Date: March 2, 2026 Author: Gondola AI Research Data: 563,664 deduplicated rate comparisons across 1,970 Hyatt properties (scraped Feb 26, 2026)
On February 25, 2026, Hyatt announced a sweeping overhaul of their World of Hyatt award chart, effective May 2026. The old three-tier system (Off-Peak / Standard / Peak) is being replaced with five tiers: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, and Top.
We analyzed 563,664 deduplicated rate comparisons across 1,970 Hyatt properties — covering check-in dates from late February 2026 through January 2027 — to project exactly how this will impact your points redemptions. The overall median redemption value today is 1.85 cents per point (cpp), with a mean of 2.63 cpp. The verdict: most travelers will pay more, but there are still pockets of extraordinary value if you know where to look.
Category │ Off-Peak │ Standard │ Peak
─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────
1 │ 3,500 │ 5,000 │ 6,500
2 │ 6,500 │ 8,000 │ 9,500
3 │ 9,000 │ 12,000 │ 15,000
4 │ 12,000 │ 15,000 │ 18,000
5 │ 17,000 │ 20,000 │ 23,000
6 │ 21,000 │ 25,000 │ 29,000
7 │ 25,000 │ 30,000 │ 35,000
8 │ 35,000 │ 40,000 │ 45,000
Category │ Lowest │ Low │ Moderate │ Upper │ Top
─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼─────────┼────────
1 │ 3,000 │ 4,500 │ 6,000 │ 7,500 │ 9,000
2 │ 6,000 │ 7,500 │ 10,000 │ 12,000 │ 15,000
3 │ 8,000 │ 12,000 │ 15,000 │ 17,500 │ 20,000
4 │ 12,000 │ 15,000 │ 20,000 │ 22,500 │ 25,000
5 │ 15,000 │ 20,000 │ 25,000 │ 30,000 │ 35,000
6 │ 20,000 │ 25,000 │ 30,000 │ 35,000 │ 40,000
7 │ 25,000 │ 30,000 │ 35,000 │ 45,000 │ 55,000
8 │ 35,000 │ 45,000 │ 55,000 │ 65,000 │ 75,000
The "Moderate" tier — which will be the most common pricing — compared to the old "Standard":
Category │ Old Standard → New Moderate │ Increase
─────────┼─────────────────────────────┼──────────
1 │ 5,000 → 6,000 │ +20%
2 │ 8,000 → 10,000 │ +25%
3 │ 12,000 → 15,000 │ +25%
4 │ 15,000 → 20,000 │ +33% ◄ largest mid-tier hit
5 │ 20,000 → 25,000 │ +25%
6 │ 25,000 → 30,000 │ +20%
7 │ 30,000 → 35,000 │ +17%
8 │ 40,000 → 55,000 │ +38% ◄ largest absolute hit
But the real pain is at the "Top" tier vs the old "Peak":
Category │ Old Peak → New Top │ Increase
─────────┼────────────────────┼──────────
7 │ 35,000 → 55,000 │ +57%
8 │ 45,000 → 75,000 │ +67% ◄ worst case
5 │ 23,000 → 35,000 │ +52%
2 │ 9,500 → 15,000 │ +58%
We looked at the median nightly cash rate for every Hyatt property, then calculated what your cents-per-point (CPP) redemption value would be under each pricing scenario. Our processed dataset of 563,664 deduplicated rates gives a clear picture.
