Hyatt moves its top hotels to 40,000 points – but Europe sees lots of reductions

World of Hyatt has published its annual list of points price changes.

Unlike Marriott, IHG and Hilton who have all moved (or are moving) to some form of dynamic pricing, Hyatt still offers static, category-based pricing for its hotels.

This is good, because it means you know how many points to save for a redemption, but it does mean that hotel categories are adjusted on an annual basis.

You can see the list of changes here. 146 hotels, representing 13% of the portfolio, are changing price.

What changes are worth noting?

The changes are fairly balanced, with 70 hotels moving to a higher category whilst 76 hotels will actually get cheaper.

Most hotels are only changing by one category, and the largest proportion of affected hotels are in the US.

The picture is actually positive in Europe, with only two flagship hotels seeing a big rise. 80% of moves in Europe are downwards.

As a reminder, here is Hyatt’s current category chart:

World of Hyatt Category	Off-Peak	Standard	Peak
Category 1	3,500	5,000	6,500
Category 2	6,500	8,000	9,500
Category 3	9,000	12,000	15,000
Category 4	12,000	15,000	18,000
Category 5	17,000	20,000	23,000
Category 6	21,000	25,000	29,000
Category 7	25,000	30,000	35,000
Category 8	35,000	40,000	45,000

What’s happening in the UK?

The good news is that UK hotels are virtually unchanged.

Four Hyatt hotels are decreasing in price:

• The Grand Hotel Eastbourne (Small Luxury Hotels) moves from a Category 5 to a Category 4
• Hyatt Place West London Hayes moves from Category 2 to Category 1
• Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport moves from Category 2 to Category 1
• Culloden Estate & Spa (Small Luxury Hotels) moves from Category 4 to Category 3

…. whilst all other UK Hyatt properties remain at their existing categories.

The changes mean that the Hyatt Place hotels around Heathrow are now just 5,000 Hyatt points per night, down from 8,000. On an off-peak night, you would pay just 3,500 points per night.

Rob reviewed the Hyatt Place Heathrow (image below) here if you want to know what it’s like.

Top hotels are moving to Category 8

Category 8 was initially introduced when Hyatt announced its partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Hyatt doesn’t manage SLH hotels – it simply has a partnership with the marketing group that represents 500 boutique luxury hotels worldwide. The economics of redeeming at these hotels meant that it chose to introduce a new top-tier category with reward nights pricing at between 35,000 and 45,000 points.

Until now, Category 8 was reserved for expensive SLH properties. This now changes, with nine of Hyatt’s own hotels moving up to the highest tier:

• Alila Napa Valley
• Alila Ventana Big Sur
• Andaz Maui at Wailea
• Park Hyatt Kyoto
• Park Hyatt Milan
• Park Hyatt New York
• Park Hyatt Niseko
• Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
• Park Hyatt Sydney

The Park Hyatt Vienna, which I reviewed here, has not been moved.

Whilst this is a devaluation, redeeming at these hotels should still offer huge value. Here are a few examples:

The Park Hyatt New York is around £700+ per night in early April. When it changes category, it will be 40,000 points per night over the same dates. That means you are still getting 1.75p per point. This is above our ‘average’ valuation of 1.1p per point. Rob has a booking here in mid May where the cash rate is over £1,000 per night, but he has paid just 30,000 points, getting over 3p per point.

The Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome is £900+ for the same night in April. When it changes category, it will be 40,000 points per night. That means you are getting a stonking 2.25p per point value. You can’t moan at that.

Whilst nobody likes to see prices increase you are still getting outsized value at these top-tier properties.

Remember that Hyatt is currently offer a 30% bonus when you buy points. You pay just 1.35p per point.

When do Hyatt’s category changes take effect?

These changes come into effect from 22nd March.

This means that you still have a month to lock in bookings at the current price for any hotel which is becoming more expensive. As long as you book by 22nd March your booked price will be protected, unless you make any changes at a later date.

You will receive an automatic refund if you have an existing booking at a hotel whose category is being lowered on 22nd March. This will be processed from the 23rd. This is surprisingly generous – other hotel chains do not do this – and saves you having to cancel and rebook your existing reservations.

The full list of hotels changing categories can be found on the Hyatt website here.

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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.

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