In February 2026, World of Hyatt announced some major changes to award pricing. While the program is maintaining published award charts, these changes have the potential to be brutal, especially as time goes on. With the changes now being live, I’d like to take an updated look at what exactly has changed, and how it…
Continue reading: Now Live: World Of Hyatt Updates Award Chart, Costs Increase By Up To 67%
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Absolutely brutal. Glad I've managed to enjoy some of the great value stays. Hopefully can lock in a few more before the chart goes live
Unpopular opinion - but this doesn't sound too bad. They haven't had a devaluation in 5 years.
At least the rates are still fixed. Hopefully this should lead to less demand for awards and more access
They also bumped GH Cayman from 6 to 8 overnight (along with a few others). I was actually planning a trip here and it's very disappointing they gave no heads up like they usually do for category changes to allow people to lock things in.
lol you must be new here. it never leads to less demand for awards and more access. ever. demand is only going in one direction. theres hundreds of thousands of people that just this month have earned 60k+ Bilt points, transferrable to Hyatt. That's tens and tens of millions points created out of thin air to potentially transfer
At a certain point they should just admit that they've moved to dynamic pricing.
They have devaluations every year in the Spring when they move the hotel categories up. As far this change, if you do think paying up to 67% more points for the same room, good for you.
Curious what their target deval is. From about 2cpp to 1.6?
This also has a major impact on the chase cards. Hyatt is the reason many of us have chase. Will points boost become a better redemption often times at these hyatts?
Are the points required going to fluctuate with demand or is there still gonna be a calendar (showing 12 months out) which night(s) fall into which 'tier'? (i.e., Is it possible that two people who book the same room type, on the same night going to pay two different award prices?)
This brings WOH points to the same valuation as the competition = around half a cent each. It was inevitable. They could not sustain being the outlier indefinitely. It was nice while it lasted.
i've come to view Hilton and Marriott points as virtually worthless, as it's not practical to collect them in the quantities needed for luxury experiences at Marriott; looks like Hyatt is just about there too... my loyalty strategy (and the existence thereof) needs a rethink this year
Every time I read posts like this it makes me smile with my decision to ditch loyalty for hotels and airlines a long time ago.
Still better than other programs. Categories 1-4 are still the sweet spot when you can find them. Don't think I will be staying at any Cat 7 or 8 when they're above 50K points per night.
seems like they have changed categories of some hotels today(?) as well in sync with these announced changes... I had booked a reservation at hyatt in kotor and it was a cat 4 and today it is showing as a cat 5 (15k vs 20k pts) and that could theoretically go higher in May with these changes...
I think what makes this awful is the fact that there’s no tangible addition or improvement of defined elite status benefits. They should have thrown a bone to globalists. Something. And of course, globalist concierge service is awful — even Marriott Bonvoy has better service for ambassador elites than Hyatt does for globalists.
Without credit card transfers, how does anyone just starting this points game with Hyatt ever earn enough points for a week at some aspirational property?
*If* this translates to a substantial devaluation in the likely value of Hyatt points, how relevant will the Chase ecosystem be given this and all of the other changes it has seen?
I imagine this is the end of booking a week at a nice Hyatt ski hotel during the season. Three nights at a place like the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek is going from 100k points a couple years ago to now over 200k.
Very sad to see the “Hyatt hack” so diminished in value. It was the only program left for me where redeeming points for an overnight stay directly through the hotel affinity program almost always made more economic sense than paying in cash or redeeming via CC. For example, I am staying at Park Hyatt Zurich later this year. Under the current regime and available cash rates booked directly through Hyatt, my points based hotel stay is valued @ approx 3/cents USD per point redeemed. It looks like post April ‘26, the value would drop to 2 cents or less. As a comparison, as a Chase Sapphire card holder, under “The Edit” program the value per point varies from 1.65 to 2 cents. But even at the lower redemption rate, I get free breakfast (I have no Hyatt status so this is very valuable to me), a 100 USD hotel stay credit and I earn points for my stay. So, at best, I become nearly agnostic as to whether I redeem my points directly through Chase or transfer them to Hyatt. However, going forward there are likely to be many instances where the incremental benefit of transferring to Hyatt vanishes altogether and I am better off paying for my hotel directly through the Chase program.
That's pretty awful. Glad I got my points booking for the Hyatt Place Waikiki before this went. Hyatt was essentially my last bastion of accessible and decent "low end" points properties while still having high-end properties available for decent value (excellent compared to the competition). The low-end properties are still there, at least for now for the CC free night, but on the high end and especially down the road it feels like the high end properties are going to be like trying to book a Conrad or Waldorf Astoria on points.
