Wow, quite a lively discussion; good thing we're all friends here. A few thoughts...

Imagine if FFN no longer included free nights, but was pts only. In another thread, this was the wish of some. In that case, those who had amassed enough pts to block ahead and speculate would still continue to do so. Those w/o pts, however, would be at an even greater disadvantage, as they would have to earn far more pts to get enough for an equiv 1 free high-cat. night, let along reserve one. 3K/stay would take 6 stays to get that 1 Vendome night. Even if Hyatt vastly increased the bonus by 3x, we’d get into pts dilution, which impacts everyone. So, the free night option is a very generous opportunity for everyone to get a shot at experiencing (almost) any Hyatt – regardless of status or pts balance. Restricting conversions might game the system even more; putting a penalty on one group to make up for an artificially induced inequity on another. (Also presumes that everyone wants to use FFN at the same popular cat.5 properties at the same time.) Key is to look at FFN not as entitlement and demand equitable justice, but as a special opportunity by Hyatt for all GP members regardless of status/pts. (Thank you, Hyatt! ) They could just as easily have said, "It's pts only this time; that's the fairest way."

Another thought: what about the poor road warrior who knows he’s got stays coming up later? Choosing pts would be an option, but he wants the free nights (for a much needed vacation); besides, he knows in advance he'll have at least several stays. If he waits until his boss tells him on NY eve, “Hey Bud, you’re spending all of Jan. on the road”, then he earns the FFN first, and then he tries to make a res at a popular property, chances are he’s SOL. To block ahead and convert later is his only chance. Restricting conversions just shifts the penalty burden from one GP sub-group (those w/o pts) to another (those who earn FFN late).

Lastly, Hyatt (hopefully) has a good capacity management system like the airlines, that factors in cancellations, etc. (If they don’t, they probably wouldn’t offer such generous promos as FFN…unless they are really hurting to fill rooms). It shouldn’t be too hard to use past customer history to predict future behavior – i.e. lots of pts hold&cancel = probably ok to overbook those days. And, as pointed out already, since cap limits on award space are now changed, any free night (FFN or pts) is directly competing against revenue stays.

So, the real question shouldn't be about disallowing pts->FFN conversions, but is a c.card res->FFN conversion (still) allowed under the new rules, and will there be a (variable) cap limit/block? (The sub-text here is, does c.card res have a better chance of converting to FFN than an pts award?) Simply put: As long it's a qualifying paid std. rm that was (or will be) booked, can it be converted to award or FFN at any time later, even if s/o (but you're holding a paid res)? If so, then to all those w/o pts...get out your credit cards!