A new interview with the head of Hyatt’s loyalty program sheds a bit of light on where they’re going next, after recently devaluing their points.
They’ve put the new structure in place for higher points prices, with 5 different prices at each award category level (78 price levels, some properties having gone up in price 67%) but the first year effect was intentionally modest as they didn’t fully move hotels up those price price points. They’ve told us the effect next year will be more dramatic.
Hyatt Senior Vice President Laurie Blair, who runs the World of Hyatt, says in an interview with former American Airlines AAdvantage President Bridget Blaise-Shamai that they’re not done making changes to the program itself. She reports listening to customer focus groups recently because “We’re thinking about the next evolution of our program.” We know they’ve been surveying a refresh of elite benefits.
And she shares again that so far they’ve only gone a small part of the way towards the full devaluation that their award chart changes will capture.
I wanted to make sure we were giving our members enough time to prepare and plan.. while there will be changes, those changes will be an evolution over years to come. So I don’t expect that members with the new award chart will wake up and suddenly feel different about the value of World of Hyatt points and in fact I think that will be pleasantlysurprised by the evolution that we will publish.
She also teased some “expanded partners in the travel ecosystem” and that “we do plan to expand our credit card portfolio” – so expect a new premium credit card with Chase.
How An Award Chart Still Matters
At some level, it’s easy to say that when there are 78 different price levels on Hyatt’s free night award charts (and some hotels that aren’t even part of the chart) that all meaning has been taken away from the idea of an award chart – that it’s effectively the same as Hilton, Marriott and IHG that have abolished award charts entirely.
And I almost want to say that when Hyatt touts, as Laurie Blair does here, that there are:
Some non-negotiables that we have from a brand standpoint…on the structural side, we have the highest value of points in the hotel industry. And that’s by design. we have to because we are still not everywhere… the only global hotel loyalty program that still has a fixed award chart… we are committed to that transparency and simplicity.
Hyatt does have to work harder to deliver an experience to members who are going out of their way to choose Hyatt, because it takes more effort to remain loyal given their footprint.
And an award chart does still matter, even if I would dispute her claim that the current 78 price levels and off-chart properties represents simplicity.
- Hyatt still provides price predictability. They set a price for each night’s stay at a hotel for the year and that price doesn’t change (the way it fluctuates in programs like Marriott’s). Hyat isn’t doing dynamic pricing.
- That means you’ll know exactly which hotels your free night certificates (earned via the credit card, nights stayed, and for staying across various Hyatt brands) can be used for. At Marriott we’ll often see prices just over the number of points where those certificates are valid, or just over what a member might be able to top off those certificates for.
- And an award chart makes Hyatt more honest and transparent. Hyatt actually has to announce when they’re making changes to redemption pricing. Other chains without charts just make changes and don’t tell memebers. We might notice hotels are more expensive, and we don’t have enough points, when we actually try to redeem. And when we do notice changes, we have no easy way to even determine scale. Abolishing the award chart isn’t just a pricing promise, it’s the need to actually identify changes to the program instead of hiding them from members the way that other chains do.
Hyatt’s redemption program is less valuable than it used to be. Structurally, though, it’s still better than other programs. And the unique selling proposition of the program is its elite program. That hasn’t changed… yet.
Park Hyatt Sydney
Clues For What Changes Are Coming To Hyatt’s Elite Program
Some of the ideas that Hyatt has surveyed members about include:
- Premium suite upgrade awards. Hyatt is the only major chain that lets you confirm a standard suite at the time of booking (‘suite upgrade awards’). They also offer awards with points for premium suites, but elites don’t earn the ability to book into these premium suites the way they can with standard suites. I’ve long wanted the option to redeem two suite upgrade awards for a premium suite. Hyatt does appear to be considering a path to upgrade into these ‘special’ suites beyond just redeeming more points.
Georgetown Suite, Park Hyatt DC - An award to avoid peak pricing on redemptions. With Hyatt revamping its award charts to offer five price levels per category including prices that are up to 67% higher than today, it sounds like they’re at least considering an award that would let members earn the ability to cap the damage occasionally.
Seabird Resort - An award to force standard room availability if booked at least six months in advance, which is ideal for booking free night awards at the most in-demand hotels at peak times like New Years in the Caribbean or Hawaii.
