The Hyatt approach of expanding the bands is smart. I hate it as a customer but appreciate the corporate strategy (my day job is a consultant). The changes give them plenty of flexibility and options with the program going forward and they can introduce more free night certs, similar to Hilton, to distract from point inflation. Going last in the devaluation race is useful in knowing what you can get away with. Hilton, Marriott, and IHG paved the way to get to this point. The former cost center is now a major revenue source.

The biggest loser is Chase Ultimate Rewards as the value was highly correlated to the most valuable partner, which is still Hyatt. Chase must have signed off on this devaluation, which means there is still more to come. That has to be a premium credit card offering and maybe some new promos to drive spend on Chase cards.