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UPDATE 13 March 2020: Hyatt has postponed the introduction of peak and off-peak seasons to 2021
Ok, clearly I’m never usually happy, delighted, or ecstatic when a loyalty program puts through a change that effectively devalues its offering but, in the case of the recent changes we saw Hyatt announce to the World of Hyatt award chart, my overall feelings were those of relief and, yes, happiness.
How Is Hyatt Devaluing Its Award Chart?
Hyatt has announced that it will be going down a similar path to Marriott Bonvoy and introducing peak, standard, and off-peak award pricing from March 2020.
Here’s what the new award charts look like:
Standard Room Awards
Standard Suite Awards
Premium Suite Awards
The Points & Cash Awards are getting the same treatment too…
…as is the Regency/Grand award chart:
The cost of room upgrades is not changing but changes are also coming to the number of points needed for Miraval award bookings and all-inclusive bookings (more details here) as well as to the number of points needed for dining and spa redemptions.
I’m not going into detail about these last few changes as, for the purposes of this post, they’re not particularly important.
Why I’m Happy
The last truly big devaluation we saw to the Hyatt award chart was back in 2014 when the cost of a top-tier redemption shot up by 8,000 points (36%) but, since then, the only significant change to the Hyatt award chart was the introduction of a new top-tier category (in early 2018) to help incorporate a number of the SLH properties in the World of Hyatt
Note: We also saw a devaluation to Points & Cash awards in late 2018 but what I’m focusing on here is the award chart for nights paid for entirely with points.
In January it will have been 6 years since the main Hyatt award chart last took a big hit and in loyalty program terms that’s an age ago.
As programs like IHG Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy (previously Marriott Rewards) have devalued their award charts year on year (and to significant degrees), Hyatt has mostly left its award chart alone and a devaluation/correction/major change has been long overdue.
If what Hyatt has recently announced is the full extent of the devaluation (and it appears that it is) then we (World of Hyatt members) have got off lightly.
Yes, we don’t yet know exactly what the off-peak/standard/peak spread will look like but Hyatt has indicated that we shouldn’t expect seismic changes and, for the time being, I see no reason to question that.
The worst-case scenario here is that World of Hyatt members will have to pay 5,000 points/night more for the property of their choice…and that’s only the case for Category 7 and 8 properties and only if those properties are being booked in peak season.
There’s more good news:
- It will be Hyatt and not the hotels who decide what dates will be peak/standard/off-peak (properties like the Andaz Maui can’t be trusted to play fair so this is very good news). [HT: View From The Wing]
- Hyatt will not be following Marriott Bonvoy in reassessing which dates qualify for peak/standard/off-peak pricing on a monthly basis – Hyatt’s seasons will be set in advance and will not change during the year.
- Free night certificates earned for specific categories will be valid for hotels in those categories regardless of the season.
- Some properties will actually be cheaper for periods of the year as off-peak pricing is going to be cheaper than the current pricing for all hotel categories.
As someone who has been expecting (and dreading) a Hyatt award chart devaluation for at least 2 years, this a devaluation I’m happy to live with.
Bottom Line
Amusingly, I noticed that one commenter on One Mile At A Time called those of us who are ok with this devaluation “lemmings” and called time on the “golden age of travel hacking”…but that just displays a fundamental lack of understanding of how real life works.
Since the last major award chart devaluation, we’ve seen Hyatt points become a lot easier to earn through new Chase Ultimate Rewards credit cards (like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit card), the Chase World of Hyatt credit card and through the increased number of bonus point earning opportunities that Hyatt has been offering. Something had to give. It’s called inflation.
With more and more Ultimate Rewards points and World of Hyatt points out in the big wide world it’s more than a little ridiculous to expect the Hyatt award chart to remain unchanged and, in my opinion, it’s more than a little ridiculous to think that the announced changes are in some way heinous. They’re not.
Yes, it’s not fun to have to pay more points for an award night – no one wants that – but considering just how bad this Hyatt devaluation could have been, the changes that are on the way are just about as benign as we could have reasonably hoped for…and that makes me happy.
I get the sentiment, but lets not forget WHY Hyatts been slower to devalue than peers: they have a relatively small scale and you have to try much harder to stay loyal to hyatt than Marriott/hilton if all else were even. Hyatt’s improved the network a lot the last year or so (especially in Europe), but that fact remains.
Agreed…it’s why I have no status with Hyatt.
Between the new category 8 and the new chart, Hyatts are getting a fair bit more expensive on average. Most SLH properties are on the top of the spectrum as well, which provides more high end redemption options, but Hyatt points are no easier to earn than they were a few years ago. One negative aspect that has me the most concerned is that Hyatt will be initiating variable pricing. Not only will that kill the best value redemption options but makes further devaluations more tempting due to the chart being more complex, perhaps even doing away with the award chart altogether. I don’t foresee any of this happening next year but overall it certainly bodes ill.
Hyatts are only getting more expensive due to the recently announced award chart changes – not really fair to say Hyatts are getting more expensive because of the SLH additions. They’re brand new to the program and therefore can’t have become more expensive yet.
I have asked Hyatt for a breakdown of all 300+ SLH properties and their current categories (some have changed since they were introduced to WoH) so it will be interesting to see just how top heavy the new additions are – I’ll publish the full list if I’m given it.
I respectfully disagree with your point on earning Hyatt points. If you’re based outside of the US your statement is almost certainly true but in the US it’s definitely easier to earn Hyatt points than it was a few years ago courtesy of Chase.
I don’t think the content of your article reflects the premise. Rather than being happy with the devaluation, you seem to actually simply not be disappointed. By contrast, you might be happy about the devaluation if you’d already made the move to another program or had recently burned all your points. But to suggest your happy because the DEVALUATION could have been worse seems a little off-base.
The title says that the announcement made me happy (not the fact that we got a devaluation) and the first paragraph backs that up by saying that I was relieved and happy when I heard what was planned.
The fact that I was relieved should point to the fact that I’m happy because the news could have been considerably worse and not because we got a devaluation.
I don’t understand how being happy that the devaluation wasn’t a lot worse is “off base” (as you put it)
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