Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Hyatt: The Great Devaluation

• Raya & Duane

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CARD REFERRAL LINKS! 

The Hilton offers are all elevated until April 15, 2026. If you're seeing these links after that date, they should still work but will not be elevated offers. 

Hilton Honors Amex (No Annual Fee!) - 70K Hilton points + FNC

Hilton Surpass card (Amex) - 130K Hilton points + FNC

Hilton Aspire Card - 175K Hilton points (no extra FNC but this card does come with one every year automatically!)

Hilton Honors Business Card (the one we just got!) - 175K Hilton points + FNC

***** The below are not elevated offers but are still our referral links *****

IHG personal card - 140K IHG points

Marriott Bonvoy Business card - three 50K certificates

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card - 100K Marriott points


Thank you in advance for using our links! 

Hyatt’s award chart now uses five price bands within each category, pushing top-tier redemptions much higher and making peak family dates more expensive. We explain what changed, where value still exists with certificates and suite upgrades, and how to diversify with Hilton, Marriott, and IHG.

• What the new Hyatt pricing tiers are and how far they stretch
• Why peak family travel dates are most affected
• How free night certificates gain value under the new bands
• When suite upgrade awards still make sense
• Why diversifying into Hilton, Marriott, and IHG matters
• Credit card strategies to earn flexible points and more certs
• Practical steps to book key stays before changes take effect
• What to watch for with category shifts and rumored cards

If you have never had a Hilton card before, we have referral links and we will put them in the show notes
Go in the show notes and use our referral links to get the elevated offer, including the free night certificate

SPEAKER_01:

Hyatt has moved the goalpost on us and announced some pretty significant changes to their award chart, and we are diving into all the details today. So if you are a Hyatt fan, listen in. Hi, I'm Raya.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_01:

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_00:

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

SPEAKER_00:

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

SPEAKER_01:

Before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to share one thing with you really quickly. I am always looking for new podcasts to listen to as an avid podcast listener. And one of the podcasts I shared a couple weeks ago is the Travel with Kids podcast with Emily Krause as the host. And I got a couple questions about that. So I wanted to clarify a couple of things. So her podcast is called the Travel with Kids Podcast, but on Instagram, she is a mom explores. And some people were like, wait, I follow her on Instagram, but I didn't know about the podcast, or vice versa. So it is different. And I just wanted to call that out. And if you're hearing this for the first time, essentially the Travel with Kids podcast is family vacation ideas, packing tips, itineraries, basically a lot of family travel tips that makes traveling with kids feel easier and more attainable for the average parent, which is something that we very much relate to and support. She also shares on Instagram some like real life behind the scenes content that I find super interesting. So would highly recommend checking out her podcast and her Instagram. And hopefully that helps clear up any confusion because I love both the podcast and the Instagram. Okay, let's dive into today's episode.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm back. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, friends.

SPEAKER_00:

To my fan out there.

SPEAKER_01:

I know you missed me, but I'm you're one fan, singular. Um hello. Welcome back to Travel Party 5 Podcast. We are talking all things Hyatt today. And if you've if you're in the points and miles world, this is not a surprise. But if you're if you're not, um Hyatt made some pretty big changes to their award chart. And the best part about this episode is Dwayne has no idea what I'm talking about. And he's gonna learn today, along with all of you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So take a ride with me.

SPEAKER_01:

The other day I asked him, Hey, did you hear about this? And he's like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I said, Okay, we'll just talk about it on the podcast. But before we get into all the Hyatt changes that they made and kind of what that means and what we think about it, and what I think about it and all that. Um, I wanted to share a couple of new cards that we opened recently. And that is uh, I think maybe our first cards of the year, which is the Hilton Business cards, which are issued through American Express. And um there is currently elevated offers on some Hilton cards, which we're gonna talk about more later. But uh Dwayne and I both applied for the Hilton business card because currently the elevated offer comes with I think it's 175,000 Hilton points plus a free night certificate. Those free night certificates are incredibly valuable, and I am on a mission to earn a bunch of them, which as you'll see coincides nicely with the news we're about to share about Hyatt. So that is that is card news, I guess we could call it.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't wait to hear this.

