A reminder that today, March 25th, is your last day to make any reservations at the old rate. Sometime late tonight the systems will update.
Again, remember, if you are Globlaist you can make completely speculative bookings without even having the points (Points Advance benefit). Just mind the cancellation terms as you can be liable for a cancellation penalty even if you never “paid” for the reservation.
I know – it always hurts to see category changes and of course (given a good economy) there are more hotels going up in category than down (about 3 to 1). The good news is that Hyatt still has categories. All you need is a standard room and despite relatively new peak/off peak ranges, you know what you’ll spend. They remain the only major US hotel chain with that and for that I am grateful.
Thee changes will take effect March 26th. As always, Hyatt does the right thing with the changes and it works as follows:
- If you book before March 26 and the price goes up, you pay the old rate.
- If you book before March 26 and the price goes down, Hyatt refunds you the points on or about that date.
- Globalist “Points Advance” reservations lock in the current rate (unless it drops in price!)
You can see the list of hotels changing in category here.
Some standouts for me:
- The Zivas/Zillaras in Jamaica, Cancun, Punta Cana and Los Cabos ALL go up. The Punta Cana Ziva jumped two categories last year and jumps another one this year. For perspective, a reservation for two in winter at the Ziva in Cancun is “around” $1,000 – or on average 45,000 points. This means you are getting around 2 cents a point and not much more. That said, if average Hyatt redemptions are 2 cents each, I’ll take that compared to other programs!
- The Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas in SoCal actually drops from Cat 8 to Cat 7
- Only one hotel in NYC moves – The Greyson goes up from Cat 5 to Cat 6
- All the high end DC properties move up one category.
- Park Hyatt Istanbul goes from Cat 5 to Cat 6
- The Grand Hyatt in Tokyo goes from Cat 6 to Cat 7 (Andaz remains Cat 7 so they will be on parity, though the Andaz is much harder to find space at)
- The Grand Hyatt Taipei drops from Cat 4 to Cat 3
- Baha Mar and Hyatt Regency Aruba do not change (hey, I just assumed…)
- 3 Linder hotels in Germany go from Cat 1 to Cat 2
- Hotel Du Palais Biarritz in France jumps from Cat 7 to Cat 8 and the Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Mediterranee goes from Cat 6 to Cat 7
- The main Hyatt brand (non SLH) in Florence, the IL Tornabuoni Unbound, goes from Cat 6 to Cat 7
As always, yes, this makes both your Cat 1-4 certs from the Hyatt credit cards and Cat 1-7 certs from achieving 60 nights less valuable and yes, they really should make those Cat 1-5 and Cat 1-8 now.
And of final note, no changes were made to SLH properties which are on the way out anyway (and you can’t points advance those regardless).
Thoughts?
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