Bilt Rewards announced Thursday that it will cut transfers to World of Hyatt by 25% starting Jan. 1, 2027 – going from a 1:1 benchmark, down to 4:3. This news lands the same day the Chase cut 1:1 Hyatt transfers for legacy Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred cardholders.
If you were counting on Bilt points as your backup plan for Hyatt stays, that plan just got a lot more expensive.
That means every 1,000 Bilt points you send to Hyatt will become just 750 Hyatt points. The change applies to every Bilt member, whether you carry the top-tier *Bilt Palladium* with Bilt elite status or are just an everyday member, earning a few Bilt points here and there.
All this comes just months after Hyatt's own painful devaluation and its switch to a new five-tier award chart, making it a real double-whammy. Starting next year, there will be exactly one way to move credit card points to Hyatt without losing a quarter of them in the process: carrying the *chase sapphire reserve* or the (business version), both of which carry a $795 annual fee.
Put all these changes together, and the picture is clear: Your points don't go as far as they used to.
What's Changing (and When)
Through Dec. 31, Bilt points still move to Hyatt on a 1:1 basis – that means you can send 1,000 Bilt points to Hyatt and get 1,000 World of Hyatt points.
On Jan. 1, that drops to 4:3. You'll need a third more Bilt points to book the exact same Hyatt stay. A night costing 15,000 points at a midrange Hyatt Regency will soon require transferring 20,000 Bilt points to Hyatt instead.
And it gets even uglier at the high end. A “top” night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo can now run 75,000 Hyatt points under Hyatt's new five-tier award chart. Starting in January, that same night will cost 100,000 Bilt points.
The change also reduces the value of your everyday spending on a Bilt card if you primarily use Bilt points for Hyatt transfers. The Bilt Palladium earns 2x points on purchases, which works out to an effective 1.5 Hyatt points per dollar once the new ratio kicks in.
So why now? Neither Bilt nor Hyatt has said. But when Hyatt's only two transfer partners make identical cuts within a few months of each other, it's hard not to see the hotel chain itself as the reason. If Chase – Hyatt's co-branded card partner – couldn't keep 1:1 transfers on its most popular card, the writing was on the wall for Bilt, too.
Whatever the reason, it lands on a program that has already spent this year testing its members' patience.
What Should You Do?
If there's any good news here, it's that Bilt is giving members a three-month notice.
If you have a specific Hyatt stay in mind, transfer your Bilt points before Dec. 31. Just remember that, as with transfers from any points program to an airline or hotel partner, transfers to Hyatt are a one-way street. You can't get them back into your Bilt account once you send them to Hyatt.
Last month, we analyzed nearly 400,000 award nights across more than 1,200 Hyatt properties and found that the chain's spring devaluation has only worsened. More than 43% of award nights at top-tier Category 8 hotels now cost 55,000 points or more, up from 30% when the new award chart launched in May. Hyatt hasn't offered much in return, either: Award availability has barely improved.
That's why I wouldn't speculatively transfer a pile of Bilt points to Hyatt unless I knew exactly how I'd use them.
And if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, nothing changes for you. Your card just became the last 1:1 transfer path to Hyatt – enjoy it while it lasts.
Bottom Line
Another one bites the dust. Starting Jan. 1, Bilt will transfer points to Hyatt at 4:3 instead of 1:1, matching the cut that hit Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred cardholders today.
Bilt was the workaround for travelers who didn't want to pay for the pricey Reserve – but soon, there won't be a workaround, period. Either you pay $795 a year to keep 1:1 transfers, or you accept that Hyatt stays will cost you 33% more going forward.
