Death. Taxes. Devaluations.
World of Hyatt has announced major changes to its loyalty program, including the introduction of a five-tier award chart. These changes will take effect in May 2026, but it is unclear when exactly in May the changes will begin.
While Hyatt will maintain its eight categories, its award prices will increase significantly on the peak end, some as high as 67%. This is the first time the loyalty program’s award chart will change since 2021.
The five tiers are labeled as Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, and Top. Let’s compare the bookends of the new chart and the current chart:
- Category 1: Was 3,500 to 6,000 points, now 3,000 to 9,000 points (38% increase)
- Category 2: Was 6,500 to 9,000 points, now 6,000 to 15,000 points (58% increase)
- Category 3: Was 9,000 to 15,000 points, now 8,000 to 20,000 points (33% increase)
- Category 4: Was 12,000 to 18,000 points, now 12,000 to 25,000 points (39% increase)
- Category 5: Was 17,000 to 23,000 points, now 15,000 to 35,000 points (52% increase)
- Category 6: Was 21,000 to 29,000 points, now 20,000 to 40,000 points (38% increase)
- Category 7: Was 25,000 to 35,000 points, now 25,000 to 55,000 points (57% increase)
- Category 8: Was 35,000 to 45,000 points, now 35,000 to 75,000 points (67% increase)
While Hyatt decreased the number of points required for its lowest tier on several categories, the differences are minimal and are mostly negelgible in many cases. The highlight lies on its highest tiers across every category.
Award pricing for points + cash bookings, clubs, suites, Miraval, and all-inclusive resorts are changing as well.
While Hyatt appears to strive to maintain an award chart, the new five-tier pricing is quite close to dynamic award pricing.
“Our members tell us they value transparency and the ability to plan with confidence,” said Laurie Blair, senior vice president, global marketing and loyalty, Hyatt. “We know change can be difficult, especially in a loyalty program our members care deeply about. This update reinforces our commitment to a published award chart with fixed point thresholds while ensuring World of Hyatt remains strong, sustainable and rewarding for years to come.”
Note that category 1-4 and 1-7 free night certificates are not affected, regardless of tier.
Meanwhile, Hyatt is working on adding the ability to share points digitally. World of Hyatt credit cardholders, Explorists, Globalists, and Lifetime Globalists will also eventually see the ability to access award night availability early. Hyatt will share more details regarding these changes at a later stage.
For what it’s worth, I have long expected Hyatt to shuffle up its World of Hyatt program again at some point in the near future, especially as the chain has grown significantly since the last changes in 2021 and deepens its partnership with Chase.
While maintaining the eight categories is nice, the wide range of points required between the lowest peak and ultra peak periods makes it much harder for customers to predict how many points are needed for a hypothetical stay.
Hyatt states that only a small number of properties will adopt the Upper and Top award tiers initially, followed by boarder adoption in the following years. It argues that these changes allows for “long-term stability and protects the integrity of the program rather than fundamentally changing it.”
I do think that makes sense, and it hopefully will allow Hyatt to keep the same property categories long-term while somewhat maintaining the value of its points. It’ll be key to see how Hyatt treats its lower award tiers after the gradual integration. For now though, there’s no question that award redemptions through World of Hyatt will become more complicated.
Featured image by Hyatt.