Laurie Blair insists the "trajectory of the value of our points is not changing." Let's examine that claim.
1. Twenty years ago, a night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo cost 15,000 points. Under this new chart, it costs 75,000. That is a 400% increase. An annualised inflation rate of 8.38%. On a loyalty currency that earns at fixed rates.
2. 78 price levels. The program now contains 78 price levels. At what point does an "award chart" become a marketing fiction? Blair calls this a "long-term sustainability effort." Members might call it something else.
3. The highest tier prices rise by up to 67%. Not at obscure properties. At the properties members have been saving for, planning around, valuing their points against. And crucially, as the comment from OMAAT makes clear, there is no cap on how many nights a property can place at the top tier. Zero. None. The floor has been removed.
4. Blair pushed back on the word "devaluation." But when the same points buy fewer nights at fewer properties on fewer dates, what precise word would she prefer?
5. Hyatt remains more transparent than Marriott. That is a low bar, and clearing it is not an achievement worth celebrating. The direction here is unmistakable, the pace is accelerating, and the program's CMO declining to commit to any improvement on the earning side tells members everything they need to know.
TL;DR - Cash out of Hyatt now.
There will be no justification soon. The only thing worse than this devaluation is the attempted gaslighting. Don't get played for a sucker.
The Reddit thing was weird. What’s most frustrating is this news today didn’t also announce the allegedly fake ultra premium Hyatt credit card.
Oy Vey this is honestly terrible! We have to pushback!
Bring back Hyatt Passport, Bring back SPG! I miss those days!
I've lost most loyalty at this point. Just like an economy, when the government starts to habitually devalue the currency on a whim and without explanation or apology, you start to lose trust in it.
Blew out a 175k points for an upcoming 5 night stay at the Alila Maldives. Glad I was able to get that in before the devaluation, as that same stay will probably go to 275k. Sadly, this was inevitable, as other have noted...
Just like the rest of hotel chains and airlines, Hyatt is giving the finger to their loyal customers. I don't understand why people are still chasing status to only be told by these greedy companies to go screw themselves.
I spent almost all of my post-pandemic Hyatt points in 2022-2024 after I retired. Only 5600 left. I will probably transfer 1000 over from CSP and book a 6500 Cat2 for one night in April and then just delete the app. I had zero stays in 2025 as the properties were just not competitive where I was staying.
For those of us who can use Chase points at 1.5c for travel redemptions, that 75000 Hyatt points room equals $1125. There may be several other nice hotels in the vicinity which would be worthwhile booking directly.
Sooooo all are these influencers still going to toe the line and maintain the “value” of Chase and BILT???
I'll be honest - if Hyatt had a general commitment here to cap the upper tiers at (say) 10-20% of nights each, I wouldn't be too fussed. Ditto if this had come with a promise that there would be significant net category reductions this year and/or next year to compensate (particularly at the 4/5 threshold).
I'm glad for the chart staying, but otherwise this is nasty.
Globalist still has a lot of explicit bells and whistles (particularly blocking resort/destination fees).
I'll add to my prior comment - one thing I think Hyatt risks (and this is WLOG to other programs) is people saying "Eff this" and shifting to booking via OTAs and/or reducing credit card usage.
If I didn't have extant Globalist status with Hyatt, I'm not sure why I would book direct versus going via Chase (or another portal). I'm already there with Hilton and getting there with Marriott...
Remember all those posts last week... calling pending de-valuation was a 'hoax'... 'fake'... (ok, fine, there's no new Cat 9 or 10, but let's get real, if they devalue this bad, it's as if they did anyway.)
If my math is right a Hyatt globalist doing 100 nights a year at $230 per night, he or she is getting 149,500 points per year on stays. If the same person had Marriott ambassador status, they would earn 402,500 points per year. That’s probably an extreme example. My guess is more people are like 40-70 actual, butt-in-bed nights at $125-$175 per night.
That's only valuable if you (a) book super far in advance and (b) prioritize resorts. Most people I know book vacations 3 months in advance.
wish they had a rule to balance the nights out. The number of nights in tier 5 has to mirrored by the number of nights in tier 1. Same with the 2/4 tiers.
Hyatt pts now worth lower than 1.6cpp. It was about 1.5-1.8 cpp before this news. I figure pts worth 1.25-1.6 cpp now.
