We know that as of May 20, 2026, World of Hyatt is completely overhauling award pricing, by introducing a new five tier award chart (compared to the current three tiers). On the high end, this has the potential to be awful.
Continue reading: World Of Hyatt 2026 Hotel Category Changes: 136 Properties Impacted
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Dare I say these aren’t that bad? The way bigger issue is the increased amount of points required for each category
Globalists and CC holders need better free night awards!
HR Lake Tahoe going from 5 to 6 instead of 4->5?
Nevada Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino 5 6
Setting aside the fact of how variable points pricing will be with the new chart, I don't think it's surprising that hotels in expensive markets are moving up in categories.
It's not really about whether Hyatt thinks multiple hotels in New York, London, or Paris are equally high-quality, it's the fact that those markets are reliably high-priced in cash with relatively little seasonality.
My main concern for annual category changes is whether I can or can't use a free night certificate going forward. In that regard, I'd like to point out a couple interesting changes not mentioned (for me anyway with no plans to go to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia):
Going from 4 to 5
Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid
Hyatt Regency Lisbon (a bit out of the way anyway)
Going from 5 to 4
Hyatt Centric Austin
It's well past time the free night certificates become Cat 1-5 instead of 1-4.
Effectively losing the ability to redeem Cat 4 certificates for a decent stay in six major cities (Los Angeles, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, and Seattle) is a huge devaluation of the credit card's free night award. Figueroa, Hyatt Centric Las Olas, and Hyatt Regency Coral Gables were the three places I redeemed them most often.
HR Grand Cypress going to a Cat 5 just nuked the best option for a Cat 1-4 cert in Orlando. Frustrating stuff.
have you noticed that chase has added a handful 2.5cpp points boost properties but also greatly reducing the number of properties that got the 2cpp boost? this CSR refresh is appearing to be a major dud!
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-announces-select-properties-with-2-5x-pointsboost-redemption/
What is most interesting and telling is there are 10 hotels changed categories in China + Macao, but they are all down grades. Most other countries have up and down grades!
I'll echo Echo. The cat updates DOWNGRADE the valu of a fna. Santa Cruz during a peak wknd...rip
Does anyone know if Hyatt will let you replace a point reservation with a later granted fna? Marriott has past allowed similar flexibility.
Damn, they finally switched Regency Seattle to a 5. One of my fav 1-4 certificate redemptions
So much for the new (dynamic) award chart allowing properties to go down to lower categories
Also PH London should not be category 8. Their room rate is always high even if there is low occupancy but i've stayed there a dozen times and its never anywhere near full.
I wonder if the 'reimbursement' cost to the hotel when people use points factors in the owner's debt service, not just the operating costs to service a room if the property has low occupancy. I can't think of another reason they could justify moving this one to Cat 8.
Hotel Figueroa as category 5 is crazy work. That place is like 100 years old and doesn't look a day over 99.
It is crazy that the Andaz 5th Avenue is becoming a category 8! There is no way it comes close to the Park Hyatt New York…or even the Andaz Toranomon in Tokyo. It was only recently bumped up to category 7… Hopefully a hotel recession brings it back down next year. Happy I just booked stays at the Park Hyatt Sydney and PH Auckland… hate to see what the 5 categories of points do there, especially Sydney.
Coral Gables is a bummer. Place is a perfectly fine 4 and a great use for certs but kind of a joke at a 5. Was a 3 not very long ago.
At some point Hyatt needs to feel some shame that the Cat 1-4 certs haven't become 1-5. It was one thing when it just excluded a couple top categories it's another when it excludes the majority of decent properties.
End of an era... Hyatt was one of the remaining hold-outs from the hotel devaluation space. On airlines, it feels like everyone's gone the way of Delta's SkyPesos, except a few (Alaska, you'd better not...) Even so, Aeroplan, Qantas, etc. quietly de-value by pulling availability. *sigh*
I think it's the additive effect. I'm used to seeing ~80% of the properties increase and 20% of them decrease. This year is bad on both fronts... and is finally going to change my behavior - I'm done chasing LT status with Hyatt. Which is sad because I'm 75% of the way there, but I have a lot better uses for that $50k than to chase objectively mid hotels in North America for most of the year.
Meanwhile Accor members continue to enjoy upgrades & points-plus-cash redemptions. Good times.
Has Hyatt published the changes coming to all inclusive resorts? I have not seen a list of the resorts and category changes