Our data breaks down cleanly by how many points a night costs today:
Points Tier │ Median CPP │ Mean CPP │ Count │ What This Maps To
───────────────┼──────────────┼────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────────────
1-5K pts │ 3.65 │ 4.27 │ 109,314 │ Cat 1 Off-Peak / Lowest
5-10K pts │ 2.47 │ 3.39 │ 141,320 │ Cat 1-2 Standard / Cat 3 Off-Peak
10-15K pts │ 1.73 │ 2.02 │ 76,810 │ Cat 3-4 Standard
15-25K pts │ 1.52 │ 1.74 │ 112,873 │ Cat 4-6 Standard/Peak
25-40K pts │ 1.47 │ 1.64 │ 64,202 │ Cat 7-8 Standard
40-60K pts │ 1.43 │ 1.59 │ 24,605 │ Cat 8 Peak / New Upper
60-100K pts │ 1.26 │ 1.24 │ 22,847 │ Already above old chart
100K+ pts │ 1.31 │ 1.25 │ 11,693 │ Dynamic / premium pricing
The cliff is steep. At 1-5K points, you're getting an outstanding 3.65 cpp median. By the time you hit 15K+, you're barely above the 1.5 cpp "good redemption" threshold. And anything priced at 60K+ delivers only ~1.26 cpp — which is functionally a break-even transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Old Standard New Lowest New Moderate New Top
─────────── ────────── ──────────── ───────
Category 1 2.7 cpp 4.5 cpp 2.2 cpp 1.5 cpp
($135/night median)
Category 2 1.9 cpp 2.5 cpp 1.5 cpp 1.0 cpp
($151/night median)
Category 3 1.7 cpp 2.5 cpp 1.3 cpp 1.0 cpp
($199/night median)
Category 4 1.4 cpp 1.8 cpp 1.1 cpp 0.8 cpp
($212/night median) ▲ winner ▼ loser ▼▼
Category 5 1.4 cpp 1.9 cpp 1.2 cpp 0.8 cpp
($289/night median)
Category 6 1.5 cpp 1.8 cpp 1.2 cpp 0.9 cpp
($364/night median)
Category 7 1.4 cpp 1.7 cpp 1.2 cpp 0.8 cpp
($429/night median)
Category 8 1.7 cpp 2.0 cpp 1.2 cpp 0.9 cpp
($684/night median) ▲ winner ▼ loser ▼▼
The 1.5 cpp baseline. Most points experts consider 1.5 cents per point to be the threshold for a "good" Hyatt redemption. Under the old Standard pricing, Categories 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8 exceeded this threshold. Under the new Moderate tier, only Category 1 remains above 1.5 cpp at the median. At the Top tier, no category delivers 1.5 cpp at the median.
Not all Hyatt brands are created equal. Here's how the 24 brands in the portfolio stack up:
Brand │ Median CPP │ Mean CPP │ Properties │ Rates
────────────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────
Alila │ 2.79 │ 3.37 │ 17 │ 5,078
Hyatt Regency │ 2.65 │ 3.58 │ 235 │ 73,621
Grand Hyatt │ 2.63 │ 4.25 │ 64 │ 20,157
Park Hyatt │ 2.60 │ 4.02 │ 45 │ 13,795
Joie De Vivre │ 2.57 │ 3.26 │ 36 │ 10,417
HYATT house │ 2.48 │ 2.97 │ 138 │ 43,945
Thompson Hotels │ 2.47 │ 3.53 │ 21 │ 6,264
Hyatt Centric │ 2.45 │ 3.04 │ 63 │ 20,054
Andaz │ 2.41 │ 3.54 │ 24 │ 7,684
────────────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────
Hyatt Place │ 2.28 │ 2.79 │ 431 │ 136,498
Destination Hotels │ 2.15 │ 2.99 │ 15 │ 4,361
Unbound Collection │ 2.11 │ 3.27 │ 25 │ 7,719
────────────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────
Secrets Resorts │ 1.80 │ 2.00 │ 20 │ 6,349
Dreams Resorts │ 1.55 │ 1.65 │ 23 │ 7,352
Mr & Mrs Smith │ 1.37 │ 1.36 │ 650 │ 151,249
Hyatt Residence Club │ 1.31 │ 1.51 │ 12 │ 2,698
Hyatt Zilara │ 1.28 │ 1.26 │ 1 │ 302
Hyatt Ziva │ 1.27 │ 1.33 │ 5 │ 1,299
The takeaway: The core Hyatt brands (Alila, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt) all cluster at 2.5-2.8 cpp median — reliably above the 1.5 cpp threshold. Mr & Mrs Smith properties (650 of them — a third of the portfolio!) sit at just 1.37 cpp, dragging down the overall average. If you exclude Mr & Mrs Smith, the portfolio median jumps significantly.