Why would they devalue BILT? Alaska, JAL, rent day promotions (up to 125% to JAL!!), etc. BILT is the unequivocal top dog, with or without Hyatt. But I have almost entirely given up on Chase.
I guess my hope of being able to score a reasonable redemption at Allia Ventana Big Sur is out the window. It was hard enough to find the availability. Now I think you'll find availability, but at the new "TOP" rate.
That rumor Reddit post wasn't fake.
It was a leaked or failed A B attempt.
Then trying to cover it up just like Pritzker-Epstein.
Shame on Hyatt.
Before the pandemic I always thought Accor was the worst program because points were simply direct proxies for cash - 1000 points was worth 20 EUR off your room cost. No gaming the system. No opportunities.
Now I think it's the best program for the same reason. While there's been massive devaluation across all the other main programs, Accor still maintains its fixed exchange rate of 1000 points to 20 EUR. That's the central principle that their rewards program is based on.
That means I don't have to worry about the value of my points stash suddenly being vaporised (like Radisson to their points) and can accumulate without having to burn them quickly. The only cost to hoarding points is that hotels get more expensive over time, but I'd face the exact same issue with cash in my bank account.
And I think it's very unlikely they'll ever break this foundational principle, because it would completely immolate their program at a stroke. People saw the smoke and rubble that Radisson Rewards turned into and I doubt they want to emulate that.
Great! Now I don't need to requalify for Globalist anymore. I can finally be a free agent.
Hyatt gotta be careful.
Their footprint is tiny, not many people outside of the US cares about their hotels.
Their hotels are not that great, the clout of faux luxury only blinds loyalists.
Their program was what had people hooked - take that away - and Hyatt is exposed for what it is - a small chain of mediocre hotels.
If they start messing with Globalist - its over.
@All Due Respect I think you need to mention the increase in the cash price in your first point. The PH Tokyo was probably about $400/night 20 years ago and probably will be $1000 average/night when it reopens. Also, all spending on the card results in increased points earning vs 20 years ago due to 60%+ inflation.
Still a bad change though.
Well, this clarifies my abandonment of the WoH program. I was on the fence, and Hyatt helped me make it, though not really in their favor. I've been a Globalist since 2021, but this year will be the last. I had a few cash bookings since I figured the QNs and Hyatt points I got back would be valuable, but that is no longer the case.
I'm trying to decide if double/triple Aspires are worth it, but more likely I'll just go back to using travel portals. Ultimate freedom for location, cash back portals, and so on. I'll buy my own breakfast.
All these major programs are essentially just "cash back" now that the awards are just dynamic (by any other name). For those that stay at luxury properties, it's probably better to be a travel agent themselves (through Fora or what not), and just get the agent commission back in their own pockets. That way you can stay at whatever brand you want and still get your free breakfast + early check in + late checkout. No point chasing status and being chained to any chain for marginal benefits.
Bilt sneakily timed that tx promo to JAL early before everyone gets their May Rakuten payout.
The only reason I put up with Hyatts limited footprint is for the loyalty program. It’s so much easier to book a Marriott or Hilton property esp with our corporate travel system.
I do think you're right. Outside beach resorts and all-inclusives, Hyatt doesn't have the footprint to play games with elites. If you're going to get bonoyed, you might as well use Bonvoy.
Is that what is causing Hyatt website hard to reach? everyone wants to Book now?
Ouch indeed, but inevitable.
Last September, I stayed at the Park Hyatt NYC during the UN General Assembly where "standard" rooms were $2,600 a night. Even purchasing 45K World of Hyatt Points at the rack rate of $0.026 would have been a cost of $1,170. Unless they started monkeying around with "standard" room availability a la Hilton and Bonvoy, this arbitrage was unsustainable.
On the plus side, this change might mitigate some of the antipathy and downright bad hospitality I've experienced at other Park Hyatts as a non-Globalist on award stays (e.g., Park Hyatt Sydney).
If I cant book outsized redemptions I'll have no loyalty and will just buy accounts from china for free breakfast.
This combined with the Ink train ending... I am done with Hyatt and Chase after Feb. 2027 when my Globalist ends. Using up my points and moving to Hilton (love my FNCs!).
As a Hyatt globalist, if I do 100 nights with Hyatt at $175 per night, I earn 113,750 points (excluding bonuses based on credit cards or World of Hyatt promotions). Those 113,750 points would give me 1 “free” night at a Mirval property with my a spouse/partner/girlfriend or 1.5 “free” nights at the most expensive Park Hyatt.
