Stick A Fork In It, Hyatt Is Done!

Is Hyatt Globalist Status Worth It?

It appears that World of Hyatt wants to be the Southwest of 2026. You know, the company that destroys the loyalty & goodwill that took decades to build in just a few months. The trust we had in the program, the belief that we mattered, and the value of the program have all been tossed to the side in the first few months of 2026. While Hyatt has not gone as nuclear as Southwest did, I do think it has people wondering – is Hyatt Globalist status worth it still? It is a question every single one of you should be asking yourselves.

New Award Chart Coming

I think an important part of earning elite status, and deciding if Hyatt Globalist is still worth it, is taking a look at their loyalty program. A loyalty program’s value and the value you get from the program’s elite status go hand in hand after all.

Well, the first domino to fall this year was World of Hyatt announcing a new award chart rolling out next month. This was a massive devaluation to the entire program. It moved the pricing levels within each award category from three options up to five. The spread between the five categories in each level was enough to cover two different categories on the old award chart. Not to mention, we are not all that far removed from when Hyatt had one award rate for each category.

We still don’t know how bad this will be until it fully rolls out next month, but I think awards are going to be 25%+ more expensive across the board. That will likely drop the value of World of Hyatt points down into the 1.2 – 1.25 cents per point range on average.

Hotel Category Changes

As if that wasn’t painful enough, Hyatt decided to still go through with their yearly hotel category changes. I find this kind of wild because the new award chart already gives them the ability to price hotels into the next higher award level. Anything that moved up one category with these changes essentially moved up two categories, at least some of the time. That is simply brutal.

They should have sat on their hands for at least a year, since the increases were already baked into the new award chart. If they continue to move these many properties up each year, after this massive devaluation, it will just be continual salt in the wound. This is just another sign that people should be internally debating whether Hyatt Globalist status is still worth chasing. Especially since it seems Hyatt values their loyal members less than they used to.

Some Examples Of These Changes

Let’s take a look at some of these upcoming award chart changes. Danny the Deal Guru covered the entire list late last week. Thanks for the Friday bad news info dump by the way Hyatt.

I want to focus on a few of the more notable locations to show just how much things could be changing for these beloved properties. We will go category by category so you can see how massive the swings will likely be.

Category 1 Hotels

Here are a couple of category 1 World of Hyatt hotels that will be increasing to a category 2. These will be going from 5,000 / 6,500 points most of the time up to 10,000 / 12,000 / 15,000 points as a category 2 hotel most of the time. Yes, up to TRIPLE! This is the most brutal of the changes you will see. The silver lining on deciding if Hyatt Globalist is still worth it is that most of these hotels didn’t offer a ton of perks for elite status holders. It does greatly increase the cost of those elite nights earned from these hotels though.

• Hyatt Regency Wichita (one of the few category 1 Hyatt Regency hotels in the US)
• Hyatt Place BWI (a real dump of a hotel that should never go above a 1)
• Hyatt Place Flint / Grand Blanc (Michigan’s last category 1, when we used to have 5 or 6 just a few years ago)
• Hyatt Regency Cape Town (super affordable option in a desired destination)

Category 2 Hotels

Next up are the category 2 hotels that are going up to category 3. This has them going from mostly 8,000 / 9,500 points a night up to 15,000 / 17,500 / 20,000. Not quite as bad as category 1 to 2, but it still is rough at more than double the cost.

• Several Hyatt House / Place locations in Orlando (these offered good value in a desired location)
• Hyatt Place Tampa Busch Gardens
• Hyatt Regency New Brunswick (this was a sleeper great value for location hotel)
• Hyatt Regency Columbus (a hot bed growth area the last decade or so)
• Hyatt Place Kyoto (affordable property in a desired travel destination)

Category 3 Hotels

With the category 3 hotels moving to category 4 we will see the most frequent prices go from 12,000 / 15,000 all the way up to 20,000 / 22,500 / 25,000. At least you can use a category 1-4 free night cert on these hotels still (which may be more valuable than ever).

