This strikes me as a relatively minor adjustment and certainly no reason to leave the program over. It's always distressing when the price of something goes up, but that's what often happens when you want to pay for quality, and there is no denying that some of the properties affected by the shift to category 6 are the equal of any top hotel in the world. I just booked a regular award night at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong, and while 18K is a lot of points, I know as a Diamond I will be getting a 22K Club room/access. But considering that these properties will not be excluded from FFN-like redemptions, still gives us a dirt cheap means of experiencing the likes of the PH Tokyo for under $200 with no loss of points (i.e. 2 Hyatt Place Mattress Run stays).

I've been top tier elite in several hotel programs, and the one I will aim to keep ahead of the others for next year will still be GP.