SPEAKER_01:

About Hyatt. Okay. So let me give you, let me give you a rundown of the changes, and then we're gonna talk about maybe some specifics and like kind of how what we're doing in the meantime to prepare because these changes haven't been rolled out yet. Um, and you know, I think some people are really panicking. Um we're not, but let's let's talk about it. So Hyatt has operated on an award chart based on eight categories. So the hotels are ranked categories one through eight. And then within those eight categories, there are three were three different pricing options that a um a night could be priced at in points. So there was uh regular peak or off-peak. So off-peak is obviously the the cheapest. Then there was just kind of standard and then uh on peak. On peak, thank you. And so within each category, you would know, okay, my range is for example, you know, 3,500 to 6,500 points. If we are talking about a category one high it, you know, or obviously if it's a category eight, it's I think the highest was 45,000 points, it could have been, and the lowest is maybe 35,000. So the changes are that there was there will still be eight categories, except within those categories there are significantly more than three different pricing options. Okay, so now within each category, you can either have lowest, these are the names of so instead of you know off-peak standard and on peak, now we have lowest.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it's as if I was on the high board when we came up with these.

SPEAKER_01:

Like you, like this is what you would have named them. Uh, we we have lowest, low, moderate, upper, and top.

SPEAKER_00:

I would have said tippity top, but look like who came up with these?

SPEAKER_01:

It's oh gosh, someone could have done a better job. So, in the example that I previously gave, right, where you knew a category one was gonna be priced anywhere from 3,500 to 6,500 points a night. 3,500 was off peak, 5,000 was standard, and 6,500 was on peak. Now that same category one is anywhere from 3,000, which is lowest, all the way up to 9,000, which is top or tippity top if you're doing. So that is a pretty big increase. And if we go to the category eight, right, because we we're here for the luxury, we're here for like categories five through eight, right? Um, just um if you're if you're driving, I'm just and you haven't heard this, take a breath, okay? Uh for a category eight, the lowest points you'll pay is 35,000. And the highest, the tippity top points you'll pay is 75,000 points per night.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, and what was it before?

SPEAKER_01:

I think it was 45,000.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh wow. So almost double.

SPEAKER_01:

