Hyatt has lastly executed the factor everybody hoped they wouldn’t: it’s maintaining a broadcast award chart, however stretching it sufficient that many top-end stays will price considerably extra factors beginning Could 2026.
The excellent news is that World of Hyatt isn’t going totally dynamic. The dangerous information is that on the most costly nights, some awards will price a lot greater than they do at present – and this issues in the event you’ve been hoarding Hyatt factors for dream redemptions.
Let’s stroll via what’s altering, how painful it truly is, and what you ought to be reserving earlier than the brand new chart kicks in.
What’s Truly Altering with World of Hyatt?
Proper now, World of Hyatt costs awards utilizing three tiers: Off-peak, Commonplace, and Peak. Beginning in Could 2026, that easy trio is being retired in favour of 5 new pricing bands: Lowest, Low, Average, Higher, and High.
The eight resort classes are sticking round, so that you’ll nonetheless see Class 1 via Class 8. What’s altering is the vary of costs inside every class.
The most cost effective nights could also be barely cheaper than earlier than, however the most costly nights get much more costly, and the center “Average” tier will often price greater than at present’s Commonplace pricing.
Hyatt is framing this as a approach to protect transparency and “readability” whereas avoiding a completely dynamic, free-for-all pricing mannequin.
The corporate can also be promising to use the 2 highest tiers, Higher and High, “thoughtfully” at first, with broader use within the years forward. However to me, that sounds prefer it gained’t be absolute carnage on day one, however they’ve given themselves loads of room to develop into larger pricing over time.
How A lot Extra Will Awards Value?
You may nonetheless discover a number of small wins on the backside of the chart, however the total course is apparent: extra factors, particularly when and the place individuals really need to journey.
Take Class 1 because the entry-level instance. Below the present chart, you pay 3,500–6,500 factors per night time. Below the brand new system, the vary turns into 3,000–9,000 factors. So on the very most cost-effective nights you save 500 factors, however on the most costly nights you’re paying about 38% extra than at present’s peak worth.
The basic workhorse Class 4, which can also be the place many free night time certificates are capped, is a good clearer illustration. At present, an evening prices 12,000–18,000 factors. With the brand new chart, that high finish will rise to 25,000 factors, which is roughly a 39% enhance on the most costly nights.
On the aspirational finish, Class 8 – house to many Park Hyatt and different flagship luxurious properties – sees the most important soar.
The present 35,000–45,000-point vary might be changed by a spread that tops out at 75,000 factors per night time. That’s the place the headline determine of as much as 67% larger pricing comes from, and it’s not a typo.
Should you have a look at the “center” of the chart, the brand new Average tier (roughly the successor to Commonplace pricing) can also be dearer. Throughout all eight classes, Average-level charges might be roughly 25% larger on common than at present’s Commonplace pricing. For instance, Class 4 Commonplace goes from 15,000 to twenty,000 factors, and Class 8 strikes from 40,000 to 55,000 factors at that mid-level.
So sure, you would possibly shave a number of factors off a sleepy midweek Class 1 airport keep. However the bread-and-butter and bucket-list redemptions are nearly all heading in the other way.
All-Inclusive & Miraval: The place It Hurts the Most
Hyatt’s all-inclusive portfolio and Miraval resorts had been already premium redemptions, and so they’re being hit particularly exhausting.
Hyatt maintains separate award charts for its all-inclusive resorts and Miraval properties, and each charts are additionally being expanded to 5 pricing ranges.
On the all-inclusive aspect, top-tier Class F properties will now have the ability to worth at 85,000 factors per night time (double occupancy) within the new High tier, up from a earlier most of 58,000 factors on a Peak date. That’s near a 47% enhance on the ceiling.
At Miraval, even the “center” of the chart is getting dearer. A Average fee for the standard room with double occupancy will begin at 70,000 factors, up from 65,000 beforehand, and High-tier nights throughout room varieties are anticipated to price 23,000–25,000 extra factors per night time than the outdated Peak pricing.
In case your long-term plan was to burn an enormous pile of factors on a Miraval retreat or a high-end all-inclusive throughout peak season, that is just about the textbook definition of a devaluation.
Hyatt’s Place: “Nonetheless a Chart, Nonetheless Clear”
Hyatt is leaning closely on one key message: it’s nonetheless working a program with a broadcast award chart and stuck level ranges, reasonably than totally dynamic award pricing. The corporate explicitly calls this a “true trade differentiator” and insists it stays dedicated to transparency, predictability, and long-term member belief.
The official justification is that:
The brand new five-band construction retains clear caps for every class. It permits motels to align pricing with seasonal demand with out continually bumping properties to larger classes. And it ought to cut back the necessity for broader class adjustments over time.
That’s the company framing. The extra sensible interpretation is that Hyatt now has far more room to push standard dates and properties up the vary whereas nonetheless having the ability to say, with a straight face, that it operates a hard and fast award chart.
And since there’s no formal cap on what number of nights can fall into every of the 5 tiers, nothing stops a resort from leaning closely on the Higher and High bands as soon as the mud settles.
