Hyatt Announces a New Experiences Platform – But Please Don’t Use Your Points!

Hyatt has made no secret that they want to be more for their customers than just a roof and walls. They have released various deals and offers over the last couple of years to show their commitment to fitness and wellbeing. This latest announcement fits within that as well with a new experiences platform – FIND.

Hyatt FIND – a New Experiences Platform Available

Link: Hyatt FIND Platform

FIND is a new effort by Hyatt to give unique experiences to their members in cities around the world. You may remember that they introduced something similar in the Japanese market last year or so and now this rollout is something that is going worldwide (except for the European Union).

Here is what Hyatt says and the first experiences being rolled out:

“Eligible World of Hyatt members can choose from over 100 experiences focused on restoring, reenergizing and self-care, and experiences will continuously evolve in the U.S. and international markets including, but not limited to: Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Sydney, India, Cambodia and Vietnam. Examples include:

• Create Your Own Herbal and Organic Beauty Products — San Francisco
• Insiders Tour of the Chicago Farmers Markets Classic Experience with Aram Reed — Chicago
• Join the Founders of Goat Yoga Las Vegas for a Private Feeding and Yoga Session with Baby Goats — Las Vegas
• Paragliding Tandem Flight Experience — Los Angeles
• Private Bonsai Class with New York City’s Premier Professional Bonsai Artist — New York
• Guided Hike Through Forever Wild Old Growth Forest Untouched by Man — Miami
• Masters of Food and Wine: Tastemakers Masterclass and Dinner — Sydney
• Calligraphy with Delhi Hero Qamar Dagar — Delhi
• A Taste of Buddhism — Siem Reap
• Where Culture Meets Cuisine, A Vietnamese Cooking Class — Saigon

The Experiences

If not much on that list excites you, you are not alone. 🙂 But, that is just a sampling of what is available (see the link above for all of the current listings). Of course, they have talked with other frequent travelers as well to start curating this list so it certainly will be nice for many.

If the platform looks familiar from Hyatt, it is probably because some things sound similar to yet another program Hyatt launched in October of last year to let you use your points (or cash) to redeem for experiences. Back then, it launched with an option to pay 600 million Hyatt points for a balloon adventure!

The Points

Please, do not use points for any of these – if you choose to pick up one of the experiences. The value is quite a bit lower than what you would receive when redeeming for hotels so I would avoid using points.

But, if you pay with cash/card, you will earn 10 Hyatt points per dollar. I am not sure how the actual purchases are coded so not sure of any bonus points you would earn with your card.

If you do want to use points for great experiences, SPG Moments and Marriott Moments continue to be a fantastic way to do that.

The Analysis

I totally see why Hyatt is launching into the experiential space – things like this can draw more millennials as well as showing that Hyatt is working to be more than a lodging place. This is a way to plan a trip and an activity or two right through the same hotel chain (and without a stop at the concierge desk).

However, the part of this that I am most excited about is what Hyatt ended the release saying (bolding mine):

In addition to these recent acquisitions, last month Hyatt also launched the World of Hyatt Credit Card, which includes a fitness Bonus category that rewards members for wellbeing purchases on fitness club and gym memberships. More Hyatt wellbeing initiatives will be unveiled in the near term.

I am hopeful that they will start rolling some running/biking activities or packages to go along with such events (they have some now but would be nice to see some other options as well). I keep asking about this and hope that we will see it at some point!

The featured image is from the paragliding experience – found here.