World of Hyatt has announced two changes coming in 2020:
- Introduction of off peak and peak pricing on award bookings in March 2020
- Get more value from dining, spa & more awards (up to 50% more) in January 2020
Peak & Off Peak Pricing
In March 2020 Hyatt will introduce peak and off peak pricing. The price for a ‘standard’ rate (e.g not peak or off peak pricing) will remain the same, as will the number of categories (8). If you book a property before these new rates go into effect you’ll keep the same pricing, unless the property falls into the off peak pricing for your dates in which case you will be automatically refunded. The new award chart for standard rooms is as follows:
Cash & points rates will still require 50% of the points amount. For example a category four property would be 6,000 points + cash off peak, 7,500 points + cash standard and 9,000 points + cash for peak.
Dining, Spa & More
Hyatt is also increasing the value you get when redeeming points for credit towards dining, spa, in-room purchases and more. Previously you’d get 0.5¢ at the lower end and 0.833¢ per point on the higher end. Now it’s 1¢ on the lower end and 1.54¢ on the higher end. It’s a shame you need to redeem so many points to get the higher point value as otherwise I could see it being useful.
Our Verdict
It’s always hard to know how bad changes like this are, without knowing how Hyatt will determine what are peak and off peak dates. The other issue with something like this is that there is less transparency and it’s significantly easier for Hyatt to devalue points without media and loyalty members really knowing (by simply increasing the number of properties and dates that fall under peak pricing). Obviously there will be some upside with the off peak pricing and I suspect at least in the short term we see some good availability there to reassure loyalty members that this isn’t a huge devaluation, in the medium to long term I suspect we will see more peak pricing. The good news is that if you book properties now you effectively lock in the standard pricing and if your dates fall under off peak you’ll get automatically refunded which is nice.