The same 100 nights and $175 per night spend as an ambassador with Marriott would earn me 306,250 points as a Bonvoy ambassador. Let’s say I earn another 40,000 points from Marriott based on the 1,000 elite welcome gift benefit at many brands. Additionally, I can earn additional points with Marriott for on-property incidentals, like booze or food. So, those 346,250 Bonvoy points probably get me five “free” nights at most non-resort Marriott properties. Maybe even a sixth or seventh night depending on the market and the brand.
The only reason to stick with Hyatt is, I suppose, the nominal award chart. At least you know how many points you need to accumulate for redemption, unlike Marriott. But the question is: can a normal traveler ever accumulate enough points moving forward without massive gamesmanship or credit card point transfers/bonuses?
Nothing lasts forever. Hyatt was peak awesome when they had SLH. Been downhill since losing SLH. I just reached Globalist this year. Been on the Ink train for a while too. Going to burn up my remaining Hyatt points by Feb. 2027 (Globalist expiration). After that it is all about the Hilton Aspire and the FNC. Maybe the occasional Amex to Hilton transfer bonus for a high end stay at a WA or an SLH. Moving any loyalty to Hilton. Definitely won't be long until cash stays become the way to go again.
Hotel prices increase with inflation. The number of points required HAS to increase occasionally for things not to get out of hand. Inflation has totaled 25% the last 5 years. Points costs MUST inflate at the same rate.
While I HATE to see this, I can’t say I’m surprised. Last week I wrapped up a 15 night stay at the Park Hyatt Milan during the Olympics in a Deluxe room. The rate was $5,000/night. That is $75,000. I used Hyatt points and stayed there for 675,000 points. That is over $0.11/point. That isn’t sustainable for them (especially with free breakfast, amenities, etc).
So many things wrong with your comment. You do earn points with on property spend at Hyatt.
113k points can also get you five nights at a lot of properties. On your way to earning 100 nights you also get two C1-7 awards, one C1-4 and also 10k points at the 70, 80, 90 and 100 milestones... So realistically 150k which can get you around 7+ nights at a Cat 7. Can also trade those GOHs you get for 1-4 awards.
Based on this, Ben, please provide your new evaluation of hyatt points. Mine just sank below 1 cent immediately and i still value chase points more than a cent so no point in transferring my chase points to hyatt anymore
It's not just the footprint. Its the price to quality ratio.
Hyatt's are almost always overpriced, especially outside the US, with much better options available for less money.
Hyatt has always attempted to be a little different than the “biggest” hotel brands, recognizing their dramatically smaller footprint. This tosses that theory out the window into a bonfire; and they may kill the golden goose with this change. Hyatt point valuation has now cratered. In case anyone from Hyatt is wondering if this affects future bookings, it already has.
You can regularly arbitrage with Hilton though- even with them playing games. Plenty of properties retail for far much than 0.5cpp.
You are excluding the bonus points, FNAs and GOHs which you get on the way there to 100 nights as a Hyatt Globalist.
GOHs have little use as a Globalist but you can trade them for FNAs too.
Eddie, I'm unaware of what you mean by the "ink train". I must have missed some issue with these cards? Mind expanding for me?
As someone who was looking for a way to cash about about 600,000 Marriott points and not having an easy time of it at the resorts I'm really interested in (ski resorts during ski season, tropical resorts), I disagree with your Marriott comparison. There are plenty of Marriott properties where you need double that for five nights because the nights go for 150,000+ points.
My real question is whether Hyatt will destroy my willingness to participate in their program my the time I hit lifetime globalist. They are working overtime towards that goal, it seems
You didn't miss much. Most overrated property I've ever stayed at. Stay anywhere else on that part of the California coast and you'll get the same view and geography. Food nothing special, location nothing special, service meh, activities meh, rooms ok.
Looks like my mattress running for globalist will get a little more expensive. Ha jk, mattress running for globalist now is ridiculous on its face. I'm done requalifying for globalist. No more spend on Hyatt card, no more UR transfers to Hyatt, no cash stays at Hyatt. Ill use up my points and certs, then I'm out. Go Pritzker yourself, Hyatt.
Being able to get multiple Chase Ink Business cards to get UR points. Chase is now very strict with sign up bonuses.
Hyatt just spit in the faces of non US members who cannot earn points thru credit cards (cos we can't get any) but only thru stays. The 30% bonus earn for Globalists is ridiculous with no welcome bonus either.
