When I've done the math in other programs with dynamic pricing with slower occupancy opportunity overwhelmingly Hyatt
is over priced on award nights in a number of key cities.
Mind you thats prior to the May changes.Cash rates more typically competitive.

And where 4 or 5 night stays enter into the conversation with last night free on points even more so.
More than ever before being blindly loyal is a massive mistake unless cost and value simply don't matter.
My Cousins pop 1000 and 2000 dollar nights like candy (both attorneys) and don't care much really if there is a program a hotel belongs too.

For the first time since 9-11 I'm earning 12 miles per dollar on 3rd party sites (citi) especially when I know the property
to be poor at breakfast or upgrades and I'm not needing a late check out
Hyatt has pushed me to not book directly consistently and play with some 3rd party sites.
Perhaps they lose some of the value chasing customer which is what I assume they are after replacing us with higher rate revenue and redemption guests.

Not surprised as Im currently having to fight tooth and nail to get the extra 500 pts per night for skipping housekeeping as their signs promised at a Hyatt property. Funny that when booking rewards 500 points is going to be worth $2-5 but when they need to give them to you its seems like $500 is coming out of the property owner's pocket haha.

It's what got me engaged in the program. I was a Globalist-lite the first year, but found the benefits to be compelling and started directing my stays and spend (on the cc) to Hyatt. Now I earn based on stays and cc spend as I don't travel for business. Not sure how "valuable" my profile is for Hyatt, but with the announced changes (and potentially others), their value to me is not as compelling anymore. Wait and see mode, but I think the second strike for me will happen in a few weeks with the category change announcement. If they decide to significantly devalue the status benefits, that'll be a third strike and for sure I'll step way back from the program.

I don’t mind so much if Hyatt add an additional tier above Globalist (selfishly driven by the fact I can probably qualify unless it’s entirely driven by a ridiculous number of nights with no spend requirement), but what will make me walk away is if there is no equivalent lifetime tier for that status and the highest lifetime status remains Globalist. If Globalist is no longer top tier status the benefits will dilute rapidly and they may even decide to make it easier to qualify. This is why Hilton Lifetime Diamond / Marriott Lifetime Platinum etc aren’t that compelling.

Legacy Lifetime Platinum's @ SPG were granted Titanium status during the first year integration but now Platinum is as far as one can achieve in Bonvoy
It will be anyone's guess what this end game will be @ World of Hyatt.We have seen Marriott Platinum benefits plummet since giving it away
with a credit card especially in North America.They followed Hilton's lead and now likely with Hyatt the follower it has become.
Kind of like the airlines all copying one another until the customer votes with their wallet elsewhere

Where exactly did people go? There�s not a lot of �elsewhere� when it comes to airlines.

The biggest winner so far is still Delta. Not exactly an encouraging sign.

I agree. With the disappearance of lounges in the US and the lack of upgrades, Marriott Lifetime Platinum's value is severely diminished. You know there's going to be a spend limit though--Hyatt suddenly decided to copy Marriott after all.

The only thing that�s keeping me loyal to Hyatt is the 4pm checkout. For now I will still keep myself on track to requal for Globalist. Until May, I cannot fully evaluate the extent of the WOH deval. But I think this will be the last year I try to requalify.

As I�m sure most of you do, I would earn points through lower-priced bookings, redeem at premium properties or during peak periods. I think these changes are not only devaluation but also Hyatt trying to put a stop on this type of point management strategy. I understand why they�re doing it, but I think it�s risky to make such a sweeping change at once. I never considered jumping off Hyatt ship when they were making small incremental changes. But this will probably push me over the edge.

I don�t know how the ski properties are going to tier themselves during ski season� upper or top. Even assuming upper, my WOH valuation goes from 2.5cpp to 1.9cpp. At �top,� it goes down to anywhere from 1.5 (cat7) to 1.8(cat4). Used to use Chase Freedom even with 3% transaction fee, because I still slightly came out ahead based on WOH valuation. At this point, no.

I don't look so much into the award pricing devaluation as I seldom book stays with points. However, I do value the late checkout, the upgrades to suites and free breakfast (although I will happily pay for it at the restaurant if I don't like the offering at the lounge, which is more relevant to the kid anyway). Also, resort and destination fees being waived can easily mean a few hundreds saved up in some cases as hotels like to charge those (very stupid) things extra and that really does matter.

