Hyatt Award Chart Changes
Late February is always a dark time in the miles and points world because it is when World of Hyatt releases their hotel category changes. The last few years have been extremely brutal in that regards. Especially when you are talking about my beloved category 1 hotels! It looks like this February is no different, well – sort of. This time around there are some massive Hyatt award chart changes we need to go over (which start in May).
Hyatt Goes From 3 To 5 Award Chart Levels
If you thought having an off-peak, standard and peak award chart for each category was bad .. then hold onto your butts. World of Hyatt decided to supersize their award levels for each hotel category to 5. You can probably already guess what these Hyatt award chart changes mean, more expensive award nights for you and me. That is true at least most of the time.
Standard Hotels
As you can see in the graphic above, the Hyatt award chart changes consist of five redemption levels in each hotel category. They are:
- Lowest
- Low
- Moderate
- Upper
- Top
This replaces off-peak, standard and peak pricing as currently set up in May. When Hyatt first went from one redemption level in each category to three, we were told the prices would be divided among them. Anyone looking for off-peak award nights knows that is not the case. While most of the hotels did land in the standard award category, there were more peak than off-peak in my searches. I expect that to be similar this time around too.
The problem is that the new standard (moderate) award price is more expensive. If that is where most of the nights at the hotels will end up then we will be paying more overall. A lot more actually! I don’t expect to see a lot of lowest awards out there in the real world after all.
Standard To Moderate Price Increase
- Category 1 – 5,000 points -> 6,000 (1,000 point / 20% increase)
- Category 2 – 8,000 points -> 10,000 (2,000 point / 25% increase)
- Category 3 – 12,000 points -> 15,000 (3,000 point / 25% increase)
- Category 4 – 15,000 points -> 20,000 (5,000 point / 33% increase)
- Category 5 – 20,000 points -> 25,000 (5,000 point / 25% increase)
- Category 6 – 25,000 points -> 30,000 (5,000 point / 20% increase)
- Category 7 – 30,000 points -> 35,000 (5,000 point / 17% increase)
- Category 8 – 40,000 points -> 55,000 (15,000 point / 38% increase)
The pain level seems to gradually increase until hitting a peak at Category 4 hotels. Then is levels off a bit until Hyatt blows it all the way out with their aspirational category 8 properties. I don’t even want to think about the suite costs going forward … give me some time to grieve over here, will you?!
All Inclusive Hyatt Award Chart Changes
If you were hoping that the all inclusive properties would avoid the same fate, you would be sadly mistaken. After Hyatt jumped the shark with category raises for most of their beloved AI properties the last few years – it is about to get worse.
As you can see from the new award chart starting in May, there will be 5 redemption levels in each category here as well. That means that it will likely cost more for you to stay at your favorite all inclusive properties.
Miraval Hyatt Award Chart Changes
World of Hyatt’s premier Miraval hotel brand is getting the same treatment as well. These super expensive hotels are getting even more expensive (95,000 points a night on the high end). Book them now and lock in the current pricing!
One Interesting Addition
Buried down in this announcement was something a bit interesting. Hyatt says that soon Explorists, Globalists, Lifetime Globalists and World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers will enjoy early access to award night availability and more opportunity to plan ahead and turn points into memorable future getaways.
We will have to see what that looks like in practice once we get more of those details. Will this extend the calendar past what is offered currently? Will it offer a set number of lower priced awards early on for these members? Or, will it just shorten the booking window for everyone else?
What Does Hyatt Have To Say About These Changes?
Here is what World of Hyatt had to say about these award chart changes:
“This update enables more precise alignment at the hotel level within clearly defined category caps, and the added levels allow the program to manage peak demand more precisely by reducing the need for broad increases or major category shifts in the future.”
I should sure hope this stops major category shifts that we have seen year after year since covid. I mean, this essentially raised every single hotel above a category 1 (maybe category 2) up an entire level. I think that is what it will feel like for the most part out in the wild here.
You can look at all of the details of these changes HERE.
Hyatt Award Chart Changes Are Brutal
I was waiting to be upset by the pending hotel category changes sheet, but this is so much worse. They just devalued the entire program by 25% – ACROSS THE BOARD. This feels very Hilton like. I think it will get even worse in a year or two when they really lean into the upper and top categories. Finding a lowest level hotel will likely be similar to winning the lottery in the near future here.
The one silver lining of these changes? Those category 1-4 free night certificates that people have been struggling to use the last few years just became 33% more valuable.
This change has made me thankful for the higher end stays we’ve enjoyed – PH New York, GH Washington DC, GH Kauai, Alila Ventana Big Sur…..and makes me rethink going for Globalist again. I really hope that the advance booking for status/card holder is tiered so that Globalists get first dibs over someone paying a measly $95 annual fee
That is a good way to look at it I think. It will be interesting to see how they roll out that “early access” and whether it is any real perk or not.
Mark – Do you feel Hyatt’s elite program still provides enough value to stay loyal? The way I look at it, while the point costs are increasing and it stinks, the program still offers benefits like confirmed Suite Upgrade Awards, free breakfast, 4pm late checkout, and waived resort and parking fees on award stays, perks that seem more consistent than those at Marriott or Hilton. In your opinion, do these Milestone Rewards and Globalist benefits keep Hyatt a notch above the competition, or does the new pricing make Hyatt equal or less attractive than its competitors?
I think it depends on how many times you are naturally staying each year. I still think it is the best loyalty program of the bunch, by far, but earning it has just become more expensive. Especially if you need to mattress run every year or have a large opportunity cost spending on your cards for elite nights etc.
I don’t think it is as much of a slam dunk as it was, because it will cost people more to earn now. Think about what you sacrifice to get it. In terms of points for mattress runs, value given up spending, maybe even booking travel based on Hyatt hotel stays or staying in a worse location etc. to use your perks. Then see how that matches up to what you are getting back. Answer will be different for each person.
If you have a ton of resort stays where perks save a ton then it might still easily be worth it.