Last year, Hyatt postponed their regular category shifts in hotels as well as the introduction of off-peak and peak award redemption charts. Later in the year, they said they would still adjust the award categories of 4 properties in March. Well, the final list is that of 11 properties and here they are.
11 Hyatt Properties Changing Award Categories
Link: New Award Rates (this link will be updated with the new rates tomorrow, March 25, when the rates are in effect)
These changes will go into effect as of March 25 at 8:00 am CDT.
Note that the one hotel dropping a category – Hyatt Place Houston Downtown – will have any currently booked awards be refunded the difference following the change tomorrow.
The original four properties that were shifting categories (and still are) are:
- Hyatt Regency John Wayne Airport from category 2 to 3
- Hyatt House Nashville/Downtown-SoBro from category 4 to 5
- Mar Monte Hotel part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt from category 4 to 5
- Park Hyatt Aviara from category 5 to 6
Joining them are 6 more properties that are going up and one that is dropping a category.
- Hyatt Place Houston Downtown from category 3 to 2
- Andaz Scottsdale Resort and Bungalows from category 5 to 6
- Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico from category 3 to 4
- Hyatt Regency Dharamshala Resort from category 2 to 3
- Hyatt Place Delano from category 1 to 2
- Hyatt Place Fair Lawn/Paramus from category 1 to 2
- Hyatt Place Palm Bay/Melbourne from category 1 to 2
This is not really that many properties and none of them are jumping multiple categories. To me, the most significant changes are the Hyatt House Nashville/Downtown – SoBro and the Mar Monte Hotel. The reasons those are the most significant is because it puts them out of range for the free nights possible with the Category 1 – 4 free night certificates.
What You Need to Book Today
If you book awards at any of the hotels that are going up tomorrow, those reservations will be honored at the current rates. That means that if you hope to book at any of these, definitely lock those rates in now! If you make a changes after tomorrow, the rates will go to the new award rates. So, make sure you have the dates you want!
The big hotels to secure now are the Hyatt House Nashville/Downtown- SoBro and the Mar Monte Hotel as they will be going to Category 5 – this means that they will no longer be eligible for the free night certificates at Category 1 – 4 properties.
More to Know:
- All free night award and Points + Cash redemptions booked before 8:00 am CDT on Thursday, March 25 will follow the current Award Chart regardless of stay dates, even if the hotel is shifting to a higher award category.
- Any free night award and Points + Cash redemptions booked on or after Thursday, March 25 at 8:00 am CDT will follow the new Award Chart.
- Members who have existing award bookings as of 8:00 am CDT on Thursday, March 25 for a night on or after Thursday, March 25 at Hyatt Place Houston Downtown, which is moving to a lower award category, will receive an automatic one-time refund on the point difference. Points will be refunded in members’ accounts starting Friday, March 26.
- Once changes go into effect on Thursday, March 25 at 8:00 am CDT, any adjustments made to existing reservations will follow the terms of the new Award Chart.
- No existing Hyatt properties are moving into Category 8 with this Award Chart update, reserving Category 8 for Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) hotels and Destination residences.
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What is the source of your information?
Official Hyatt channels (web, chat, TW & email) don’t concur to the above.
Check this out: https://thegate.boardingarea.com/so-what-is-the-truth-about-the-latest-hyatt-category-changes-march-2021/
I got this direct from Hyatt themselves. I’m not sure why they had said that the webpage would not be updated with the information until the new prices took effect. Also not sure why they didn’t send out an email to all members. Typically, we get a heads up from Hyatt corporate before the emails go to members but I never got a member email on this update, just the corporate one.
So why Hyatt customer service denies the upcoming changes?
Can you share the exact quote from Hyatt on what they sent you, please?
Thanks!
I don’t know that they are denying the changes – looking at the post you linked to, it appears that they only had information that was on the website, not this info (for whatever reason). This info was not under an embargo so certainly wasn’t something to be kept quiet.
This is part of the e-mail:
“ Effective as of Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 8:00 am CDT, World of Hyatt members will see updates made to the number of points required for a free night at 11 hotels – 10 hotels will shift into a higher award category and one will shift to a lower award category. The list below outlines all of the affected hotels and their new award category. No new categories have been added and the points required for each category remain the same, with affected hotels shifting by only one category up or down.”
And then there was a table provided with the hotels listed above as far as what was going up and down. This was based on a “close evaluation” of the 7 properties that were not on the original list from last October.
I do know that Hyatt has de-flagged properties from time to time with no notice – mostly Small Luxury Hotel properties. I only would notice based on some searches and then would e-mail my Hyatt contact to confirm. So, changes do happen sometimes with most people not noticing. This time, they added 7 properties but did not send a system wide e-mail. Tomorrow, however, these changes go into effect.
Thanks for the full info. Hyatt Twitter rep just said “No info about category changes”, meaning even Hyatt customer service is not aware what’s coming their way. And with website clearly states only 4 hotels going up, some customers can be upset if other hotels suddenly go up in price without a proper notice. Do Hyatt ever matches the point price to lower points if they misinform their customers?
I think in this situation, there would not be that many that would get stuck after the fact. If they did, it would likely be a person-by-person case by Hyatt as to whether to honor the old rate or not. I would THINK they may do a onetime adjustment but not sure.