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When Hyatt announced that it was revamping its award chart — moving from three possible tiers per category to five — I was a little concerned. Scratch that, a lot concerned.
World of Hyatt is beloved in the award travel community because of its reasonable and predictable award chart, while other hotel chains have shed award charts for dynamic pricing. Hyatt has done its best to maintain good value for its members while still dealing with the reality of price inflation.
Hyatt moved to Peak, Standard, and Off-Peak pricing in 2021, meaning that each hotel category had three potential price tiers. Then, most recently, Hyatt announced that it would become five categories: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, and Top. Not only did the number of tiers increase, but the points required from the old Standard to the new Moderate (middle tiers) were going up across the board.
What We Expected From Hyatt's Changes
Needless to say, the award travel community — myself included — was bracing for the worst. Even though there is technically still an award chart, it seemed that since the pricing bands within a category were so broad, this was more like dynamic pricing veiled in an award chart.
I expected a lot of Upper and Top nights in the new charts for popular properties, which could effectively mean an increase from 45,000 points to 75,000 at a category 8 property.
Now that May 20 is here, I've analyzed some of the changes at a variety of properties. While we would rather Hyatt have left the award chart as is, I am pleasantly surprised at how modest the changes are in some cases. Let me show you what I mean by looking at the findings.
Hyatt Award Chart Change Examples
I took screenshots of a diverse set of properties before the changes took place, trying to focus on popular properties and dates. While this post isn't a deep analysis across a wide breadth of properties, it does show that generally, there is reason for some optimism. Most of these properties I have stayed at or booked, so I was generally interested in how the new charts impacted them.
Before we dive into the details, here's a summary of the properties we analyzed:
| Property | Month Analyzed | Avg. Before | Avg. After | % Change | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Place Gainesville Downtown | March 2027 | 15,387 | 15,774 | +2.5% | 4 |
| Grand Hyatt Vail | January 2027 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 0% | 7 |
| Hotel du Louvre | February 2027 | 28,333 | 41,667 | +47.1% | 7 -> 8 |
| Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress | December 2026 | 16,174 | 21,957 | +35.8% | 4 -> 5 |
| Thompson Central Park New York | October 2026 | 29,000 | 30,000 | +3.4% | 6 |
| Dream Nashville | April 2027 | 21,862 | 18,345 | -16.1% | 5 -> 4 |
Hyatt Place Gainesville
- Category: 4
- Old Chart: 12,000-18,000 points
- New Chart: 12,000-25,000 points
This property is a favorite of mine, as my daughter is currently attending the University of Florida. Below, I've included before and after screenshots for March 2027 dates. Almost all the nights are the same price as before, with Standard nights generally moving into Low and Off-Peak nights moving into Lowest. The old Peak dates moved to the new Moderate tier with only a modest increase.
Analysis: Across March 2027, the average nightly rate increased from 15,387 points to 15,774 points — a 2.5% increase. Most nights stayed exactly the same, with only six dates increasing from 18,000 to 20,000 points. For this Category 4 property, the new five-tier chart didn’t materially change the overall redemption picture.
Grand Hyatt Vail
- Category: 7
- Old Chart: 25,000-35,000 points
- New Chart: 25,000-55,000 points
I love this property for its ski-in-ski-out location and ski valet, but I expected to see huge increases during the next ski season within the new chart. But as you can see below, all the January 2027 dates stayed exactly the same, moving from Peak to Moderate pricing.
Considering this is a Category 7 ski resort during January, that’s a much better outcome than we expected — especially since the new Category 7 chart now stretches as high as 55,000 points per night. This is pretty incredible news.
Analysis: Across January 2027, every priced night stayed at 35,000 points. That means the average nightly rate was unchanged at 35,000 points before and after the award chart update.
Hotel du Louvre
- Category: 8 (formerly 7)
- Old Category 7 Chart: 25,000-35,000 points
- New Category 8 Chart: 35,000-75,000 points
This aspirational property in Paris is a favorite of many. As a category 7, you see a mix of off-peak and standard nights within the old chart for February 2027. But now this property is a category 8 hotel.
We are generally seeing Standard dates moving into Low or Lowest on the new chart. But, with the category change, some nights are moving from 30,000 to 45,000 points per night. These higher-end properties that also increased a category are seeing bigger increases.
