GUWonder

Isn’t that a reference to how some properties re-categorized some non-suites as “standard suites” while recategorizing some previous “standard suites” into “premium suites”?

pronichkin

Interesting selection of properties they chose to upgrade in category.

• Two big cities closest to Seattle. HR Vancouver and HC Portland. Both are Cat 3 today. Vancouver goes to Cat 4 now, Portland remains Cat 3. Does not make much sense to me, as I actually find the latter more appealing. (Except for their suites. Suites in HC are mediocre at best.)
• Two SLH properties at Costa Rica pacific coast. Los Altos Resort and Hotel Three Sixty. Both are Cat 6 today, with Los Altos moving to Cat 7. Makes even less sense IMO since I liked Three Sixty way better.

Fun times. But yeah, not happy with devaluation overall.

Julie17

I asked MHC this question last year and was told "You will only be charged what the current rate is (time of booking). We will have to manually offset the difference if it's more. So if you booked a category 7 at 30,000 points and it moves up to an 8 at 40,000 points. You will only be charged the 30,000 points." Indeed I had an insufficient points reservation that was adjusted to the old rate without my doing anything. It was for the HR Monterey, off-peak for 12k at time of booking that went up to 17k after category change, and once I had enough points in the account I saw two transactions, a subtraction of 17k for the redemption and a positive 5k called "customer service adjustment". YMMV

Julie17

I know these point devals are inevitable, but it's really wearing me down and taking the joy out of the game. I'm still mourning last year's deval from favorites like HR Hill Country to long-time bucket list places like Ventana Big Sur and PH Paris. Now here we go again trying to scramble to rethink next year's plans to try to target the hardest-hit hotels while they're still affordable. Last year's Cat 1-4 cert from the Chase card expired unused and now this year's will be even tougher to use. I realize Hyatt is still hard to beat, but the decline in value from when I became Globalist 8 years ago to now is huge. Ugh.

krazykanuck

Brutal. The loss of a number of key cat 4 properties (CAA, Eliza Jane just two). I'm not a big all inclusive guy, but the increases for the Mexico properties are not worth what the new prices will be, IMO.

777 global mile hound

Sadly I’m afraid that could be said for many of the hundreds of properties going up. I do not see the reality or the need.Hopefully for a Hyatt many will just turn the blind eye which does happen
Historically Hyatt always has had some properties that were overpriced on reward points
However I would say they were reasonably more of the exceptions not the rule or vast majorityThis represents vast overpricing not inflation or true ADR.Now I find myself saying no

With some creative booking I’m spending 100% less to redeem in competing programs
That was near impossible 5 years ago to my thinking.Thats.now hundreds of dollars less daily.
That said I will lose my complimentary daily entree and coffee some of the time ☕️🤷‍♂️🙄

Have to wonder if Hyatt has brand pricing supremacy over some of its closest competitors but I highly doubt it.
With some rare exceptions hotel rooms are more typically a commoditzed product .Yes there are some Hyatts where I would pay the premium for but not to the degree I would have just 3 years ago.

My business colleagues will for the most part will not stay at Hyatt anymore and they like the brand.They perceive it as overpriced.Yet they could easily afford it
For some of these folks I believe they got accustomed to the years of lowered pricing during Covid
I also believe that hotel companies are trying to overcharge now to try and make up for the 3 approx years of losses
We shall see if it all sticks.I expect this award pricing more from airlines than I do hotel companies.

BaconSF

yeah, plenty of all inclusive properties that are better value in Mexico.

this devaluation in cat changes is the worst I�ve seen. Really making me reconsider my loyalty. I will be increasing my bookings through hotels.com / agoda

alextrips

Not surprised at all but don't like it anymore than the next guy. These devals as an annual event now. The big AI data in the cloud knows all. Raise these rates on these properties and our bean count goes up.

I learned on this forum: Earn then burn. If a bucket list is possible do it. If not burn points on the next best properties. Earn then burn as this currency is devalued regularly.

I have been lucky so far. The best and long gone is Andaz Papagayo at Cat 4. Remember when you could use your 1-4 certs at this place. Now its going to be a Cat 6?! Park Hyatt Vendome using a Cat 1-7. Oh how blessed I was to be allowed to use it then. Lucky to have gotten in at Ventana Big Sur when it recently was added to Hyatt. Standard room redemption were relatively easy right at the start.

May I also say a little prayer, sing a short hymn, and wipe away a tear for the once mighty Cat 1-7 cert. Oh wonderous Cat 1-7. How I will miss the days when you could be redeemed for a Park Hyatt room asking ~$1K per night usd.

scubadu

Agreed. I think a very small percent of travlers even understand the Hyatt/MGM relationship and probably even fewer understand how to make it work properly in order to obtain EQNs.

Also agreed. In my experience, credits card access, be it for airline status, lounge access, or hotel status generally makes things worse not better. As the saying goes, "when everyone is special nobody is special"

Regards

notquiteaff

Shrug. Hyatt and others are setting a certain goal for X top elites that they believe they can deliver certain benefits for, and they offer different paths. Lots of nights in bed, lots of hours on a plane, lots of credit card spend, suitable corporate connection, “stays” in cheap hotels in Vegas or China… they make the rules, we play the game to the best of our ability. The constant “people who meet the status requirements any other way than I are a lesser life form that shouldn’t sit in the lounge next to me” is pretty tired, frankly.

Also, I bet a lot of non-US travelers would like to know who “everyone” refers to.

wrldwide1

Then just stop playing the game. If the program and the properties work for you, then enjoy. If they don't, then just spend on what makes sense for your personal situation, divest yourself of the card if you need to so you're not upset about not being able to use the cert, and live your life.

nsx

In general earning more points is easier and more fun than ever, except for the absence of huge deals like savings bonds and home equity loan.

Burning points is more frustrating than ever, with the exception of boring programs whose points are tethered to cash prices, essentially eliminating premium class awards from play. If I can earn $1000 worth of points with one credit card, boring is good enough for me. Case in point: the recent 80k JetBlue card. Bloggers were silent on that deal because they weren�t paid to tout it. You had to find that one on FT.

DELee

Apparently not them.

David

ChurnieEls

Lol its very similar to people getting their knickers in a twist over lounge crowding & proposing tailored rules that would of course be least impactful to their own situation.

As the saying goes, you're not in traffic, you are traffic.

downinit

Now that my 1.5 years as a GLOB light are over, I can honestly say that most of my GLOB upgrades were very underwhelming, and probably about the same as I would get as a Discoverist (1 category -> higher floor). The free breakfast was a nice perk, but most of the breakfasts were quite monotonous and not something I would consider paying for. The treatment in Europe was definitely better than North America, and that was the only place where I ever saw the inside of a suite or had a decent breakfast. Sadly, I never got a chance to go to Asia in that time due to the restrictions. The most disappointing part was the lounges. This was surely somewhat due to Covid, but even when they returned to "normal," they were a far cry from what I have experienced from IC and even Hilton.

The only real value I consistently got from GLOB was getting the resort fees waived, but that is another perk that is pretty worthless to people primarily staying in lower-tier and less-desirable locations. Now that Hyatt keeps weakening the point value and IHG has finally improved their top tier, I would honestly need to reconsider if I should keep with Hyatt or revert to IHG as my program of choice. I get DISC from my CC, and EXP doesn't seem to be any better than DISC, aside from the M-Life match to Gold. I really see no point in going out of my way to stay in Hyatt at this point.