Every year, most hotel programs make adjustments to their hotel categories, which alters the rate at which you can redeem points for award nights at properties that change categories. Some hotels drop and some (usually more) go up. Some years are worse than others and I am a little bit worried about 2013 since we’ve seen pretty lackluster hotel promotions and the economy is slowly, but surely, getting better. I thought that might signal a larger than normal hotel category upshift as hotel chains see more “heads in beds”.
However, Hyatt is only changing the categories of 17 of their 492 properties, and 10 of those are actually going down. In fact the only two Park Hyatts on the list, Toronto and Aviara, both drop to category 4 properties, meaning they can now be used for the annual free night benefit on the Chase Hyatt Visa. That free night alone at either of those properties (or any of the other category 1-4 hotels) can be worth many times the $75 annual fee of the card, which is the reason why I’ll keep my Hyatt card in perpetuity, even though I rarely use it for purchases since I get more bang for my spend on other cards.
Hotel Category Changes for 2013:
| Hotel | Current Category | New Category |
| Hyatt Place Chantilly/Dulles Airport-South | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Tulsa/Southern Hills | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Place Sterling/Dulles Airport-North | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Regency Albuquerque | 2 | 1 |
| Hyatt Regency Greenville | 2 | 1 |
| HYATT house Chicago/Naperville/Warrenville | 3 | 2 |
| HYATT house San Ramon | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place Las Vegas | 3 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place Louisville-East | 1 | 2 |
| Hyatt Place Pittsburgh-North Shore | 1 | 3 |
| Hyatt Regency Incheon | 2 | 3 |
| Hyatt Regency Oubaai Golf Resort and Spa | 4 | 3 |
| Hyatt Santa Barbara | 3 | 4 |
| Park Hyatt Aviara Resort | 5 | 4 |
| Park Hyatt Toronto | 5 | 4 |
| Hyatt 48 Lex | 4 | 5 |
| Grand Hyatt Tokyo | 5 | 6 |
The changes go into effect February 7, 2013 so if you plan to redeem for any of the properties that are going up (like the Hyatt 48 Lex), make sure you do so before the changes happen. If you are booked into a property that is going down, Hyatt will automatically credit you the difference, which is very generous.
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.
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