Hyatt 2020 Category Changes: 117 Hotels Going Up, 100 Going Down; Peak Redemptions And Points+Cash Changes

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Hyatt 2020 Annual Category Changes

Most hotels chains reorganize their categories yearly to keep them current with the average rates that they charge. Unlike Marriott, Hyatt hotels have no capacity controls on standard rooms.

117 hotels are going up in category while 100 hotels are going down in category this year. That’s a whole lot more fair than Marriott’s brutal 2020 changes. Overall I’d say this year’s category changes are actually positive overall. What a breath of fresh air that is compared to other hotel chains!

The best news is that no legacy Hyatt hotels will climb from category 7. Category 8 remains reserved for SLH hotels and Destination residences.

Book stays before 3/22 at 8am CT to lock in current rates for future stays at hotels that are going up.  You can book stays up to 13 months in advance. Almost all hotel stays are cancellable for free until a certain amount of time before the stay (read the fine print).  If you have a reservation at a hotel for after 3/22 that is going down, you will automatically receive a points refund starting on 3/23.

Note that you won’t be able to change the dates on a reservation after the price goes up, your only options are to use the stay or cancel it and get your points back.

Hotels going up from category 4 to 5 will no longer be bookable with anniversary nights from the Chase World of Hyatt credit card, while hotels going from 5 down 4 will be eligible. You can read more about the new World of Hyatt card here.

The Chase World of Hyatt credit card also offers bonus free nights upon reaching several spending thresholds, those too are limited to category 1-4.

You can also instantly transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred to Hyatt. Read more about maximizing Chase card spending here.

As I previously reported, Hyatt will also be adding peak and off-peak award pricing. This is now set to go into effect on 3/22 at 8am CT.

Luckily, Hyatt is being much more fair than Marriott. Peak pricing will be determined a year in advance and won’t change dynamically based on close-in pricing.

And they’re also not pulling a Hilton, Delta, or United by eliminating award charts.

Peak pricing will be done geographically, with all hotels in that region sharing the same peak dates. Hyatt will add an award calendar to find award rates over a month-long period.

If you book an award before 3/22/20 and the price goes down Hyatt will automatically credit your account starting on 3/23. If the price goes up on an existing booking you won’t have to pay the difference.

Here is what the new award chart will look like, with peak and off-peak pricing:

Hyatt notes that points+cash rooms are currently charging 50% of the paid rate, but that will now range from 50%-70% off of the paid rate starting on 3/22.

Hyatt is lowering the cost of incidental spending award that previously had no value. You can use this award chart for spa, dining, and other spending. For example currently $1,000 of incidentals used to cost 120K points, a value of 0.83 cents per point. With the new award chart it costs 65K points, a value of 1.54 cents per points.

The annual category 1-4 anniversary night that comes with the World of Hyatt credit card actually becomes more valuable as that can now be used at category 4 hotels during peak season.

Even with these changes, Hyatt points remain much more valuable than other hotel points.

Highlights:

• 5 star Park Hyatt hotels in Chicago, Moscow, Sanya, Seoul, and Mallorca drop from category 6 to 5.
• Newly eligible hotels for anniversary nights that drop to a category 4 include the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam, Park Hyatt Hamburg, Grand Hyatt Seattle, Hyatt at Olive 8, Hyatt Regency Sydney, and the awesome Park Hyatt Melbourne, which is next door to the amazing Chabad of Downtown Melbourne.
• 5 hotels in Australia and New Zealand are going down in category, with none going up.
• The Parker New York drops to a category 5, a good value for a midtown NYC hotel.
• The unique Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade drops from a category 3 to 2.
• The Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro drops from a category 3 to 2.

Lowlights:

• Once again, the Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo climbs, this time from category 5 to 6. Just a year ago this was bookable with category 4 anniversary nights.
• The Andaz 5th Avenue was a decent points option for a luxury NYC hotel at category 6, but will now be overshadowed by the Park Hyatt at category 7.
• The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort climbs from category 5 to 6.
• Several SLH hotels climb to category 8.
• No Hyatt category 7 hotels are going down in category, except for a handful of SLH partner hotels.

Sample hotels going up in category:

• Hyatt Place Fair Lawn/Paramus, NJ, was 1, now 2
• Hyatt Place Austin Airport, TX, was 1, now 2
• Hyatt Regency Atlanta, GA, was 2, now 3
• Hyatt Regency Houston, TX, was 2, now 3
• Hyatt House Philadelphia/King of Prussia, PA, was 2, now 3
• Grand Hyatt Mumbai, India, was 2, now 3
• The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch Destination Hotel, AZ, was 3, now 4
• Hyatt Place Ann Arbor, MI, was 3, now 4
• Hyatt Place Flushing/LaGuardia Airport, NY, was 3, now 4
• Hyatt House Washington DC/The Wharf, was 3, now 4
• Park Hyatt Ningbo Resort & Spa, China, was 3, now 4
• Hyatt Regency Tokyo, Japan, was 3, now 4
• Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa, CA, was 5, now 6
• Hyatt Centric Boston Faneuil Hall, MA, was 5, now 6
• Andaz Papagayo Resort, Costa Rica, was 5, now 6
• Hotel Lord Byron SLH, Rome, Italy, was 5, now 6
• Cape Fahn SLH Hotel, Koh Samui, Thailand, was 5, now 6
• Carmel Valley Ranch Joie de Vivre Hotel, CA, was 6, now 7
• Hyatt Centric Key West Resort and Spa, FL, was 6, now 7
• Andaz 5th Avenue, NY, was 6, now 7
• Hyatt Centric Park City, UT, was 6, now 7
• Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino, was 6, now 7
• Hotel Grand Powers SLH, Paris, France, was 6, now 7
• Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Japan, was 6, now 7
• Elounda Gulf Villas & Suites SLH, Crete, Greece, was 7, now 8
• Viceroy Bali SLH, Ubud, Indonesia, was 7, now 8
• Margutta 19 Luxury Hotel, Rome, Italy, was 7, now 8
• Villa Spalletti Trivelli Dimora d’Epoca, Rome, Italy, was 7, now 8
• Ca’sagredo Hotel SLH, Venice, Italy, was 7, now 8
• Hotel Gajoen Tokyo SLH, Japan, was 7, now 8
• Keemala Phuket SLH, Thailand, was 7, now 8