Seven Class Shifts Are Taking place Proper Now
Most of Hyatt’s annual class adjustments might be introduced in April, forward of the Could 2026 pricing replace. Nonetheless, Hyatt additionally confirmed that seven properties are shifting classes efficient instantly, together with:
Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Seaside transferring up a class, Grand Hyatt Incheon transferring up, and Hyatt Centric Malta and Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort additionally transferring up. One property strikes down (The Barnett, a part of JdV by Hyatt), whereas a brand new property (Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman Resort & Spa, opening in 2026) jumps two classes.
What Occurs to Free Evening Certificates?
Hyatt has confirmed that Class 1–4 and Class 1–7 Free Evening Awards will not be being impacted by the brand new pricing tiers, so long as a normal room is out there and the property is inside the certificates’s class cap.
Nonetheless, the standard catch nonetheless applies: if a property strikes up in class, your certificates gained’t stretch there anymore, even when the certificates guidelines themselves didn’t change.
So whereas certificates aren’t getting nerfed outright by the five-tier pricing, class creep nonetheless issues. In case your favorite “candy spot” property has been flirting with the higher fringe of a class, April’s class adjustments might be value watching carefully.
New Member Enhancements Coming Later in 2026
To melt the blow, Hyatt can also be rolling out two genuinely useful updates.
Digital factors sharing
Proper now, sharing World of Hyatt factors is surprisingly clunky. It’s important to fill out a points-combining type, get each members to signal it, and ship it in for guide processing – not precisely a one-click, trendy expertise.
Hyatt says members will quickly have the ability to share factors digitally, making it a lot simpler to pool factors with a accomplice, high up a pal for a reserving, or assist household cowl a shortfall for a particular journey.
It’s a simple-sounding change, however a significant one. Eradicating the paperwork and signatures takes a variety of friction out of “two-account” planning, particularly for {couples} and households. And for factors collectors, much less friction often means extra redemptions – and fewer factors sitting idle in orphaned balances.
Early award entry for elites and cardmembers
Hyatt additionally says that Explorists, Globalists, Lifetime Globalists, and World of Hyatt credit score cardmembers will get early entry to award night time availability, letting them view and e book award nights earlier than everybody else.
This could possibly be genuinely worthwhile if it interprets to actual further availability at standard properties, throughout peak dates, or round main occasions.
It might additionally flip right into a velvet-rope state of affairs the place common members are left selecting from no matter stays. Hyatt hasn’t shared the small print but, so the worth right here will rely totally on how the characteristic is carried out, and the way far prematurely “early” actually is.
Hyatt has stated extra info might be shared later, so for now, think about this “promising, however not but confirmed.”
What Ought to You Do Now?
Should you’ve constructed up a stash of World of Hyatt factors (or have versatile factors able to switch), this isn’t the time to be passive.
Begin by your Hyatt want listing. Any large aspirational journeys involving Class 7–8 properties, premium all-inclusives, or Miraval stays are prime candidates to e book beneath the present chart. The distinction between 45,000 and 75,000 factors per night time, or between 58,000 and 85,000 at a high all-inclusive, can simply add six figures of additional factors to a single journey.
Subsequent, be extra deliberate with transfers into Hyatt. As an alternative of reflexively transferring giant chunks of versatile factors, think about transferring solely what you propose to make use of within the close to time period. As soon as the brand new pricing totally settles in, a few of these factors might have been extra worthwhile saved in a versatile ecosystem, particularly in the event you additionally play severely with different resort or airline applications.
Lastly, control how Hyatt really makes use of the Higher and High tiers over the primary 12 months. Hyatt is promising “restricted” use of the very best tiers at launch, with broader adoption later. If real-world pricing patterns present a variety of nights leaning in the direction of the higher finish of every class, that’s your cue to reassess how a lot power you need to make investments into World of Hyatt going ahead.
My Take: The place This Is All Heading
If I’m being sincere, I don’t suppose that is the final time we’ll see strikes like this – and never simply from Hyatt. It more and more appears like most main resort applications are marching towards some mix of dynamic pricing or revenue-based fashions, a bit like what we already see with GHA Discovery.
Should you’ve been studying my posts currently, you’ll know I’ve change into far more open to attempting smaller chains and lesser-known loyalty applications.
In fact, this replace isn’t nice information in the event you’ve been rigorously constructing a Hyatt stability for years. However on the identical time, it provides different manufacturers an opportunity to step up – and offers us a purpose to look past the standard large 4.
There are many under-the-radar applications the place elite standing nonetheless appears like “actual” loyalty therapy, not only a label in your profile.
As the massive applications squeeze extra out of their members, that hole between the mass-market expertise and the genuinely rewarding area of interest applications would possibly really get wider – and that’s the place I’m more and more involved in taking part in.
Conclusion
World of Hyatt is doing a basic loyalty-program manoeuvre: proudly maintaining its award chart whereas quietly stretching it so most of the most tasty redemptions price considerably extra.
From Could 2026, we’ll see 5 pricing bands as a substitute of three, a a lot wider unfold between the most affordable and costliest nights in every class, and a few eye-watering will increase on the high finish, particularly for Class 8, all-inclusives, and Miraval resorts. On the identical time, Hyatt is rolling out early award entry, digital factors sharing, and a barely decrease ground for the most affordable Class 1 nights.
For Canadian travellers who use Hyatt strategically, the playbook is easy: lock in key redemptions beneath the present chart, be cautious about transferring extra factors into Hyatt, after which resolve whether or not this system nonetheless deserves a starring position in your long-term technique as soon as the brand new pricing kicks in.
