When I wrote about Hyatt’s award chart changes yesterday, I noted that (in addition to increased prices for premium rooms, and especially for upgrades on paid stays), there were really only six hotels that were going to see really bad price increases.
Those are the six hotels that will go from the current top award category six into the new top award category 7. Those hotels will go up 36% in price for a standard room (45% for a suite).
- Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
- Park Hyatt Milan
- Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
- Park Hyatt Sydney
- Park Hyatt Tokyo
- Park Hyatt Zurich
In addition, the new Park Hyatt New York will open at category 7.
These are the hotel price increases that hit me the most, I love Hyatt Gold Passport for their aspirational redemptions. These hotels previously cost the same number of points as the Grand Hyatt New York. So why not redeem for the Park Hyatts in Paris or Sydney?
I’m glad that the Park Hyatt Maldives remains category 6 and only goes up 14%!
My read of the changes though was a bit narrow and I thought it was worth revisiting and point out that there are actually 7 other hotels that go up a similar magnitude in price.
Hotels going from category 4 to 5 see a 33% bump (from 15,000 points per night to 20,000), since they go up in category and the price of their new category goes up:
- Andaz West Hollywood
- Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile
- Hyatt Place New York/Midtown South
- Park Hyatt Melbourne
There are no longer any New York hotels in category 4, which means that the annual free night certificate which comes with the Hyatt Visa will not be usable in Manhattan.
Hotels that are going up from category 5 to 6 will see a 39% bump (from 18,000 points a night to 25,000).
- Andaz Liverpool Street London
- Hyatt 48 Lex
- Hyatt Union Square New York
It amazes me that two New York properties bump up to category 6. Unless one absolutely needs to stay in one location-wise it’s hard to imagine choosing either (or the Grand Hyatt New York, though that has a club lounge which some diamonds like) over the Andaz 5th Avenue which also remains category 6.
Overall my rough count, combining the increase in category 5 and 6 prices and the shift in hotels up to more expensive categories:
- 95 hotels get more expensive
- 17 hotels get less expensive
This includes Hyatt’s partnership with MGM M Life hotels. In total ~ 15% of Hyatt’s portfolio on net go up in points for a standard room.
That’s not a terrible percentage, and the largest number are subject to just the 11% increase in category 5 prices followed by the 14% increase in category 6 prices — which I more or less shrug at.
But for thirteen hotels, the prices go up in what I would consider a material way.
And that’s in addition to the increase in my favorite award, the suite upgrade on paid stays which goes from 6000 points for up to 4 nights to 6000 points per night.
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Hey, where’s my HT? 🙂
@Gene did I miss something? I always want to give credit where due
I pointed out in the comments to your original post that the changes wer very bad for 13 hotels, not just 6.
@Gene – perhaps I subliminally noted that, not sure, no slight intended!
Re: NYC hotels- FWIW Union Sq is a far more interesting and desirable location than Midtown, relative quality of the Andaz 5th Ave and Hyatt Union Square notwithstanding. I don’t think its *that* crazy to have these hotels in the same category. Hyatt 48Lex / Andaz Wall St should probably be a category lower by my reckoning.
While I agree I’d much rather stay near Union Square than uptown, I suspect Hyatt has made their decision on category based on average room rate and vacancy rate, and during the week / for business travelers, both the Andaz Wall Street and the 48Lex are in more desirable and convenient locations than the Union Square hotel, which is, I imagine, mostly catering to tourists and weekenders. Frankly it wouldn’t surprise me if part of the thought process behind putting a hotel near Union Square to begin with for Hyatt was to draw some award nights away from the properties where they’re more likely to get cash stays from business travelers – I certainly get the impression that this is the sort of thing Hyatt thinks about, as the Park Hyatt Paris, for example, seems to do a truly tremendous portion of its business in award night redemptions.
I have 2 free suite nights expiring November 2014 from the Chase Hyatt.
I applied late July as a diamond member before the change & made sure to do the spend as late aspossible so I have a full year as late as possibel.
Hoping to use the free suite nights in Park 157 NYC.
iS THERE A DEVALUATION ON THE FREE SUITE NIGHTS OR i CAN DEFINITELY USE THOSE Chase Hyatt awards at the category 7’s?
Suite nights can still be used at category 7 hotels
I am pretty bummed about the Hyatt 48Lex. I know it is not the best hotel in the city, but a year ago, it was a GREAT value as a Category 4. I stayed there during the week between Christmas and New Year’s last year for 15k points per night. The bump to 18k per night was bad enough, but at 25k per night, this is no longer an option. If I were to stay at a Hyatt, on points, in New York City, it looks like I would probably choose the Andaz on 5th.
On the upside, maybe if Hyatt makes their point redemptions high enough, fewer people will redeem points and they would bring back FFN?
Yeah…I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.