Hyatt Award Chart Changes

On February 25, 2026, Hyatt announced that they are making drastic changes to their award chart (which will start May 2026). While they have technically kept their award chart, the variation between points required in each category is so drastic that it actually does resemble variable pricing – they just aren’t calling it that and the nights at least do have points caps (trying to find something positive in this ;).

Hyatt Award Chart Changes (beginning May 2026)

Hyatt’s award chart (for standard hotels/resorts) consists of 8 categories. You can check out all of Hyatt hotels by category level here.

Currently, within each category, there are THREE levels.
Beginning May 2026, there will be FIVE levels.

Currently → 3 tiers: Off-Peak / Standard / Peak
Beginning May 2026 → 5 tiers: Lowest / Low / Moderate / Upper / Top

Here’s how drastic this looks –

What this really means

Holidays will likely have sky-rocketed points. This is when families (ours too) can mostly travel – so this is a huge blow to families.
Free night certificates (FNC) will be MUCH more valuable – whether you have a category 1 – 4 FNC or category 7 FNC, those will be more valuable because they aren’t affected by the 5 levels.
Hyatt announced that Explorists, Globalists, Lifetime Globalists and World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers will have access to award night availability

My plan of action

Since these changes will not take place until May, I will book Hyatts I plan to stay at in the next 13 months before the May change
I will diversify my hotel points and bookings to include more Hiltons and Marriotts
I will continue to rely heavily on the hotel credits I get from holding Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, American Express Platinum Card® and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Favorite Hyatts with points

I have personally booked a few Hyatt stays in anticipation of this May change. Overall, these are some of my favorite Hyatt’s I’ve stayed at and some I’m excited to try:

Andaz Maui
Hyatt Regency Maui
Andaz Papagayo
Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
Park Hyatt New York City
Andaz Tokyo
Park Hyatt Kyoto
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
Park Hyatt St. Kitts
Park Hyatt Cabo
Park Hyatt London
Park Hyatt Paris

My Take

I’m bummed about this news. It’s bad. But I have hope that they don’t use their new “upper” and “top” categories excessively. What I do know is that I had already started to diversify my hotel stays. Many of our stays in 2026 are at Marriotts and Hiltons or they are booked using our abundance of Fine Hotel and Resort credits – and I think this will continue to be a big part of our strategy.

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