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World of Hyatt has been busy this February, announcing a new bonus points promotion for the rest of winter and early spring, as well as undertaking a pretty substantial adjustment of hotels moving from one award category to another.

Earn Points Faster

World of Hyatt members can earn bonus points when staying at Hyatt hotels between 15 February and 15 May, 2019, starting from your second stay.

In a reversal of the standard practice of awarding fewer bonus points at “limited service” hotels, Earn Points Faster will offer:

• 1,500 bonus points per night for stays at the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brands
• 1,000 bonus points per night for stays at all other brands (including MLife in Las Vegas and any SLH hotels integrated into the Hyatt system)

Once you get past your first stay, you can earn bonus points for a maximum of fifty nights.  You can earn these bonus points even when staying using points or free night certificates!

Registration is required before 31 March – you can do that by clicking here.

Award Category Adjustments

World of Hyatt also announced that approximately 250 hotels will be changing award category on 18 March, 2019. As a reminder, here’s what the award chart looks like:

Unlike other hotel chains, approximately 50% will be increasing in award category and 50% will decrease. As always, you can make bookings into the future, but any changes you make after 18 March will likely result in a repricing of your award stay.

You can find the full list by clicking here.  Some notable hotels dropping down an award category are:

• European airport hotels at London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Frankfurt
• Several hotels in Istanbul
• Andaz Liverpool Street in London
• Park Hyatt Siem Reap
• Hyatt Regency Jersey City (great views of Manhattan and quicker on public transport than you might expect)

Many of these changes come as no surprise, as it almost always made sense to pay cash instead of spending valuable Hyatt points.

On the flipside, a substantial number of hotels will be increasing, including some of my favourite sweet spots such as:

• Hyatt Regency Cartagena Colombia (2 –> 3)
• Park Hyatt Mendoza Argentina (2 –> 3)
• Andaz Papagayo (4 –> 5)
• Hyatt Regency Bali (1 –> 2)
• Park Hyatt Mallorca (5 –> 6)
• Park Hyatt Hamburg (4 –> 5)

Conclusion

A 1,000 – 1,500 point bonus per night is certainly appreciated – I’d value that in the £14-20 range.  However, I will never understand why Hyatt insists on never providing advance notice. Whoever is already booked to stay receives free points, whilst no increased bookings can be won without letting people know of upcoming promos!

And although it’s disappointing to see that some of my favourites will cost more points, there are also a handful of hotels that I might now be inspired to visit. At the very least it’s nice to see some balance, rather than a barely disguised devaluation.

What do you think of the promo and Hyatt’s award category adjustments?