Annual category changes are pushing up prices at 117 Hyatt hotels, and 100 go down. Out of these 217 properties changing category 65 are SLH hotels.

Meanwhile Hyatt is adding 48 new SLH hotels to their portfolio, introducing variable pricing for cash and price awards, and implementing new peak and off peak award pricing. All of this goes into effect March 22. Overall the changes that are new are modestly positive or neutral.

Hotel Category Changes At Over 20% Of Hyatt Properties

Each year Hyatt, like Marriott, makes changes to the redemption category each hotel is assigned to. Last year 259 hotels changed category, about a third of Hyatt properties. An equal number went up as down, however the reductions were clustered among the cheapest hotels and the increases were focused on the hotels that were already the most expensive.

This year we’re seeing 217 hotels change category, with 117 going up and 100 going down. 65 of the changes are in SLH properties.

• No hotel changes more than one category in either direction
  
• There are 25 new category 1 hotels
  
• There are 24 hotels moving down to category 2 including Grand Hyatt Athens, and the Hyatt Regencys Baltimore Inner Harbor, Bangkok and Cleveland and the Andaz Delhi
  
• 14 hotels move down to category 3
  
• 13 hotels move down to category 4, including the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam (I have some points coming back to me) and Sydney, the Park Hyatts in Hamburg and Melbourne, and the Grand Hyatt and Olive 8 in Seattle.
  
• 17 hotels move down to category 5, including the Park Hyatts in Mallorca, Seoul, Chicago and Moscow
  
• 6 hotels, all SLH properties, move down from category 7 to 6. There are no hotels dropping out of category 8.
  
• One of the most important changes is 21 hotels bumping up from category 4 to 5, meaning they’re no longer eligible for category 1-4 free nights. That includes the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and Park Hyatt Saigon.
  
• 13 hotels go from category 5 to 6 including Andaz Papagayo which only made it out of category 4 last year.
  
• 19 hotels go from category 6 to 7 including Hyatt Regency Aruba and Grand Hyatt Tokyo
  
• 13 hotels, all SLH properties, go from category 7 to 8 including the Viceroy Bali

Andaz Papagayo Went From Category 4 to 6 In Two Years

Overall this year’s changes are more balanced than last year’s where the reductions were almost all focused in the bottom categories and the increases nearly all focused at the top. If you have a reservation after March 22 for a hotel that goes down in category or that moves to off peak, you’ll get an automatic refund in points.

I’ve uploaded the full list as an excel file for ease in digging through the changes.

48 New SLH Hotels Added To World Of Hyatt

Hyatt has a partnership with SLH hotels, some of the nicest hotels in the world. There are around 500 properties in total and as of the end of 2019 they had brought over 300 of them into the World of Hyatt program.

Members can redeem points for SLH hotel stays. That’s the sweet spot, although Hyatt elite benefits don’t apply. Members can also earn elite stay credit and points at SLH hotels. The problem is that you have to book the stay through Hyatt to do so and you won’t always get the best available rate (best rate guarantees do not apply).

Hyatt has added another 48 hotels to the partnership bringing them now to over 350, or around 70% of the total SLH portfolio. This batch brings them reach into Mongolia, Montenegro and Israel, and includes properties such as:

• The Sukhothai Bangkok
  
• Hotel Villa Franca, Positano Italy
  
• MarBella Nido Suite Hotel and Villas, Corfu Greece
  
• Hotel Vestibul Palace, Split Croatia
  
• The Norman Tel Aviv

Variable Cash and Points Prices

Hyatt gutted cash and points awards in fall 2018. Instead of being a fixed cash charge in addition to half the points of a standard award night, they changed pricing to be 50% of the prevailing room rate. That made cash and points more expensive when hotel stays are expensive, limiting the value you get out of the redemptions. I haven’t booked a cash and points stay since.

I’ve seen reports on twitter of guests being charged less than 50% of the prevailing room rate in recent weeks. This becomes official March 22, with variable points and cash pricing. Cash and points may still be 50% of the prevailing rate, but it will range down to 30%.

Peak and Off Peak Prices Go Into Effect

In December Hyatt announced that peak and off peak redemption pricing would come in March. It’s happening effective March 22.

This change mirrors what other larger hotel chains have done – Hilton and Marriott both have peak and off peak pricing (though Hilton’s is unpublished since they hide their award chart). This moves Hyatt closer to revenue-based redemptions and to delivering average rather than outsized value for points. When hotels are full and rates higher, Hyatt will charge more points. When hotels are empty and rates lower they’ll charge fewer points.

Peak pricing will be an upcharge of 1500 to 5000 points depending on the category. Off peak pricing will be a discount of 1500 to 5000 points. Here’s the new free night award chart going into effect in March:

Category		Off-Peak		Standard		Peak
1		3500		5000		6500
2		6500		8000		9500
3		9000		12000		15000
4		12000		15000		18000
5		17000		20000		23000
6		21000		25000		29000
7		25000		30000		35000
8		35000		40000		45000

And since cash and points awards are 50% of the points and 50% of the prevailing cash rate, cash and points will see lower and higher points prices on off-peak and peak dates as well. Similarly cash and points and free night awards will have peak and off-peak for club redemptions, standard suite redemptions, and premium suite redemptions.

Grand Hyatt Singapore Club Lounge

Regency Club and Standard Suite awards have the same discounts and upcharges for off-peak and peak in each category as Free Night Awardss.  Here’s the standard suite redemption chart with off-peak and peak pricing:

Category		Off-Peak		Standard		Peak
1		6500		8000		9500
2		11500		13000		14500
3		17000		20000		23000
4		21000		24000		27000
5		29000		32000		35000
6		36000		40000		44000
7		43000		48000		53000
8		56000		61000		66000

Premium suite awards can actually go up (or down) by 10,000 points per night:

Category		Off-Peak		Standard		Peak
1		7000		10000		13000
2		13000		16000		19000
3		18000		24000		30000
4		24000		30000		36000
5		34000		40000		46000
6		42000		50000		58000
7		50000		60000		70000
8		70000		80000		90000

A Miraval premium suite with additional person during peak period can jump up an additional 17,000 points to 137,000 points per night. That’s a lot of points for a cleanse.

The per-night cost of points upgrades (to club, standard suite, and premium suite) do not change with the introduction of off-peak and peak.