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Edited to add: A Hyatt rep informed me that no category changes are being announced at this time. Only the peak/off-peak pricing will go into effect on October 26 for stays beginning March 2022.
Yesterday on our Facebook page, we shared this post from Frequent Miler that indicates Hyatt is about to push the button on its award category changes and peak/off-peak pricing. Originally, Hyatt made these announcements at the end of 2019, and the changes were to go into effect in March 2020. Due to the pandemic, Hyatt delayed these changes.
Well, rumor has it that any day now (or maybe on 10/26?) these changes will go into effect for stays beginning March 2022. You can see the original list of category changes here. Hyatt has not re-published the list, so it could change.
Of course, if you book a stay before a hotel category increases, you can book at the lower award price. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to book five nights at the Andaz Papagayo Costa Rica at 15,000 points per night. This hotel changed categories right after I booked and now goes for 20k points a night. It’s about to become 25,000 points per night.
As much as I would love to book the Andaz Costa Rica hotel again and lock in the current price, I simply don’t have the space for a trip there next year. But, I did make one booking after I heard the announcement.
It’s nothing exciting–just the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport. It’s probably still on the list to increase from 12k per night to 15k per night. In addition to the potential category increase, the award price could be affected by peak pricing. I have plans to stay there in March 2022, so it made sense to book the room now.
Hopefully, Hyatt will give everyone a small window of notice before these changes go into effect. However, Hyatt has been more than generous with pushing off these changes for two years.
If you have World of Hyatt points sitting in your account, it can’t hurt to make a booking that’s for a likely-peak time before the changes. Just pay attention to the cancellation date. Personally, I wouldn’t transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to make any speculative bookings.
Anyone else making any Hyatt award bookings before these changes go into effect?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
There is nothing “more than generous” about Hyatt’s having delayed implementation of these customer-unfriendly changes for over a year. It’s a planned devaluation and vehicle for further devaluations that Hyatt is implementing at what is a better time for Hyatt to do so — for Hyatt’s own financial benefit at customer expense — than would have been the case last year at this time or even earlier.
Thanks for the reminder. I need to put up my mother in law next month and I’d completely forgotten about the category going up.