In a news release dated December 4, 2024, Hyatt announced that it was expanding its portfolio of "Collections," adding a Luxury Collection as well as a Lifestyle Collection. Soon after, without any fanfare or background, and naturally, without any communication to UVC members, I noticed a reorganization of Hyatt brands within its new slate of "Collections." Among other places within Hyatt's marketing materials, there's an image of the brand reorganization at the bottom of hyatt.com
Notably to UVC members, the Impression by Secrets brand is no longer an Inclusive Collection brand; it's been recast as a Luxury Collection brand. Similarly, Breathless is no longer an Inclusive Collection brand; it's now a Lifestyle Collection brand.
It's hard to tell how much of Hyatt's reformulations of its Collections to believe, though. Their marketing group is circulating the image above, but if you click the dropdown arrow at the top of the home page at hyattinclusivecollection.com, you'll get a menu of Inclusive Collection brands from their IT guys that includes both Impression and Breathless.
In May 2022, only five months after Hyatt's purchase of ALG, the AMResorts Collection was rebranded as the Hyatt Inclusive Collection. The change was significant to club members because UVC was developed as a loyalty program for AMResorts properties. In ALG's UVC, the scope of a UVC contract was defined by the term "AMResorts." In the 2019 UVC contract here, you'll read in paragraph 1 of Exhibit B:
1. AMResorts Hotels.
1.1. "Participating Hotels" Member may book their reservations with a preferential rate at any of the hotels operated by AMResorts ("Participating Hotels") available at www.unlimitedvacationclub.com at the applicable rates. Such reservations must be booked using the process described in the Contract and in the Operating Rules. Participating Hotels may be added or removed unilaterally by AMResorts.
Conditions of use for Membership type:
ALG wanted a loyalty program for their AMResorts brands. They honored that contract language. There was never a time in ALG's UVC when I didn't have access to all properties operating with an AMResorts brand. And when a new property opened with an AMResorts brand, I knew I'd be able to use my club benefits at that new property. In Hyatt's UVC, that's no longer the case. When Hyatt bought ALG, they already had a loyalty program called World of Hyatt. World of Hyatt encompasses all Hyatt properties, not just their all-inclusives. That's the program that Hyatt devotes time and energy to. Hyatt doesn't need a second loyalty program, especially one that rewards loyalty to only a portion of the properties they manage. Hyatt doesn't honor UVC contract language.
I inferred from Hyatt's rebranding of the AMR Collection that the term "AMResorts Brands" in my UVC contract was being replaced with the new term "Inclusive Collection Brands," and that my membership was now a loyalty program for Hyatt's Inclusive Collection. Except Hyatt included its own Ziva and Zilara brands in the Inclusive Collection without giving UVC members access to those properties. The rebranding made it only partially true that my membership was connected to the Inclusive Collection. Hyatt's behavior with its Zivas and Zilaras began me questioning what I really had with my UVC membership. Eventually, members were given access to one Ziva (which has since rebranded as a Dreams) and one Zilara, but we still don't have access to the other eight Zivas and Zilaras more than three years after Hyatt added the Ziva and Zilara brands to the Inclusive Collection. Just as importantly to me, there are several other Zivas and Zilaras currently in development in the Hyatt pipeline. Can members expect access to those? There's been no communication from Hyatt of their intentions for the Ziva and Zilara brands with respect to UVC.
In rebranding five Playa Resorts properties to AMResorts brands without giving UVC members access to them, Hyatt has altered the entire concept of UVC as a loyalty program for a collection of brands. There's no coherence anymore. What members get from UVC has become vague and confused. Yet, Hyatt is silent about what's going on. Is Hyatt's manipulation of the UVC inventory by resort rather than by brand a temporary aberration or a permanent sea change to the club that longtime members used to know? Is there any brand where UVC members can feel confident they'll be able to use club benefits in the future, or will future decisions to bring new resorts into the UVC inventory be made on a resort-by-resort basis irrespective of brand?
Hyatt behaves as if they can change the club's inventory unilaterally. Reread the contract language quoted above. Is the inventory of brands available to club members supposed to be fluid? That's not how I read it. If a property has an AMResorts brand, UVC members should be able to book it with club benefits. In violation of member contracts, Hyatt has usurped the right to manipulate the inventory of properties available to UVC members.
What does it suggest about Hyatt's intentions for the future of UVC if they remove entire brands from the Inclusive Collection? Can members still count on being able to book brands relocated from the Inclusive Collection in the future? Conceivably, Hyatt's plan is to eliminate all resorts with a Breathless or Impression brand from the UVC inventory. How can UVC members be assured of the club's future and a membership's value if no one from Hyatt tells us what the long-term plan is for the club?
How does a prospective member sitting in a UVC sales offices know he's getting sufficient value for the tens of thousands of dollars he's being asked to pay for a new UVC membership if he can't be sure of where he can use club benefits or how Hyatt will unilaterally alter those benefits in the future? I'm sure UVC sales staffs are making the club sound as fabulous as ever, but the reality is, the way Hyatt manages the club, members don't know what they can count on any more. What a new member gets for his money is a moving target, and only Hyatt knows where the target will move.
This is why, today, when I'm chatting up prospective members while on vacation, I discourage them from joining UVC. If you like the Inclusive Collection resorts, save your thousands of dollars. Don't join UVC. It's no longer a stable and reliable organization. Join World of Hyatt. Hyatt treats its WoH members better than its UVC members, and since WoH is free, you'll feel no compunction about abandoning Hyatt brands when you tire of the way Hyatt treats you.
I would welcome something unequivocal from an authoritative Hyatt official on what members can expect for Impression and Breathless, specifically, and UVC, in general. Are there any resorts members can assume will be added to the UVC inventory when one opens with a specific brand? If so, which brands?
And why do I have to ask?