World of Hyatt has just unveiled their annual hotel category adjustments for 2026, which dictate how many points are required for free night redemptions. These will come into effect for bookings made from 20 May 2026.
This year, 136 properties are changing categories:
- 112 are moving up a category
- 24 are moving down a category
These are in addition to the “off-cycle” adjustments that World of Hyatt made in February 2026, which saw seven properties (including the Grand Hyatt Incheon) change categories immediately.
While the number of hotels changing categories is lower than the past two years (151 in 2025, 183 in 2024), there’s little reason to rejoice, as Hyatt’s new, pseudo-dynamic award chart will come into effect on the same day. This expands the number of pricing tiers from three to five, with the highest possible price increasing between 33% and 67%.
Therefore, even if a hotel isn’t changing category, it is possible — likely even — that it will end up costing more.
World of Hyatt 2026 category changes
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| World of Hyatt 2026 Category Changes |
World of Hyatt’s 2026 category changes kick in from 20 May 2026, 9 p.m SGT. All bookings made prior to this date will follow the current award chart, even if your stay dates fall after the new chart kicks in.
- If you’ve booked a stay at a hotel moving down a category, you’ll receive an automatic one-time refund of the points difference from 20 May
- If you’ve booked a stay at a hotel moving up a category, no further payment will be required. However, if you subsequently change this booking from 20 May, you’ll need to pay the new price, based on the new category and award chart
In other words, if a hotel you’re interested in is moving up a category, be sure to lock in your reservation by 20 May 2026. Since points reservations are generally flexible, you can always cancel it later if you change your plans. Remember, you can book stays up to 13 months in advance.
A total of 136 hotels are changing categories worldwide:
- 112 hotels are moving to a higher category
- 24 hotels are moving to a lower category
Here’s a breakdown of changes by region:
| Region | Up | Down |
| United States | 64 | 8 |
| Africa & Middle East | 8 | 2 |
| Asia & Pacific | 10 | 12 |
| Canada, Caribbean & Latin America | 15 | 1 |
| Europe | 15 | 1 |
This makes for pretty grim reading, with nearly five hotels moving up for every hotel moving down.
As usual, North America and Europe are the hardest hit. It looks relatively more benign in Asia, although there’s a lot of geographical concentration; of the 12 hotels moving down a category, nine are in China.
Some noteworthy hotels moving down a category include:
- Grand Hyatt The Red Sea down from Category 7 to Category 6
- Andaz Macau down from Category 5 to Category 4
- The Standard, Singapore down from Category 5 to Category 4
- Grand Hyatt Dalian down from Category 4 to Category 3
- Andaz Nanjing Hexi down from Category 3 to Category 2
Some noteworthy hotels moving up a category (and believe me, there are many) include:
- Hotel Fluela Davos up from Category 7 to Category 8
- Hotel du Louvre up from Category 7 to Category 8
- Park Hyatt London River Thames up from Category 7 to Category 8
- Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya up from Category 5 to Category 6
- Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay up from Category 3 to Category 4
- Andaz Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi up from Category 3 to Category 4
- Caption by Hyatt Namba Osaka up from Category 2 to Category 3
- Hyatt Place Kyoto up from Category 2 to Category 3
- Hyatt Regency Cape Town up from Category 1 to Category 2
- Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort up from Category 1 to Category 2
What’s depressing is to see another five hotels moving into Category 8, including some which feel odd to me (is the Hotel du Louvre really on the same level as the Park Hyatt Paris?).
When Hyatt originally introduced Category 8 in 2018, it claimed this would be exclusively reserved for Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties. But in 2022, it started reclassifying non-SLH properties into Category 8, and that number has grown each year since. It’s worth remembering that a Category 8 designation puts hotels out of reach of the Category 1-7 free night certificate awarded to members who attain Globalist status.
That said, categories aren’t purely an indicator of quality; occupancy is also a key driver of movement. When a hotel isn’t full, World of Hyatt reimburses the property at a rate that just covers the marginal cost of a stay, e.g. housekeeping, utilities. When a hotel is running close to full, World of Hyatt reimburses the property close to the daily average rate, in recognition of the opportunity cost incurred.
Therefore, moving up a category suggests that World of Hyatt believes that occupancy rates will increase, and hence the cost of compensating hotels for redemptions in the upcoming year.
The bigger problem is the new award chart
Perhaps the bigger headline here is that World of Hyatt’s new award chart will also kick in from 20 May 2026. This is the biggest shake-up to the programme in years, and will result in a de facto increase in price for many properties, even if they’re not changing category.
As a reminder, here’s World of Hyatt’s current award chart, which has three tiers of pricing per category: Off-Peak, Standard and Peak.
And here’s the new award chart, which has five tiers of pricing per category: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, Top.
For ease of comparison, I’ve isolated the lowest and highest possible prices under the current and revised charts.
| 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’s 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.
What’s especially noteworthy is that the revised Moderate tier is, in most cases, more expensive than the current Peak pricing, meaning that in an “average” scenario, members will be paying more.
| Category | Peak Price (Current Chart) |
Moderate Price (Revised Chart) |
| 1 | 6,500 | 6,000 -8% |
| 2 | 9,500 | 10,000 +5% |
| 3 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
| 4 | 18,000 | 20,000 +11% |
| 5 | 23,000 | 25,000 +9% |
| 6 | 29,000 | 30,000 +3% |
| 7 | 35,000 | 35,000 |
| 8 | 45,000 | 55,000 +22% |
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.
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.
Conclusion
World of Hyatt will be implementing its annual category changes from 20 May 2026, with 136 properties changing categories.
It’s bad enough that 112 properties are moving up, and just 24 are moving down. But what will really hurt is the new award chart which, in many cases, will result in standard (i.e. Moderate) pricing above current Peak prices. Ouch.
These are brutal changes, make no mistake. It’s sobering to think that the top redemption cost with Hyatt was 15,000 points two decades ago, and now we’re staring at the prospect of 75,000 points award nights!
Mind you, it’s not like we in Asia have the cobrand cards or transferrable points to Hyatt to keep pace with this kind of inflation. Most members here are earning points through stays alone, and with earn rates remaining unchanged, it’s hard to see how we can keep up.
What do you make of World of Hyatt’s 2026 category changes?
As a multi-year Diamond/Globalist (3/4 way to Lifetime), I have come to accept this as inevitable as the debasement of currency in terms of inflation. At least money in the bank earns some miserable interest but hotel point is just devaluing every year.
The best advice is to try to redeem whenever you have the required points and not just accumulate without any plans.
“World of Hyatt” is still the best hotel loyalty program out there with their suite upgrade vouchers and My Hyatt Concierge dedicated service team for qualified Globalists.