Hyatt has lastly achieved the factor everybody hoped they wouldn’t: it’s preserving a broadcast award chart, however stretching it sufficient that many top-end stays will value considerably extra factors beginning Might 2026.
The excellent news is that World of Hyatt isn’t going totally dynamic. The unhealthy information is that on the costliest nights, some awards will value a lot greater than they do as we speak – and this issues should you’ve been hoarding Hyatt factors for dream redemptions.
Let’s stroll via what’s altering, how painful it truly is, and what try to be reserving earlier than the brand new chart kicks in.
What’s Really Altering with World of Hyatt?
Proper now, World of Hyatt costs awards utilizing three tiers: Off-peak, Customary, and Peak. Beginning in Might 2026, that easy trio is being retired in favour of 5 new pricing bands: Lowest, Low, Average, Higher, and Prime.
The eight lodge 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 affordable nights could also be barely cheaper than earlier than, however the costliest nights get much more costly, and the center “Average” tier will normally value greater than as we speak’s Customary 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 be promising to use the 2 highest tiers, Higher and Prime, “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 greater pricing over time.
How A lot Extra Will Awards Price?
You’ll be able to nonetheless discover a number of small wins on the backside of the chart, however the total path is clear: extra factors, particularly when and the place individuals really need to journey.
Take Class 1 because the entry-level instance. Beneath the present chart, you pay 3,500–6,500 factors per night time. Beneath 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 costliest nights you’re paying about 38% extra than as we speak’s peak worth.
The traditional workhorse Class 4, which can be the place many free night time certificates are capped, is a good clearer illustration. Immediately, an evening prices 12,000–18,000 factors. With the brand new chart, that prime finish will rise to 25,000 factors, which is roughly a 39% enhance on the costliest nights.
On the aspirational finish, Class 8 – residence to many Park Hyatt and different flagship luxurious properties – sees the largest bounce.
The present 35,000–45,000-point vary might be changed by a variety that tops out at 75,000 factors per night time. That’s the place the headline determine of as much as 67% greater 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 Customary pricing) can be costlier. Throughout all eight classes, Average-level charges might be roughly 25% greater on common than as we speak’s Customary pricing. For instance, Class 4 Customary 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 may 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 wrong way.
All-Inclusive & Miraval: The place It Hurts the Most
Hyatt’s all-inclusive portfolio and Miraval resorts had been already premium redemptions, they usually’re being hit particularly laborious.
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 be capable of worth at 85,000 factors per night time (double occupancy) within the new Prime 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 costlier. A Average price for the standard room with double occupancy will begin at 70,000 factors, up from 65,000 beforehand, and Prime-tier nights throughout room varieties are anticipated to value 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, quite 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 inns to align pricing with seasonal demand with out always bumping properties to greater classes. And it ought to scale back the necessity for broader class modifications over time.
That’s the company framing. The extra real looking interpretation is that Hyatt now has way more room to push standard dates and properties up the vary whereas nonetheless with 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 lodge from leaning closely on the Higher and Prime bands as soon as the mud settles.
Seven Class Shifts Are Occurring Proper Now
Most of Hyatt’s annual class modifications might be introduced in April, forward of the Might 2026 pricing replace. Nonetheless, Hyatt additionally confirmed that seven properties are shifting classes efficient instantly, together with:
Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Seaside shifting up a class, Grand Hyatt Incheon shifting up, and Hyatt Centric Malta and Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort additionally shifting 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 usually are not being impacted by the brand new pricing tiers, so long as a normal room is accessible and the property is throughout 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 modifications might be price watching intently.
New Member Enhancements Coming Later in 2026
To melt the blow, Hyatt can be rolling out two genuinely useful updates.
Digital factors sharing
Proper now, sharing World of Hyatt factors is surprisingly clunky. It’s a must 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 be capable of share factors digitally, making it a lot simpler to pool factors with a associate, prime up a buddy 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 lots of friction out of “two-account” planning, particularly for {couples} and households. And for factors collectors, much less friction normally 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 ebook award nights earlier than everybody else.
This might be genuinely beneficial 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 main points but, so the worth right here will rely solely on how the function is carried out, and the way far prematurely “early” actually is.
Hyatt has stated extra data might be shared later, so for now, take into account 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 record. Any huge aspirational journeys involving Class 7–8 properties, premium all-inclusives, or Miraval stays are prime candidates to ebook underneath the present chart. The distinction between 45,000 and 75,000 factors per night time, or between 58,000 and 85,000 at a prime 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 shifting giant chunks of versatile factors, take into account 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 beneficial stored in a versatile ecosystem, particularly should you additionally play significantly with different lodge or airline packages.
Lastly, keep watch over how Hyatt really makes use of the Higher and Prime tiers over the primary 12 months. Hyatt is promising “restricted” use of the best tiers at launch, with broader adoption later. If real-world pricing patterns present lots of nights leaning in the direction of the higher finish of every class, that’s your cue to reassess how a lot vitality 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 looks like most main lodge packages 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 recently, you’ll know I’ve grow to be way more open to attempting smaller chains and lesser-known loyalty packages.
After all, this replace isn’t nice information should you’ve been rigorously constructing a Hyatt stability for years. However on the similar time, it offers different manufacturers an opportunity to step up – and provides us a motive to look past the standard huge 4.
There are many under-the-radar packages the place elite standing nonetheless looks like “actual” loyalty therapy, not only a label in your profile.
As the large packages squeeze extra out of their members, that hole between the mass-market expertise and the genuinely rewarding area of interest packages may really get wider – and that’s the place I’m more and more considering taking part in.
Conclusion
World of Hyatt is doing a traditional loyalty-program manoeuvre: proudly preserving its award chart whereas quietly stretching it so lots of the most tasty redemptions value considerably extra.
From Might 2026, we’ll see 5 pricing bands as an alternative 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 prime finish, particularly for Class 8, all-inclusives, and Miraval resorts. On the similar 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 simple: lock in key redemptions underneath the present chart, be cautious about transferring extra factors into Hyatt, after which determine whether or not this system nonetheless deserves a starring position in your long-term technique as soon as the brand new pricing kicks in.