I currently have several points advance bookings for later this year. Am I correct to assume that I am locked in at the points rate that I booked? Or will the new points chart kick in since I don't plan to pay for those reservations in points until closer to the check-in date (ie. Christmas 2026)? Thanks!
How are you "locked in" if your points have not already been deducted, something that commonly occurs at the time of actually making the reservation. I've never made a Hyatt award reservation when the points were not immediately deducted at time of booking.
Or, like me, cancel future cash bookings as I'm no longer caring about Globalist
And yet Category 1-4 free night awards have not increased with inflation despite the volume of properties reclassified over the years to Category 5 and beyond.
Instead of spending 200K, you can buy a lot of breakfasts and pay a lot of resort fees as an Explorist and have a crazy amount of cash left.
Interestingly, the exact same logic applies to SkyMiles (which is, among airlines with many intercontinental flights, probably the only one that hasn't devalued its fiat:miles exchange rate in the past ~5 years).
Quite possibly. My suspicion is that Hyatt will target something like 0.7-1.0 cpp on the reimbursement value (probably best approximated by RevPAR times occupancy) and periodically calculate a prediction of what that looks like for a given property (maybe including previous 6 months of actual redemptions and next 6 months of expected). If the property is running low, move some nights down a level and if running high, move some nights up a level.
This is the result of what happens when mostly US based customers (with credit cards) turned the program into a game. Was it really about loyalty or just a program where Hyatt was a little slow to work out many of their members were exploiting it until it no longer works. Sadly it appears the good times are over. Many will move onto the next one… if they can find something.
Agree that the good times are just about over. And to your very good point, 'points' have become just a game for most and the veil of loyalty has been pretty thin for a while. With points blogs like this, transparency of how the game is played has improved, search engines make finding sweet spots easier, the younger generation is savvy, barriers to entry have been lowered. I'm still impressed when I walk into a lounge and see all of the young folks there with platinum and reserve cards checking in - that was not what the market looked like 20 years ago.
That all said, I still find value in playing the game. I still travel. I still need to fly. I still need to stay in a hotel. But this probably means I will be more loyal to Amex with transferable points than my Hyatt card going forward.
I hope that this wipes out all the bogus Bilt ‘globalists’ and the status challenge crowd. They can do something with Chase and IHG.
I’m a Lifetime Globalist and not just for points. Just stayed in Marriott resort property and it was garbage.
Not awesome but hope that 2nd order effects are good for true elites not Bilt, or credit card ‘explorists’
lol @ you thinking youre better because you go out of your way to spend more money to stay at chain hotels. congrats on being a sucker I guess?
I don't agree with you Alan. If Hyatt hotel level in the US is not marvelous, it's very different outside. In Asia, in Europe for example, Hyatt hotel are better than other American brands. Service is so nice compairing in the US.
This is stupid. If they are going this way, why not just have one category that goes from 3k to 150k points like Hilton?
I'm not sure about that. When I mattress run, I'm shooting for cat 1 hotels where I can string together as many off-peak nights as possible (preferably with only standard nights between them if necessary). Cat 1 off-peak/lowest is decreasing from 3,500 to 3,000 points/night. So assuming Hyatt's reasonably fair and honest about their pricing tiers, i.e. actually uses the "lowest" category during periods of lowest demand, I'll be saving 500 points/night. And even if you can't string together, say, 5 "lowest" nights in a row, maybe it'll be something like 2 "lowest" + 1 "low" + 2 more "lowest," where before, it might've been 2 off-peak + 1 standard + 2 off-peak. In that example, the "before" would've been 19K points, and the new one would be 16.5K: 2.5K cheaper. For mattress runs done wisely, I'm absolutely seeing a chance that they become cheaper, not more expensive.
(...Though for virtually every other type of stay, yeah, it's gonna suck.)
I disagree to some extent. Inflation hasn't affected hotel prices equally everywhere across the board, and the point of an award chart is that when a hotel's prices *do* increase over time, the hotel moves to a higher award category (or when they decrease, they fall to a lower one); that's the built-in mechanism to control for inflation.
Over time, it does result in fewer hotels being in the lowest categories. But I tend to think of category 1 as the "~$100-$125/night category," cat 2 as the "~$160-$200/night category," cat 3 as the "~$240-$300/night category," etc. (approximate, of course, but take the standard number of thousands of points/night for that category and multiply it by about 20 to 25). If inflation causes average rates at a particular hotel to increase over time from e.g. ~$125 to ~$160, it probably moves from cat 1 to cat 2. But actually increasing the number of points/night *in a given category* *in addition* to moving many hotels to higher categories is a different ball game.
