Hyatt significantly devalues award redemptions
Hyatt announced today that there will be redemption adjustments across the program starting May 2026. While Hyatt isn't going to a fully dynamic pricing model like at Marriott or Hilton, it's adding a couple more options in addition to the current 3 category setup.
Why we love Hyatt
For those of you that have been around a while, you'll know that us in the points and miles community LOVE the World of Hyatt program. While Marriot might charge 200k miles for a 5 night stay, the local Cat 3 Hyatt Place would only be 45k pts. So yes, while you earn fewer miles per dollar spent, the significant savings completely outweigh the 5th night free.
Say for example the Cat 1 Hyatt Place in Charleston SC charges just 3.5k points per night off-peak. That means the hotel would be the equivalent of $35 per night. Such a great deal!
Hyatt is a Chase transfer partner, which means my Chase UR points can transfer directly into the WOH program and redeem hotel nights for the equivalent of $35 per night. Definitely wouldn't have been possible without credit card points.
What's changing
Hyatt will be moving away from the current 3-tiered award chart (off-peak, standard, peak) and moving towards a 5-tiered award chart (lowest, low, moderate, upper, top). Normally this wouldn't matter too much because the standard rates would map to the moderate rate, but this isn't the case here.
Here's the comparison of award charts:
Why this change sucks
Of course, all devaluations sting, but this one hits just a little different. For all hotels, the "normal" nights now translate merely into the "low" category. The new "top" pricing is going to be significantly higher than the old "peak" award rate.
That means fantastic expensive properties like the Alila Ventana Big Sur, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, etc. now aren't capped at 45k points per night. But instead, they're now capped at 75k points per night!
Across the board, you'll be paying about DOUBLE, sometimes TRIPLE the price during a "top" night vs a "lower" night. That means most hotels in NYC are going to be quite a bit more expensive under this new model.
Panic?
Short answer is no. I would be completely losing my mind if Hyatt went to dynamic pricing too. Quite frankly, I'm quite surprised they haven't done so.
It may cost a little more than before, but a Cat 1 hotel during "top" season being capped at 9k points (equivalent of $90) would still beat any cash rate.
So yes this change is brutal, but it doesn't necessarily make Hyatt a worthless program. There's still plenty of value to be had across the board.