Hyatt Gold Passport Award Chart Update Effective January 7, 2014

Dear FlyerTalkers,

As you know, Hyatt and the Hyatt Gold Passport program continue to grow and evolve, and from time to time we need to make programmatic changes. We don’t take these decisions lightly, and we do our very best to make sure that we communicate changes as quickly as possible to minimize the impact on your future travel plans. Today, I wanted to let you know about a set of Award Chart changes that will take place on January 7, 2014.

We are introducing a new Category 7, which includes six Park Hyatt hotels in Beaver Creek, Milan, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich, and requires 30,000 points. We are also changing the number of points required to redeem a Free Night Award for standard rooms and upgraded rooms in select categories.

In addition, 38 hotels are shifting between categories. This includes 21 hotels moving to a higher category and 17 hotels moving to a lower category. Existing reservations for stays starting January 7, 2014, will receive a refund for the point difference if the hotel moved to a lower category.
Lastly, the points required to upgrade your paid stay to a Regency®/Grand Club® room or suite will now be on a per-night basis.

As always, we will continue to make redemption as easy as possible with no blackout dates. And if we have a standard room available at any location, on any day of the year, you’re more than welcome to reserve it with your Hyatt Gold Passport points.

Please navigate to this url for more information...

http://hyatthotels.hyatt.com/content...t-changes.html

I wish you safe travels.

With my warmest personal regards,

Jeff Zidell
Senior Vice President, Hyatt Gold Passport

Ouch.

Ouch indeed. Close to a 50% increase for Paris/Tokyo/etc. And one of the most significant changes buried at the bottom of the page:

For those who used this option (and View from the Wing justly recommended it), a three-night stay now takes 18k points to upgrade - vs. 6k before. 300% increase.... Good grief.

I've almost entirely switched away from Hyatt now, to be honest - mostly because of a move to London. Grab those rooms at Vendome now, though - because I imagine the competition will soon be fierce....

Time to lock in a few nights at the current rates while we still can. Surprised to see
the HR Huntington Beach will drop to a category 5 .

I think this is a fair notice. This doesn't come unexpected at all. The only thing that surprises me is that the PH Maldives didn't go up. Locked in a reservation there for next year.

And the hits just keep on coming. At least there's a bit more time for earning and burning.

Another surprise and delight.

Other than the increase in points for suites, I don't think this is that bad a devaluation. Relative to how easy Hyatt points have been easy to acquire, I think this is a fair readjustment. Also nice to see the advance notice and the ability to get back points for awards that are already booked.

This is an incredible disappointment. Time to burn points and also move my paid stays back to Starwood.

Looks like it is back to Starwood

You and me both. I was intending to commit more of my stays to Hyatt in 2014 but this has well and truly put an end to that!

Is that really correct? Looking at the Andaz West Hollywood for Valentine's Day. Its available with cash but not with points...

Back to Starwood for me next year. Hyatt thanks for the memories.

This really sucks. Now back to IHG.

We knew it was coming, and I quite frankly expected worse. Oh well.