How Hyatt Ziva & Zilara scores
These two sit among the Hyatt-named labels inside the Inclusive Collection, alongside Hyatt Vivid, and the reason to look at them is the award chart. You can book them with transferable points — and the points cover the food, the drinks, the activities and the entertainment as well as the bed.
Scored as a pair. Ziva carries the family scores; Zilara is adults-only, all-suite and quieter. The difference between them is an age gate — not a quality gate.
The reason to choose these over Secrets or Dreams, which sit under the same corporate roof, is rarely the resort itself. It is the Hyatt name on the door for travelers who navigate by brand trust, the paired-campus structure at Cap Cana and Rose Hall, and the European Zivas, which price at notably lower award categories.
Ziva or Zilara — and the Cancun trap
The split is simple. Where the two sit next to each other is where it gets useful, and where they don't is where people get caught.
| Brand | Who | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Ziva | All ages | Kids and teens clubs, waterparks, family suites, amphitheater entertainment. |
| Hyatt Zilara | Adults only, 18+ | All-suite, quieter, couples-weighted. |
Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic and Rose Hall in Jamaica are true mirror-image pairs on one walkable site, where adults can move between both sides and children stay on the Ziva side. Cancun isn't. Hyatt Ziva Cancun and Hyatt Zilara Cancun are separate, unconnected resorts in different parts of the hotel zone. Booking one expecting access to the other is the most common error with these brands.
There is a third construct worth understanding: Turquoize at Hyatt Ziva Cancun is an adults-only beachfront tower inside the family resort, with personalized VIP check-in, its own reception and rooftop pool, while retaining access to the whole property. It is functionally a Zilara-grade product without a Zilara sign, and it is the answer for a couple who wants adult calm at a resort where the rest of the party has children.
The points case — and the trap underneath it
This is the whole reason to look at these brands. It is strong — and it has one mechanic that ruins it for families who don't plan around it.
Award stays at these resorts include the all-inclusive component — the restaurants, the top-shelf drinks, the activities and the entertainment all come with the award night. Almost no competing all-inclusive brand offers that on a published chart. Redemptions use a separate Category A to F chart, and you can redeem into Club and suite categories, not just a base room, which is unusual in hotel loyalty.
Award pricing at all-inclusives is per person — not per room. The base rate covers two guests; each additional guest costs roughly half the base rate again in points, every night, up to four people per room. Children aged three and up count. A family of four pays the base plus two supplements nightly. Enter the real guest count when you search, or the quote you see isn't the quote you will pay.
Certificate redemptions cap at two guests and can't absorb the additional-guest supplement, which makes them unusable for a family of four. The mid-tier certificate is valid only at all-inclusive Categories A to D, not E or F. The top-milestone certificate covers the full A to F range.
Two further honesty notes. The award chart was restructured in May 2026, moving from three pricing tiers to five, so any point figures published before mid-2026 are obsolete. And Hyatt hasn't published a clean statement of which elite benefits apply at these resorts — property-level exclusions were introduced in 2025, and most of what circulates about Globalist treatment is blogger-sourced. Verify before booking instead of assuming club access comes with status.
What is genuinely included
| Included | The detail that matters |
|---|---|
| All restaurants and bars | À la carte — not just buffet. Most properties operate first-come rather than reservation-gated, though at least one Jamaica resort does require specialty reservations. |
| Top-shelf wines and spirits | Included at the standard tier. |
| 24-hour in-suite dining | Included in the all-inclusive — but at least one resort applies a service fee per request. Verify per property. |
| Minibar, restocked daily | Standard. |
| Tips and gratuities | Included. Additional tipping is welcomed, not expected. |
| Wi-Fi | Free at all Inclusive Collection hotels. |
| KidZ Club (Ziva) | Ages vary by property — three to twelve at Rose Hall, four to twelve at Los Cabos — with a separate teens club at most resorts. Confirm hours with your resort. |
| Non-motorized watersports | Kayaks, paddleboards, snorkel gear. This is where sport inclusion stops. |
| No resort fee | Confirmed across these properties, on cash and award stays alike. |
What still costs money
The premium-experience upsells inside these resorts are increasing — and the 2026 Cancun renovation is the clearest signal of the direction.