After all, if a hotel that used to be ~$125/night is *still* around $125/night on average, why should it cost more points now than it did before? (Adjusted for inflation, it's technically *cheaper* now than it was before!)
I hope Hyatt only uses the "moderate"/"upper"/"top" pricing tiers when it's genuinely justified, rather than basically making it the new normal. But based on the language about "grow[ing] into" the new award chart over time, I'm not holding my breath...
I'd argue it should be even stricter than that. "Peak" pricing is intended to reflect extraordinary demand, after all, which is rare by definition (in most markets). The name calls to mind a snow-capped mountain peak, which covers maybe the top 5-10% of the mountain - let's say the top 5% could be "top," with the next 5% being "upper." The next ~30% down could be "moderate," the next 30% "low," and the bottom 30% "lowest." Pricing should have to default to the lowest tiers unless there's genuinely extraordinary demand to justify that moderate/peak pricing.
Indeed, would be nice to have a rule based on those ratios: if you have 5 nights a year at "top," you must have at least 30 a year at "lowest"; if you have 10 a year at "upper" or higher, you must have at least 60 a year at "low" or lower; if you have 30 at "moderate," you must have at least 60 at "low" or "lowest"; etc.
Well, that toming worka great, since "several years down the road," we won't be staying at Hyatt anymore.
By whom? The federal government? Doesn’t seem very ‘small government’ to me… since when are you conservative/libertarian-types in-favor of nationalizing companies? On the basis of.. what? A sex scandal? Psh. My goodness, on that basis Trump should never have been allowed to run in 2016, much less every time after, or to run any business.
What language is that, Gene? I like the sound of it. “toming worka”… is that Slovakian?
I am not holding my breath but hopefully they will throw us a crumb and increase the credit card redemption to cat 1-5
why are weirdos so obsessed with this? you see it on all blogs including FM/etc. like youre ostensibly a grown adult, why dont you have your own personal valuation of Chase points? Your travel patterns are highly personal and your value of points will be determined by that. use your brain like a big boy
Oof. Just going to count myself lucky that I got in early enough to enjoy several Tokyo Hyatts on the cheap. Outside of that, I've had pretty good experiences at Hyatt House/Hyatt Place properties so at least my points will still get me pretty far there.
People are easily persuaded by propaganda and gaslight you see on the internet. And blindlessly believes.
Proof?
People voted for Donald Trump TWICE!
And if not for term limits, morons will still vote for him for the 3rd time.
So just give the guy a break and make up some point valuation for him.
It's now valued $0.002 less. Why? It's because Putin.
Now everybody is happy.
Loyalty to Hyatt will definitely diminish with these changes. The higher-end hotels especially are becoming absurdly valued, especially when properties will have the option of charging at the high end of the point spectrum all the time if they like. It leaves nothing to aspire to.
If you aspire to something pay for it! That is like all the whiners talking about how they don't get upgrades. If you want first class pay for it. Same with hotels "aspirational" or not. Frankly the idea that everyday joes could save up and stay somewhere they could never afford otherwise is dumb. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed the 10s of millions of points/miles I've accumulated over the last 40 years of extensive travel. I've used the vast majority of them but only for places I would otherwise pay for. Never understood the idea that you stay in a days inn until you get enough points for a Park Hyatt. Just stay where your station in life and finances slot you.
Honestly can say I don't spend a lot of time worrying about being 5/24+ anymore
Hah! I just booked Hyatt at a redemption that I was depressed about because it was below .02 per point. Now I don't feel soo bad because those points in my hyatt account are about to become a whole lot less valuable anyway. Better off just burning them now, closing my hyatt cards, moving spend away from Chase and calling it a day. Think we need an article that in light of these charges reassessing what currencies we are better off accumulating since Hyatt transfers don't seem like they have much appeal if you want aspirational properties.
To this day years later I regret staying at the Park Hyatt sydney. Stayed there on points and then agreed to pay extra cash on top of that for a view. I got the side of the hotel with barely a view of anything. One of the worst park hyatts I have stayed at. Never again unless I had guaranteed suite/view.
Do people really have aspirational dreams to stay at fancy hotels? Is that really a common dream? What is a hotel room? A place to sleep. It keeps rain off of you. It keeps you warm instead of sleeping outside. It is not supposed to be a zoo that caters to your every need. Why bother with loyalty at all. I use a room yo keep me dry and warm or cool depending on month of year.