I pay cash for most of my stays, mostly leisure and I'm halfway through LTG (whatever that might mean in a few years). As nothing is confirmed at the moment, it is difficult to fully assess my future behavior but less benefits for more cash will be hard to swallow and I can easily achieve similar or better benefits elsewhere (worst case scenario, by paying for what I want, in different properties)

JOOC, what are those 4-5 properties? I take it they are ones you've stayed at dozens of times?

--woodstock

Park Hyatt Suzhou (200-300 nights. I'm actually here now as I type).

Andaz Pattaya (60 nights over 8 stays.)

Hyatt Regency Qingdao (best value). Been here 60+ nights in last 3-4 yrs.

Hyatt Regency Bangkok (but they send me an odd email this week but usually fabulous).

And then some ones I haven't stayed at that much but will. Park Hyatt Jakarta (unbelievable hardware and service).

Other Hyatts treat me well but easily replaceable by Marriotts and free agent.

I'll keep these no matter what except maybe HR Bangkok as that's replaceable. But others special.

As a free agent, there are two factors that can at least partly compensate for the lack of top-tier status.

One is being a regular repeat guest at a property. The other is booking Prive rates.

I suspect there would still be a difference, but a much smaller one than if you were simply booking a standard rate without status.

Yes indeed. I've just been treated incredibly nicely at these properties - they know my preferences well. My guess is I'd continue to get those preferences well without the upgrades. For me, the upgrades are key.

But as you said, prive and the such as a fee agent would probably get me a lot as well. One PH I do 30-40 nights a yr. I could probably requalify for globalist with them and credit card spend alone so would do that for the suites. Hopefully Hyatt won't make it hard for globalists to get suites.

Since I travel exclusively for leisure I�ll book based on location and price (free agent) or prive or Amex HC/FHR ($300 credit) when it makes sense to do so.

The biggest loser will be Chase as I moved 95% of my spend to Citi. I get more value out of an AA mile than Hyatt point. I probably have for 2-3 years now, and this forced me to reconsider and check the math.

As someone who pretty much only stays in random Category 1-2 Hyatt properties with the occasional Category 3-4 sprinkled in, most of which are in low or shoulder travel seasons, these changes make it hard to stay with Hyatt.

Even ignoring the 2CPP and looking at 1.25-1.5CPP, Hyatt properties were often a great value for using Chase UR and I would often modify my trips a bit to redeem at a Hyatt property especially if it was a Category 1 as there's pretty much nowhere in the US I can easy get a 2.5*+ property for $62.50 per night including tax (Category 1 5,000 points per night equivalent), especially one which has two beds and a sofa bed.

The downside with this strategy is that there are very few properties like this remaining in the US in places that I regularly travel and many are former Amerisuites properties in desperate need of a renovation or have rooms with two full/double beds instead of two queens. Breakfast at Hyatt properties, when it's even free at a HP/HH anymore, has also gone downhill a lot and more and more properties are charging for parking. Lower category redemptions are also quite rare in the western US, especially outside of the biggest cities.

It's worth noting that I constantly compare the cash rates of many different brands and will often book via third party or corporate rate as I'm not staying enough nights at chains where having status really amounts to much. Hyatt is rarely as good of a deal for cash rates in these scenarios, especially with the former Amerisuites properties. There's not much value proposition in paying 10-40% more to stay at a Hyatt when I can find a great Marriott/Hilton/IHG/Best Western (and occasionally Choice and Wyndham) property that's even closer to where I want to be and is offering all the same benefits.

I've mentioned it before, but it is possible to run a successful, albeit fairly small, chain with 2.5-3.5 star properties where there is essentially no elite status and third party bookings can have a good enough price advantage to forgo point earning. My preferred chain has moved from Hyatt to Drury because I am essentially treated like a high tier elite on all of my stays (free breakfast, free drinks, and free manager's reception every night) and customer service is a lot better because each location is corporate owned. Prices are typically the same or lower than the nearby Hyatt Place as well. The downside is that the chain essentially has the footprint of category 1-2 Hyatt properties in the US, albeit with more urban locations, and has no plans to ever open locations in CA/NY/WA/MA, among other states.