• Hyatt Regency Greenwich (I really enjoyed this hotel when we were heading to New Haven for our pizza tour)
• Hyatt Regency New Orleans (NOLA has been hit hard by category increases lately)
• Hyatt Regency Lake Washington (a beloved hotel outside of Seattle)
• Andaz Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi (always hard to find lower category Andaz properties)
• Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay (maybe the most desired international destination right now)
• Grand Hyatt Athens (was really good value in Athens)

Category 4 Hotels

The category 4 hotels are always the ones that hurt the most. They are aging out of being able to use a free night certificate for – and that sucks! These will be going from 15,000 / 18,000 and increasing to 25,000 / 30,000 / 35,000. Absolutely brutal. An old category 4 hotel could now cost more than what a category 7 hotel used to. Think about that for a second…

• Hyatt Centric Las Olas Fort Lauderdale (I know this was a good pre-cruise option)
• Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort (this one is murderous for anyone with kids)
• Two Jersey City Hotels (was a way to use an FNC for NYC … until now)
• Hyatt Regency Seattle (they have destroyed the Pacific Northwest the last few years)
• Hyatt Regency Lisbon (Lisbon is so popular that this one will hurt)
• Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid (see above)

Category 5 Hotels

These hotels will be going from 20,000 / 23,000 all the way up to 30,000 / 35,000 / 40,000. This may be the least offensive jump so far. At worst it is double, and you are not missing out on using a free night certificate. Am I celebrating that the price is only doubling at worst right now? Seriously?! That has me doubting that Hyatt Globalist status is still worth chasing.

• Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino (a favorite of Shawn’s)
• Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya (category 6 for a Hyatt House is brutal)

Category 6 Hotels

Like the category 5 changes, there are not a ton of category 6 hotels on the list. That is the good news. The bad news is the price of these old category 5 hotels will be going from 25,000 / 29,000 all the way up to 35,000 / 45,000 / 55,000. One of the lower end jumps on the list, but still could cost you 20K more per night.

• The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel (one of the more premium Hyatt hotels in NYC)
• Alila Mayakoba (the hotel literally just opened…)
• The Standard, Ibiza ( I can’t imagine there are a ton of other points options on Ibiza)

Category 7 Hotels

Last, but not least, is the category 7 hotels going up to category 8. These will jump from 30,000 / 35,000 all the way up to 55,000 / 65,000 / 75,000.

• Andaz 5th Avenue (not worth this price)
• Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort Spa and Casino (always a popular option for people)
• Hôtel du Louvre (Hyatt has really ramped up Paris prices the last few years)
• Park Hyatt London River Thames (I know a lot of Hyatt loyalists enjoy this property)

This Didn’t Need To Happen

The thing that really gets at me with these hotel category changes is that they didn’t really need to happen. Every single hotel was already essentially bumped up one category in the new award chart. The standard award rate went up to the next level starting with category 3 hotels (12,000 to 15,000) and then for every category on. When you add in the new Top level pricing, then it could go up two categories in pricing with the new chart. For example, that would be 20,000 points for a Top category 3 hotel under the new award chart. You know, the old category 5 hotel standard price.

They could have screwed us over with pricing all of the hotels listed on the changes without moving anything. Somehow that would have felt better to me. The fact that they still moved them just means they wanted to go twice as hard on these properties. A category 3 hotel (12K before) now will be up to 25,000 points (old category 6 standard rate) on the high end as a new category 4. That is an extreme example, but I don’t think they will be afraid to go there.

What Does This All Have To Do With Hyatt Globalist Status Valuations?

You are probably sitting there thinking, what does all of this have to do with whether or not Hyatt Globalist status is still worth it? The perks of Globalist status hasn’t really changed after all?

Earning Globalist Status Via Stays Got More Expensive

It matters because earning Globalist status just got a lot more expensive. It will take 25%+ more points to earn the status via stays. So even though the 60 elite night requirement goal posts have not moved, the cost to get there has – drastically. At least if you are paying with World of Hyatt points for a lot of your stays.

Earning Globalist Status Via Spend Got More Expensive

If you reach Hyatt Globalist status at least in part via spend then that cost just got a lot more expensive too. I am talking in terms of opportunity cost. Spending on the World of Hyatt or Hyatt Business card already had some opportunity cost baked in. That is because you were already earning 1x on most of the spend and giving something up compared to 2%+ earning on that same spend.

When Hyatt points were worth 1.5 cents+ it wasn’t a huge spread. Now that they will likely be closer to 1.25 cents per point that gap will widen.

Let’s look at spending on the Hyatt Business card vs that same spend on the no fee Blue Business Plus (giving you 2.2%+ back in value).