Hyatt Regency Aruba - An elite tier above Globalist although the benefits offered reportedly seemed remarkably similar to current Globalist benefits, so might amount to an increased qualification requirement.
- Cutting benefits by turning them into Milestone Rewards that you would redeem for a single stay, rather than being able to use on all stays. This includes how Globalists currently receive free parking on awards and waived resort fees on paid stays.Members would instead earn these at stay milestones, similar to the change they made away from unlimited Guest of Honor. That would be much less expensive to offer, as Hyatt provides compensation to hotels for providing these benefits.
Alila Marea - Other Milestone Rewards like a buy one get one night at Thompson hotels, $20 off a spa treatment, and other ‘coupon book’-style options plus elite qualifying nights as a choice.
- Preferred Parking for elites at Hyatt Place properties. That’s easy to do. I’ve seen it most often at Hilton properties in the same competitive set. It’s not something hotels generally enforce.
- Playing catch-up topping off category 1-4 free night certificates with additional points to be used on more expensive stays (this is a second-best to actually maintaining the value of the certificates, that are mostly earned via their Chase credit card partnership).
- New partner-earning Hyatt offers surprisingly few ways to earn points beyond hotel stays and credit card. The survey raised the possibility of earning Hyatt points at Costco, gas stations and Uber.
Hyatt’s elite program is the best in hotel loyalty. With a smaller footprint, they’ve had to try harder because it takes effort for a guest to stay loyal. And since their properties tend to skew more premium, there’s margin in the room rates where it can make sense to make that benefits investment.
Today, Hyatt has the strongest suite upgrade benefit and the strongest breakfast benefit (which isn’t just ‘continental’ and actually spells out what counts as a breakfast). They’re weak on elite points bonuses for spend during a hotel stay. And while experiences with Hyatt concierges is mixed (at best) it’s a benefit that has been earned after 60 nights, rather than 100 nights and $23,000 spend as at Marriott.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Globalist Room Service Breakfast
Park Hyatt London Globalist Room Service Breakfast
Since Hyatt does treat me better as a Globalist, their points devaluation doesn’t really change my stay behavior although it is changing my credit card spend behavior.
The tenor of these contemplated changes appears to mix some good ideas – like premium suite upgrades – with real costs cuts, at the same time they may start asking more of customers to get the same or watered-down benefits.
The Franchise Model Makes Use Of Data And Personalization Hard
Blair comments that “Data helps us to anticipate our guest needs and understand them more… if we’re going to deliver an amenity to you but you don’t drink alcohol, that’s a miss on our part.”
That one struck me funny because it underscores the real challenge that the hotel franchise model has with data.
- Does anyone actually ever input the data?
- Does anyone ever actually look at the data they have?
- And do they have any real incentive to action it?
Park Hyatt Paris
A hotel chain may know that a guest is having a special stay. That guest may choose a Hyatt property because of their loyalty to the program. But the individual hotel may never see that guest again. They benefit from the loyalty ecosystem, but have very little incentive to feed that ecosystem. It’s a free rider problem.
I was part of a test program Hyatt had a decade ago, trying to customize stays. At a few hotels I got extra bottles of water (something I really value) and enhanced in-room coffee setups (what I actually wanted was real creamer not shelf stable stuff).
That pilot just stopped one day and they never picked it up. Laurie Blair’s discussion of wine as an amenity struck me because I do drink alcohol, but I never drink the bottles of Canvas they sometimes leave me. Because it’s terrible. In contrast, the Park Hyatt Chicago once left me glass of sauternes in the evening. That was lovely.
What I’ve started doing on D.C. stays is bringing the cheap bottle of wine I’m sometimes left in the room into the office to give to a junior employee there. I’m not going to drink the bottle, certainly not going to drink it alone in my room after work, and I’m not going to check a bag in order to bring it home. But Hyatt never learned, after all these years, that I won’t drink the Canvas.
And it’s because there are real bottlenecks in the use of data – getting front line employees of franchises to actually input the data in the first place, and then to extract and action the data on future stays.
Consistency Matters, And Hyatt Is Inconsistent With It
Benefits need to be consistently delivered if they’re promised. Even surprise and delight is stronger if you know you’re likely to be delivghted. Philosophically, Blair makes a point that:
A brand is only as good as every touchpoint that it has. If we have benefits that aren’t actually felt, or get missed in the check-in experience, that’s worse than never having the benefit at all.
