enhanced, Spotnana-powered platform offers discounted rates at more than 1,300 Hyatt hotels and gives administrators a dashboard to book, view and manage reservations and to track spending, payments and savings.
Individual travellers can self-book, cancel and modify hotel stays with a user experience on par with Hyatt's consumer channels, according to the partners. Companies also can book on behalf of guests with a centralised credit card.
According to Tiberio, administrators now can load traveller profiles, set travel policies and approval requirements. They can include rate cap for specific destinations.
Hyatt SME clients can combine Leverage rates with any local rates they’ve negotiated with individual hotels as well. Under the old programme, Tiberio said, that meant entering a different code for each property.
“Small-and-midsize businesses have long represented a critical segment for Hyatt hotels and the broader global business travel market,” said Hyatt senior vice president of global sales and Americas commercial services Alice Harrington-Caravello in a statement.
“Today’s travellers want greater personalisation, collaboration and a seamless experience, and Hyatt Leverage makes booking and managing travel even easier through these new enhancements.”
Unlike the 2018 programme, administrators and individual travellers must be World of Hyatt members to enrol in Hyatt Leverage. World of Hyatt benefits extend to administrators and travellers.
Upon enrolment, the designated administrator is the World of Hyatt earnings recipient, according to a Hyatt spokesperson. The Hyatt Leverage administrator can use or redeem benefits themselves or distribute benefits to other team members. Alternatively, clients may choose to use a company-specific World of Hyatt account.
Spotnana connects via APIs to three Hyatt systems: the central reservation system, SynXis, the proprietary content engine, Atlas, and the World of Hyatt loyalty platform. The partnership took about two years to develop, Tiberio said.
The platform also lets Hyatt review and approve applicants through an online portal, according to Tiberio, improving what was previously a highly manual process.
Hyatt Leverage remains hotel-only. That’s a contrast to Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy, the SME programme Spotnana powers for Marriott, which also includes flight, rail and car rental booking. It also differs from IHG's Business Edge SME programme, which has introduced loyalty partnerships with air and car rental suppliers, including Delta Air Lines and Hertz.
"At this time, Hyatt Leverage is solely focused on helping small and midsize businesses book and stay with Hyatt hotels," according to Hyatt's spokesperson. "Future enhancements may be considered at a later date."
To qualify for Hyatt Leverage, a company must be legally organised in its home country, count as a small or midsize business and book at least 50 actualised room nights a year. The programme isn’t available for bookings made through a travel agency, consortia or another online booking tool.
Some existing Hyatt Leverage clients have already moved to the new platform, according to Hyatt.