How Mr & Mrs Smith Boosted Hyatt’s New England Luxury Footprint

For years, the narrative surrounding Hyatt’s presence in Greater Boston and New England was one of reliable consistency. In other words: Hyatt was a bit of a snooze fest in this part of the U.S., lacking a presence for luxury and lifestyle-forward brands like Park Hyatt, Thompson Hotels, or Alila.

The brand was a stronghold for convention attendees and business travelers, anchored by stalwarts like the Hyatt Regency Boston near Downtown Crossing or the Hyatt Regency Cambridge overlooking the Charles River. The “newest” of Hyatt’s hard brands to enter the market in recent years were Hyatt Place and Hyatt Centric — reliable places to lay one’s head but not exactly inspiring “Lost in Translation”-esque screenplays like Park Hyatt Tokyo.

It’s not for lack of trying: The Pritzker family and Hyatt Development Corp. pursued a $1.2 billion development at Boston’s Fan Pier that would have included office, residential and hotel components. But they eventually sold to a local developer in 2005 after years of battling local bureaucracy.

Alas, for the luxury travel advisor seeking ultra-high-end, bespoke, or fiercely independent boutique experiences for their discerning clientele, Hyatt wasn’t always the immediate go-to in New England.

That narrative has undergone a seismic shift, almost overnight.

The catalyst was Hyatt’s strategic acquisition and subsequent integration of Mr & Mrs Smith, the booking platform known for its tastemaker-approved collection of stylish stays. The acquisition delivered an injection of immediate “cool capital” and serious luxury credentials for Hyatt. The Mr and Mrs Smith deal also appears to be adding significantly more hotels to the World of Hyatt network than Hyatt’s previous partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

As the integration deepens (keeping in mind that not every Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in World of Hyatt), the platform has unlocked some of New England’s most desirable doors of luxury and lifestyle hospitality.

Through the Mr & Mrs Smith platform in Boston, Hyatt now offers booking paths to icons like XV Beacon. Perched on Beacon Hill near the Massachusetts State House, its dark wood paneling, gas fireplaces in every room, and discreet service are the antithesis of the big-box hotel experience. Routinely ranked as one of the best hotels in the city, XV Beacon cheekily leans into its historic environment by noting, “Some claim George Washington slept here. XV Beacon’s lips are sealed.” Either way, staying here offers a fast-track to feeling like a Boston Brahmin — minus the trust fund and generational pressure, but with all the perks of access to a stellar rooftop terrace and Mooo…, the hotel’s raved-about steakhouse.

Continuing Hyatt’s newfound Beacon Hill dominance, The Whitney Hotel — a stylish boutique property tucked near the Charles River — and the Beacon Hill Hotel — a revamped townhouse-turned-cozy enclave in the heart of the neighborhood’s Charles Street shopping district — are also part of the Mr and Mrs Smith additions to the network. Not since the days when the Cabots spoke only to the Lodges has this zip code seen such a consolidation of power.

Another one we have our eyes on: The Newbury Boston, formerly the city’s original Ritz-Carlton, is now reinvented with impeccable residential interiors by Alexandra Champalimaud and dining by Major Food Group (Contessa on the hotel’s roof is the place for see-and-be-seen dining). For now, The Newbury is only on Mr and Mrs Smith and not World of Hyatt. We’ll be watching closely to see if that changes, as this would be quite the coup for Hyatt to truly have a contender in Boston’s increasingly crowded luxury market with competitors like Raffles, The Langham, two Four Seasons outposts, and Mandarin Oriental.

But beyond Boston, World of Hyatt is making even further inroads into New England thanks to Mr and Mrs Smith. The footprint expands significantly beyond the city limits into New England’s traditional luxury playgrounds.

The integration brought in properties that previously felt worlds away from a massive loyalty program. In Maine, the Kennebunkport Captains Collection offers a historic, design-forward village experience, while Bluebird Cady Hill Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, delivers a modern take on the mountain getaway. The portfolio also stretches to the Cape and Islands: Awol Provincetown brings a distinct, edgy aesthetic to the tip of the Cape; The Brant offers quintessential style on Nantucket; and Summercamp in Oak Bluffs captures the nostalgia of Martha’s Vineyard.

For the travel advisor, this is a game-changer. It allows them to offer the unique character and intimate scale of independent hotels while leveraging the reliability and booking mechanisms of Hyatt. For the World of Hyatt loyalist, it is a long-awaited New England revolution: the ability to earn points and utilize select benefits at properties that were previously highly elusive to loyalty programs.

Hyatt has effectively leapfrogged years of development in a notoriously difficult real estate market. Rather than just build a luxury presence in New England, the Chicago-based hotel giant acquired the best of what already existed, instantly transforming from a reliable utility player into a leading curator of the region’s finest lifestyle experiences.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sudden urge to redeem some points for a fireplace suite on Beacon Hill — strictly for research purposes, of course.