Hyatt Announces Points And Cash Redemptions, Elite Discount Rate, And More!

So I have some nights booked next year @ 22k points....so i need to wait til Jan 7 to cancel the award booking and change it to points + cash?

"Presently Gold Passport points expire after 12 months of inactivity, though under this change they’ll only expire after 24 months of inactivity. This is obviously good news for the average consumer..."

Disagree that this is obviously good. The t&c of Gold Passport are that points expire after 12 months. Except that they don't. The expiration policy isn't enforced.

So while I think 24 months is totally reasonable, what Hyatt is doing is announcing that they will begin to expire points. Plenty of notice, the 2 year clock won't even start until the beginning of next year. And having clarity is great (most members likely didn't know their points wouldn't expire).

But it isn't an unambiguous positive. 😉

@ Ian - Correct, provided Points + Cash is available on your dates.

This sounds like an awesome enhancement to the program if the availability is decent - as it will still allow earning stay credit.

Is Gary right that Hyatt will start proactively expiring points? If so, they'd better provide some UI to let us know when our points expire! I think it's more friendly that for active accounts they don't expire them

Boy did we need some good news! My only concern is that while you say that C&P are only bookable on the phone. You did not mention (probably because you don't know yet) whether or not we could see this availability online like we can with SPG. Any idea???

Ben, do you think the P+S nights count towards a diamond challenge?

@ Steven S -- It would seem like initially we can't see availability online, which is a bit disappointing.

@ avidtraveler -- I would guess they will.

The Cat6 rate for properties like Park Hyatt Maldives looks great!

I think the math is off here:
Category 7 save 15,000 points for $500 (2.00 cents/point)

$500 / 15,000 = 3.33 CPP. Right?

Lucky, do you know if cash and points will be upgradable to a suite using diamond upgrades?

I think the $500 is supposed to be $300 then.

@ Grant -- Whoops, had a typo, should have been $300. Thanks for the correction!

@ Wes -- I don't, but I'm following up on it right now and will let you know.

It's going to make it a lot harder to use if there is no way to see availability online.

It's a bit weird that four different blogs all have the same story on the front page of Boarding Area

@ Carl -- It's big news!

@Lucky,
I stayed at Hyatt in Sept 2010 and have been inactive after that. My hyatt points, 3,000+, never expired so far.

Surprised nobody is talking about the IT challenges involved here... keep in mind, this is a company that can barely keep the website up and running for a week at a time!

Just seems very odd to announce such a change without having the IT ready to go on Day 1.

Sounds like something COdbaUA would do -- er, I mean IS doing (PQD's *and* partner award charts).

Call me skeptical that this goes well. Maybe they can get the crack HealthCare.gov team to come implement it!

Luck, how much do you value Hyatt GP points after these recent changes?

sorry Lucky, it was a typo..

@ Alan -- I value them at roughly 1.4 cents each after the change. Explained my reasoning a bit more here:
https://onemileatatime.com/how-much-are-ultimate-rewards-points-worth/

Thanks Lucky. I followed your posts very closely. But would today's positive change by Hyatt improve the value of GP points?

FYI: Category 2 copay is $55, not $50

Copying Gary's math is a dangerous thing!
😉

I had the same reaction about the "positive" expiration announcement. For years, I've looked for an expiration date on my points and couldn't find one, and Hyatt never forfeited my points when I went a stretch without using them. So I'll take a fictional 12-month policy over an actual 24-month policy any day.

Just called re Elite rate. Not available til 1/7 AND must call to get that rate -- can't reserve online. Talk about a pain in the arse