Major Hyatt Award Chart Devaluation {2026 Changes}

Hyatt has announced some massive changes to its award chart that will go live in May 2026. These changes mean that most hotel stays are about to get more expensive.

Previously, the most you would ever pay for a Hyatt award night on points was 45,000 points. In the new system, you could pay as many as 75,000 points per night.

This article outlines the changes and what it means for people booking rooms on points.

Quick Hits:

• The award chart is becoming more complex with additional pricing tiers
• Prices at the lowest level are staying the same or reducing by up to 14%
• Prices at the highest level are increasing by as much as 67%
• Changes take place in May.
• You can still book hotels using the current pricing structure until the new system goes into effect in May.

Award Chart or Dynamic Pricing?

While many hotels (like Marriott, Hilton, and IHG) admit to using dynamic pricing, Hyatt claims it is keeping its award chart in order to avoid dynamic pricing.  

Award charts help keep pricing consistent and predictable, which is great for families and makes planning easier. Unfortunately, this new award chart from Hyatt introduces a lot of uncertainty. With so many levels in each category, it’s nearly impossible to predict what you’ll have to pay for any given night. This looks more like dynamic pricing disguised as an award chart.

Hard To Say How Many Points You’ll Need

In the previous chart, if you wanted to book a stay at a category 4 hotel, you could expect to pay 12,000, 15,000, 0r 18,000 points per night. It was straightforward, and this predictable structure made it easy to plan for a trip.

With the new chart, that same category 4 hotel will now cost anywhere between 12,000-25,000 points per night. For a 5-night stay, you’ll need anywhere from 60,000-125,000 points. That’s a huge difference! 

In the upper categories, it’s even worse. A category 8 hotel used to cost 35,000, 40,000, or 45,000 points per night, but in the new chart, the price is 35,000-75,000 points per night.

These multiple pricing levels make it hard to know what to expect when planning an award stay. 

Even worse — Hyatt isn’t promising that hotels will have any dates at the lowest pricing tiers and won’t cap the number of nights at the highest tiers.

The Number of Award Categories Will Stay the Same

Hyatt is keeping the same eight award categories. Categories for Miraval and all-inclusive resorts are staying the same as well. 

There were some rumors that Hyatt might be adding additional award categories, but these turned out to be false.

Adding New Pricing Levels

Currently, the Hyatt award chart includes three pricing levels in each category: 

• Off-peak
• Standard
• Peak

The price you pay can vary a little based on demand, but the difference isn’t that much. Here’s what the old chart looks like:

 

In the new chart, there are five separate pricing levels for each of the eight categories. 

• Lowest
• Low
• Moderate
• Upper
• Top

The price per night isn’t changing by a few points; it can be tens of thousands of points different between the “lowest” and “top” tiers. The “Top” is now at least double the “Lowest” for each category, but it’s usually even more. Here’s the new chart:

Award night pricing for club-level rooms and suites is also changing to the new pricing structure.

Award Nights are Getting More Expensive

The pricing changes in the new award chart are brutal. Almost everything is increasing in price across the board.

Only hotels in categories 1-3 have a possible decrease in points with the new “lowest” and “low” levels. For everything else, rates are either staying the same or going up.

The most points you would pay at a category 1 hotel used to be 6,500. In the new chart, it’s 9,000. The most you would pay for a category 4 hotel used to be 18,000. Now it’s 25,000.

Comparing the old Standard Rates with the new Moderate Rates

The closest comparison we can make is probably the new “Moderate” rates with the previous “Standard” rates. And the comparisons don’t look good.

How the New Chart will Work in Practice

It remains to be seen how many dates will actually be bookable at these different price points. Hyatt has said that they are moving “a limited number of nights into the Upper and Top categories in 2026 and broader adoption in the years that follow”. But Hyatt has also said that there is no specific number for how many nights will be placed in each pricing tier. There’s no guarantee that we’ll see any nights at the lowest levels, and there’s no limit to the number of nights that will be placed in the highest levels.

