| Update: I’ve received clarification from a Hyatt spokesperson about some frequent points of confusion, including whether peak vs. off-peak award dates can change once published, and also whether all hotels in one market will have the same peak vs. off-peak pricing on a given day. You can find the full answers below in the section titled “How are Hyatt peak & off-peak dates regulated?” |
World of Hyatt’s new peak and off-peak award pricing is now live. This new pricing structure applies for stays as of March 1, 2022. That means for the time being you can still consistently book stays at the standard award costs, as long you travel by February 28, 2022.
Let’s go over all the details of this new World of Hyatt award pricing structure.
Details: Hyatt peak & off-peak awards
World of Hyatt has introduced peak and off-peak award pricing for stays as of March 1, 2022. Under this structure there are three points redemption values:
- Off-peak: Fewer points are required during off-peak times, starting at 3,500 points per night
- Standard: Points required during standard redemption periods remain unchanged, starting at 5,000 points per night
- Peak: When hotels are the busiest, more points are required for a free night, starting at 6,500 points per night
World of Hyatt’s peak & off-peak award charts
With these changes, peak and off-peak redemption rates have been introduced for free night redemptions for standard rooms, club rooms, standard suites, premium suites, and Points + Cash. On top of that, this variable pricing applies for all-inclusive properties, including Miraval.
The only types of awards that aren’t seeing peak & off-peak pricing are room upgrades, to either club rooms or suites. Let’s take a look at the new award charts.
New redemption rates for standard rooms
For standard room free night redemptions, we’re seeing a minimum difference of 1,500 points and a maximum difference of 5,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates:
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World of Hyatt Category
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Category 1
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Category 2
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Category 3
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Category 4
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Category 5
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Category 6
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Category 7
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Category 8
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New redemption rates for club rooms
For club room free night redemptions, we’re seeing a minimum difference of 1,500 points and a maximum difference of 5,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates:
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Category 1
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Category 2
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Category 3
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Category 4
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Category 5
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Category 6
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Category 7
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Category 8
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New redemption rates for standard suites
For standard suite free night redemptions, we’re seeing a minimum difference of 1,500 points and a maximum difference of 5,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates:
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Category 1
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Category 2
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Category 3
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Category 4
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Category 5
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Category 6
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Category 7
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Category 8
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New redemption rates for premium suites
For premium suite free night redemptions, we’re seeing a minimum difference of 3,000 points and a maximum difference of 10,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates:
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Category 1
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Category 2
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Category 3
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Category 4
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Category 5
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Category 6
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Category 7
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Category 8
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New redemption rates for all-inclusive properties
For standard rooms at all-inclusive properties, we’re seeing a minimum difference of 3,000 points and a maximum difference of 4,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates, plus a difference of 1,500-2,000 points for an extra guest:
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Category 1
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Extra person
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Category 2
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Extra Person
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Meanwhile for standard suites at all-inclusive properties, we’re seeing a difference of 5,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates, plus a difference of 1,500-2,000 points for an extra guest:
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Category 1
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Extra Person
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Category 2
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Extra Person
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New redemption rates for Miraval
For Miraval properties, we’re seeing a difference of 5,000 to 10,000 points for peak and off-peak redemptions compared to standard rates, plus a difference of 2,000 to 2,500 points for an extra guest:
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Standard Room
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Extra Person
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Standard Suite
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Extra Person
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Premium Suite
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Extra Person
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How are Hyatt peak & off-peak dates regulated?
Understandably there’s some confusion surrounding how exactly peak and off-peak dates are determined, so here’s how it works:
- Free night redemption rates are identified as peak, standard, or off-peak as soon as nights are available for reservations (about 13 months in advance); these generally won’t be adjusted as the stay date approaches, but “there may be extenuating circumstances that would require point pricing to be adjusted on certain dates once they are made bookable, based on unique market conditions,” and Hyatt will “try to limit this wherever possible”
- The decision for peak and off-peak pricing is based on the geographic market, meaning that all properties within the same market adhere to the same calendar of peak, standard, or off-peak periods; the catch is that Hyatt uses Smith Travel Research’s segmentation to determine markets, and large cities can easily have three or more markets, with hotels in different markets sometimes being just a few blocks from one another
- The majority of days are set to standard redemption rates each year
- There is no minimum or maximum number of nights that a property can designate as peak or off-peak (so just under half of dates could be peak, one day could be off-peak, and the rest could be standard, in theory)
- Hyatt has introduced a points calendar, where members can easily search which dates are peak and off-peak, one month at a time
What happens to existing Hyatt reservations?
If a World of Hyatt member made a booking prior to the introduction of these award pricing changes, what happens?