I agree with your sentiment here.
Over the years, I have stayed at numerous upscale hotels (don't get me started on things like defining 'luxury' and what five stars mean), four or five spectacular rooms and maybe a couple of amazing resorts. I can see why some people might be looking forward to relaxing at a nice resort, particularly if travelling with children in tow. However, I mostly travel to cities and I'm normally there for the destination. A clean room is all I need for up to a couple of nights, while for longer stays I will try to get myself a junior suite with an espresso machine (whether I end up paying the full rate or as a status upgrade).
I couldn't care less about whether the hotel has a great gym, let alone a good breakfast buffet (I can just go to the supermarket across the road, buy some yoghurt and avoid going anywhere near the fattening stuff they serve).
I think a lot of the 'aspirational' stuff is the product of what we discussed the other day about Americans not having a lot of time to travel and wanting to maximise every part of the experience. When you do 30+ days of leisure travel every year, you're less likely to painstakingly research every option and stay at the 'best' hotel in town.
Nate, you are assuming someone else would have paid $5,000 a night for a room there.
For me points are only worth what I would otherwise have paid in cash, and that ain't anything like 5K!
Yes, it is cheap Hyatt properties where the value is now. I just bagged a Hyatt House for 8K points and a HR for 22K points.
Agreed Cirrus. And Accor hotels are routinely cheaper for cash precisely because fewer Americans stay in them than in the big four.
Lollllllll well, there's never availability anyway, so it's a moot point!
Team cashback all the way!
Too bad they couldn't postpone this just a tiny bit - I was saving up all my points for when I become an empty nester in Fall of 2027 and can travel limitlessly!
Echoing what pretty much every commenter said -- this devaluation of points sucks. The loss of a decent Cat 1-4 in Seattle burns, too. (I don't count staying at a Hyatt Place a reasonable use of a certificate when you're trying to maximize value.)
What Hyatt desperately needs now is to offset this in two ways: First, they should change the free night certs from 1-4/1-7 to 1-5/1-8. At LEAST the 1-4 one has to change, as one of the most common category increases the past three years in a row was moving hotels from Cat 4 to Cat 5 -- and rarely do hotels move the other way. Those certificates have much less value now than they did a few years ago, and I have a harder and harder time using them for anything but a mattress run.
The second thing they need is better points earning. The credit cards they have now are okay, but not great. They REALLY need a premium card. When that fake Reddit post came out, the card proposed there had me chafing at the bit to sign up for it almost immediately. If they did something like that, I'd trade out one of my cards for that one, and probably continue to work toward Globalist each year. But absent that by year end, I'll probably rethink my strategy going into 2028.
I wish they would have just cracked down on the people trying to squeeze as many guests as possible into one room and expecting free breakfast for everyone and raiding lounges for a family dinner. As a solo traveler it’s infuriating the outsized benefits that others receive.
rv2lyon
Are they? In most European cities there are as good if not better non Hyatt options.
I think they sort-of did this...by getting rid of a bunch of the lounges in the US.
[Seriously - most of the Hyatt Regencies...Hyatts Regency?... don't have lounges anymore. It's a decent weakness versus, say, Marriott.]
Book what? Most everything worth booking is long gone. I worked the last few weeks to shrink our accounts from >800,000 to <2,000 and apply all of our TSUs, so I am pleased! If they want to award less valuable points in the future, no problem. We just won't use their credit card anymore since the currency is now wholly uncompetitive with other options. Even on Hyatt stays, using a CSR for 4x UR makes more sense than using a Hyatt VISA for 4x Hyatt points. At least UR points can be used for booking other hotel brands and for transfers to United, which has suddenly become a MORE valuable program. Maybe Hyatt should try it, too, but clearly Hyatt now has idiots in charge of their program.
Points are the reason that these hotel can jack up prices so they can get corporate to pay them back in the supposed "average daily room rate".
The fanciest hotel in that city isn't even charging $2k a night, much less $5k.
Losing Jeff Zidell was a bigger loss than anyone knew. Okay, the WOH name is stupid, but he seemed to understand the value of loyalty to a brand. It seems that Hyatt is becoming the Southwest Airlines of hotel brands - look just like your competitors to the point that all anyone looks at is price because your offerings are otherwise all identical.
Chinese & Indians,two of the world's most populated countries are Guilty of that. If they could,they would put half of their population in one Room!