Hyatt does a better job than anyone else at proactively offering late checkout to elites, for instance. I almost never need to ask. It’s just part of the check-in process at most hotels.
In contrast, the ‘My Hyatt Concierge’ benefit is really lacking, or at least it’s highly variable. There are some good concierges (I’m told) and others who may not answer emails for a week if they respond at all.
Hyatt knows about the concierge issue. When they announced (generally positive) program changes in November 2023, it was the number one challenge with the elite program that was shared with Laurie Blair and with Hyatt Chief Commercial Officer Mark Vondrasek. But they’ve appeared to do nothing about it. Instead laid off U.S. call center employees.
It’s been a rough month for Hyatt loyalists… between the May devaluations and the Chase transfer nut-tap. But sure, let’s all get excited about a new $550-a-year Chase premium card and ‘preferred parking’ at a Hyatt Place in Toledo (@This comes to mind, see an Ohio-reference, just for you!) This feels very Bonvoy’d.
So in addition to massive devaluations and no 4th or 5th night free compared to other major programs that makes the current “World of Greed” Hyatt loyalty program about if not the most expensive program in the industry to earn and redeem in.Their capped credit card free nights pales to Hilton uncapped.They have ruined the program so badly I do better off peak in programs with the hated dynamic pricing on award and revenue
The Hyatt free breakfast and resort fees for globalists has helped help but breakfast generally sucks in North America as they have cut back massively in quality and variety.Now they want to eliminate that too?
They have accomplished one major achievement booking on 3rd party sites and being a free agent despite decades as a loyal customer spending hundreds of thousands dollars and previously booking through their direct channels.
I’m doing better in other programs and will avoid Hyatt much more as they only care about punishing their best long term customers over time and seeing who/what sticks post detonation.Hopefully its not their jobs that stick after creating the new improved ‘Hyatt’s World of Destruction”
Hyatt was once a legend in loyalty IMO they have crashed and burned with the worst to come apparently.
I actually participated in one of those focus groups. At the end, they gave us the opportunity to “speak our mind” about anything we wanted to say. Not sure anyone was listening though…every member of our group mentioned a consistent annoyance…that Category 1-7 or 1-8 awards expire 6 months after you earn them, unlike every other program. So, if you stay at a Category 7 in March, for example, become Globalist and earn your certificate in June, you can’t use it for a repeat stay next March. Stupid, petty and uncompetitive. Hope they wake up and fix this, though my expectations are low.
Here’s a tightened, grammatically polished version that preserves your argument and tone:
Hyatt’s problem is that its corporate leadership has an inflated sense of the chain’s position in the market.
The reality is that Hyatt lacks a true five-star luxury brand capable of competing with St. Regis, Four Seasons, or Waldorf Astoria.
It is also worth noting that very few, if any, Hyatt Regencies and Grand Hyatts are being built today. In North America, owners and developers increasingly prefer the more profitable Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands, often in markets that already have full-service, four-star options under Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Renaissance, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza flags. That’s a significant problem because spending 40-plys nights a year at a suburban Hyatt Place isn’t especially appealing when virtually every U.S. market with more than 100,000 residents already has a better option in the Marriott, IHG or Hilton ecosystems.
Hyatt has attempted to offset this weakness through a massive expansion of all-inclusive resorts and leisure-oriented properties. However, that strategy ignores a fundamental issue: in many markets, there simply is no Hyatt option. Even the acquisition of Mr & Mrs Smith has not been fully integrated in a way that makes it a practical solution, particularly in Europe, where the brand has a relatively strong presence.
@dwondermeant — “World of Greed” is pretty accurate. I’d also accept “World of Hype” of “Word of Hurt” (if we’re trying to stick to the original ‘WoH’ acronym.) Or, for those who’ve had enough… “World of Bye-att.”
Second verse, same as the first.
Down to do the corporate speak of “exciting new changes” to come!
Hyatt has joined its brethren in the same manner Southwest has joined theirs. When you are the final holdout of only 3 or 4 in the market, the shame is on you for trying to remain a “standout” while Rome burns. Nobody is going to defect anywhere else, the market has been allowed to consolidate way past (or even a shill of pretense) perfect competition.