Hyatt is keeping an award chart, and they’re not changing the points prices of that chart. That’s the good news, I suppose. But their annual category changes are out – going into effect in one month on March 25 – and they’re heavily biased towards price increases.
- 151 hotels will change category
- 33 will go down in category
- 118 will go up in category
North America
74 changes – roughly half – are at properties in the United States (61 increases, 13 decreases). No hotel changes more than one category.
The Grand Hyatt SFO – an airport hotel! – goes up to category 6. Hyatt Regency Orlando airport goes up to category 5. Historically airport hotels offered great value and protection from some points inflation.
Grand Hyatt SFO
Thompson Hollywood drops to 5 and Hotel Figueroa drops to 4. Dream South Beach also drops to 4. Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay increases to 4. Category 4s are key because they’re bookable with ubiquitous category 1-4 free night awards (from the credit card, hitting 30 qualifying nights, staying at 5 brands).
Grand Hyatt Kauai goes up to category 8. Hyatt Regency Maui drops to category 6.
Hyatt Regency Maui
Africa, Mideast And Asia
Doha is one of my favorite hotel markets for cheap luxury. During off-season I’ve seen the Mandarin Oriental there for under $200 per night. Park Hyatt Doha is often a value, and drops from category 5 to 4. Frankly I’m not sure how it was a 5 before.
Park Hyatt Chennai goes from category 1 to 2, which surprises me a bit in that it’s long been the least expensive Park Hyatt in the world (and a real steal of an experience).
Globalist Room Service Breakfast at Park Hyatt Chennai
Asia generally is getting more expensive here. In Bali each of Alila Seminyak; Alila Ubud; Andaz Bali; Grand Hyatt Bali; and Hyatt Regency Bali go up a category.
Despite the weak yen, we’re seeing increases in Japan with Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, and Park Hyatt Tokyo all going to category 8. I really do look forward to seeing the renovation of Park Hyatt Tokyo though.
Thailand and Malaysia get pricier as well.
Canada
Hyatt Regency Vancouver, which now plays games with suite inventory for upgrades, has gone up to category 5 so no longer bookable with category 1-4 free nights.
Hyatt Regency Vancouver
Caribbean, Latin America
Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires and Grand Hyatt Baha Mar go up to category 7. Baha Mar is a factory not worth the price. And I get inflation in Argentina, but that should make spending a U.S-based currency more attractive not less attractive.
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
Andaz Papagayo is going up to category 8. Remember when Hyatt promised that category 8 would only be for partner hotels in SLH, and not for their own properties? This was a nice property but that price point is rough. I much enjoyed the resort bu their beach is terrible.
Andaz Papagayo, Costa Rica
Europe
Several Linder properties – a sweet spot of value I’d just written about – go up from category 1 to 2 (Vienna Am Belvedere, Hotel Antwerp, Prague Castle, Frankfurt Sportpark, Dusseldorf Airport, Dusseldorf Seestern).
Lindner Prague Castle
Andaz Amsterdam goes to category 7, as does Hyatt Regency The Churchill. Admittedly many will prefer the location of The Churchill, but Park Hyatt London is also category 7.
Hyatt Regency London The Churchill
Playing These Changes To Your Advantage
It’s impossible to know the magnitude of the effect without also knowing whether the number of peak and off-peak dates will shift at each property. While Hyatt is the remaining holdout among major loyalty programs still offering an award chart, so members know what pricing to expect (Marriott changes the points prices of properties regularly and since removing award charts all gloves have been off in terms of how high prices could go), their addition of peak and off-peak rates approximates dynamic pricing and often makes getting outsized value for points for challenging.
Make your reservations now for hotel stays after March 25 at properties changing categories. If the hotel is dropping a category, you’ll get an automatic refund for the difference while still locking in availability. And if it’s going up in category, you lock in the current lower price and as long as you follow the reservation’s cancellation rules you’re really just giving yourself the option to stay later at the current lower price.
‘Not great, not terrible.’
I, too, am surprised by the Grand Hyatt SFO change. I do like that hotel, and would be sad to see its award rates increase due to the category change. Oh well. Still better than Marriott!
Bummer to see the HR in MCO jump from 4 to 5. It’s one of my favorite places to use a Cat 1-4 certificate when I’m either flying in late or leaving early in the morning.
The post highlights the aspirational properties, but the increases seem most widespread among low end properties. Even hit the lowly Hyatt Place in suburban Sacramento we stayed at when visiting family. I guess if we previously got more than 2 cents/point, you should assume Hyatt will destroy the outsized value soon.
London Churchill regular room avoid. Tiny room with sthe smallest bathroom in the world. The bathroom door just barely clears the toilet. The shower is one of those cheap open glass/plastic things you see with mostly lower end hotels. I stayed there in suites a number of times but one time I didnt clear. I also tend to think the front desk isnt giving many upgrades to elites, but that can be at other London properties/Hyatt as well.
I’m really disappointed with HR Vancouver going to Cat 5. That was an almost annual cert getaway place for me.
Also bummed about the HR Tokyo and HR Hong Kong going to Cat 5 as those were occasional redemptions.
Only modestly bright news is I booked HR London Blackfriars yesterday for later in the year. Beat the clock on the cat 6 increase although most of the cat 5 nights for my stay were priced at 23K peak anyway. Cash prices averaged 600 USD/night so still a deal.
Crazy how Baha Mar and Andaz Papagayo have shot up in past few years. Hyatt knows these two properties are prime for families, and I suppose they’re trying to address that demand (or take advantage of it).
Sad but not surprised at the Grand Hyatt Kauai increase. It’s $1000/night often. We have an upcoming stay that nets out at 3.5 cents/point. Even at the Cat 8 level it’ll still be a solid cpp return. But I doubt we’ll be staying again at new rates. We can find the Waikoloa Marriott for 40K Marriott points, so I can’t imagine paying 40K Hyatt points to stay at a slightly nicer property. There plenty of decent Vacasa deals if we want to go to Kauai.
My issue is there’s no correlation between award chart category and the quality of the hotel. How can a Park Hyatt be a category 2 but an airport Hyatt be a category 5 or 6? It makes no sense whatsoever.
So much for the double points promotion
Just clawed back with devaluation price increase
And these hotels that are raising the redemption rates are 350 to 500 dollar night hotels
so its now far more expensive to use points.None should be higher than a cat 5 or 6
End of an era where value can be had and Hyatt now charges a fortune with no 4th or 5th night free
as all other major programs do.Making them even more super expensive
Not the Hyatt I trusted to be fair for decades.Another greedy corporation charging more and delivering less.Closing lounges shrinking quality and variety
I’m finally going to recommend that my family members cancel their Hyatt credit cards. We will be back when the annual free night covers up to Category 6, equivalent to what Category 4 was several years ago. And raise the annual fee to $199 to make the bean counters happy.
When we fly out of SFO, we split between the Grand Hyatt and the Hyatt Regency. For very early flights, we have tended to do Grand Hyatt. With this change, we’ll likely shift the Hyatt Regency to some of the not-quite-as-early flights, i.e. not 6AM. Not terribly unexpected, and we will still spring for the Grand Hyatt for very early flights.
Also disappointed about GH Orlando as we stay there occasionally and, as noted, great place to burn a Category 1-4.
HR Sonona went down, so we’ll get back some points for an August stay we have booked (I’m going to call them after March 25, despite what the FAQ says about “automatic.”). As we stay there periodically, this is a plus.
I think GH Kauai is worth it given the price point, even if I don’t want to pay it. Point@ Poipu, here we come 🙂
Cheers.