Analysis: Because award availability changed between screenshots, we compared only the February 2027 dates that showed award pricing both before and after the update. Across those 12 comparable nights, the average nightly rate increased from 28,333 points to 41,667 points — a 47.1% increase. Every comparable night increased, with the largest jumps coming on dates that moved from 30,000 to 45,000 points.
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
- Category: 5 (formerly 4)
- Old Category 4 Chart: 12,000-18,000 points
- New Category 5 Chart: 15,000-35,000 points
This popular Orlando resort is perfect for visiting Disney World and for using a category 1-4 award. Unfortunately, the latter is no longer the case. Even though this has gone up to a category 5 property, the prices aren't too staggering.
Generally, Standard nights have become Low, and Off-Peak have become Lowest. So we are seeing 3,000-7,000 point increases at this location, which isn't terrible. Had it not gone up a category, I'm not sure there would be much difference here from before the change.
Analysis: Because award availability shifted slightly between screenshots, we compared only the December 2026 dates that showed award pricing both before and after the update. Across those 23 comparable nights, the average nightly rate increased from 16,174 points to 21,957 points — a 35.8% increase. Every comparable night increased, though most of the jumps were in the 3,000- to 7,000-point range.
Thompson Central Park
- Category: 6
- Old Chart: 21,000-29,000 points
- New Chart: 20,000-40,000 points
This luxury New York City hotel is in a great location near Central Park. As you can see, the October 2026 dates were all priced at the Peak level — 29,000 points. Under the new chart, they all moved to Moderate, only a 1,000-point increase. Score! I am seeing very few nights over the course of the 13-month calendar at the Upper or Top tier.
Analysis: Across October 2026, every priced night increased from 29,000 to 30,000 points. That raised the average nightly rate from 29,000 points to 30,000 points — a 3.4% increase. For a Category 6 New York City property, that’s a relatively modest change compared with what the new chart could have allowed.
Dream Nashville
- Category: 4 (formerly 5)
- Old Category 5 Chart: 17,000-23,000 points
- New Category 4 Chart: 12,000-25,000 points
This trendy Nashville hotel was one of the five properties to decrease from a category 5 to 4, making it eligible for category 1-4 free night award use. The majority of these April 2027 dates were previously Standard or Peak. Now, as a category 4, most of the nights have dropped into Low or Standard tiers. As you see below, this results in a 3,000-5,000 point decrease thanks to the category demotion. If you booked this property at the higher category, Hyatt says they will be refunding you the points difference due to the category drop.
Analysis: Across comparable nights, the average nightly rate dropped from 21,862 points to 18,345 points — a 16.1% decrease. Every comparable night decreased, though the savings varied from as little as 500 points to as much as 5,000 points per night.
Park Hyatt Siem Reap
- Category: 4
- Old Chart: 12,000-18,000 points
- New Chart: 12,000-25,000 points
Although I don't have a before screenshot, I previously booked this property at the Standard rate for 15,000 points per night in November. Those dates are now Low nights, at the same 15,000 points. That's a nice win.
Hyatt Regency Milwaukee
- Category: 2
- Old Chart: 6,500-9,500 points
- New Chart: 6,000-15,000 points
Again, I only have a new chart screenshot, but these August dates would have been in the 8,000-9,500 point range for this category 2 hotel. Now, we are seeing several Low dates at 7,500. This is a slight increase, if not a decrease, on some nights.
Secrets Tides Punta Cana
Even some all-inclusive properties are not seeing much damage. I booked this property in the Dominican Republic for January 2027 at the Peak price of 29,000 points per night for two people. Under the new chart, it is classified as Moderate, coming in at 30,000 points.
Bottom Line
Don't get this twisted, the new award charts represent a big devaluation of Hyatt points. You will generally have to use more points across the board to stay at Hyatt properties than you did before May 20th. But considering the high values at the Upper and Top tiers of the new chart, I expected carnage.
Additionally, Hyatt indicated that there was no limit as to how many nights each property could put into each tier, leaving the possibility for a lot of those high-priced nights. At first blush, that is not what I am seeing. Sure, some properties have been hit hard. But, as the evidence I showed here indicates, Hyatt did a pretty good job of maintaining some value in the new charts. Many properties saw little or no increase at all in their calendars.
If you are staying at the most popular properties in high season, the new award chart is probably not your friend, but luckily, it seems like these changes are not as devastating as they could have been.
