World of Hyatt routinely evaluates their hotels within their award categories, and will generally make changes once a year. Hyatt has announced their latest round of changes, and it’s a very small number of hotels shifting into a higher award category, with one property moving down to a lower category, affecting a total of only 9 hotels.

Anything booked prior to December 13, 2017 will be booked at the current categories.

The following hotels will shift into a higher award category:

• Hyatt Place Orlando Airport (Category 1 to 2)
• Hyatt Place Orlando/Lake Mary (Category 1 to 2)
• Hyatt Place St. Paul (Category 1 to 2)
• Hyatt Place Augusta (Category 2 to 3)
• Hyatt Place Santa Cruz (Category 2 to 4)
• Highlands Inn, a Hyatt Hotel (Category 6 to 7)
• Hyatt Place Long Island/New York City (Category 2 to 3)
• Hyatt Place Shenzhen, Dongmen (Category 1 to 2)

The following will shift into a lower award category:

• The Confidante Hotel (Category 6 to 4)

The biggest win here is with The Confidante moving down to a Category 4. This means that those with the both the Hyatt Credit Card anniversary night and the 5 Brand Free Night Award will now have an alternative to redeem at besides the Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami, which is also a Category 4.

As you can see most of the hotels moving up in categories this year are within the Hyatt Place brand. Overall, I don’t find these changes all that thrilling either way.

Redemptions for Hotels Moving to a Higher Category: Any Free Night Award booked at a property, prior to 12:01am CST, 12/13/17 that is shifting to a higher category and requires more points will not be affected. Reservations will remain in place at the original point level.

Redemptions for Hotels Moving to a Lower Category: Any Free Night Award booked at a property, prior to 12:01am CST, 12/13/17 that is shifting to a lower category and requires fewer points will receive an adjustment. World of Hyatt Customer Service will proactively deposit the point difference into a member’s account.

What are your thoughts on the latest category changes to the World of Hyatt program? Feel free to share your thoughts below.