| Not included | Notes |
|---|---|
| Lobster and premium cuts | Explicitly excluded at some properties even inside the unlimited dining. |
| Reservation-only micro-venues | The renovated Zilara Cancun added a 23-seat speakeasy and a 10-seat concept with one seating a day. Both are reservation-gated; Hyatt doesn't state whether either carries a surcharge, so treat them as bookable — not automatically free. |
| Wine cellar access and specialty spirits | A charged experience above the included top-shelf list. |
| Club-only restaurants | Effectively an upcharge if you aren't in a Club room. |
| Spa and salon | Neither treatments nor salon services are included, though the hydrotherapy circuit is included at some properties. |
| Nanny and babysitting | The KidZ Club is free; one-to-one childcare is not. Some special club events also carry a fee. |
| All motorized watersports | Jet skis, parasailing, powerboats. Not offered under the plan at all at some properties. |
| Golf | Arranged at cost — relevant at both Rose Hall and Cap Cana, which sit in golf destinations. |
| Airport transfers and parking | Not included. Fast-track airport service is a paid add-on where offered. |
| In-room safe | Chargeable at some properties. Worth checking your resort's own terms. |
| Government environmental tax | The Quintana Roo properties — Cancun and the Riviera Maya — collect a per-night state environmental levy at the resort. It is a government charge, not a resort fee, and payable even on award stays. Other Mexican states tax lodging differently. |
Who owns these resorts — the 2026 answer
Widely misreported, and the correction sets expectations properly.
Playa Hotels & Resorts built and operated the original Ziva and Zilara resorts under license. That arrangement is over, twice over: Hyatt acquired Playa outright in June 2025, then sold the owned real estate on again by the end of that year, keeping fifty-year management agreements on almost all of it. The fuller corporate sequence is in the Secrets guide.
Hyatt owns essentially none of these buildings. It is a brand manager, not an owner; Playa no longer exists as an operating company. The Hyatt name signals brand standards and management, not ownership — which is the honest explanation for why properties under one flag differ.
Where they are — including the new European Zivas
Eight Ziva resorts across six countries, four Zilara resorts across three. The European additions are the new part.
The Americas carry five Zivas — three in Mexico, one in the Dominican Republic, one in Jamaica — and all four Zilaras, in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Three European Zivas are new to the brand, in Portugal, Greece and Spain, all converted from Dreams. In Europe, Ziva has been used to move former Dreams resorts upmarket, which inverts how the brand is usually described.
The European Zivas price at lower award categories than the Caribbean ones — a genuine points sweet spot. And Hyatt Zilara Cancun reopened in May 2026 after a full renovation, with all twelve food and beverage venues rebuilt. Note also that a Mexican Ziva left the brand entirely in November 2025 and is now a Dreams; online travel agents still surface both names for the same hotel.
On award categories specifically, the two best public sources disagree by a consistent one category across nearly every property, which suggests one predates a repricing. Treat any published category as verify-at-booking.
Where it sits, and what the step up costs
The pair straddles two bands, which is the point of running them as a matched set, and the club tier is unusually cheap where it is sold as a pure service upcharge.
| Sub-brand or tier | Where it sits |
|---|---|
| Hyatt Ziva | Upper mainstream. Typically the lowest entry rate of the Hyatt all-inclusive brands in a shared market. |
| Hyatt Zilara | Premium. Adults-only, all-suite, and priced a full step above Ziva in the same destinations. |
| Turquoize at Ziva Cancun | Premium. A Zilara-grade product sold inside a Ziva. |
Base → Club is unusually cheap where it is sold as a pure service upcharge — on the order of a tenth to a fifth on top — which makes it the best-value club tier of any brand in this guide series. Where Club also means a suite, the same step can read as half again. And if you are paying with points rather than cash, remember that Club and suite categories are redeemable on the award chart, which is often the smarter way to reach the tier at all.
