What happens when a redemption that once felt like a steal suddenly has a much wider price range? That’s the question I kept coming back to after Hyatt revealed its new award pricing tiers. Not whether the changes are good or bad — that part has already been debated — but what they might mean for the kinds of stays we’ve actually booked with Hyatt points.
So instead of starting with charts or speculation, I went back to three trips where Hyatt points played a big role for us: a luxury stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, a busy weekend at a Hyatt Place in Fort Worth, and a boutique hotel in London. Each one delivered a different kind of value at the time — from outsized wins to perfectly reasonable redemptions. Running those same stays through Hyatt’s new pricing ranges doesn’t give us definitive answers yet, but it does show something important: the potential value of a Hyatt redemption could swing a lot more than it used to.
Because the biggest change here isn’t the starting price. It’s the range.
Grand Hyatt Kauai: When Hyatt Points Felt Like a No-Brainer
View from our balcony at the Grand Hyatt Kauai
One of the best examples of why I’ve always valued Hyatt points came from a stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. I wasn’t even planning to book a Club Level room — that only happened because I initially booked the wrong dates and by the time I fixed the reservation, the ocean-view room with Grand Club access was the only option left.
Normally, that would have been a painful mistake. Instead, it turned into one of those redemptions that makes you double-check the math. With a listed cash rate of about $1,300 per night, using 33,000 World of Hyatt points worked out to roughly four cents per point — far above the typical value I aim for when redeeming hotel points. Moments like that are why Hyatt has always felt different from other programs.
Looking at similar dates now through the lens of Hyatt’s new pricing ranges, the interesting part isn’t that redemptions like this disappear. At the lowest tiers, the value can still be exceptional. But as nights move higher within the new structure, the same stay could deliver dramatically different results depending on where it lands. The floor hasn’t really changed — but the ceiling has moved a lot higher.
Hyatt Place Fort Worth Stockyards: When Points Beat Weekend Pricing
Not every great redemption happens at a luxury resort. Sometimes the best value shows up at a mid-tier property during a busy weekend — and that’s exactly what happened when I stayed at the Hyatt Place Fort Worth Stockyards.
I used 18,000 World of Hyatt points per night for that stay, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Cash rates had surged because of local demand, turning what would normally be an ordinary Hyatt Place booking into an outsized redemption worth roughly 4.3 cents per point. It was one of those rare situations where using points didn’t just feel like a smart choice — it felt like I’d found a loophole in the system.
Under Hyatt’s previous pricing structure, even big weekend price spikes didn’t always translate into equally big jumps in points cost. With the new ranges, properties like this have more flexibility to price high-demand nights differently. That doesn’t automatically mean every weekend will cost more — but it does mean the gap between the best-value nights and the most expensive ones could widen.
Great Scotland Yard: When “Average” Value Still Makes Sense
Not every redemption needs to feel like a once-in-a-lifetime win to be worthwhile. Our stay at Great Scotland Yard in London is a good example of what I’d consider a “normal” Hyatt redemption — and honestly, that’s often enough.
We booked two rooms for two nights using points: 25,000 points per room per night, for a total of 100,000 points. Cash rates for our dates were around $500 per night, so using points worked out to roughly two cents per point — about the average value I try to get with Hyatt.
Running similar dates through the new pricing structure shows how these solid, middle-of-the-road redemptions might be most affected. When the pricing bands widen, a stay that once landed comfortably in the “good value” range can move noticeably depending on which tier applies — even if nothing about the hotel or the travel experience has changed.
What These Three Stays Show About Hyatt’s New Pricing
Looking back at these trips side by side, the biggest takeaway isn’t that Hyatt redemptions suddenly become bad deals. It’s that the range of possible values is getting wider.
At the lowest tiers, Hyatt points can still deliver the kind of oversized wins that made the program popular in the first place. But as nights move into higher bands, the math shifts quickly — sometimes turning a standout redemption into something that feels merely average.
Right now, we don’t know how often properties will use the Top tier or how much availability will appear at the lowest levels. Until we see real-world booking patterns, everything is theoretical. But running the numbers on stays we’ve already taken makes one thing clear: under the new structure, where a night lands within the pricing range may matter more than the category itself.
How I Looked At The Numbers
Rather than trying to predict how Hyatt will price individual nights, I took a simpler approach. I went back to three stays where we’ve already used Hyatt points and compared the redemption value we actually received at the time to what those same stays might look like across Hyatt’s new pricing ranges.
To do that, I searched for upcoming dates at each property and pulled the cash rates. Then I matched each hotel to its current category and used the corresponding award range (the old three-level band and the new five-level range) to see how the same stay could price out depending on which tier applies.
That way, the examples stay grounded in real trips instead of hypothetical searches. The goal wasn’t to forecast exactly where pricing will land, but to show how the value of the same redemption could shift depending on which tier applies.
When you line those numbers up side by side, the takeaway becomes pretty clear: Hyatt redemptions can still deliver strong value, but the spread between the best and worst outcomes is likely to be wider than it used to be.
The Numbers Side By Side
Each example below uses the cash price I found for an upcoming stay at that property. Then I calculated the cents-per-point (cpp) value if that same stay priced at each level of Hyatt’s new award range for that category.
| Property (example stay) | Cash price for stay | Lowest (cpp) | Low (cpp) | Moderate (cpp) | Upper (cpp) | Top (cpp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Hyatt Kauai (3 nights, Category 8) | $3,271.70 | 3.12 cpp (105K) | 2.42 cpp (135K) | 1.98 cpp (165K) | 1.68 cpp (195K) | 1.47 cpp (225K) |
| Hyatt Place Fort Worth Stockyards (5 nights, Category 5) | $2,606.00 | 3.47 cpp (75K) | 2.61 cpp (100K) | 2.09 cpp (125K) | 1.74 cpp (150K) | 1.49 cpp (175K) |
| Great Scotland Yard (2 nights, Category 6) | $1,229.73 | 3.07 cpp (40K) | 2.46 cpp (50K) | 2.05 cpp (60K) | 1.76 cpp (70K) | 1.54 cpp (80K) |
Points totals shown in parentheses are the total points needed for the full stay at that pricing level.
Looking at the numbers this way, the biggest shift becomes pretty clear. For years, Hyatt members mostly focused on a hotel’s category to estimate the value of a redemption. Now, the pricing band may matter just as much — if not more. The same Category 6 or Category 8 property can deliver dramatically different results depending on whether a night lands at the lowest end of the range or the top tier. In other words, it’s no longer just where you stay that determines the value — it’s when you stay and how that night is priced within the new bands.
Final Thought
When Hyatt announced these changes, it would have been easy to react to the chart alone. But looking at three stays we’ve actually taken tells a more nuanced story. Hyatt points can still deliver outsized value — the kind that makes you feel like you found a loophole — and they can still provide solid, dependable returns for everyday travel.
The difference now is how wide the swing can be. The category of a hotel used to give you a fairly tight idea of what a redemption might look like. Under the new structure, the pricing band within that category may matter just as much. The same stay could be an exceptional deal at one end of the range and merely average at the other.
Right now, we don’t know how often properties will use the highest tiers or how much availability will show up at the lowest levels. Until we see real booking patterns play out, everything remains theoretical. But if there’s one takeaway from running the numbers on trips we’ve already taken, it’s this: Hyatt points haven’t suddenly lost their value — they’ve just become more variable. And going forward, paying attention to where a night lands within the band matters more than ever.
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