World of Hyatt has announced some major changes to its programme, which will come into effect from May 2026 onwards.
While it calls these a “thoughtful update”, there is going to be some major pain for members, with the cost of award nights increasing by up to 67%. That’s due to a reformulation of the award chart, which expands each award category to five tiers of pricing (versus the current three).
World of Hyatt will also bring its points sharing feature online, and give elite members earlier access to award nights, but these are really the footnotes compared to what’s happening to the award chart.
World of Hyatt introduces new award chart
World of Hyatt has unveiled new award charts that will apply to stays booked from May 2026 (the exact date of implementation has yet to be announced). This is the first award chart update since 2021, though hotels do move up and down categories each year.Â
All award charts will be affected, whether it’s standard rooms, club rooms, standard suites, premium suites, all-inclusive resorts and Miraval Resorts.
Original award chart
To analyse the price increases, let’s look at the cost of standard rooms. Here’s the current award chart, which has three tiers of pricing: Off-peak, Standard and Peak.
Revised award chart
With the revised award chart, Hyatt will keep the current eight categories, but expand the pricing to five tiers: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper and Top.
For ease of comparison, I’ve isolated the lowest and highest possible prices under the current and revised charts.Â
| Category | Lowest Possible Price | Highest Possible Price |
| 1 | 3,000 -14% |
9,000 +38% |
| 2 | 6,000 -8% |
15,000 +58% |
| 3 | 8,000 -11% |
20,000 +33% |
| 4 | 12,000 | 25,000 +39% |
| 5 | 15,000 -12% |
35,000 +52% |
| 6 | 20,000 -5% |
40,000 +38% |
| 7 | 25,000 |
55,000 +58% |
| 8 | 35,000 | 75,000 +67% |
While it is true that the lowest possible cost for 5 out of 8 categories is now lower, this has the potential to be brutal. For all eight categories, the highest possible cost is increasing anywhere from 33% to 67%.
More concerningly, we don’t know how nights will be distributed among the five pricing tiers, and OMAAT has clarified that there is no limit to how many nights per year will go into each of them. In other words, it is theoretically possible for 80% of a property’s nights to be assigned as “Top”, and only 20% for the other tiers.
World of Hyatt says that they will implement the changes “thoughtfully” (there’s that word again!), with a limited number of hotels moving a limited number of nights into the Upper and Top tiers.
But what’s especially noteworthy is that the current Peak pricing is actually lower than the revised Moderate, meaning that in an “average” scenario, there will certainly be price changes felt.
| Category | Peak Price (Current Chart) |
Moderate Price (Revised Chart) |
| 1 | 5,000 | 6,000 +20% |
| 2 | 8,000 | 10,000 +25% |
| 3 | 12,000 | 15,000 +25% |
| 4 | 15,000 | 20,000 +33% |
| 5 | 20,000 | 25,000 +25% |
| 6 | 25,000 | 30,000 +20% |
| 7 | 30,000 | 35,000 +17% |
| 8 | 40,000 | 55,000 +38% |
The only silver lining here is that Hyatt is keeping award charts. And yes, I know— with so many price levels, some might say that this is dynamic pricing by another name. That’s a fair criticism, but I’d still consider World of Hyatt to be better than Hilton or Marriott, because it at least sets a transparent price ceiling.Â
Without award charts, programmes have free rein to do all kinds of shenanigans. For example, Hilton Honors’ award nights for standard rooms used to top out at 150,000 points. This cap increased to 200,000 points in May 2025, and then again to 250,000 points in September 2025, all without notice (and indeed, you wouldn’t expect notice to be given with a programme using dynamic pricing because the price is “whatever we say it is!”).
Moreover, World of Hyatt offers more predictability, in that once it designates a date as Off-Peak/Standard/Peak, it doesn’t change subsequently. With Marriott, the same date can price differently depending on when you make a booking.
In any case, the next couple of years will be crucial, as Hyatt “grows into” the new award chart. Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but I think it’s inevitable we’ll see the more popular and aspirational properties leaning heavily towards Upper and Top pricing as time goes on.
What about free night awards?
Free night awards, such as the Category 1-4 obtained for completing the Brand Explorer challenge, will continue to be valid for stays at properties within those categories, regardless of the pricing tier.Â
Will there still be category adjustments going forward?
World of Hyatt says that it will continue to have annual hotel category shifts every April, though the intention behind the expanded redemption levels is to reduce the need for larger category shifts over time.
That said, it is making a few “off-cycle” adjustments effective immediately:
- Moving down one category
- The Barnett, JdV by Hyatt (5 to 4)
- Moving up one category
- Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach (4 to 5)
- Hyatt Centric Malta (2 to 3)
- Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort (4 to 5)
- Hyatt Place San Antonio-Northwest/Medical Center (1 to 2)
- Grand Hyatt Incheon (3 to 4)
- Moving up two categories
- Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman Resort & Spa (6 to 8)
Online points sharing is coming
World of Hyatt members are currently able to share points, though the process is somewhat cumbersome.
To transfer points, you need to fill out a PDF form and have it signed by both members. Members may only transfer or receive points once every 30 days, though there is no limitation on the number of points that can be sent or received.Â
Hyatt has announced that “later this year”, it will be possible to share points digitally. No further details are available at this point, though I assume it will work in a similar manner to how existing awards like Guest of Honor or Suite Upgrades are shared. I’m just hoping this new convenience doesn’t come with additional restrictions, like a fee or cap.Â
Early access to award nights for elites
Later this year, World of Hyatt will allow Explorist and Globalist members, together with co-brand Hyatt credit cards (only available in the USA, sadly), to book awards one month earlier than everyone else.
I’m not clear exactly what this means in practice. While most of the US blogs say that this means booking awards 13 months in advance instead of 12, I can already see award nights for late March 2027 (13 months from now), despite having no status with Hyatt.Â
So we’ll need some further clarity on that, but the general idea is to give elites and co-brand cardholders a leg up on competitive award bookings.
Conclusion
World of Hyatt will be implementing some major changes in the middle of this year, with new award charts the key highlight. The current three-tiered pricing structure will be increased to five tiers, which will result in award nights requiring up to 67% more points.
It’s sobering to think that the top redemption cost with Hyatt was 15,000 points two decades ago, and now we’re staring down the barrel at 75,000 points. I would certainly hope they apply restraint with the higher price tiers, and with earn rates remaining as they are, it’s going to be very hard for non-US members to keep up.
What do you make of these changes to World of Hyatt?