It’s possible that we could see a lot of nights in the lowest, low, and moderate tiers, but we could also see a lot of nights in the upper and top tiers. We expect this will get worse as we move into 2027 and beyond.

Which Properties Will Be Most Impacted?

We don’t know yet, but typically, when these types of pricing changes happen, the difference is most notable at high-end properties and less noticeable at mid-range or cheaper properties.

It’s likely that popular luxury properties like Park Hyatt Kyoto and Alila Ventana Big Sur will see a lot more nights at the highest pricing levels.

Properties that are in the lower categories should see less of an impact, theoretically.

Free Night Awards

Nothing is changing with free night awards. You can still redeem those as long as a standard room is available, regardless of what the pricing is for that particular night. 

That means you can still use a free night certificate even if the night you want to book is priced in the top pricing band.

This makes free night awards theoretically more valuable because you can use them to cover nights that would take a lot of points. But in reality, they are still just covering the same Category 1-4 or 1-7 hotels (depending on which certificate you have). 

Annual Category Changes

Every year, Hyatt makes changes to its award chart, with properties moving up and down in categories. Hyatt always gives advance notice, which gives people the opportunity to book rooms at the current rate before prices change.

Normally, those changes are announced at the end of February and go into effect at the end of March.

With the news of the new award chart dropping, Hyatt also said that annual category changes will be announced in April and go into effect in May.

And meanwhile, Hyatt has quietly changed the categories of some hotels without notice:

• The Barnett  moved from Category 5 to Category 4
• Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman Resort & Spa moved from Category 6 to Category 8
• Hyatt Place San Antonio-Northwest/Medical Center moved from Category 1 to Category 2
• Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach moved from Category 4 to Category 5
• Grand Hyatt Incheon moved from Category 3 to Category 4
• Hyatt Centric Malta moved from Category 2 to Category 3
• Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort moved from Category 4 to Category 5

More Changes Coming

Along with the award chart announcement, Hyatt also announced some additional changes coming in 2026.

Digital Points Sharing

This is a big improvement over the old paper system. Hyatt has allowed members to share points in the past, but in order to do so, you had to fill out a paper form, sign it, and then send it in to Hyatt. The process usually took at least a few days to complete.

With digital points sharing, you’ll be able to send points to another member online. We don’t have any details yet on exactly how this will work. For instance, there may be limits on how many points you can transfer per person or during a certain time period.

Early Award Access

If you hold Explorist, Globalist, or Lifetime Globalist Status, or if you’re a World of Hyatt credit card holder, you’ll get early access to award nights.

We don’t know what this will look like yet; more information is coming soon. 

Action Steps

Book your Hyatt Stays Now

If there’s a property you’ve been wanting to book, go ahead and book it ASAP before the pricing changes go into effect.

It’s likely that award nights are going to start filling up quickly as people try to get their bookings in before the price changes. This is especially true for in-demand properties, but with such dramatic changes, we expect to see a lot of award bookings across the board.

Check out Other Hotel Programs

In the past, Hyatt made things simple and offered a lot of value, but that’s changing with the new award chart. You may still be able to find good deals, but it won’t be as straightforward as it used to be. Thankfully, Hyatt isn’t the only hotel program you can book with points!

We have articles on many other hotel programs you can book with points, including maps and guides to help you find properties that work for your needs:

• Guide to Booking Preferred Hotels (with map)
• Choice Privileges Hotels with 1+ Bedrooms (with map)
• How to use IHG Points
• Best Hotels for Families of 4 in Europe (with map)

Is it Time to Pivot from Hyatt?

This new award chart from Hyatt is definitely not good news, but it’s possible that some new sweet spots may come out of it. If you’re flexible on dates, you should still be able to find good deals with Hyatt, though it certainly won’t be as easy or straightforward as it was in the past.

Right now we just don’t have enough information to know which properties will be most affected and what the pricing will look like in practice. But we do know enough to know that it’s all going to be more expensive. 

It always hurts to see changes like this, but unfortunately, change is the way of life in the points and miles world. Award rates change all the time and sweet spots come and go. Thankfully, there are always new card offers as well!