Several of you have sent me a reddit post that purports to leak big changes coming to the World of Hyatt program. While these changes are unconfirmed at this point, let’s unpack them as they are very specific and, unfortunately, almost exactly what I expected (with a couple of twists).
World of Hyatt Award Changes And Premium Credit Card Rumors
An unconfirmed but detailed leak suggests that World of Hyatt might be about to overhaul both award pricing and its cobranded credit card lineup. As always with social media leaks, take this with a grain of salt, but the specificity here is worth paying attention to.
New Award Chart Tiers: Category 9 and Category 10
The biggest headline from the leak is the possible introduction of two new award chart tiers above the current Category 8. Under the rumored plan:
- Category 9 at a cost of 50,000 points per night at standard pricing (45,000 low and 55,000 peak)
- Category 10 at 60,000 points per night at standard pricing (55,00o low and 65,00 peak)
Those numbers, if accurate, would represent a significant premium over the current top tier, and they align with Hyatt’s broader strategy of extracting more value from its most aspirational properties. The reddit thread suggests that Category 10 may be very exclusive — possibly reserved for one or a small handful of the most in-demand Park Hyatt properties.
Category 10 is not intended to be broad. Internally it is positioned for a very small number of the most in demand properties in the portfolio. It is possible that Park Hyatt Kyoto launches as the only Category 10 property at rollout.
Do not expect non-Park Hyatt properties to land in Category 9 or 10. There is a strong internal push to further elevate Park Hyatt as the true super premium flag within the portfolio. The upper tier award bands are being used in part to reinforce that positioning.
The objective is long term sustainability at the very top of the portfolio while preserving the core structure of the award chart.
For context, the existing World of Hyatt award chart tops out at Category 8: standard nights cost 40,000 points (plus peak/off-peak adjustments) and the program has largely avoided creating “super-premium” redemption tiers that other hotel chains have embraced.
Award Chart Reshuffle
The leaks also point to a reshuffling of categories 6 through 8. While details on every property are scarce, major metro Park Hyatt hotels like those in Paris and Tokyo are specifically mentioned as candidates to move up into Tier 9, which means longtime aspirational redemptions may become more expensive.
This is the same direction we’ve seen Hyatt take with past annual category tweaks, where more than a hundred properties adjust up or down, often with more moving up than down.
“Super Peak” Nights
So-called “Super Peak” nights will be introduced, initially only at select service brands such as Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Caption, and similar flags during very high demand event periods.
Instead of traditional peak award bands, pricing during those windows will be tied to a fixed 1.5 cents per point floor until it reaches the peak pricing of two categories higher than the hotel’s assigned category.
Example: If a Category 3 Hyatt Place is retailing at 450 dollars during a major event, redemption pricing would float to 23,000 points, which reflects Category 5 peak pricing and remains below what a strict 1.5 cents per point calculation would otherwise produce.
Per the rumor, “There is an internal cap of 10 super peak nights per property per calendar year.”
Expanded Free Night Certificates and “Top-Off” Perks
Beyond just new categories, the rumor claims that Hyatt could expand its free night certificate offerings and introduce new ways to “top off” awards, potentially giving members more flexibility to use points even as costs increase.
- Category 1 to 4 certificates will become Category 1 to 5 certificates
- Category 1 to 7 certificates become Category 1 to 8 certificates
In addition, “Top off functionality is being formalized and expanded.”
