Skift Business Traveler: Hyatt Launches Hyatt Centric Brand for Millennials

What to Know Now

You know that feeling when you’ve spent too long in a Banana Republic and the jazzy jazz music starts to drive you crazy? Well we now have a hotel to produce that feeling too. Hyatt just announced the Centric brand of hotels, for “modern explorers,” with “simple expectations” but “high standards.” Whatever that means.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. At least Hyatt didn’t use the same stock model that Hilton’s Canopy and every other startup on the planet used.

The new Centric hotels are geared to be a bit more unique from property to property, eschewing the standard cookiecutter model and emulating something closer to the Kimpton chain of hotels. Think of it more as a boutique aesthetic with the underpinnings of a chain hotel.

In truth, I’m excited about Centric. I’m excited that Hyatt widening its portfolio and staying modern, especially when younger travelers are defecting in droves to vacation rentals. As for my travel habits, well, I don’t think I perfectly fit into the demographic that Centric is targeting, but I’m also not a big fan of Banana Republic.

Subscribe to the newsletter here and send tips to gm@skift.com or @grantkmartin.

Social Quote of the Day

It’s been days and I still have no clue what the eff Hyatt Centric is supposed to be about.

– @dstinationdavid | Destination David

Airlines

Aer Lingus Board Accepts British Airways Buyout, Needs Ryanair’s Support: Aer Lingus said Tuesday it supports a takeover bid by British Airways parent IAG, putting the Irish national airline with its trademark shamrock tailfins on course for foreign acquisition nine years after its privatization. Read more at Skift

British Airways Devaluation Coming April 28: The last time British Airways changed its Executive Club program was about 3 years ago when the airline made redemptions based on individual sectors, but today marks the next big changes to the British Airways Executive Club program. Read more at The Points Guy

Pesky Discount Airlines Put the Heat on American and US Airways: Those pesky discount airlines, including Spirit, Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin America and Frontier, adversely impacted American Airlines Group’s performance in the fourth quarter but American and US Airways struck back. Read more at Skift

Airports

Let’s See How Well You Know Your US Airports: A friend posted a link to the Washington Post’s subway identification quiz and said someone should do it for airports. So I did. Read more at The Cranky Flier

Seven Years AND COUNTING to Install New Runway Lights in New York: Eight to nine years for runway lights that will warn of collision with other aircraft. But they’re going to build a new terminal in seven? Read more at View from the Wing

Tech

Delta Wins Wi-Fi Bragging Rights Among U.S. Major Airlines: Among major U.S. airlines, Delta wins the prize for the ubiquity of its Wi-Fi service, offering “the most flights and flight miles with Wi-Fi of all airlines by far.” Read more at Skift

What Happens to the Travelocity Brand Under Expedia Ownership? Now that Expedia Inc. owns Travelocity, how much love is Expedia going to give to the Travelocity brand? Read more at Skift

FCC Rules Hotel Wi-Fi Blocking Is Illegal and Subject to Penalties: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission forcefully came down on the “disturbing trend” of hotels and other commercial entities blocking consumers’ personal Wi-Fi hot spots and declared such practices “illegal.” Read more at Skift

Hotels

Marriott Bid to Block Guest Wi-Fi Called ‘Bad Idea’ by FCC Commissioner: A Federal Communications Commission member said the agency should dismiss Marriott International Inc.’s request to block hotel guests’ use of personal Wi-Fi. Read more at Skift

Marriott to Expand in Canada With Acquisition of Delta Hotels For $135 Million: Marriott International says its definitive agreement to acquire Canada’s Delta Hotels and Resorts for $135 million would make Marriott the largest full-service hotel company in Canada. Read more at Skift

U.S. News & World Report’s Top Hotels for 2015: U.S. News & World Report just released its Best Hotels of 2015. The rankings are separated out geographically across the United States, Caribbean, Canada and Mexico. Read more at Forbes

Your Turn

The Points Guy was on Bloomberg TV this week helping us slog through the New England storm. Check out his spot here.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm@skift.com and @grantkmartin. We publish the Business Newsletter twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday, but sometimes on Friday.

Subscribe to the Skift Business Traveler Newsletter