World of Hyatt launches a new points promo – but also a lot of category changes
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Hyatt giveth and Hyatt taketh away. The launch of a decent World of Hyatt points promotion last week came on the heels of Hyatt’s annual category changes.
That said …. the list of category changes is genuinely neutral for once. There are reductions at good hotels in London, New York and Dubai for example.
Hyatt’s new bonus points promotion
Let’s start with the bonus points offer first, which is impressively simple.
You will receive 1,000 bonus World of Hyatt points per night
The bonus is increased to 1,500 bonus points at the budget Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands
Bonus is valid at all brands including Small Luxury Hotels of the World and M Life casino partner hotels
Bonus starts with your SECOND stay after registration – you get nothing for your first stay
Bonus is valid on reward nights as well as cash nights
Valid for stays until 15th May
Registration ends 31st March
I value a World of Hyatt point at 1p, although in reality you will do better at prime hotels in peak period. With no Hyatt costing more than 30,000 points, you are clearly going to get far more than 1p at, say, Park Hyatt New York at peak periods.
Assuming 1p per point means that the bonus is worth £10 per night. More impressively, stay in the budget Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands and you will get £15 of points per night. This could be worth 25%+ of your room rate.
Having reward nights count is an extra bonus, as it basically means a discount of 1,000 to 1,500 points per night on your redemptions.
What I don’t like is that it only starts on your 2nd stay (I will lose 2,000 points on an upcoming Park Hyatt Hamburg visit) and that registration ends early on 31st March, which just seems petty.
Overall, this is a good promotion. Park Hyatt is the most luxurious hotel chain owned by a major brand in my view and Hyatt points have always been a good way of redeeming at very plush properties.
The only problem is the usual Hyatt problem – it has a small footprint in Europe and you can’t top up your points via a UK credit card or transfers from American Express Membership Rewards. The only cost effective top-up is to buy Hyatt points (link here) during one of their occasional bonus points offers.
You can register for the new World of Hyatt bonus points promo on their website here.
Hyatt’s 2019 category changes are not as bad as I thought
World of Hyatt has announced a large number of category moves, taking effect from 18th March.
259 hotels are moving, which is around a third of the core chain. This compares to around 5% of Marriott hotels which are changing category this year.
To be fair to Hyatt, the split is almost exactly 50/50 in terms of hotels moving up and hotels moving down.
The changes are modest with no hotel moving by more than one category. The top price remains 30,000 points per night. The 40,000 points bracket is reserved for some Small Luxury Hotels of the World partner hotels.
A few over-generous redemptions are being tweaked in Hyatt’s favour:
Park Hyatt Mallorca goes up to Category 6 and will be 25,000 points per night
Park Hyatt Hamburg goes up to Category 5 and will be 20,000 points per night
Park Hyatt Maldives goes up to Category 7 and will be 30,000 points per night
These were all too cheap before. It will STILL make sense to book these hotels by buying Hyatt points during a promotion rather than paying cash – this is what I am doing at Park Hyatt Hamburg in April when I am over for an aviation trade show.
There are some attractive drops too. I would highlight:
The two Hyatt Place hotels at Heathrow which fall to Category 2 and will be 8,000 points per night
Hyatt Regency Dubai (the older one) falls to Category 2 and will be 8,000 points per night
Hyatt Regency Jersey City (the hotel above the PATH station which gets you to World Trade Centre in one stop) falls to Category 4 and 15,000 points per night
Andaz Liverpool Street falls to Category 5 and 20,000 points per night, which is a good deal for a recently refurbished London hotel at peak periods
Andaz Wall Street, which has a good reputation in New York, falls to Category 5 and will be 20,000 points per night
Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga, which I reviewed positively here, falls to Category 1 and becomes exceptionally cheap at 5,000 points per night
If you have an existing reward booking at a hotel which is falling in price, Hyatt will automatically refund the difference after 18th March. You do NOT need to cancel and rebook.
Whilst your personal view of the changes will depend on where you normally redeem, it is – by a long way – the most neutral set of changes we’ve seen this year.
Remember that we’ve also covered the upcoming Marriott Bonvoy changes from 5th March and the upcoming Radisson Rewards changes from 1st March. IHG Rewards Club has already implemented its 2019 category moves.
World of Hyatt update – April 2024:
Get bonus points: World of Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion
New to World of Hyatt? Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.
Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.
Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.
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