And these are these are for standard rooms. We haven't even gotten into like a suite or whatever. So it's not great. Couple of couple of things to call out. So they have said that they're making these changes and that the changes are going to start in May. We don't know which hotels are changing categories yet. So typically around the end of February every year, Hyatt rolls out a list of properties that are changing categories. Some go up, some go down. Most of them go up at this point, but some do go down. And so that is what we were waiting for around this time of year. And then, you know, if you had plans to stay at a property that was increasing in category, you would have a few weeks to book that property before the uh price increase went into effect in March. This year is different. So they've said these are the changes, um, but the changes are not effectively happening until May. And they have basically said that sometime in April we should be getting a list of uh hotels that are changing categories. There was one um like exception, which is that there were about six or seven properties that increased in category immediately. Um, none of them were super notable to me that they were not on my radar, but one of them was the the um Grand Hyatt Cayman Islands. Immediately went from a six to an eight. It's not even open yet. Like, so I don't know. That was one that has already changed. So if you had if you had your eyes on that and you didn't book it, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Um yeah, so Hyatt is calling this like an award chart evolution. They're saying it gives them more flexibility and actually reduces the need for big category shifts year over year. But everybody is calling this the the grand or sorry, the um the great Hyatt devaluation. That's what someone called it in my Instagram DMs today. And I started laughing, and I've since seen that like three other places on Facebook. So yes, the Great Hyatt devaluation happened February 2026, and the other important thing that they announced in their press release is that there is no limit or minimum or maximum to the amount of uh top or tippity top nights that a hotel can have. So theoretically, a hotel could say every every day is you know top pricing. Wow. And so and definitely they will for sure say that during peak travel times. That is where I think it gets really challenging for families like us who are traveling on at peak times, right? Spring break, summer, fall break. We don't travel over Christmas, but if you do, it's gonna suck because that is for sure peak travel time.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, what would like the seabird suite cost now? Suite or like the one that we had last year. Um what are we looking at point wise?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so a standard suite. Um, I think the seaboard seabird is a category six, so anywhere from 35 to 55,000 point wise. 55 because well, yeah, we were there on July 4th weekend when we stayed there. So for sure that would be peak pricing. So that is a good kind of question to lead us into the next piece, which is that I really think that so okay, so we talked about the changes. Like, what does this mean, right? One of the things it means for sure is that the free night certificates and the sweet upgrade awards are absolutely going to increase in value because Hyatt has come out and said, like, it doesn't matter which pricing level you're at, you can use a free night certificate. So if you had a category one through four free night certificate and your category four was in the tippy top pricing, which is now um, wait, this is for standard. Sweet, hold on. For a standard room is 25,000 points a night, you can still use your free night certificate to cover that. So that's a significant savings, right? 25,000 points a night. So the value of the free night certificates just went up. And if you have a category one through seven free night certificate, the tippity top pricing for category seven on a standard room is now 55,000 points. And you can use that certificate to cover a night. So those are absolutely increasing in value. Same thing with the suite upgrade awards. Um, you know, a standard suite. You can't one of the great things about Hyatt is you can book into a standard suite with points. You don't need status, you don't need anything. And again, they had an award chart for what a standard suite would cost. Um, unfortunately, that price has also increased, right? So the Seabird, for example, I believe it's a category six. The tippy top pricing for that is 55,000 points a night. But in theory, I if I had a sweet upgrade award, I could book for probably 40,000 points a night, which is the cost of the tippity top standard room, and apply the sweet upgrade award, get into the suite for the 40,000 points a night, which is still not as good as it was, but it's not terrible. You know, 40,000 points a night for a suite is decent.

SPEAKER_00:

It's not bad.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's not great.

SPEAKER_00:

Was the suite at the C-Bird? We were in a standard suite.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not 100% sure because I wouldn't think so. That thing was I mean, I say uh it was, but it was a I don't know. I used a suite upgrade award, and in theory, you are only supposed to be able to use those on a standard suite, but I think that maybe they like gave us the next level up, which a premium suite, the tippy top pricing for a category six is 60,000 points a night. So that's so many points. Oh my god, that's one sign-up bonus. You know, for for a chase card, that's one signup bonus for it, and you'd get one night. And like on a Hyatt card, the Hyatt card sign-up bonuses are terrible, so it's like it's not even one night. Um, okay. Anyway, so this is a hundred percent a devaluation. Um, it is disappointing. I think people are running out and booking all kinds of Hyatt rooms. I haven't done that yet. I haven't booked a single thing. And this news came out days ago.

SPEAKER_00:

You've been busy.

SPEAKER_01:

I know. I I have been very busy, but I also, it's just I don't I don't know. I here's the thing. I'm not panicking yet. I I fully admit that this freaking sucks. Like it sucks. Especially because, you know, Chase has gotten stingier with their welcome offers, and their points are harder to earn. We do now have built as a Hyatt transfer partner, also. Um, and so that is something, but it's this is gonna decrease the value of of Chase points and and therefore Hyatt points because we're now we're getting into like Marriott and Hilton points costs, and their sign-up bonuses are significantly higher. So something is gonna have to change. There have been rumors of a a premium Hyatt credit card coming out, and maybe if that happens, again, this is a big if because there's this has been rumored for years. Um, I could see the timing of that, like maybe happening in the next month or two, and maybe some of the benefits on there will soften the blow of this. I'm not really sure. I don't really know what their plan is. Um, the other thing is we haven't seen the category changes yet. And maybe I'm an optimist, but I did kind of think like I wonder if some hotels will go down in category because of this, right? Be I mean, will that probably happen? Okay, probably not, but like it could. Because what they're saying is they're rolling out these changes so that they don't have to continually update and adjust the categories. And there are some category five and six hotels that should absolutely be category four properties. And so I'm almost wondering like, would they roll them back down from like a five to a four? For example, the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile. That went up to a category five last year. It's it's high in demand, but it's it's definitely not a five. It's not a category five property. I think it's a category four, and it was a great use of category four uh one through four free night certificates. Um, but maybe this updated pricing will allow them to get like charge the points cost they need while still being a category four. Again, I don't know. I'm fully speculating. I'm just I'm just not panicking because I don't know how bad it's gonna be yet. And so I I don't know. That's my two cents on it. What do you think? Now that you've now that you've heard and seen the some of the points costs, like what are your what are you?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I just it's gonna hurt some hotels, I think, for for people that use points. You know, they're gonna go elsewhere, yeah. And use points that are more you know rewarding or more valuable. Um, yeah, that's pretty shitty.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. It's disappointing.

