How Hyatt’s new award chart has changed prices at popular hotels – The Points Guy

World of Hyatt’s long-awaited, or perhaps dreaded, award chart changes are now in effect. On May 20, the popular hotel loyalty program moved from a three-tiered to a five-tiered redemption pricing model with significantly higher rates on new Upper and Top dates.

The program gave members several months’ warning of the upcoming changes — allowing travelers to lock in bookings at existing rates — and disclosed the new award chart and what properties would change categories. What we didn’t know until May 20 was how many nights at each property would fall into each of the new award pricing tiers.

For example, some travelers feared all the previous Peak nights would switch to Top pricing, making award nights significantly more expensive. But now we can definitively say how the changes affected award pricing at some of the best Hyatt hotels and resorts, including how many future dates fall into each of the five new award pricing tiers.

To get this information, TPG partnered with Gondola (a free hotel search and direct booking platform for frequent travelers) to analyze thousands of data points from 19 popular Hyatt properties worldwide across multiple categories. Through this analysis, we can compare just how many nights are at each pricing tier pre- and post May 20 and how much your Hyatt points are worth now at these properties. The results may surprise you, so let’s dig in.

Related: Hyatt’s new award charts have arrived — here are our first impressions

How did the May 20 Hyatt award chart changes affect average award rates?

Redemption rates were previously split across three pricing tiers (Off-peak, Standard and Peak) and are now split between five pricing tiers (Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper and Top).

We calculated the average nightly points cost before and after the changes at 19 of our favorite Hyatt properties by counting all available standard room award rates over one year and dividing by the number of nights with standard award availability.

*These properties also moved up one category

Excluding the three properties that changed categories at the same time the new pricing was introduced, these popular properties will now cost you 10% more Hyatt points than before May 20, which is a fairly mild devaluation compared with how some other loyalty programs increase rates, often without warning.

How did the Hyatt award chart changes affect average redemption rates?

Gondola also captures cash rates for Hyatt properties over the course of a year, which is a great way to see what value you are getting from your Hyatt points. As a reminder, TPG valued World of Hyatt points at 1.65 cents in our May 2026 valuations that we published before these Hyatt changes went live.

Here’s a look at the mean cash rates pre- and post-May 20 Hyatt award chart changes at the same 19 hotels. You’ll also find the average cents-per-point for standard room award stays before and after the changes in the chart below.

*Also moved up one category

The numbers show that across these 19 favorite properties, you’ll receive less value from your Hyatt points with the new pricing structure than with the previous one. But if you exclude the three properties that moved categories on May 20, you can still obtain a valuation close to our May 2026 valuation of World of Hyatt points. Plus, keep in mind that these 19 properties may not be representative of the entire World of Hyatt portfolio.

How many nights are at each pricing tier before and after the changes?

We were also interested in understanding how many nights each year would be at each level under the new five-tier pricing, especially given the higher award rates in the Upper and Top tiers.

If most nights in the calendar suddenly jumped from Standard in the pre-May 20 award pricing to Upper or Top in the new award pricing, that would be cause for concern and a huge devaluation. Luckily, that’s not what we’re seeing at the properties we considered. (Since Hyatt has different tiers for its all-inclusive properties, we’ve left those three hotels off here.)

In fact, the data shows that there are very few nights at the new, most expensive Top pricing, and even the slightly cheaper Upper pricing doesn’t appear often. For most properties, the previous Peak pricing largely shifts to the new Moderate rates, which carry approximately the same points cost in most categories.

The Grand Hyatt Kauai, Grand Hyatt Vail and Andaz Prague are the three properties on our list that have the most nights moved to the Upper and/or Top prices.

Bottom line

World of Hyatt’s new five-tier award chart raised the cost of redemptions at 19 popular properties by roughly 10%, but the scale of the change varies considerably across the portfolio. The good news is that the most expensive Top-tier pricing is applied sparingly, and for the majority of properties, what was previously Peak pricing has largely migrated to Moderate rather than to the new Upper band.

Across the 19 properties we analyzed with Gondola, average point values have slipped to 1.57 cents, below TPG’s May 2026 valuation of 1.65 cents for World of Hyatt points. That is still a respectable return at the right property.

The program retains great value, and savvy members who shop around the calendar will find that most of what made World of Hyatt a terrific loyalty program still holds.

Gondola is a free hotel search and direct booking platform for frequent travelers, making it easy to compare cash and points rates across brands while earning up to an extra 7% cash back.