Hyatt announced a middle of the year category changes for their award categories. These changes will take place August 1 and there will be 56 hotels going down in category and 50 hotels going up.
Hyatt Award Category Changes
Here is the breakdown on the Hyatt award category changes that will go into affect August 1, 2016. The same list can be found here.
Category 1 -> Category 2
Category 1 hotels cost 5,000 points per night or 2,500 points + $50 while Category 2 hotels cost 8,000 points per night or 4,000 points + $55.
- Hyatt House Dallas/Frisco
- Hyatt House Dallas/Lincoln Park
- Hyatt House Dallas/Uptown
- Hyatt House Denver/Lakwood at Belmar
- Hyatt Place Augusta
- Hyatt Place Buffalo/Amherst
- Hyatt Place Champaign
- Hyatt Place Corpus Christi
- Hyatt Place Dallas/Grapevine
- Hyatt Place Nashville/Franklin/Cool Springs
- Hyatt Place Nashville/Hendersonville
- Hyatt Place North Charleston
- Hyatt Place Sacramento/Roseville
- Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport
- Hyatt Place Santiago/Vitacura
- Hyatt Place Savannah Airport
- Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest
Category 1 -> Category 3
Category 1 hotels cost 5,000 points per night or 2,500 points + $50 while Category 3 hotels cost 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $75
- Hyatt Place Asheville Downtown
Category 2 -> Category 3
Category 2 hotels cost 8,000 points per night or 4,000 points + $55 per night while Category 3 hotels cost 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $75
- Grand Hyatt Amman
- Grand Hyatt Chengdu
- Grand Hyatt Incheon
- Grant Hyatt Santiago
- Hyatt House Atlanta/Downtown
- Hyatt House Belmont/Redwood Shores
- Hyatt House Boston/Waltham
- Hyatt House Emeryville/San Francisco Bay Area
- Hyatt House Falls Church/Merrifield
- Hyatt House Naples/5th Avenue
- Hyatt House Pleasanton
- Hyatt House San Diego/Sorrento Mesa
- Hyatt House San Juan
- Hyatt House Santa Clara
- Hyatt Place Chicago South University
- Hyatt Place Fort Worth Historic Stockyards
- Hyatt Place Garden City
- Hyatt Place Houston/The Woodlands
- Hyatt Place Mohegan Sun
- Hyatt Place Portland Airport
- Hyatt Place San Juan/City Center
- Hyatt Regency Dallas
- Hyatt Regency SF Airport
- Hyatt Valencia
Category 3 -> Category 4
Category 3 hotels cost 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $75 while Category 4 hotels cost 15,000 points per night or 7,500 points + $100
- Grand Hyatt DFW
- Hyatt Place Dewey Beach
- Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown
- Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
Category 4 -> Category 5
Category 4 hotels cost 15,000 points per night or 7,500 points + $100 while Category 5 hotels cost 20,000 points per night or 10,000 points + $125
- Hyatt Centric Park City
- Hyatt Centric The Loop Chicago
- Hyatt Regency Jersey City on the Hudson
- Hyatt Regency San Francisco
Category 2 -> Category 1
- Hyatt Ahmedabad
- Hyatt Amritsar
- Hyatt Bangalore
- Hyatt House Gaithersburg
- Hyatt House Mt. Laurel
- Hyatt Hyderabad
- Hyatt Place Albuquerque/Uptown
- Hyatt Place Ciudad del Carmen
- Hyatt Place Dallas/Arlington/Grand Prairie
- Hyatt Place El Paso Airport
- Hyatt Place Fredericksburg UMW
- Hyatt Place La Paz
- Hyatt Place Los Cabos
- Hyatt Place Mt. Laurel
- Hyatt Place Phoenix Chandler-Fashion Center
- Hyatt Place Phoenix/Gilbert
- Hyatt Place Phoenix-Mesa
- Hyatt Place Pittsburgh Airport
- Hyatt Place Pittsburgh/Cranberry
- Hyatt Place San Antonio North/Stone Oak
- Hyatt Place Tempe/Phoenix Airport
- Hyatt Pune
- Hyatt Raipur
- Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad
- Hyatt Regency Chandigarh
- Hyatt Regency Changchun
- Hyatt Regency Chennai
- Hyatt Regency Chongqing
- Hyatt Regency Dulles
- Hyatt Regency Fairfax
- Hyatt Regency Guiyang
- Hyatt Regency Gurgaon
- Hyatt Regency Kolkata
- Hyatt Regency Ludhiana
- Hyatt Regency Tianjin East
- Park Hyatt Chennai
Category 3 -> Category 2
Category 3 hotels cost 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $75 while Category 2 hotels cost 8,000 points per night or 4,000 points + $55 per night
- Hyatt Place Secaucus/Meadowlands
- Hyatt Regency Belgrade
- Hyatt Regency Delhi
- Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg
- Hyatt Regency Mumbai
- Hyatt Regency Pune
- Hyatt Regency Qingdao
- Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki
- Park Hyatt Hyderabad
Category 4 -> Category 3
Category 4 hotels cost 15,000 points per night or 7,500 points + $100 while Category 3 hotels cost 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $75
- Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
- Grand Hyatt Lijiang
- Grand Hyatt Mumbai
- Hyatt Regency Baku
- Hyatt Regency Changbaishan
- Hyatt Regency Houston/Galleria
- Hyatt Regency Perth
- Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort
Category 5 -> Category 4
Category 5 hotels cost 20,000 points per night or 10,000 points + $125 while Category 4 hotels cost 15,000 points per night or 7,500 points + $100
- Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort
- Hyatt Regency Sochi
Category 6 -> Category 4
Category 6 hotels cost 25,000 points per night or 12,500 points + $150 while Category 4 hotels cost 15,000 points per night or 7,500 points + $100
- Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami
Analysis
Most of the hotels that went up in category are Hyatt Place/House properties or some that were largely seen as under-categorized anyway. On the plus side, there were some great properties that were dropped in Category listings, including one of my personal favorites – the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki. I will be honest – when I first saw that Hyatt was changing award categories, I thought for sure that it would be going from a Category 3 to a Category 4. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually went down and that is great news for me! If you are planning any travel to northern Greece, know that this property is about to become a points bargain August 1!
Some other hotels that I thought were interesting included the Hyatt Regency Belgrade (interesting since Air Serbia just began servicing the US), Hyatt Centric South Beach (down two categories) and two Park Hyatts dropping – one to a Category 1!
On the negative side, I was disappointed to see hotels go from Category 4 (and bookable with the free night anniversary certificate for Hyatt credit card holders) to a Category 5. Make sure you secure those bookings now if you have any plans to visit these hotels!
I was expecting much worse when I saw this as well. The Hyatt Regency Dulles going down to a category 1 was surprising. The Hyatt Hill Country Resort in the San Antonio area going to Category 4 is great for everyone living in Texas with the Hyatt card. It’s a definite vacation destination.
I don’t see how this is considered minor, except in comparison to the implosion that took place over at the Marriott Rewards’ category changes. The cat 1 redemptions got obliterated. This will definitely switch some of my stays back to Hilton. Using the Hyatt Visa just took a big hit too.
There will now not be a single Cat 1 in California. However 4, count them, 4 Phoenix hotels dropped to Cat 1. Does no one go to Phoenix anymore?