Under the current system, 72% of Category 1 nights and 91% of Category 2 nights already price at Standard or Peak. The "Off-Peak" bargain is already rare. Hyatt's claim that the new "Lowest" tier will offer savings is technically true — but our data shows these dates are uncommon.
Even more concerning: 6.1% of all deduplicated rates (34,540 observations) already price above 40,000 points, well into what will become Upper and Top tier territory. The rates at 60K+ (22,847 observations) deliver a meager 1.26 cpp median. This suggests Hyatt has already been testing higher pricing before officially expanding the chart.
These properties deliver outstanding value today but face the steepest CPP declines once the new chart takes effect. If any of these are on your bucket list, lock in the current pricing before May 2026.
These iconic properties are the biggest losers. At 55,000 points (Moderate) or 75,000 (Top), the math stops working for many of them.
| Property | Median Cash | Current CPP | New Moderate CPP | New Top CPP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tierra Patagonia (Chile) | $3,000/nt | 7.5 | 5.5 | 4.0 |
| Hermitage Bay AI (Antigua) | $2,900/nt | 7.2 | 5.3 | 3.9 |
| Caldera House Jackson Hole (WY) | $2,500/nt | 6.2 | 4.5 | 3.3 |
| Alila Ventana Big Sur AI (CA) | $2,488/nt | 6.2 | 4.5 | 3.3 |
| Miraval Tucson AI (AZ) | $2,150/nt | 5.4 | 3.9 | 2.9 |
| Park Hyatt Milano (Italy) | $1,731/nt | 4.3 | 3.1 | 2.3 |
| Park Hyatt Paris - Vendome (France) | $1,753/nt | 4.4 | 3.2 | 2.3 |
| Impression Isla Mujeres AI (Mexico) | $1,468/nt | 3.7 | 2.7 | 2.0 |
| Park Hyatt New York (NY) | $1,474/nt | 3.7 | 2.7 | 2.0 |
| Ellerman House (Cape Town) | $1,380/nt | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
The silver lining: Even at Top tier pricing, Tierra Patagonia (4.0 cpp), Hermitage Bay (3.9 cpp), and Caldera House (3.3 cpp) still deliver excellent redemption value. The hit is real but these properties are so expensive at cash rates that points still make sense.
Category 4 has the largest percentage increase at the Moderate tier and is often overlooked in the outrage over Category 8. These are workhorse properties — the Hyatt Regencies and Park Hyatts that business and leisure travelers actually book regularly.
| Property | Median Cash | Current CPP | New Moderate CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor | $309/nt | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa | $854/nt | 5.7 | 4.3 |
| Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo | $915/nt | 6.1 | 4.6 |
| Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay (Montenegro) | $307/nt | 2.0 | 1.5 |
| Property | Median Cash | Current CPP | New Top CPP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Hyatt Vienna | $814/nt | 2.7 | 1.5 |
| Park Hyatt Buenos Aires | $838/nt | 2.8 | 1.5 |
| Andaz 5th Avenue NYC | $667/nt | 2.2 | 1.2 |
| Park Hyatt Aviara (Carlsbad) | $732/nt | 2.4 | 1.3 |
For Categories 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, the new Lowest tier costs fewer points than the old Off-Peak:
Category │ Old Off-Peak │ New Lowest │ Savings
─────────┼──────────────┼────────────┼────────
1 │ 3,500 │ 3,000 │ -14%
2 │ 6,500 │ 6,000 │ -8%
3 │ 9,000 │ 8,000 │ -11%
5 │ 17,000 │ 15,000 │ -12%
6 │ 21,000 │ 20,000 │ -5%
If you're flexible with dates and can target shoulder-season stays, you'll actually get a better deal. 1,228 properties across these five categories will have at least some Lowest-tier nights.
