The Hyatt Residence Club is in the process of transforming its program into a strictly points based program. The name of the new program is the Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program.
The Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program is initially starting with properties located in seven locations. The current list of properties is found here.
OVERVIEW OF THE HYATT RESIDENCE CLUB PORTFOLIO PROGRAM
The Hyatt Residence Club is going under a large transformation on how they sell and market the Hyatt Residence Club. Instead of the hybrid system where you previously owned a deeded week that could be used or converted into points, the new system will be strictly points.
In order to accomplish this transformation, the Hyatt Residence Club has created a land trust. This land trust will hold the actual deeds to the properties. All existing inventory owned by Hyatt or being developed by Hyatt will be contributed into the trust.
Currently, only inventory from the properties located in Sedona, Arizona, Carmel, California, Aspen, Colorado, Bonita Springs, Florida, Key West, Florida, Lake Tahoe, Nevada and San Antonio, Texas will be contributed. Apparently, over time additional locations will be added. I was not informed on why other locations were not added for the initial rollout.
What this means is that the Hyatt Residence Club is now only selling points. Those points will then be able to be exchanged into stays as various properties. This transformation is similar to what Marriott did in 2010 and what Wyndham did previously.
The Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program is in its infancy as it is just starting to be rolled out at the various sales centers. As a result, some of this information may be inaccurate and will likely need updating. Here is what I know at the moment.
Tier Structures
The Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program has introduced the concept of tier structures for ownership. They have broken down the tiers into four distinct areas that has various perks and benefits associated with each tier. The four tiers are "Classic", "Executive", "Premier" and "Elite".
Classic Tier (up to 2,201 - 4,399 Portfolio Points)
Executive Tier (up to 2,201 - 4,399 Portfolio Points)
Premier Tier (up to 4,400 - 6,599 Portfolio Points)
Elite Tier (6,600+ Portfolio Points)
Elite Tier (6,600+ Portfolio Points)
Comparing the Elite Tiers
As you can see from the various pictures, each tier level provides various program benefits. The most important difference between the various tiers concerns the Reservation Request Advantage, Borrowing Ability and World of Hyatt conversion Ratio.
Reservation Request Advantage
The Reservation Request Advantage allows you make reservations at the Portfolio Club Properties before other members. As you can see, Classic members can reserve 14 months in advance, Executive - 15 months in advance, Premier - 16 months in advance and Elite - 18 months in advance. The biggest benefit to being able to reserve farther in advance than other members is the ability to book highly sought after weeks like Christmas week. The sooner you can put in the request, the better odds of getting that highly desirable week.
Borrowing Ability
Borrowing Ability allows you to borrow points from the following years allotment. When you borrow points, you have certain reservation windows that you are allowed to use. As you can see, Classic members can only make reservations 3 months prior to arrival where Executive can make reservations 4 months prior to arrival, Premier can make reservations 5 months prior to arrival and Elite can make reservations 6 months prior to arrival.
World of Hyatt Conversion Ratio
Each tier has a different conversion ratio where you can convert your Portfolio Points in World of Hyatt points in order to make reservations at Hyatt hotels.
Classic: 1 Portfolio Point = 41 Bonus Points
Executive: 1 Portfolio Point = 43 Bonus Points
Premier: 1 Portfolio Point = 45 Bonus Points
Elite: 1 Portfolio Point = 50 Bonus Points
As you can see, the higher tier structure, the more World of Hyatt points. Although not confirmed, it appears that you may be able to convert some of your Portfolio Points in World of Hyatt Points so you would not have to convert them all at once. This could be a useful feature if you needed to top off the account for a certain redemption.
"Beyond"
As you can see in the above photos, they have something called "Beyond". Apparently, there will be added benefits going forward that will include tours, culinary excursions and other "bucket" list items.
Point Deposits
Your Portfolio Points will be deposited in your account on January 1st of each year.
Fees
One of the touted benefits of this new program is the elimination of fees. There apparently are no reservation fees, mid-week cleaning fees, guest certificate fees and so on. The purchase price and ongoing maintenance fees appears to include all of these extra fees that are currently charged in the Hyatt Residence Club legacy program.
Exchange Grids
The Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program has exchange grids for each property as opposed to the one general chart. The legacy system previously allowed you to reserve 2, 3, 4 and 7 night stays. The new charts have gone away from this ability and now let you reserve single night stays. You can now reserve as little as one night with the caveat that Saturday night costs much more than other nights.
Additionally, the new award charts have gone away from seasons and now have specific dates. The charts are broken down where you can reserve as many nights as you like with Saturday night costing significantly more.
Here are the charts for 2017 and 2018.
Exchanging through Interval International
Like the Hyatt Residence Club legacy program, the Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program will also trade through Interval International. Luckily, the point requirements remain the same. Here is the exchange chart for Interval International.
Like the Hyatt Residence Club legacy program, the Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program will also trade through Interval International. Luckily, the point requirements remain the same. Here is the exchange chart for Interval International.
Costs to Own
Since the new Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program is strictly points based, they can now sell points instead of deeded weeks. The cost for each point is $19.75. I was told that the minimum amount of points to purchase was 780 but I have not confirmed if there is an actual minimum. I highly doubt that there is any minimum but this will be confirmed.
Maintenance Fees:
Since all the deeded weeks are put in the land trust, the maintenance fees are no longer based on each particular property but are now a blended amount. The maintenance fees are $0.93 per point.
Example: For example, if I wanted to purchase 2,000 Portfolio Points, the cost is $39,500 and my ongoing maintenance fees will be $1,860 per year.
Interaction with Hyatt Residence Club Legacy Program
My understanding of the Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program is that this new program will operate independently of the Hyatt Residence Club Legacy Program where the Portfolio Program is like an extra benefit. New owners will be only be put into the Portfolio Program whereas existing owners will remain subject to the Hyatt Residence Club Legacy Program.
If you purchase into the Hyatt Residence Club Portfolio Program, you can use your Portfolio Points to exchange into the Portfolio Program properties at the exchange rates provided above or you can use your Portfolio Points to exchange under the Hyatt Residence Club Legacy Program using the exchange grid chart.
This is not entirely clear at the moment but I believe that the Portfolio Points and Hyatt Residence Club Points are really interchangeable but only Portfolio Points can be used to exchanged pursuant to the charts above and with the advance reservation window.
Stay tuned as this will be updated as more information comes out!