Update: The Park Hyatt Maldives is back to being a Category 6 property.
Hyatt's 2015 Category Changes have been released, and fortunately there are no major devaluations: no new categories, like last time (see Hyatt Award Chart Devaluation: New Category 7 for 30K Points, Pricier Awards).
Key details:
- You can make reservations from now through January 21, 2015 at the current Hyatt Gold Passport rates for stays through January 21, 2016
- On January 22, 2015, Hyatt's 2015 Category changes take effect and the new Gold Passport points amounts will apply
- For existing reservations for stays after January 21, 2015, you will receive a refund of the points difference if the Hyatt hotel you're staying at moved to a lower category.
The main changes worth highlighting are that the Park Hyatt Maldives moves from Category 6 to Category 7, and a couple good Category 4 properties that were nice uses for the Hyatt Visa Annual Free Night at Category 1-4 go to Category 5: the Park Hyatt Seoul and the Grand Hyatt Macau.
Since the Park Hyatt Maldives is also a Virtuoso property, a good strategy there can be to use the 2 free nights from the Hyatt Visa (see Best Travel Credit Cards), with remaining nights booked with Virtuoso benefits, which include:
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
- Daily full breakfast, for up to two in room guests
- $100 USD Spa Services credit, to be utilized during stay
- Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
As a recap, here's the award chart showing a standard room award night, suite night award and the Hyatt Points + Cash award price. A few notes:
- Suite night awards can only be booked for stays of at least 3 consecutive nights
- Hyatt Cash and Points awards are capacity limited: a property may not make them available even when standard rooms are for sale. Cash and Points awards do count as paid nights for promotions and Diamond Suite upgrade certificates.
|
Hyatt Category |
Standard Room Award |
Suite Award |
Cash and Points |
|
Category 1 |
5000 |
8000 |
2500 + $50 |
|
Category 2 |
8000 |
13,000 |
4000 + $55 |
|
Category 3 |
12,000 |
20,000 |
6000 + $75 |
|
Category 4 |
15,000 |
24,000 |
7500 + $100 |
|
Category 5 |
20,000 |
32,000 |
10,000 + $125 |
|
Category 6 |
25,000 |
40,000 |
12,500 + $150 |
|
Category 7 |
30,000 |
48,000 |
15,000 + $300 |
Key Hyatt Hotels Increasing a Category
- Park Hyatt Maldives from Category 6 to Category 7
- Andaz Amsterdam from Category 5 to Category 6
- Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Mediterranee from Category 5 to Category 6
- Park Hyatt Seoul from Category 4 to Category 5
- Grand Hyatt Macau from Category 4 to Category 5
- Grand Hyatt Baha Mar (Bahamas) from Category 4 to Category 5
- Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo from Category 3 to Category 4
- Grand Hyatt Taipei from Category 3 to Category 4
Key Hyatt Hotels Decreasing a Category
- Park Hyatt Washington, DC from Category 6 to Category 5
- Mandalay Bay (included due to the M Life and Hyatt Gold Passport partnership) from Category 6 to Category 5
- Grand Hyatt Washington from Category 5 to Category 4
- Hyatt French Quarter from Category 5 to Category 4
- Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Orlando) from Category 5 to Category 4
- Hyatt Regency La Jolla (San Diego) from Category 5 to Category 4
- MGM Grand (included due to the M Life and Hyatt Gold Passport partnership) from Category 5 to Category 4
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