Hyatt Gold Passport has announced some changes. They were pretty much the only hotel chain earlier this year to keep their award chart and categories fairly stable so it comes as no surprise they followed suit in eventually making adjustments and devaluations. The new changes will take effect January 7, 2014, which does give us two months notice to organize our points and book at the old rates. In addition, Hyatt is giving us until February 15, 2014 to make date changes to previously booked hotels without needing a reprice.
The following changes are going to take place:
New Category 7 includes 6 hotels.
The redemption rates for Category 1–4 are staying the same while Category 5 sees an increase of 2,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and Category 6 an increase of 3,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.
Increase in the cost of suite night awards.
Increase in suite upgrade with points on Hyatt Daily Rate (from 6,000 points for up to 4 nights to 6,000 points a night).
21 hotels move up in Category; 17 hotels move down in Category.
The Park Hyatt Milan is going up from 22,000 points a night to 30,000 points a night.
While most of these changes aren’t good, they won’t affect most of us severely. Most of us don’t redeem points for suite night awards and most of us don’t try to upgrade to suites our paid rates to suites (we don’t like to pay as it is!) Moreover, it’s just so easy to earn Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase Freedom Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Chase Ink Bold card that even aspirational awards are still accessible. The Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned with these cards transfer to Hyatt Gold Passport.
I may think a little harder before redeeming points at the Park Hyatt Vendom in Paris (moving from 22,000 points to 30,000 points), but only because Paris has so many hotels and so many options. However, outside the top end properties, this is not going to change my travel habits or planned vacations very much.
New 7 Category Award Chart
The previous award chart had six categories ranging from 5,000 points a night to 22,000 points a night. There was quite a nice value for luxury hotels with being able to stay at some very expensive Park Hyatts all over the world. 
Hyatt New Award Chart
The new award chart now has 7 categories topping out at 30,000 points a night.
Hyatt New Award Chart
The good news is that the new Category 7 costing 30,000 points will only have 6 hotels for the time being:
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
Park Hyatt Milan
Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
Park Hyatt Sydney
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Park Hyatt Zurich
I stayed at the Park Hyatt Milan this past August and am now very glad I got in on the 22,000 point a night rate. This hotel will now cost 30,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points a night.
Increase in Cost of Suite Upgrades
If you found yourself in the right situation, one tremendous value you could previously get with Hyatt Gold Passport points were upgrades for suites for paid rooms that were booked at Hyatt Daily Rate. Club room upgrades could be confirmed for 3000 points for up to 4 nights. Suites upgrades could be confirmed for 6,000 points for up to 4 nights.
Upgrades to a club room will cost 3000 points a night.
Upgrades to a suite will cost 6000 points a night.
While this certainly was great value, I have to be honest that I’ve used it only once. Having to pay the Hyatt Daily Rate is a real deterrent to me as I tend to favor redeeming points. Moreover, stays of exactly four nights are not very common.
Hotels Changing Categories
Changes include some hotels changing categories. These are frequent annual readjustments so no surprises here. Of course, we are always sad to see hotels on our list go up in Category.
We have good values at Grand Hyatt Jakarta and Grand Hyatt Sao Paolo moving up from Category 2 to 3, a 4,000 point increase. Two Hyatts in Melbourne, Australia are moving up a category as well. Also, Hyatt 48 Lex in Midtown and Hyatt Union Square are moving up from Category 5 to 6 (a 7,000 Hyatt Gold Passport increase).
On the bright side, Hyatt Regency Maui is moving down from a Category 6 to 5. While this is only a 2,000 point reduction, Maui is a beautiful island so it’s good to see lower cost opportunities. With the opening of the Andaz Maui this past September, the Hyatt Regency has become the #2 ranked Hyatt property on Maui so it only makes sense these are different categories.
There are 21 Hotels Moving Up in Category:
Hotels moving from Category 1 to 2 (5,000 points a night to 8,000 points a night)
Hyatt Place Columbus/OSU
1
2
Hyatt Place Dallas/Arlington/Grand Prairie
1
2
Hyatt Place Dublin/Pleasanton
1
2
Hyatt Place San Antonio North/Stone Oak
1
2
Hotels moving from Category 2 to 3 (8,000 points a night to 12,000 points a night)
Grand Hyatt Jakarta and Grand Hyatt Sao Paolo were previously great values and I am sad to see them move up.
Grand Hyatt Jakarta
2
3
Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo
2
3
Hyatt Place New Orleans Convention Center
2
3
Hyatt Place South Bend/Mishwaka
2
3
Hyatt Place West Palm Beach
2
3
Hyatt Regency Osaka
2
3
Hotels moving from Category 3 to 4 (12,000 points a night to 15,000 points a night)
Grand Hyatt Melbourne
3
4
Hyatt Regency Cambridge
3
4
Hyatt Regency Louisville
3
4
Hyatt Regency Perth
3
4
Hotels moving from Category 4 to 5 (15,000 points a night to 20,000 points a night)
Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile
4
5
Hyatt Place New York/Midtown South
4
5
Park Hyatt Melbourne
4
5
Hotels moving from Category 5 to 6 (18,000 points a night to 22,000 points a night)
Andaz Liverpool Street London
5
6
Hyatt 48 Lex
5
6
Hyatt Union Square New York
5
6
Hotels moving from Category 6 to 7 (22,000 points a night to 30,000 points a night)
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
6
7
Park Hyatt Milan
6
7
Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
6
7
Park Hyatt Sydney
6
7
Park Hyatt Tokyo
6
7
Park Hyatt Zurich
6
7
There are also 17 hotels going down in Category:
Hotels moving from Category 2 to Category 1
Hyatt House Chicago/Naperville/Warrenville
2
1
Hyatt Place Chicago Warrenville/Naperville
2
1
Hyatt Place Cincinnati-Northeast
2
1
Hyatt Place Dallas/Grapevine
2
1
Hyatt Place Fort Worth/Cityview
2
1
Hyatt Place San Antonio Airport/Quarry Market
2
1
Hyatt Place San Antonio-Northwest/Medical Center
2
1
Hotels moving from Category 3 to Category 2
Hyatt North Houston
3
2
Hyatt Regency Incheon
3
2
Hotels moving from Category 4 to Category 3
Park Hyatt Chennai
4
3
Park Hyatt Hyderabad
4
3
Hotels moving from Category 5 to Category 4
Hyatt Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi
5
4
Hyatt Regency Changbaishan
5
4
Hotels moving from Category 6 to Category 5
Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa
6
5
Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe
6
5
Hyatt Regency Maui
6
5
Park Hyatt Changbaishan
6
5
Summary
Hyatt Gold Passport has announced changes to its award chart, including a new Category 7 for 6 of its top hotels.
38 Hotels will also be changing Categories. This includes 21 hotels moving up in Category and 17 hotels moving down in Category.
Redeeming points for suite upgrades on paid stays has gone up from 6,000 points for up to 4 nights to 6,000 points a night.
Although the changes are mostly negative, I still consider Hyatt Gold Passport points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points valuable for Hyatt properties. Given that I can earn so many points with the Chase Freedom Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Chase Ink Bold credit cards, my aspirational vacations are still completely affordable with points!
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