• 20 nights via $40,000 in spend
  • The elite nights would cost you $380 in opportunity cost
• 30 nights via $60,000 in spend
  • The elite nights would cost you $570 in opportunity cost
• 40 nights via $80,000 in spend
  • The elite nights would cost you $760 in opportunity cost
• 50 nights via $100,000 in spend
  • The elite nights would cost you $950 in opportunity cost

These Numbers Don’t Tell The Entire Story

Those numbers are the best case scenario / baseline breakdown. It does not tell the entire story though. That is because it is giving you lowest priced alternative, valuing the Membership Rewards at the 1.1 cents cash out value. It doesn’t take into account if you use those points for travel instead, if there is a card that would earn bonus points in the category, or if you used a card with a welcome offer or spending offer instead. The numbers could get quite a bit worse with any of those alternatives. What you can take away is that the more stays you have the lower the opportunity cost is on the spend side. (No duh, right?)

Award Prices Are More Expensive Too

You also need to consider the cost of those stays, and how that price is going up as well. Seeing 25%+ higher award costs for the same hotels is huge. You are probably going to lose around $0.0025 per point redeemed with the new chart.

Let’s assume your stays average out over each year at a category 3 or category 4 hotel level. Some nights would be lower, but some higher, so this is the average of your stays. This is what the cost would look like for next year with those assumptions:

Category 3 Average

• 20 nights in a category 3 hotel – 3,000 more points a night at the standard rate (60,000 more points)
  • $900 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $750 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation
• 30 nights in a category 3 hotel – 3,000 more points a night at the standard rate (90,000 more points)
  • $1,350 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $1,125 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation
• 40 nights in a category 3 hotel – 3,000 more points a night at the standard rate (120,000 more points)
  • $1,800 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $1,500 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation

Category 4 Average

• 20 nights in a category 4 hotel – 5,000 more points a night at the standard rate (100,000 more points)
  • $1,500 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $1,250 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation
• 30 nights in a category 4 hotel – 5,000 more points a night at the standard rate (150,000 more points)
  • $2,250 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $1,875 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation
• 40 nights in a category 4 hotel – 5,000 more points a night at the standard rate (200,000 more points)
  • $3,000 in additional cost at 1.5 cents valuation
  • $2,500 in additional cost with a 1.25 cents valuation

When you add these numbers to opportunity cost on the spend side you see the cost of Hyatt Globalist status has become quite expensive. That is compared to just last year. It is even worse if you go back a few years.

Last But Not Least, The Cost Of Hyatt’s Portfolio

You will also want to consider the cost of Hyatt’s portfolio and footprint when deciding if Hyatt Globalist status is still worth it. How many times did you book a more expensive Hyatt option when there was a comparable option for less, just to earn the elite night? How much were your additional when you stayed outside your desired area to book a Hyatt? Did you ever forgo a part of a trip because there were no Hyatt hotels around?

These are all things that you should consider when crunching your numbers for Hyatt Globalist status.

I Am Not Saying Hyatt Globalist Will Not Make Sense For Everyone

I am not here to scold anyone that thinks Hyatt Globalist status is still worth it to them. What I am here to tell you is that the entire calculation has been flipped on its head and you need to go through everything again. Look at your travels over the last year or two and crunch your own numbers. Use whatever valuation amount you want. You can plug them in the breakdowns above. Just try to avoid the mental gymnastics many hamsters on the status wheel use on themselves.

Alternative Options To Globalist Status

There are still ways you could get what you need without costing you an arm and leg. If you earn some milestones along the way, but fall short of Globalist status, then you can use them at your more worthy stays.

Think of the lounge access certs and Guest of Honor award you can earn before reaching Globalist status. Maybe you have met a friend at an MTM Diamond meetup (or elsewhere) that can gift you some of these awards. You could even horse trade for them.

Lastly, you could just book into a club room or suite with points when it makes sense too. That is what we did in Paris. It was cheaper to book a suite versus two rooms AND we got lounge access / breakfast because of it. No World of Hyatt Globalist status needed.

Is Hyatt Globalist Status Worth It: Final Thoughts

I am not here to shun Hyatt Globalists or World of Hyatt loyalists by any means. If you travel a lot for work, and they are paying the bill, then this will still be a great option. Or, if you are a nomad or spend a ton of nights in hotels normally, then Hyatt Globalist will likely be worth it to you too. I just fear many people reading this were already in a net negative value proposition before these changes, and it has gotten a lot worse. The main goal here is to have you re-run your numbers and make a new decision based on those.

I bet a lot of people are already pot committed for 2026 but will be jumping of the hamster wheel come 2027. Save up those Guest of Honor awards earned this year for yourself if that is you!

Let me know if you have changed your mind on whether Hyatt Globalist status is still worth it down below or in the MTM Facebook Group.