Category 1 has the highest CPP value across the board and is least impacted by the changes. Even at the new Moderate tier (6,000 pts), the median Category 1 property delivers 2.2 cpp — still a solid redemption. At Lowest (3,000 pts), it's 4.5 cpp.
Best Category 1 values that remain strong even post-change:
| Property | Cash/Night | CPP at New Moderate | CPP at New Top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Hyatt Tokyo | $490 | 8.2 | 5.4 |
| Andaz Mayakoba (Mexico) | $625 | 10.4 | 6.9 |
| Hyatt Regency Cape Town | $270 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
| Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi | $535 | 8.9 | 5.9 |
| Park Hyatt Istanbul | $406 | 6.8 | 4.5 |
| Park Hyatt Zanzibar | $387 | 6.4 | 4.3 |
| Park Hyatt Bangkok | $332 | 5.5 | 3.7 |
| Park Hyatt Niseko (Japan) | $300 | 5.0 | 3.3 |
| Grand Hyatt Singapore | $284 | 4.7 | 3.2 |
| Hyatt Centric Park City | $287 | 4.8 | 3.2 |
These are properties where the cash rate is high enough relative to the category that even Top-tier pricing delivers 3+ cpp. These are your future sweet spots.
But a warning: some of these will almost certainly be recategorized upward in the April 2026 category refresh. A Park Hyatt commanding $490+ per night sitting in Category 1 is a mis-pricing that Hyatt will eventually correct.
If you can book a Category 8 property at the new Lowest tier (35,000 points — same as the old Off-Peak), properties with $700+ median cash rates still deliver 2.0+ cpp. The problem is that Hyatt has explicitly stated there are no caps on how many nights can be priced at Upper or Top. So "Lowest" nights at aspirational properties may be as rare as unicorns.
The only property moving down a category (Cat 5 → Cat 4). At $237/night median cash with 10,000 points at the new Cat 4 standard, this now delivers decent value where it didn't before. Not the most exciting property, but worth noting.
Hyatt's all-inclusive properties (Secrets, Dreams, Breathless, Zoetry, Impression, Sunscape, Zilara, Ziva) use a separate chart and face their own increases:
Best All-Inclusive Values Right Now:
| Property | Cash/Night | Current CPP | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoetry Montego Bay AI (Jamaica) | $1,335 | 4.5 | 30,000 |
| Secrets St. James Montego Bay (Jamaica) | $952 | 3.2 | 30,000 |
| Impression Isla Mujeres (Mexico) | $1,468 | 2.8 | 50,000 |
| Sunscape Sabor Cozumel (Mexico) | $512 | 2.2 | 23,000 |
| Secrets Akumal (Mexico) | $630 | 2.0 | 35,000 |
All-inclusive Category D-F will see increases of 47-67% at the Top tier. Zoetry Montego Bay at 4.5 cpp is the single best all-inclusive redemption in the portfolio and should be booked immediately if you're interested.
A data point that should concern every Hyatt loyalist: 6.1% of our deduplicated rates (34,540 nights) already price above 40,000 points, and the 60K+ tier (22,847 rates) delivers just 1.26 cpp median. Even the 100K+ tier (11,693 rates across the portfolio) manages only 1.31 cpp. The new chart simply formalizes what has been happening quietly.
