Discussions like this always seem odd to me. For me hotels are a place to stay while visiting a destination; I don’t choose my destinations based on the availability of particular brands or properties. So I would have to give AI a list of destinations that are on my bucket list of places to see for it to work out properties to spend Hyatt points at, but even then the more limited options of the Hyatt portfolio may lead to a suboptimal travel experience.

I have a bunch of “boring” US family visits planned this year where I already booked Hyatt limited service properties. I will revisit these to see if I want to switch them to award stays or even switch to a different chain altogether.

Recently I have been planning trips specifically around hotels.
For example, the only two luxury hotels in Big Sur are Post Ranch Inn and Alila Ventana. I might as well try Ventana on points to see what the difference is.
However, I am starting to run out of high end points hotels to try...
At the mid/low end I am generally not interested in staying at points hotels unless I need a late checkout or the property is generally the best in the region

When Hyatt had a smaller footprint they needed to compete with the WoH program, I imagine the Chase partnership accelerated their ability to onboard flags (look at how they've grown in European capitals in particular) and now they just simply don't need to compete as much. This change, while brutal, has been on deck for a couple of years now.

For me, most of the new Hyatts are irrelevant in that I positively avoid all inclusive and, more generally, resort hotels. If you eliminate these categories of new hotels, the footprint hasn't grown by very much.

I'm mostly a destination-first person, but:

1. There are countless destinations I'm interested in. Points attractiveness serves as a prioritization / triage tool.

2. Some hotels are destinations themselves.

3. It's easy enough to research a few suggested properties.

Plenty of high-end options in and around Big Sur, even within the Hyatt ecosphere. CVR is only half an hour away if traffic's light, and Hyatt Carmel is even closer (it's not 5-star, but it's quite upscale ) Even in Big Sur proper, places like Glen Oaks offer what I would refer to as a luxury motel experience (though they have fancy standalone cabins as well).

FWIW - just sent this to [email protected] as suggested by AI (it bounced back). LMK if you have an email you think would be most effective: Globalist Member Feedback: Award Category Changes Undermine Loyalty Program Value

To the World of Hyatt Leadership Team,
I'm writing as a long-time Globalist member to share my concerns regarding the recent award category changes, which I believe significantly erode the value of the World of Hyatt program.\

Having been burned in the past by booking Hyatt properties that experienced repeated opening delays, I made a deliberate decision to wait until the Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman had a firm, confirmed opening date before making any plans. Before I even had that opportunity, the property was reclassified from a Category 6 to a Category 8 — effective immediately and without notice. In a word: lame, and a particularly poor way to treat members who have remained patient and loyal specifically because of their trust in the Hyatt brand.

More broadly, the cumulative impact of these changes is difficult to overlook:

• Free night certificates at the C1–4 level were not upgraded to C1–5, making aspirational redemptions increasingly out of reach and diminishing the appeal of earning those certificates in the first place. In the past, Ive had fun planning trips to try the different brands. Now the C4 certificate earned is not worth the expense of these trips and stays.

• The C1–7 certificate was not extended to C8, despite the fact that many aspirational properties have migrated to Category 8 over the past two years — rendering that top-tier certificate far less meaningful.

• Category inflation has been aggressive: hotels that were bookable at 5,000 points as recently as last year are now Category 2 properties costing up to 15,000 points — rates that would have previously applied to Category 4 hotels.

The timing of these changes is also worth noting. With the Hyatt name already drawing public attention for reasons outside the loyalty program, implementing sweeping devaluations effective immediately — with no advance notice — seems like exactly the wrong moment to give loyal customers another reason to reconsider their relationship with the brand.

I'll be evaluating my travel and loyalty decisions throughout this year, but I want to be candid: if the value equation continues to shift in this direction, it will be difficult to prioritize Hyatt over more cost-effective alternatives — regardless of status benefits.

I share this not to complain, but because I believe Hyatt has built something genuinely differentiated in the loyalty space, and these changes risk alienating exactly the members who have been its most enthusiastic advocates. I sincerely hope leadership will reconsider, or at minimum provide a roadmap that demonstrates continued commitment to member value.

Thank you for taking the time to read this feedback.

Deborah Belcore

World of Hyatt Globalist Member

Devaluation not unexpected, though it does seem worse than expected and obviously a big blow to relatively affordable higher end redemptions which were one of Hyatt's real strengths.

Everyone should assess whether Hyatt continues to work for them, just as they've presumably done as Hilton and Marriott have mercilessly devalued their points over the past five years.

All the handwringing seems a bit pointless, as it is extremely unlikely Hyatt would roll this back.

Spending $23k pretax with Marriott not exactly on par with Hyatt Globalist at much less. And net-net Glob benefits still better overall.

Ambassador will always be the worst ROI in the T+L space and it’s not even close.

Well, the discussion of program changes is a long tradition of Flyertalk (and other travel forums)and I believe has occasionally led to adjustments or rollbacks. That said, I would not expect Hyatt to make any wholesale changes to these structural changes. They could perhaps try to make some concessions by improving earnings or running better promos.

I don’t know if there will be any long term impact on Chase UR or Bilt. For me Hyatt and United were the primary uses of URs. I really probably should broaden my horizon a bit, but as mentioned before, I expect to earn a lot fewer URs this year than in past years. Which will mean fewer transactions on Chase cards and fewer Hyatt points bought by Chase for me. I suspect this won’t come as a surprise to Hyatt.

The greatest impact of these changes may be born by non-US members who only earn points from stays and don’t have a robust property network to boot.

These changes ultimately just reaffirm my decision to not pursue status through hotel stays (I have status through IHG, Hilton and Marriott cards).

Doctor of credit said a 37% devaluation and some blogs today said up to 67% devaluation.Are these accurate?
I've seen some devaluations over my years but still this is pure sticker shock

I received a simple message this morning from a decades long Flyertalker previously pro Hyatt guest who said
"Hyatt is dead to me"

Still navigating more fully how I want to go forward but after all these decades I'm seeing a massive cutback in my business with Hyatt but wont turn my back
on the Gold List properties who have been good to me and other Hyatt guests.The sub par maybe properties done!
My Plan B is still forming and will be especially accelerated once the full fallout hits in the weeks ahead

“Up to” is the key word. Some will be devalued by that much but exactly how many will be anyone’s guess.

Obviously, eventually more will fall into higher tiers but the rate at which these get devalued is unknown to anyone at this point.

If you actually have a working relationship with your My Hyatt Concierge (mine is mysteriously out of office every time I call in...), email them and they should flow it through to the correct channels. If not, try [email protected]

For those of you still reading/subscribed to this thread, I would also encourage you to do the same if you feel strongly about these changes.

If you really feel strongly about the changes...then vote with your wallet, which is the only thing they care about. Don't waste your time sending some stupid email they won't read and don't care about anyway. Money. That is the only thing that matter....less ****s they could not give about your thoughts or opinions. They only do this because they already know people will whine and stomp their feet...and then take it, like the good little consumer dogs they are.

Let me reframe this in a more pragmatic way: if you fit into a specific high-spend demographic eg. traveling corporate consultant, Hyatt Leverage account administrator, travel blogger (less so because of how complacent/incompetent they tend to be), etc., they are much more inclined to listen than any of the Chase UR/Bilt maximalists or people in the mix that don't average over $25,000/yr in spend. Those in a position to curb/discontinue their immediate to near-term revenue-enabling business have a significantly louder voice, but high volume from across the spectrum also speaks to some extent.