christianj

https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/e...t-updates.html

Ugghh! It's been a bad week in the world of hotel loyalty!

dw

Yes, but the changes last year were relatively limited so I think we all knew this was coming eventually

With room rates where they have been, I think it's been anticipated that many of the remaining US city center Cat 4 properties (Seattle, Boston, SF) were sadly on the short list to move up to Cat 5.

GUWonder

59Impala

no big surprises and ample time given to plan.
suprised that The Confidante remains Cat 4

yoonny

My repeat hotels going up by a category: HR Bali, PH Mallorca, GH Playa del Carmen, HR HK Tsim Sha Tsui
And one that was on my radar also going up by a category: HR Cartagena

Oh well. Just need some extra work getting Chase Ultimate points.

eefor jfp

Wow, definitely a huge change compared to past years. WAY more properties going up and down than ever before. More category 7s than ever before. And I get the feeling from a cursory look that more Cat 4s went to 5s than the reverse (important for using the free cert from the CC). Over all, a fair mix of up and down (130 up and 129 down according to the FAQs); certainly better than the Marriott mix of 90% up 10% down. San Francisco up, San Diego down. Washington state up, Texas down. Japan & Korea up, Australia, India & Thailand down.

christianj

Mods...please update thread title to 2019 from 20119. Thanks!

exmike

andaz papagayo was a gem at Cat 4.. oh well

txhyattlvr

Overall it's really a very fair change. Nice to see the Orlando properties reduced, and now some real values in Texas.

Except for the Mexican properties (which frequently have rates that would NOT justify using points - especially at these new levels) everything seems anticipated.... surprised to see so many reductions!

wittenscafe

Odd situation here. I've booked a 7-night stay at Andaz London Liverpool Street, checking in on March 30, 2019. It's going from 25k to 20k per night. What do I need to do to get the lower rate now that I've already booked?

Nevermind, Hyatt addressed this in the press release:

azepine00

this is far far more balanced relatively to marriott.. plenty of hotels in NY or CA are going down in price (including pretty much all properties in san diego for example); near all changes in UK, china, india, turkey and thailand are decreases, GH Bali is down - this is very impressive in the age of devaluations!

jameswes

I'm definitely disappointed, but not terribly surprised.

There were some really good deals at the following hotels that went up a category:

I've gotten well above 2 cents/point at each of the below hotels (up to almost 5 cents, which is just crazy).
Andaz Maui
HR Maui
HR Clearwater
Andaz Mayakoba
HR Coconut Point
Centric Fishermans Wharf
Hyatt Olive 8
GH Seattle

And while the number of hotels going up is similar to the number going down, at first pass through the hotels, it primarily the mid tier hotels in desirable North America locations going up, and it is a lot of international, not as well-traveled locations going down categories. So for most of us, it will be a net negative.

Again, I'm not shocked (people have been promoting "HR Coconut Point" as a "too good to possibly last", and now that has came true).

jameswes

But, credit where it's due:
- The Chicago and Orlando hotels really needed to come down a category. Especially outside of peak season, they were overpriced.
- Hyatt Centric Waikiki is now a good value
- I really liked HR Jersey City, and it's now a Cat 4.
- Manchester Grand San Diego is now a Cat 4 and also a good value

eponymous_coward

Kacee

The low cost Bay Area options are getting massacred, but that's to be expected given occupancy and room rates.

Hate to see Andaz Mayakoba going up, but they've also cut rates in NYC and elsewhere, so overall the changes seem reasoned.