Why because ai have to filter through the whiners complaining about a legitimate corporate decision? The companies don’t owe you cheap flights/hotels or “sweet spots”. They are businesses looking to maximize profitability for their owners (as all businesses should do). If you don’t like the new rules don’t stay there but whining will do nothing.
BTW heavy traveler since mid 80s w around 8 million “butt in seat” miles and lifetime million miler + status w DL, AA and UA plus 4000-5000 nights in hotels so max a few programs. I enjoyed the good old days in the 90s but adapt and move on - as you should
Curiously I went to book a room in NYC for early December and all the hotels are full - even when I searched for cash only. I think they have stopped taking reservations until the new award pricing goes in. Only hotels available were things like Unbound collection or suburbs like Princeton.
I am too far along so will likely be Globalist next year, but I suspect it will be my last year. Not that far off the level for lifetime Globalist but not sure free breakfast is worth it. Andaz 5th Avenue become Category 8 was the final blow. I stay(ed) there several times a year on points.
The point is that it destroys the concept of loyalty. I have been loyal to Hyatt but once I become a free agent, I will stay at whatever brand appeals most at the destination I am visiting.
This literally kills the program for anyone who isn’t based in the US as we cannot earn WoH points from credit cards.
Hotel loyalty programs always treat ‘rest of world’ as second fiddle, but this just takes it to the next level and is ridiculous.
Wasn't just you. Hyatt's website was a mess last night and many had issues with booking hotels.
There was definitely phantom availability in NYC leading up to the new awards!
So grateful that we got in a stay at the Park Hyatt Los Cabos in February when it was only operating at 1/3 capacity - and used an upgrade cert for a plunge pool suite - for 45K/night.
I did squeeze in a booking at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts for next winter before the new chart kicked in, whew!
it is *exactly* a dynamic award chart! you can practically smell their contempt for their customers wafting off the deliberately insulting lies in their press release
The end of outsized redemption valu has arrived for its final relevant US based hotel chain. The decline of globalists in 2027 will also be a profit generator for Hyatt.
I agree for the most part. Except when it comes to how many points can now be earned. You can earn 60,000 points by spending $20k at Bilt, which gets you a Cat 7 or 8 redemption that would otherwise cost you $500-$1,000. Ok, you're capped at $20k a year to earn 3x, but everything else after that is 2x. That's remains a pretty great return of 2.5c-5c per $ spent (assuming of course that you'd otherwise be willing to pay those rates).
Maybe it's different at other properties or for Hyatt elites, but the cancellation policy for Awards at the LAX Hyatt Regency has always been 24 hours before, but now apparently it's changed to 21 DAYS. Seriously. The night I booked 4 months ago was the usual 24 hrs in advance but the one I'm about to book is 21 days. I called the hotel and they confirmed the policy change.
Well, I cashed out my chase UR. Not much use for them anymore. I have enough united miles from work. Wyndham has better redemptions than Hyatt in many cases now...
Yup. PH Sydney was non-changeable, non-refundable… Hyatt not only devalued its points, but is also making it more restrictive in-general. *boo hiss*
If you click on various dates at HR Lax its 24 hours
I too ran into this 21 day BS for my night in July
It seems they are randomly doing this when they suspect that they are busy
Its dodgy business behavior to say the least
Hyatt is thinking that this will Blow over after a few Days. I don't think so. I just hope this keeps the Chinese away in Singapore & Malaysia.
Lol. There are like a handful higher end Hyat properties. 99.5% are overpriced mediocrity that noone ever noticed because the points value was so good
Now that bubble has burst.
Weird flex...
Wow I stay at chain hotels.
I (or more likely my employer) spend more money and get less for it....
Better than other American brands isn't exactly a high bar.
Agree Gavin, there are many better than Hyatt options in Europe.
I agree that property owners will be celebrating. My bet is that Hyatt will come up with some other goofy status level "Interstellarist" and devalue the current Globalist status to not include breakfast... or just a fixed dollar amount like Hilton did.
It's not without precedent - they already set the bar for a cat8 room at 150 nights, as though it's practical for us to live in a hotel for half of the year.
I agree that property owners will be celebrating. My bet is that Hyatt will come up with some other goofy status level "Interstellarist" and devalue the current Globalist status to not include breakfast... or just a fixed dollar amount like Hilton did.
It's not without precedent - they already set the bar for a cat8 room at 150 nights, as though it's practical for us to live in a hotel for half of the year.