SPEAKER_00:

Especially when like us, we have to get two rooms, you know, or the or a suite.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Yes. Yeah. So for families, especially, I think, who need more than one room and who are traveling during peak times often, this is really frustrating news. Um that being said, I do think that this is why it's important to diversify. And we focus on Hyatt because we have status with Hyatt. We will still get status with Hyatt this year. Will we get status with Hyatt next year? I don't fully know yet. We'll have to wait and see how this all shakes out and kind of what the real, you know, it sounds really bad, but like what is the reality of it, right? Like we we need to wait until April and May to see how this is gonna go.

SPEAKER_00:

So Hilton and Marriott are they're similar to this points-wise, but they have bigger signup bonuses for their credit cards.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that what yeah? They're definitely still higher. Like, I would still say that this is a lower points value than um like what you could typically get a Hilton or a Marriott for like like a Hilton being 120,000 points a night would not surprise me at all. And like the Waldorf, Astoria, Cabo, Los Pedrogal that we're gonna go to is like 240,000 Hilton points a night. So that is like we're you know, we're not quite in the range yet, but we're getting there. And the sign up bonuses are not increasing to, you know, kind of offset it. So that's the frustrating part. Um but so I think diversifying is going to be really important. And this is actually something we've already started to do even before this Hyatt News came out. I did a podcast a few weeks ago where I talked about um how I'm aiming to, you know, spend a certain amount on our Hilton cards this year and earn a bunch of free night certificates doing that. And and we just applied for the Hilton business cards because they have elevated offers right now, and which is going to earn us even more free night certificates. And so I think diversifying in this points world is key. Last year I opened up a Marriott um business card where I earned three 50k free night certificates. And I don't have a, I haven't found a use for them yet, but I have a few ideas. And so, um, and then IHG, you know, don't sleep on IHG, right? The Kimpton Sea Fire was one of our favorite hotels we've ever stayed at. For sure. And, you know, their sign-up bonuses are often elevated and really good. You also can buy their points when they go on sale for a pretty decent price. And, you know, without even having to earn any points, you could easily get 50% off of their cash rates by just buying points and using points to book.

SPEAKER_00:

And we're doing our first hotel in Thailand, it's an ISG, right? It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. And I use that to I use Chase Points actually, using the edit credits and the points boost and all of that. So, um, and the Intercontinental that we stayed at, the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, that was a fantastic hotel. Really great service. Like, we were only there for one night before we flew to Paris, but the doorman was so helpful to us.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was every why are you laughing? I just we were only there for one night. I know, but it was a beautiful door guy was great. I mean, he's from Chicago. I mean, I think most people from Chicago are like that, yeah, like friendly and personable.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, it was just the location of the hotel was great, the service in the hotel was great. Um, Michael Jordan's restaurant is in the lobby.

SPEAKER_00:

Shout out to the the the goat, Michael Jordan. Anyway, I mean, weren't the rooms small though?

SPEAKER_01:

The room that we first got was small.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, and then we moved.