Properties already pricing above 45,000 points on most nights:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Likuliku Lagoon Resort, Fiji │ 108,000 pts median │ $980/nt │ 1.1 cpp
La Reserve Geneve, Switzerland │ 96,500 pts median │ $902/nt │ 1.0 cpp
Zannier Omaanda, Namibia │ 96,500 pts median │ $1,187/nt│ 1.4 cpp
Song Saa Private Island, Cambodia │ 96,500 pts median │ $1,024/nt│ 1.3 cpp
Hotel Wailea, Maui │ 103,500 pts median │ $1,099/nt│ 1.3 cpp
Madikwe Safari Lodge, S. Africa │ 183,000 pts median │ $2,008/nt│ 1.2 cpp
At these prices, the CPP is hovering around 1.0-1.4 — not terrible, but far from the 4-5+ cpp aspirational redemptions that made Hyatt famous.
Our processed data reveals dramatic seasonal swings that matter even more under the new system:
Month │ Median CPP │ Mean CPP │ Rates │ Seasonal Read
──────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────┼──────────────
Jun 2026 │ 2.47 │ 3.42 │ 53,862 │ ████████████████████████ Peak
Jul 2026 │ 2.44 │ 3.37 │ 55,506 │ ███████████████████████
May 2026 │ 2.33 │ 3.24 │ 56,642 │ ██████████████████████
Mar 2026 │ 2.33 │ 3.13 │ 55,226 │ ██████████████████████
Apr 2026 │ 2.30 │ 3.14 │ 54,399 │ █████████████████████
Feb 2026 │ 2.46 │ 3.12 │ 3,514 │ ████████████████████████ (partial)
──────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────┼──────────────
Aug 2026 │ 1.74 │ 2.35 │ 55,017 │ ██████████████ ◄ cliff
Sep 2026 │ 1.65 │ 1.89 │ 52,940 │ ████████████ Trough
Oct 2026 │ 1.69 │ 1.93 │ 53,664 │ ████████████
Nov 2026 │ 1.72 │ 1.97 │ 49,974 │ █████████████
Dec 2026 │ 1.67 │ 1.93 │ 47,678 │ ████████████
Jan 2027 │ 1.75 │ 2.04 │ 25,242 │ █████████████
The seasonal cliff is brutal. June delivers 2.47 cpp median — by September it's 1.65 cpp, a 33% drop. This means summer bookings are where points deliver the most outsized value. Under the new chart, summer nights are more likely to be priced at Upper or Top tiers, making it even more critical to lock in pre-May bookings for summer 2026 travel.
Days Before Check-In │ Median CPP │ Mean CPP │ Rates
──────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────
1-7 days │ 2.37 │ 3.16 │ 12,402
8-14 days │ 2.37 │ 3.13 │ 12,419
15-30 days │ 2.34 │ 3.13 │ 28,508
31-60 days │ 2.31 │ 3.13 │ 54,272
61-90 days │ 2.32 │ 3.24 │ 54,903
91-180 days │ 2.14 │ 3.13 │ 161,084
180+ days │ 1.69 │ 1.94 │ 240,076
Last-minute bookings deliver 40% better CPP than booking 6+ months out (2.37 vs 1.69 cpp). This makes intuitive sense — cash rates spike for close-in dates while points prices stay flat or move less aggressively. The sweet spot is 1-90 days out where median CPP stays above 2.3.
Weekend check-ins (Friday 1.93, Saturday 1.96 cpp) outperform weekdays (Monday-Thursday ~1.83 cpp) and Sunday (1.77 cpp) — another signal that leisure travel dates deliver better points value.
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Transfer partners are unmatched. Chase Ultimate Rewards still transfer 1:1 to Hyatt, making Category 1-3 properties accessible for essentially free at 2-4+ cpp.
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Free Night Certificates got better. Cat 1-4 certificates now cover nights up to 25,000 points (Top of Cat 4), up from 18,000 (Peak of Cat 4). Cat 1-7 certificates cover up to 55,000 points, up from 35,000.
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Lowest tier is genuinely cheaper for Categories 1-3, 5, and 6 — if you can find these dates.
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Suite upgrades are unchanged. The suite upgrade award chart stays the same, making it relatively more valuable.
