Is Hyatt Changing How They Adjust Award Categories For Hotels?

Folks who read my blog frequently know that Hyatt Hotels is one of my favorite hotel chains.  Some folks may think I give them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe I do, but I think I keep my coverage as balanced as possible.  To that end, I’m puzzling through some recent changes by World of Hyatt that seem innocuous.

First, the changes, as noted by Hyatt to me a couple of days ago:

Effective today, January 31, 2018 at 9:00pm CT, the following two properties will shift into a higher award category. Free night award redemptions booked after the change at these hotels will require additional World of Hyatt points.

Code	Hotel	Current	New
TYSZD	Hyatt Place Knoxville/ Downtown	1	2
WASXS	Hyatt House Washington DC/ The Wharf	2	3

 

Okay, so 2 random, low-category Hyatt hotels changed category after Hyatt made their normal annual category changes. And, this year’s category changes were really, really gentle. So, we shouldn’t be worried, right?

I’m Not 100% Sure

I reached out to Hyatt and asked them if this was a change in strategy. While Hyatt did have a one-off change last year (as I recall) they didn’t have any others.

The answer back from Hyatt was that they continually evaluate market conditions to determine award category changes. They also said that they weren’t aware of any other changes that would need to be made this sure.

I’m sure they’re not aware of any others.  I believe that if a hotel wants to change categories mid-year, they need to show proof to Hyatt of some atypical market conditions.  If no properties are currently “appealing” their award category, there’s nothing to be “aware” of.

The Final Two Pennies

Award category increases mid-year can be frustrating for customers.  If you’re planning for a vacation and have a goal for how many points you earn, having the goal posts moved when you don’t expect it is a bummer.  However, at this point we are looking at just two hotels, and certainly not highly desirable ones.

History has shown us that Hyatt doesn’t make much in the way of mid-year category changes.  Heck, the annual change was less than two months ago.  Maybe something happened during the annual evaluation where these properties needed to clarify something.  It’s just those comments about Hyatt continually monitoring market conditions that perked up my ears a bit.

If we look at the whole picture, Hyatt just got through retroactively credit award nights to people for 2017.  That certainly was above and beyond my expectations.  Even though I don’t love the current verbiage, I may be nitpicking.  When we take the 10,000 foot view, I don’t think it’s time to panic.

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