World of Hyatt to Introduce Dynamic Award Pricing in 2020

World of Hyatt is one of the best hotel loyalty programs out there. One reason for that is Hyatt’s fixed award chart and the reasonable pricing. That makes Hyatt points very valuable and a good transfer option for Chase Ultimate Rewards as well. If you have Elite status with Hyatt, it gets even better. But that is about to change. There’s some bad news for the program next year, but we do not yet know how bad. World of Hyatt changes have been announced for 2020 and the biggest news is the introduction of peak and off-peak pricing.

Dynamic Award Pricing

Starting in March 2020, Hyatt is introducing off-peak and peak redemptions. It’s billed as a change that will give you more flexibility to use your points going forward, but as you might expect, it usually means that the price is going up for the times you actually want to visit a Hyatt resort or hotel. Here’s the World of Hyatt changes and the pricing for peak and off-peak and the standard ricing that has not changed:

• Off-peak – Starting at 3,500 points per night – the best value when hotels are less busy
• Standard – Stays the same, starting at 5,000 points per night – the most common rate
• Peak – Starting at 6,500 points per night – when hotels are busiest

Here’s some more information about the new award pricing:

• If the redemption amount for a night on an existing award reservation is lowered to Off-peak in March, we’ll automatically refund the point difference, and if it goes to Peak, you won’t be charged any more points.
• Points + Cash will also offer Off-peak and Peak point redemption. The cash required will still be 50% of the rate.
• Free nights in suites will also be offered at Off-peak and Peak redemption.
• You’ll have plenty of time to plan ahead. Redemption rates for free nights will be announced as soon as nights are available for reservations (usually 13 months in advance), and won’t change once posted. A new online calendar will help you plan (coming soon).
• Hotel award categories aren’t changing – there are still 8.

Award Charts

Standard Room

HOTEL CATEGORY	OFF-PEAK	STANDARD	PEAK
	POINTS PER NIGHT
1	3,500	5,000	6,500
2	6,500	8,000	9,500
3	9,000	12,000	15,000
4	12,000	15,000	18,000
5	17,000	20,000	23,000
6	21,000	25,000	29,000
7	25,000	30,000	35,000
8	35,000	40,000	45,000

Standard Room Points + Cash

HOTEL CATEGORY	OFF-PEAK	STANDARD	PEAK
	POINTS PER NIGHT
1	1,750 + Cash	2,500 + Cash	3,250 + Cash
2	3,250 + Cash	4,000 + Cash	4,750 + Cash
3	4,500 + Cash	6,000 + Cash	7,500 + Cash
4	6,000 + Cash	7,500 + Cash	9,000 + Cash
5	8,500 + Cash	10,000 + Cash	11,500 + Cash
6	10,500 + Cash	12,500 + Cash	14,500 + Cash
7	12,500 + Cash	15,000 + Cash	17,500 + Cash
8	17,500 + Cash	20,000 + Cash	22,500 + Cash

All-Inclusive

HOTEL	OFF-PEAK	STANDARD	PEAK
	POINTS PER NIGHT
Hyatt Zilara Cancun	21,000	25,000	29,000
Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana	21,000	25,000	29,000
Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall	21,000	25,000	29,000
Hyatt Ziva Cancun	21,000	25,000	29,000
Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana	21,000	25,000	29,000
Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos	17,000	20,000	23,000
Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta	17,000	20,000	23,000
Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall	21,000	25,000	29,000

You can see the full charts here.

Dining, Spa & More Awards

You can enjoy up to 100% more starting January 29, 2020, when you use points for U.S. Dollar credits toward dining, spa, in-room purchases and more.

U.S. DOLLAR CREDIT	PREVIOUS POINTS REQUIRED	NEW POINTS REQUIRED
$10	2,000	1,000
$25	5,000	2,500
$50	10,000	5,000
$75	12,000	7,500
$100	15,000	8,000
$150	20,000	12,000
$250	32,000	20,000
$500	60,000	35,000
$1,000	120,000	65,000

Guru’s Wrap-up

The change to dynamic pricing for World of Hyatt awards is surely bad news. Most people prefer using their points to travel during peak season, since that is where you get more value. And those awards are now more expensive.

Yes, there’s will be cheaper options now, starting from 3,500 points. But off-peak season is not the time when you might want to go to a beach. We’ll see how bad it is once these changes are implemented by hotels and what availability is given to each category.

But even with these changes, Hyatt will still probably remain one of the stronger programs. You can earn points with the Chase Hyatt card and also transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Let me know what you think of these World of Hyatt changes.