- If your stay is now over an off-peak period, you’ll automatically receive a refund for the points difference
- If your stay is now over a peak period, your original award price will be honored
- If you change your award after the introduction of peak and off-peak pricing, you can expect to pay whatever the going rate is
What happens to free night certificates?
World of Hyatt issues category-specific free night certificates, some of which are valid at Categories 1-4, Categories 1-7, etc. These continue to be valid at those categories, even in peak season. So the maximum potential points value of the certificates has gone up.
Why is World of Hyatt making these changes?
In case anyone is wondering what’s in it for World of Hyatt to switch to peak and off-peak pricing, this all comes down to the economics of hotel loyalty programs. While Hyatt has management and/or franchise agreements for its properties, it doesn’t actually own a vast majority of them, but rather hotels have individual owners with individual profit goals.
When you redeem points at a Hyatt property, the amount that the hotel is reimbursed by the loyalty program can vary greatly:
- If the hotel is full (or nearly full) and you’re potentially displacing a “paid” guest, World of Hyatt compensates the hotel right around the average daily rate
- If the hotel isn’t full (and therefore you’re just occupying a room that would have otherwise been empty), World of Hyatt reimburses the hotel at a much lower cost, just a bit above the marginal cost
While peak and off-peak pricing probably loosely reflects the seasonality of hotels, it especially reflects Hyatt’s redemption costs, which are much more about occupancy levels at a given hotel.
My take on these World of Hyatt changes
It goes without saying that Hyatt’s introduction of peak and off-peak pricing is bad news for most members. Those maximizing their hotel points are often redeeming in peak season, since that’s when you get the most value.
While this is unarguably a negative development, I think things could have been worse? I redeem for standard room free night awards most often, and those are going up by 5,000 points per night at most. Yes, now the Park Hyatt Paris might cost 35,000 World of Hyatt points…
But it also might cost 25,000 World of Hyatt points…
I think my bigger issue is that Hyatt isn’t making any promises about how many nights can be peak vs. off-peak. In other words, we could theoretically see a situation where 185 nights are standard, 179 nights are peak, and one night is off-peak (and for some properties, that’s not too far off from the reality).
That being said, this is being managed by World of Hyatt directly rather than individual hotels, and it seems to me like the program is implementing this in a pretty fair way, at least in relation to what was promised. I’m seeing lots of peak days, though I’m also seeing a fair number of off-peak days. Fortunately the new points calendar at least makes it easy for members to figure out which dates offer the best value.
I can’t help but notice how arbitrary peak vs. off-peak dates seem to be at some properties, though. There are some hotels that switch from peak, to off-peak, to standard pricing over the course of several days. That doesn’t in any way reflect seasonality, and for that matter the off-peak date is actually more expensive than the peak date if paying cash. That sure makes you wonder…
These changes are negative, though I also feel like things could have been worse. I’ll certainly still get value from World of Hyatt, especially as a Globalist member.
Earning World of Hyatt points is still easy
One of the reasons that I find World of Hyatt to be so valuable is because of how easy the points are to come by.
First of all there are lots of credit cards that potentially earn Hyatt points. In addition to being able to earn World of Hyatt points with the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review), you can also transfer over points from Chase Ultimate Rewards. Being able to efficiently transfer credit card points to Hyatt makes a world of difference.
- Earn 4x Points at Hyatt Properties
- Free Night Every Year
- Complimentary Discoverist Status
- $95
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel purchases
- $95
- 3x points on Travel after the $300 Annual Travel Credit
- 3x points on Dining
- $300 Travel Credit
- $550
- Earn 3x points on travel
- Earn 3x points on shipping purchases
- Cell Phone Protection
- $95
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases
- Car Rental Coverage
- Extended Warranty Protection
- $0
- Earn 5% Cash Back at office supply stores
- Earn 5% Cash Back on internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines
- Car Rental Coverage
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining, Takeout and Eligible Delivery Services
- Earn 5% Cash Back at Grocery Stores (excluding Target®, Walmart®)
- Earn 5% Cash Back with Select Streaming Services
- $0
See this post for everything you need to know about earning Hyatt points with credit cards.
On top of that, Hyatt often has bonuses or discounts on purchased points.
Bottom line
World of Hyatt has introduced peak and off-peak award pricing for stays as of March 1, 2022. We knew this was coming for a long time. It’s no doubt a negative change for those looking to maximize their points, but in my opinion this could have been much worse (especially as this comes at the same time that Marriott Bonvoy announced it’s eliminating award charts).
What do you make of World of Hyatt’s new peak and off-peak award pricing? Are you noticing any interesting trends when doing award searches?
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October 27, 2021 at 11:36PM
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Live: World Of Hyatt Peak & Off-Peak Award Pricing - One Mile at a Time
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