7 Things I Learned About Hyatt’s UrCove Brand After Staying Twice

UrCove remains a bit of an enigma. You see it mentioned on the Hyatt website but don’t find them at most of your upcoming destinations.

My wife and I recently stayed at 2 different UrCove hotels during a multiweek trip to China — which is the only place you’ll find these hotels, coincidentally. While we only visited 2 locations, many aspects felt familiar enough across the hotels to form a picture of what this brand is like.

Here are 7 things we learned about UrCove from our recent stays in June 2024.

1. Nearly All the Hotels Are Category 1

Presently, there are 47 UrCove hotels, and you can easily filter for these on Hyatt’s website here. A full 46 of them are in Category 1 in the World of Hyatt program. The only UrCove property that isn’t Category 1 is the Category 2 UrCove Beijing Guomao Sanlitun in eastern Beijing.

With Category 1 properties, you can find award nights at UrCove starting at 3,500 Hyatt points during off-peak pricing — or a maximum of 6,500 points per night during peak pricing. Standard nights cost 5,000 points per night. However, cash rates at some properties are low enough that redeeming points doesn’t make sense.

2. Language Barriers Are Common

Throughout the 6 nights we spent at UrCove properties in June 2024, we spent more time talking into the translator app on our phones than we did talking to employees. Language barriers were a regular issue.

At this is a hotel brand under the World of Hyatt umbrella, I would expect at least front desk staff to speak English, but that wasn’t the case. This made asking reception employees for assistance complicated, such as trying to make activity reservations online. Even check-in and checkout were complicated, depending on the English skills of the employee working the desk at that time.

Even most of the information in our rooms didn’t have English translations, such as instructions on how to use the TV or the thermostat.

To be clear, my expectation is not that every hotel employee should speak fluent English, and I don’t expect housekeeping staff or those in the back of the kitchen to be conversational in my language. However, we were surprised by how little English the front desk staff could muster during our stays, and Google reviews we read after the fact expressed this same frustration.

However, I will add that staff were consistently helpful and made serious efforts to help us through translator apps. While this slowed things down and sometimes created confusion, they at least persisted through the language barriers. However, it required going to the front desk in person, rather than calling on the phone.

3. Foreign Tourists Aren’t the Focus

Part of the explanation for the language barriers may be the hotels’ focus, which isn’t on foreign tourists. Instead, domestic tourists in China and Chinese business travelers are the focus at UrCove.

The brand description on Hyatt’s website makes this clear, as it mentions a focus on Chinese travelers twice:

UrCove is an entirely homegrown hotel brand built specifically to meet Chinese travelers’ preferences and growing expectations for a seamless, comfortable and premium travel experience in the upper-midscale market. UrCove, which is short for “Your Cove,” allows a great escape from the bustling city and blends comfort and convenience for the modern traveler through thoughtful service, spacious rooms, delicious food and a relaxed yet refined ambiance. UrCove hotels cater to business travelers in China and serve as a sanctuary to unwind and recharge on their journeys.

(Emphasis ours)

In that light, the language barriers may make sense, as the hotels aren’t focusing on foreign tourists while planning their amenities or staffing.

4. You Won’t Get Points or Elite Credit Automatically

We checked out from our first UrCove stay 3 weeks ago. I still don’t have credit for this stay in my World of Hyatt account — not points, not elite nights, and not credit for Brand Explorer. That’s pretty surprising.

As a Hyatt Globalist, one of my benefits is a dedicated concierge to help with my account and travel bookings. I called her a few days ago to ask about credit for my 2 missing stays, and she said that UrCove stays don’t credit automatically for some reason.

From previous experiences, she said to expect 10 to 14 days before the stays post to my account, counting from the day she manually requested them on my behalf. If you aren’t a Globalist, you can request stay credit using this form or by messaging the Hyatt Concierge team on Twitter/X.

However, that timeline turned out to be inaccurate. I since learned that the process can take over 40 days. If you have a My Hyatt Concierge, they can do the work on your behalf. If you don’t, you’ll need to request a missing stay credit within your account. Within a week, you’ll get an email telling you to contact the hotel directly, asking them to provide a folio with eligible spending and stay verification to the Hyatt liaison team in China. This is the only team who can post stays to your World of Hyatt account.

This creates a large burden for guests, as they need to constantly follow up with Hyatt and the hotel property to ensure stays are posted correctly. If the hotel never replies to you or takes action, you may be left without stay credit. Hyatt should amend this process to avoid this situation for guests.

5. Amenities Are Fantastic

At a Category 1 property, my expectations were very realistic. I wasn’t expecting a pool or spa at either hotel we visited. I assumed there wouldn’t be a butler or nightly turndown service.

However, we were surprised by the quality of amenities offered at UrCove hotels.

First, both hotels we stayed at had incredible breakfast buffets. Ever slogged through flavorless oatmeal and some dull scrambled eggs at a Hyatt Place hotel? Forget those, because UrCove blew us away with its breakfast offerings.

At both the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li and UrCove Beijing Forbidden City, we found numerous hot dishes, a variety of fruits, espresso machines, salad ingredients, cereals, and made-to-order eggs. That was a shocker.

Another benefit that happily surprised us: free laundry. Numerous hotels offer laundry, available by leaving a bag with your name on it for someone to pick up, drop off when complete, and then overcharge you for it.

UrCove properties offer washing and drying machines, irons, and presses — all for complimentary guest use. Even better: The laundry detergent was stored in the machines and added automatically without any cost.

I will add the caveat that the laundry facility got quite popular when we used it at the UrCove Beijing Forbidden City, and there were just 2 washers and 2 dryers. Thus there was a line forming, and I saw several people turn away.

Lastly, the hotels made it very clear which items were free — and there were many! Our hotel in Chengdu had around-the-clock snacks in the lobby, including things like juice, soda, crackers, nuts, and chips. Both the Chengdu and Beijing locations provided complimentary drinks in the minifridge in our room, and a sign on the door to the minifridge stated clearly that these were free.

The hotels also had other amenities, such as fitness centers and parking, but the above were what we found most impressive at these budget-friendly hotels.

6. Going to Breakfast in Your Robe and Slippers Is OK

I’m a fan of hotels providing signs that clearly list breakfast hours and which times have big crowds. At the bottom of these signs (which we found during both stays), a note said that guests were welcome to come to breakfast in their bathrobes, which were provided in each guest room.

7. The Best Hotel Slippers Ever

What pairs well with a comfortable bathrobe? How about slippers that don’t suck.

These slippers were legit, with actual rubber soles and padding — rather than the typical, flimsy cardboard you find in the slippers in most hotel rooms. I didn’t mind going to breakfast in these, because walking in them wasn’t a pain.

Final Thoughts

UrCove exists entirely within mainland China, and you can earn and redeem Hyatt points at these properties. You even can get stay credit toward Brand Explorer and elite status requirements, though it probably won’t happen automatically.

These are budget-friendly properties, but they come with more amenities than you’d expect. However, the language barriers hampered our communication with employees, and that’s worth knowing before you go; that way, you can plan ahead.