No figures on this page are quoted by the brands. None of them publishes an official upgrade percentage, so every proportion here is derived from comparing published category rates across properties. Treat a step that buys a different room product — a suite instead of a room, a swim-up instead of a standard — as durable, because the scarcity behind it doesn't move. Treat a step sold as a flat per-night supplement as volatile: as a proportion it widens whenever the base rate falls, in a promotion or in low season, and compresses at peak. Club and suite categories are redeemable on the award chart, so if you hold points the cash step is often the wrong one to be pricing at all.
Who Hyatt Ziva & Zilara fits — and who should look elsewhere
You hold transferable points and want a week where the food and drink are covered by the redemption. You have a party that splits on the children question and want the paired-campus structure at Cap Cana or Rose Hall. Or you want a recognizable global hotel brand — not an independent operator.
You are paying cash and don't care about points — in which case the sibling brands or the independents may suit you better for the money. You want sport included. Or you are a family of four planning to use a free-night certificate, which won't cover you.
If you asked us to pick
A points week in Europe
The European Zivas sit at lower award categories than the Caribbean properties — and the all-inclusive still comes with the award. It is the best points value in the portfolio.
Cap Cana or Rose Hall
The only two genuine paired campuses. Adults can move between both sides; children stay on the Ziva side; no mainstream rival solves that as cleanly.
Turquoize at Ziva Cancun
An adults-only tower inside a family resort, with butler service and its own reception, while keeping access to the full property.
Keep exploring
Four brands under one corporate roof, sharing an inclusion program and a points chart while serving quite different trips — the pages below untangle which is which.
Ask Seabound about Hyatt Ziva & Zilara
Tell us how many people are traveling and whether you are paying with points — that changes the answer more than anything else here.
Quick answers
What is the difference between Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara?
Ziva is all-ages with kids and teens clubs and waterparks; Zilara is adults-only, eighteen and over, and all-suite. The age gate is the whole of it; they sit at the same tier. In Europe, Ziva has been used to move former Dreams resorts upmarket.
Are Hyatt Ziva and Zilara Cancun the same resort?
No — and this is the most common booking error with these brands. The Cancun properties are separate, unconnected resorts in different parts of the hotel zone; only Cap Cana and Rose Hall are true paired campuses with cross-access.
Does booking with points include the all-inclusive?
Yes. The award night covers the restaurants, top-shelf drinks, activities and entertainment — and there is no resort fee on award stays. Almost no rival does it, and it is the strongest reason to choose these brands. It puts them among the highest-value redemptions in the World of Hyatt chart.
How does award pricing work for a family?
This is the trap. Awards are priced for two people; each additional guest costs roughly half the base rate again in points every night, up to four per room, and children aged three and up count. Free-night certificates cap at two guests and can't absorb the supplement — so they won't cover a family of four. Two award rooms often work out better than one room plus supplements — price both before you book.
Who owns Hyatt Ziva and Zilara resorts?
Hyatt manages them; it doesn't own them. Hyatt acquired Playa Hotels & Resorts in June 2025 and sold the entire owned real-estate portfolio by the end of that year, keeping fifty-year management agreements. Playa no longer exists as an operating company. In practice this means judging the individual resort ahead of the Hyatt name on the sign.
Is the spa included?
No — treatments and salon services are chargeable. The hydrotherapy circuit is included at some properties, which is a genuine perk — but the treatments themselves never are.
Is scuba diving or jet skiing included?
No. Only non-motorized watersports are in the rate. All motorized sports are excluded, and at some properties aren't offered under the plan at all. Certified diving should be treated as chargeable. If bundled watersports are the point of your trip, Sandals is the better fit.