Sample hotels going down in category:

• Hyatt House Dallas/Lincoln Park, TX, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport, UT, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Regency Perth, Australia, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Regency Baku, Azerbaijan, was 2, now 1
• Grand Hyatt Chengdu, China, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Regency Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport, Germany, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Regency Dubai, UAE, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Centric Montevideo, Uruguay, was 2, now 1
• Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD, was 3, now 2
• Hyatt Regency Cleveland – The Arcade, OH, was 3, now 2
• Hyatt Place Baltimore/Inner Harbor, was 3, now 2
• Hyatt Place Orlando/Lake Buena Vista, FL, was 3, now 2
• Grand Hyatt Rio, Brazil, was 3, now 2
• Andaz Delhi, India, was 3, now 2
• Hyatt Regency Aqaba Ayla, Jordan, was 3, now 2
• Hyatt Regency Moscow Petrovsky Park, Russia, was 3, now 2
• Grand Hyatt Istanbul, Turkey, was 3, now 2
• The Grand Hotel Minneapolis, MN, was 4, now 3
• Hyatt Place Seattle/Downtown, WA, was 4, now 3
• Grand Hyatt Shanghai, China, was 4, now 3
• S. Ten Hotel SLH, Belgrade, Serbia, was 4, now 3
• Grand Hyatt Dubai, UAE, was 4, now 3
• Hyatt Regency Amsterdam, Netherlands, was 5, now 4
• Park Hyatt Hamburg, Germany, was 5, now 4
• Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami, FL, was 5, now 4
• Grand Hyatt Seattle, WA, was 5, now 4
• Hyatt at Olive 8, Seattle, WA, was 5, now 4
• Park Hyatt Melbourne, Australia, was 5, now 4
• Hyatt Regency Sydney, Australia, was 5, now 4
• Hotel Bergs SLH, Riga, Latvia, was 5, now 4
• Park Hyatt Chicago, IL, was 6, now 5
• Parker New York, NY, was 6, now 5
• Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort, China, was 6, now 5
• Agalia Luxury Suites SLH, Ios Island, Greece, was 6, now 5
• Hotel Villa Neri Resort & Spa, Sicily, Italy, was 6, now 5
• Kasa Hotel Parota SLH, Tulum, Mexico, was 6, now 5
• Infante Sagres SLH, Porto, Portugal, was 6, now 5
• Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow, Russia, was 6, now 5
• Park Hyatt Seoul, South Korea, was 6, now 5
• Park Hyatt Mallorca, Spain, was 6, now 5
• Carmelo Resort & Spa, Unbound Collection, Uruguay, was 6, now 5
• Columbia Beach Resort SLH, Cyprus, was 7, now 6
• Le Mont Blanc Hotel SLH, La Salle, Italy, was 7, now 6
• Hulbert House, Queenstown, New Zealand, was 7, now 6

You can transfer points from Chase to Hyatt instantly:

Chase premium cards with transferable points:

• Chase Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® Card
  • $95 annual fee, 60K points signup bonus, earn 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.
• Chase Ink Business Preferred
  • $95 annual fee, 80K points signup bonus, earn 3 points per dollar on select business spending and travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
  • $550 annual fee, $300 in annual travel credit, $60 in annual Doordash credit, Doordash DashPass membership, Lyft Pink membership, 50K points signup bonus, earn 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, earn 10 points per dollar on Lyft, 50% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions, Global Entry/Pre-check, Priority Pass lounge access.

Chase no annual fee cards with transferable points if you, a spouse, or an additional user have one of the premium cards above:

• Chase Freedom Card
  • No annual fee, 15K points signup bonus, earn 5 points per dollar in rotating categories.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited® Card
  • No annual fee, earn 3 points per dollar everywhere on up to $20K in spending during your first year, then earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere.
• Chase Ink Business Unlimited Card
  • No annual fee, 50K points signup bonus, earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere.
• Chase Ink Business Cash Card
  • No annual fee, 50K points signup bonus, earn up to 5 points per dollar.
• The World of Hyatt credit card is an excellent card and comes with 50,000 points in addition to annual free nights, elite status, and promotions. You can read more about the new World of Hyatt card here.

Which changes will affect you the most? Which hotels will you book before rates go up?