- Explorists will be able to top off a 1 to 5 certificate up to a Category 7 property
- Globalists will be able to top off a 1 to 5 or 1 to 8 certificate at any property
Both of these changes would be positive, a small bright spot the frustration of using certs that have not kept up with inflation. A Category 4 or even Category 7 hotel today is not the same as it was in 2019…
Premium Hyatt Credit Card Coming…New Details
The second half of the leak revolves around rumors of a new premium World of Hyatt cobranded credit card. Chase and Hyatt have dropped hints about a new premium card for many months, but we now have more rumored specificity about the new card:
- Annual fee: $795
- Sign-up bonus: 100,000 World of Hyatt points
- Automatic Explorist status
- Annual Category 1 to 5 certificate
- 20 qualifying nights deposited at the start of each calendar year
- 10 qualifying nights for every $15,000 in card spending
- $200 Hyatt statement credit twice per year
- 10 points per dollar on spending at Hyatt
- 3 points per dollar on spending on dining
- 3 points per dollar on airline bookings made directly with the airline
- Chase Sapphire Lounge access and Priority Pass
- Cardholders will earn Globalist with an additional 20 qualifying nights
That last point strikes me as most important: rather than offer Globalist status outright, as was rumored, the card will still require 20 nights in order to make Globalist status. The annual fee effectively drops to $795 if you use the $400 in Hyatt credit and if you don’t have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, this could be a card to pick up for Chase Sapphire Lounge access.
My Thoughts
On the whole, I think these changes are terrible, albeit most unsurprising. The introduction of a Category 9 tier came as no surprise, though I was surprised to see Category 10…will both come at the same time?
I don’t buy for one moment that Category 10 will be limited to 1-2 top Park Hyatt properties. The same was said when Category 8 was introduced and after a year, many properties were added to that tier.
It’s nice to see the usage of free night certificates become a bit more flexible, though I’d also argue that this is not even keeping up with inflation.
What concerns me more than the new categories is the “Super Peak Pricing” which if true, seems likely to spread full service properties as well. This pricing is directly tied to revenue and effectively spells the end of fixed award chart pricing, even if the award charts remain in theory.
I think that’s the wrong move for Hyatt and one reason that folks have been so loyal to Hyatt is because Hyatt points are still valuable…by principle, I’d rather see no World of Hyatt point availability than see Hyatt introduce “super peak award space” at prices that further reduce the value of points because that trend will only spread like a cancer through the program, as we’ve seen at Marriott and Hilton.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the new premium credit card will hurt Globalists who earn their status by actually spending 60 nights per year in a Hyatt property and certainly inflate the elite ranks, making confirmed suite upgrades all the more valuable. There will be a lot more people still chasing a limited number of suite upgrades and other perks.
CONCLUSION
If these leaked changes to World of Hyatt’s award chart and credit card lineup prove accurate, they will make the program more dynamic and more expensive. Mark this as developing, but this rumor strikes me as specific enough to be taken very seriously as also quite timely as we approach the point in the year when Hyatt generally announces program changes.
image: Hyatt
I agree, the thing that irks me the most is basically giving Globalist away. WOH is going to eventually become like Hilton in that everyone has top tier so no one does. The smart thing would have been to introduce another level higher for those of us that spend over 100 nights a year. Yes, I have Lifetime, but that does not necessarily distinguish anything for me that is clear if I am already spending 130 nights a year with them.
So, here is my question. Are there better programs out there now? IHG? Accor? I have not studied them enough to really determine this as I’ve been on the Hyatt wheel for so long. Yes, I have Ambassador with Marriott but that is gained more out of footprint than it is any loyalty as the program is abysmal. The one that intrigues me the most is GHA….if more hotels would come over to it in the Americas it might just become a go to.
I somewhat sympathize with franchisees who are burdened with point redemptions during super peak periods – I booked 4 rooms at the Hyatt Place Charlottesville over the University of Virginia’s graduation last year for 9500 per night. I expect that if I did not, someone else would have, but the opportunity cost for the franchisee was $800 per night. That surely must drive them crazy.
I do wonder if franchisees will be limited to the number of nights they can deem to be super premium.
This tells me that the WOH program and my interests are headed in opposite directions. I am not a premium credit card guy, I’ve tried it multiple times and the promise has never measured up to the reality for me. And it’s pretty clear that points hotels are going to follow the same path that airline loyalty programs has taken – all marketing and minimal substance.