Let’s give Hyatt some credit – they still have an award chart and they still give us advance notice when hotels change category. Sure, there have been blips like when Category 8 was intended for SLH only (no longer partnered with Hyatt) and now Cat 8 is used for a large range of luxury Hyatt brand properties, and the rollout of Mr and Mrs Smith and Venetian in a way that makes them barely part of World of Hyatt – but they still are transparent about award pricing and that counts for a lot.
Here are the main things to know:
- All free night award and Points + Cash redemptions booked before 8:00 am CDT on Tuesday, March 25 will follow the current Award Chart regardless of stay dates, even if the hotel is shifting to a higher award category.
- However, members who have existing award or Points + Cash bookings as of 8:00 am CDT on Tuesday, March 25 for a night on or after Tuesday, March 25 at a Hyatt hotel that moved down to a lower category, will receive an automatic one-time refund on the point difference. Points will be returned to members’ accounts starting Tuesday, March 25.
- Any free night award and Points + Cash redemptions booked on or after 8:00 am CDT on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, will follow the new Award Chart.
- Once changes go into effect on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 8:00 a.m. CDT, any adjustments made to existing reservations will follow the terms of the new Award Chart.
This is all the same as in past years and so you have one full month to lock in current prices. And remember that if you are Globalist, you can use Points Advance to lock in a property at today’s rate without even committing the points up front (just pay attention to cancellation policies that apply even if the award has not been funded).
This year’s changes affect 151 hotels – 33 will move to a lower award category and 118 hotels will move to a higher award category. Obviously, that’s not exactly a balance we love to see, but with inflation what it has been, it’s not surprising.
I’ve pasted in the chart below because I wanted to bold the changes I found most noteworthy. It may not be readable on mobile. You can access the chart at Hyatt right here.
With those in bold, I’ll explain why I bolded each:
- Grand Hyatt SFO – Category 6 is super high for an airport hotel!
- Hotel Figueroa in LA – Nice to have a Cat 1-4 certificate option now.
- Thompson Hollywood LA – nice to see any decreases in LA!
- Dream South Beach – Will be an unusually strong Cat 1-4 certificate use.
- Bellevue in Philly: Moving to Cat 5 means no more using Cat 1-4 certificates here which is a bummer as it’s just reopened.
- Grand Hyatt Kauai – making this a Category 8 is tough to swallow as it’s one of my favorite resorts. This will make it even tougher to spend a week there. It was 25,000 points a night (standard) when we stayed there a few years ago. Now it averages 40,000 a night. Ouch.
- Park Hyatt Doha: Now redeemable with a Cat 1-4 certificate.
- Japan: read it and weep with Tokyo seeing an absolute bloodbath. Both the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt are now Cat 8 as is the Andaz. I enjoyed using a Cat 1-7 certificate at the Andaz last year. These will all now be ineligible for a certificate use (excluding the Ultimate Free Night Award which few have owing to it being earned after 150 nights!
- Grand Hyatt Baha Mar in the Bahamas: This one has often been a toss up between using cash or using points. As Cat 7, it will now make sense only at truly peak times (although you do have to always factor in not just the resort fee but the insanely high taxes there).
- Andaz Papagayo in Costa Rico (Review): Loved this property. Don’t think we’ll head back at Category 8.
- All Inclusives (Mexico/Caribbean): 6 go up a category, 1 goes down. This is after a bloodbath on AI’s last year – seeing the Ziva in Cap Cana, for example, move to 58,000 points a night (standard).
- Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile stings as it was the only Cat 4 option (to use a certificate). The Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris was already Category 8 so it couldn’t get any higher …
- And the IL Tornabuoni Hotel in Florence will now run you an extra 10k a night…
Those are my highlights – what are yours?
| Country | Hotel | Current Category | New Category | Current Standard Point Values1 | New Standard Point Values1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Lindner Hotel Vienna Am Belvedere | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Belgium | Lindner Hotel Antwerp | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Czech Republic | Lindner Hotel Prague Castle | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| France | FirstName Bordeaux | 4 | 3 | 15,000 | 12,000 |
| France | Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile | 4 | 5 | 15,000 | 20,000 |
| Germany | Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Germany | Lindner Hotel Dusseldorf Airport | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Germany | Lindner Hotel Dusseldorf Seestern | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Germany | Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Main Plaza | 2 | 3 | 8,000 | 12,000 |
| Germamy | Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Sportpark | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| Germany | Me and All Hotel Hanover | 2 | 3 | 8,000 | 12,000 |
| Ireland | Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin | 4 | 5 | 15,000 | 20,000 |
| Italy | IL Tornabuoni Hotel | 7 | 8 | 30,000 | 40,000 |
| Italy | The Tribune | 5 | 6 | 20,000 | 25,000 |
| Netherlands | Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht | 6 | 7 | 25,000 | 30,000 |
| Spain | Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower | 3 | 4 | 12,000 | 15,000 |
| Sweden | Story Hotel Studio Malmö | 1 | 2 | 5,000 | 8,000 |
| United Kingdom | Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill | 6 | 7 | 25,000 | 30,000 |
| United Kingdom | Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars | 5 | 6 | 20,000 | 25,000 |
1Represents Standard Room Standard Points Per Night
Thoughts?
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