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Category 1 is still incredible. With Park Hyatts, Grand Hyatts, and Andaz properties sitting in Category 1 at $300-600/night, the value proposition at 3,000-6,000 points is extraordinary.
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The typical night gets 20-38% more expensive. The "Moderate" tier is the new normal, and it's significantly pricier than the old Standard.
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Top tier is devastating for aspirational bookings. Category 8 Top at 75,000 points is a 67% increase over the old Peak. Category 7 Top at 55,000 is a 57% increase.
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No caps on high-tier pricing. Hotels can put as many nights as they want at Upper and Top. This is dynamic pricing wearing an award-chart costume.
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6% of rates are already above the old chart. With 34,540 deduplicated rate observations pricing above 40K points, the genie is already out of the bottle.
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Hyatt's point inflation is outpacing earning. Over 20 years, top-tier pricing went from 15,000 to 75,000 points — 8.4% annual inflation. Earning rates haven't kept up.
Hyatt remains the best hotel loyalty program for points enthusiasts, but the margin is narrowing. The key insight from our 563,664 rate comparisons: Category 1 is where the real value lives. The 1-5K points tier delivers 3.65 cpp median — more than double the 15-25K tier (1.52 cpp). Core Hyatt brands (Alila at 2.79, Hyatt Regency at 2.65, Grand Hyatt at 2.63, Park Hyatt at 2.60 cpp) all deliver reliably above the 1.5 cpp threshold. The lower categories are where Hyatt's magic endures.
The aspirational redemptions — the $2,000/night properties at Category 8 — are where Hyatt is catching up to the competition. At 55,000-75,000 points per night, a Park Hyatt Paris or Ventana Big Sur starts looking less like a steal and more like a fair trade.
The strategy going forward:
- Accumulate points now, book before May for any aspirational stays
- Target Category 1-3 properties for the best ongoing value — the 1-5K and 5-10K points tiers deliver 3.65 and 2.47 cpp respectively
- Book 1-90 days out when possible — close-in bookings deliver 2.3+ cpp vs 1.69 cpp at 180+ days
- Target summer dates for maximum value — June (2.47 cpp) delivers 50% more than September (1.65 cpp)
- Be flexible on dates to hit Lowest-tier pricing when available
- Use Free Night Certificates aggressively — they now cover up to Top-tier pricing, making them dramatically more valuable
- Watch the April 2026 category refresh closely — some underpriced Category 1 properties (Park Hyatt Milano at Cat 1? Really?) will likely get bumped up
Our data includes both refundable (110,751 rates, 1,829 properties) and non-refundable (160,164 rates, 1,590 properties) rates. The surprise: there's virtually no CPP difference between them.
│ Median CPP │ Mean CPP │ Rates │ Properties
────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────┼────────────
Refundable │ 1.83 │ 2.49 │ 110,751 │ 1,829
Non-refundable │ 1.83 │ 2.10 │ 160,164 │ 1,590
This means there's no penalty for booking refundable rates with points — you get the same value with added flexibility. Always book refundable when available.
This analysis uses 563,664 deduplicated rate comparisons for 1,970 Hyatt properties, processed from raw data extracted from Hyatt's booking system on February 26, 2026. Raw data (1.25M+ observations) was deduplicated to 1 row per (property, date, refundability), keeping the cheapest CPP rate for each. Each observation includes the points cost, cash rate (converted to USD with taxes/fees), and property details for check-in dates from late February 2026 through January 2027. Cents-per-point (CPP) is calculated as (cash_cost_usd_after_tax / points_cost) × 100. The dataset covers 24 Hyatt brands, 1,129 cities, and 328 unique rate types. Categories are inferred from observed points costs mapped to the published award chart. Properties with fewer than 50 rate observations are excluded from the "Best Value" rankings to ensure statistical reliability.
Powered by Gondola AI's proprietary hotel rate monitoring platform.