At the start of each year, the World of Hyatt announces its annual category changes. As such, it recently announced an updated chart, coming into effect on March 22.
It is also worth noting that World of Hyatt is introducing peak and off-peak rates at the same time. So, from 22 March, each hotel will have standard, peak and off-peak rates.
To keep it simple, the following calls out the changes in the Standard Points requirements.
What’s Changing?
This year, there are four hotels in Australia changing categories, and in each case, they are going down a category. As a result, you will need fewer points to redeem at these hotels.
The four hotels affected by this are
| Property | Current Category | New Category | Old Std. Points | New Std. Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Place Melbourne, Essendon Fields | 2 | 1 | 8,000 | 5,000 |
| Hyatt Regency Perth | 2 | 1 | 8,000 | 5,000 |
| Hyatt Regency Sydney | 5 | 4 | 20,000 | 15,000 |
| Park Hyatt Melbourne | 5 | 4 | 20,000 | 15,000 |
In addition to the four Australian Hotels, there is one hotel in New Zealand going down a notch. This is Hulbert House which is dropping from 30,000 to 25,000 points per night.
Further afield, World of Hyatt is making a number of changes. These see both increases and decreases in award categories. You can check out the new Award Categories on the World of Hyatt site.
From a planning point of view, it is worth checking out the hotels that are changing. In particular, you should check the award charts for any hotels that are going up a category. Come 22 March, these will require more points.
Fortunately, if a hotel is moving down a category, Hyatt has said they will refund the difference when the new rates come into play. As such, there is no real need to wait for the changes to come into effect.
Final Thoughts
In principle, these changes reflect adjustments in the cash rates at the affected hotels. So, if a hotel’s average nightly rate has fallen, it is likely to move down a category. This probably makes sense for the Hyatt Regency Perth. The city has seen a number of new hotels open, which has put downward pressure on prices.