World of Hyatt’s MASSIVE 2019 Hotel Category Changes (Last Day To Book)

It’s not unusual to see hotel loyalty programs adjust which hotels belong in which categories every year. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Bonvoy, and Radisson Rewards, announce their 2019 changes. Now another hotel program is announcing changes, and these are major.

World of Hyatt 2019 category changes

World of Hyatt has just announced their 2019 category changes, which kick in for bookings made as of Monday, March 18, 2019 (specifically at 11:01PM CST). Note that:

• Bookings made prior to the changes will be honored at the old rates, though if you make any changes to those bookings you’ll have to pay the new rates
• If you make a booking prior to the changes at a property going down in price, you’ll proactively be refunded the difference in points starting March 19, 2019

Note that no new categories are being added, and the number of points required at each category remains unchanged. All that’s changing is which hotels are in which categories.

As a reminder, here’s Hyatt’s award chart:

How many Hyatt hotels are changing categories?

With these changes, we’re seeing an unprecedented number of hotels change categories. World of Hyatt will be adjusting the points requirements at 259 hotels — of those, 130 hotels will shift to a higher category, and 129 hotels will shift to a lower category.

The number of properties changing in price here is staggering, given that Hyatt has just over 700 hotels, so that represents about a third of their portfolio. In the past we typically saw at most a few dozen hotels change categories.

On the surface the changes don’t sound that bad, given that we’re only seeing a net increase in redemption costs at one property. However, you can bet that the properties going up in price are a lot more popular with those redeeming points than those going down in price.

How does Hyatt decide on these category changes?

Hyatt says that these hotel category changes are based on “current market conditions.” In reality I think it’s safe to assume that the categories are based on how much redemptions are costing Hyatt at particular hotels.

Keep in mind that most Hyatt hotels are independently owned, so Hyatt’s loyalty program has to compensate individual hotels for each redemption. As a general rule of thumb, here’s how it works:

• When the hotel isn’t full, the loyalty program compensates the hotel at some reimbursement rate that’s slightly above the marginal cost of servicing a room, etc.
• When the hotel is full (think 90-95%+ occupancy), the loyalty program compensates the hotel close to the average daily rate, in recognition of the fact that the room may have otherwise been sold

For example, this probably explains why up until now the Park Hyatt Maldives has been a Category 6 property (which isn’t Hyatt’s top category). While it’s among Hyatt’s most expensive properties when paying cash, I think it’s safe to assume it wasn’t typically full, and therefore World of Hyatt wasn’t paying that much for people redeeming points there.

The Park Hyatt Maldives has “only” been a Category 6 property

Which Hyatt hotels are changing categories?

So, which Hyatt hotels are changing categories as of March 18, 2019? At the bottom of this post I’ll copy and paste the hotels moving up and down in categories, but first wanted to share some highlights, as I see it:

Four hotels join Category 7

With these changes we’ll see four additional hotels join Hyatt’s Category 7, where free nights cost 30,000 points per night. These hotels include the Andaz Maui, Andaz Tokyo, Hotel Martinez, and Park Hyatt Maldives. Unfortunately no hotels are leaving Category 7.

The Andaz Maui is becoming a Category 7 property

Over half of these changes are at full service properties

Historically a lot of the category adjustments we’ve seen have been at limited service properties. This time around we’re seeing 121 limited service properties changing categories, including 87 Hyatt Place and 34 Hyatt House properties.

That’s a lot, though still means that over half of the changes are at “full service” properties.

The Hyatt Place Yerevan is becoming a Category 1 property

12 hotels move down to Category 4, 18 leave Category 4

Category 4 is a pretty important one for Hyatt, given that Hyatt issues Category 4 free night certificates.

The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers a Category 1-4 free night certificate on your account anniversary every year. On top of that, there are more opportunities to earn these:

• You can earn a second Category 1-4 free night certificate when you spend $15,000 on your card during your cardmember year
• You can earn an additional Category 1-4 free night certificate when you earn World of Hyatt Explorist status (which requires 30 elite qualifying nights or 50,000 base points in a calendar year)
• You can earn an additional Category 1-4 free night certificate when you stay at five different Hyatt brands; this is an ongoing promotion that launched on March 1, 2017, and it’s based on the cumulative brands you stay at, and isn’t tied to the calendar year

So that’s why it’s worth noting that 18 hotels will be increasing from Category 4 to Category 5 (and no longer be bookable with these), while 12 hotels will be decreasing from Category 5 to Category 4 (and therefore will become bookable with these).

To give some examples, the Andaz Costa Rica, Grand Hyatt DFW, Grand Hyatt Seattle, and Hyatt Olive 8, will all become Category 5 properties. Meanwhile the Hyatt Regency Jersey City, Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach, and Grand Hyatt San Diego, will all become Category 4 properties.

The Hyatt Regency Kiev is becoming a Category 4 property

Bottom line

This year’s Hyatt category changes are the most significant I ever recall seeing. On the surface they don’t look so bad, in the sense that we’re seeing a net price increase of only one property. However, there are a lot of very popular properties going up in price.

I would imagine on balance this represents a price increased based on typical redemption patterns, though of course this will vary person-to-person.

What do you make of the Hyatt 2019 category changes?

As promised above, here’s the full list of hotels moving up and down.

Hyatt hotels moving down in category:

Hyatt hotels moving up in category: