Widely considered the most valuable hotel loyalty program by far, World of Hyatt has taken some serious hits in 2026. And with the once-trusty 1:1 transfers from the *chase sapphire preferred* taking a blow come Oct. 1, the countdown is on … and the questions just keep pouring in.
“How far has Hyatt really fallen? Should I race to figure out my travel plans over the next year and book a bunch of Hyatts in the next week? Maybe even consider speculatively transferring a boatload of Chase points over to Hyatt before the calendar flips to October? Or is it worth getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or going deeper with Bilt Rewards so I can keep sending points to Hyatt 1:1?”
There's no right or wrong answer, but know this: As brutal as Hyatt's big award chart changeover this spring was, it's only gotten worse.
We can say that definitively after gathering and analyzing nearly 400,000 award nights at 1,200-plus Hyatt properties worldwide this week, comparing them to where things stood in May, just after Hyatt first switched over to its new, five-tier award chart.
- As expected, more and more award nights are now pricing out at the highest new “Upper” and “Top” rates – especially at high-end Category 7 and Category 8 properties, where rooms that previously cost no more than 45,000 points per night now go for as high as 75,000 points apiece
- Combined with other changes to its award chart, that's close to half of redemptions at top-tier prices costing more points than they did booking earlier in 2026
- The tradeoff for these kinds of painful increases is supposed to be better award availability – more nights bookable, just at higher rates. Months into this new system, award availability has hardly improved.
Even now, there's still plenty of upside and solid deals to redeem Hyatt points. And Hyatt points still undoubtedly go much further than the likes of Hilton, Marriott, and IHG … at least in most cases.
But given the way things are trending, I'm seriously reconsidering how much I value Hyatt points as a whole … and what that means for Chase as a result.
More & More Pricey Nights
Back when the hotel chain first rolled out its new award chart, there was a silver lining: Hyatt executives said they would slowly phase in the new, higher-priced “Top” and “Upper” free night rates.
That was true. But it's steadily changing … for the worse.
To be clear, there's some seasonality skewing this push into higher award rates: This fresh round of analysis captures award rates from May through September of next year – peak season in many destinations. And these pricier nights are still fairly rare: Across Hyatt's entire portfolio, just 1.5% of nights fall into these highest pricing buckets.
But that's up from just a few months ago when this new award chart was first introduced. Every single award category is seeing more of these pricier rates than four months ago. And in each and every case, there's a huge downside:
- Category 1 properties that were previously capped at 6,500 points per night now go for 7,500 points for an “Upper” night … and 9,000 points for a “Top” stay
- At the top end, Category 8 properties that were once no more than 45,000 points during the busiest times are now 65,000 points or even 75,000 points per night for an Upper or Top redemption, respectively.
And that actually undersells the pain here. For many properties, even award stays that fall under Hyatt's new “Moderate” pricing band are more expensive than the previous peak rates the chain charged earlier this year under the old pricing system.
Put simply? Since launching this new system, Hyatt and its properties are putting far more award nights into the pricier buckets. Case in point: An award stay at a Category 8 property for next summer is more than three times as likely to price in the “Moderate” bucket or higher than it was this past summer.
And that's the clear loser here…
Top-Tier Hyatts Go From Bad to Worse
The biggest upside of Hyatt's big changeover this spring was that many cheap stays at Category 1 and 2 properties – think your Hyatt Houses, Hyatt Places, and maybe the occasional Hyatt Regency – actually got a bit cheaper under the new system. That's still true today.
But the real reason most travelers prize Hyatt points above all else is for getting outsized value on luxurious resorts and top-dollar properties that might cost $1,000 or more a night. And that just keeps getting worse.
More than 43% of all award nights at top-tier Category 8 hotels are now pricing out at 55,000 points or more a night, inching closer to half. Back when Hyatt first rolled out this new award chart, just 30% of award nights fell into those three pricier buckets.
For example, nearly half of the calendar at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa will cost you 55,000 points or more – and not just over peak ski season next winter but even over the summer.
The same trend holds for other popular properties like Park Hyatt Cabo del Sol, another skier's favorite in Hyatt Centric Park City, and the Park Hyatt Milan.
But one of the worst in Hyatt's entire portfolio is a flagship property: The Park Hyatt New York, where a full two-thirds of award nights now cost at least 55,000 points.
Sweet Spots for Cheaper Nights
All hope is not lost for getting a decent deal on a top-dollar Hyatt redemption.
While lower-priced award nights at Category 7 and 8 properties are getting harder to find, a handful of properties around the globe stand out:
- Alila Jabal Akhdar outside of Muscat, Oman: Nearly 90% of award nights book into one of the two lowest pricing bands
- My beloved Park Hyatt Tokyo isn't far behind: Three-quarters of the calendar has award nights at cheaper rates
- The relatively new Park Hyatt London River Thames and Park Hyatt Marrakech have almost 70% of nights bookable in one of the two lowest rate buckets
- At the Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo and Park Hyatt Sydney, that's 60%
- Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono has 80% of cheaper rates available, though that's skewed by the fact that it's basically impossible to book a standard room during Japan's peak ski season.
Availability is Still a Question Mark
Back when Hyatt first made this painful cutover to its new, five-tier pricing system, we bemoaned the fact that higher award rates didn't result in more award availability for hard-to-book properties.
That's what we saw when Hilton took a chainsaw to its program last summer, raising standard award rates to as high as 250,000 points per night. The same goes for a handful of airline programs that have raised rates in recent years. That's supposed to be the silver lining for members forking over more points: Free nights are pricier but easier to find.
Yet not much has changed for Hyatt – not drastically, anyway.
Across Hyatt's entire portfolio, award availability remains virtually unchanged … with a slight improvement for those priciest Category 7 and Category 8 properties. A few properties stand out for being even easier to book with points these last few months, including:
- Alila Kothaifaru Maldives
- Park Hyatt Tokyo
- Park Hyatt Johannesburg
But one prized property in particular went the opposite way: The Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, one of the fan favorites in Hilton's entire portfolio. Award availability has cratered at this Parisian hotel.
So if you're banking on transferring some Chase points to Hyatt to lock in a stay here for a future trip to France … well, probably don't.
Bottom Line
The clock is ticking for millions of Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders with Hyatt on the brain.
There's still plenty of value in Hyatt points, but our analysis shows that it's painful May award chart changes have only gotten worse over the last few months. So what does that mean if you're wondering what to do before Oct. 1?
Looking at this, I personally wouldn't transfer a bunch of Chase points to Hyatt unless I knew exactly how I'd use them. For years, Hyatt may have been the safe bet for solid redemptions and the go-to way to redeem Chase points for many.
That's changing … and, depending on what you're looking to book, those days may be over already.
