January 7th was the date established for the Hyatt changes. That is tomorrow, so today is the last day to book rooms at the current point levels and (in some circumstances) at the same category level. Let’s do an overview to see what you should be booking today and what you should wait for.
Make Sure You Book Today If…
Hyatt is adding a 7th category to their award chart and moving the nicest of the Park Hyatts to this new category and charging 30,000 points instead of the current 22,000 points for the current level. In addition, they are also going to require more points for category 5 and 6 hotels – from 18,000 to 20,000 and 22,000 to 25,000 respectively.
Another change that is occurring tomorrow is the category reclassification of several hotels. There will be a total of 21 hotels moving up a category and and 17 hotels moving down a category. Of the hotels changing categories, 6 hotels have the most defining changes – those hotels that are going up from 4 to 5 or from 5 to 4. The reason for that is the annual free night for holders of the Chase Hyatt card is good for hotels up to category 4.
So, if you have travel plans in the next year that would include stays in Hyatt hotels from category 5 – 7 (or stays in any category in a suite or club room on points), you need to book those today! After today, the point requirements will have gone up quite a bit! Here are the charts of the changes:
Current Award Chart – Effective through January 6, 2014
New Award Chart – Effective January 7, 2014
As you can see, a 3 night stay at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris will cost you 66,000 points if booked today. If you wait until tomorrow, it will cost 90,000! It is definitely the new Category 7 hotels that are going to have the greatest point difference between old and new cost. The good part is that any reservations made before tomorrow can be changed up until February 15, 2014 at the current award price. That is a generous move by Hyatt and definitely helps if you make speculative bookings today.
Book hotels that will drop a level NOW
Another good point is that any reservations made before tomorrow will receive a point refund if the hotel booked drops a category (according to the current award chart). So, if you were planning on booking a stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui (currently a category 6), by all means book it today! The reason is that tomorrow it will drop to a Category 5 but Category 5 hotels will begin to charge 2,000 additional points tomorrow. The result is that if you were to book a 4 night stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui today for sometime this year, it will cost you 88,000 points today. Tomorrow, it will cost you 80,000 points, but, since you booked it before the new award chart goes into affect, you will receive a refund of 16,000 points. This makes a difference of 8,000 points if you book the hotel today before the category drops.
List of Hotels Changing Categories
| Hyatt House Chicago/Naperville/Warrenville | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Chicago Warrenville/Naperville | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Cincinnati-Northeast | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Dallas/Grapevine | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Fort Worth/Cityview | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place San Antonio Airport/Quarry Market | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place San Antonio-Northwest/Medical Center | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Columbus/OSU | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place Dallas/Arlington/Grand Prairie | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place Dublin/Pleasanton | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place San Antonio North/Stone Oak | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt North Houston | 3 | 2 |
| Hyatt Regency Incheon | 3 | 2 |
| Grand Hyatt Jakarta | 2 | 3 |
| Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo | 2 | 3 |
| Hyatt Place New Orleans Convention Center | 2 | 3 |
| Hyatt Place South Bend/Mishwaka | 2 | 3 |
| Hyatt Place West Palm Beach | 2 | 3 |
| Hyatt Regency Osaka | 2 | 3 |
| Park Hyatt Chennai | 4 | 3 |
| Park Hyatt Hyderabad | 4 | 3 |
| Grand Hyatt Melbourne | 3 | 4 |
| Hyatt Regency Cambridge | 3 | 4 |
| Hyatt Regency Louisville | 3 | 4 |
| Hyatt Regency Perth | 3 | 4 |
| Hyatt Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi | 5 | 4 |
| Hyatt Regency Changbaishan | 5 | 4 |
| Andaz West Hollywood | 4 | 5 |
| Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile | 4 | 5 |
| Hyatt Place New York/Midtown South | 4 | 5 |
| Park Hyatt Melbourne | 4 | 5 |
| Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa | 6 | 5 |
| Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe | 6 | 5 |
| Hyatt Regency Maui | 6 | 5 |
| Park Hyatt Changbaishan | 6 | 5 |
| Andaz Liverpool Street London | 5 | 6 |
| Hyatt 48 Lex | 5 | 6 |
| Hyatt Union Square New York | 5 | 6 |
| Park Hyatt Beaver Creek | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Milan | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Paris Vendome | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Sydney | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Tokyo | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Zurich | 6 | 7 |
Do Not Book Today If…
One of the other changes that will be taking place tomorrow is the addition of a new cash and points. This new program will allow you to mix a fixed amount of points and money for each category for a reservation. One of the great things about this is that Cash+Point stays will count towards elite status! This could make it a lot easier on your point balance (and wallet) if you are going to try for a Hyatt Diamond challenge (12 nights in 60 days).
If you find that you will get more value from the new Cash+Points program (or need the elite credits) than you would from an outright award night (which does not count towards elite status), then you will be better off waiting until tomorrow to book the hotels you need at these new structures. Here is the chart showing the Cash+Points amounts:
New Cash+Points award chart
There you go! Those are the major changes that will be coming into affect from Hyatt tomorrow. Make sure you take care of your reservations today to lock in the stays you want!
Are you sure about the Hyatt Maui? I went ahead and held a room for one night at 22K. I am actually staying at a timeshare the rest of the week and need a room for just one night.
I kinda figured tomorrow when it drops to a Cat 5 the new rate would be calculated at 20K, not 18K! At first I was going to wait but am taking you up on your advice in case it works!
Time will tell what points I actually get back!
That is what it reads like to me, though I could be wrong (maybe being a little too optimistic). I would love to hear what happens with your points after the change!
Keeping my fingers crossed! I am holding one regular room under my name, and a club room under the husband! I will post back once I see what happens!!
Nope…Hyatt Maui all they did was change it from 22K to 20K (the new cat 5 rate). But it was worth a try!!