SPEAKER_01:

And I texted them and I said, This room is actually really small. Is there any way we could get an upgrade? And they moved us to a bigger room. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

I remember.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So the I mean, and uh we don't even have the highest status. We have the second highest status with IHG. Um, so and their um their premium credit card, what is it called? Their IHG One Rewards card comes with a free annual night every year that we have had no problem using. Matter of fact, I I had a plan to use this year's in Thailand, but we don't get it until April, and I needed to use it in March. So if anything, I wish I had more of them. So I think diversifying is what I would recommend. It just so happens that all of the Hilton cards have elevated offers, and I think those offers were announced like literally the day after Hayek came out and announced these awards. Um, and so that was kind of funny. I'm I'm sure that that was already planned, but it definitely felt like a little bit of shade from Hilton, and that made me giggle. Um, if you have never had a Hilton card before, we have referral links and we will put them in the show notes. Um, I would probably recommend starting with either the Hilton surpass card or the um uh the business card if you're concerned. About your 524 status. If you want to do what we are doing with our Hilton cards, um, I would start with the aspire. I would spend$15,000 on it. You will then earn two free night certificates because the the offer is elevated. So you already get one. And then when you spend$15,000, you'll earn a second one. And then after you've done that, if you upgrade to the aspire card, then you can spend another$15,000 and get a third free night certificate. And so if you have a lot to spend, that's that's the route that I would go. But even if you don't want to do all that and you just want to get the points in the free night certificate, I would absolutely recommend um taking advantage of these Hilton cards while you can. They typically are only elevated once a year, in my experience. And it is generally springtime, which is right now. So again, I will put our referral links in the show notes. If you um want to use them to apply, that would be wonderful and we would be so appreciative. Um, we also have referral links for IHG, which I'll put. They're not elevated right now, but I'll put a link to that in the show notes. And the Marriott Bonvoy business card is the one that I have. Um, I can also include a link, a referral link for that if you want to dive into the Marriott world. I don't think the offer is elevated on that one right now either. So Hilton is where I would start. But I just think diversifying is key. And um it's disappointing that Hyatt isn't gonna be the be all end all anymore, but I still think there's a lot of value to be had in points.

SPEAKER_00:

So many more credit cards, I feel like we're we're gonna get.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we I mean, I'm really focused on Hill In for right now. Hill In has been my my kind of number two, and I have a couple of uses in mind for those free night certificates. They they're they expire after a year, so you do need to keep that in mind and have a plan for them. Okay, so if this is news to you, or even if it's not, here is what I would do if I were you, and what we're going to do before May is we are going to figure out what properties we need to book for the next year or so. And we're going to book them if we have the points. Um, if you are globalist, you can always do a points advanced booking, which um I guess is an option as well. I hate doing that because there's no way to know which ones you've actually paid the points for and which ones are points advanced bookings. Like there's nothing in the reservation that tells you. And so that makes me stressed out. So I generally don't do it, but it if you have globalist status, it is a benefit to you. Um, the other, I guess I'll add we didn't talk about this, but the other thing that Hyatt has come out and said is that um if you are a World of Hyatt member with some form of status, explorist level and above, or you are a World of Hyatt credit card holder, then you will get early availability access um to bookings. I just am not sure how much of a benefit that is because I think all of us have at least one of those things, right? We have either a credit card or we have the status or both. And so they're saying this is a benefit, but I don't know that it really is because I don't know how many people are trying to book a Hyatt 13 months out if they don't have, you know, at least a world of Hyatt credit card or something. So um who knows? But, anyways, this is your action item over the next few weeks, and I would probably do it sooner rather than later because people are panic booking so many things. And so, you know, well, whatever. It's like COVID toilet paper all over again. Um, so go in and book any hotels that you may want to stay at that you have the points for over the next year or so. Um, we do have a trip in the fall that has not been booked yet, and so I will be hopefully, hopefully, people haven't taken it all. I will be mapping that out and booking um those rooms in the next few days. And then we're just gonna wait until hopefully April when we get the category change notifications and react accordingly, and maybe record a whole nother episode, depending. I'm just gonna put this out here in the universe, okay? If Hyatt is listening, listen, we need some of these properties to drop back down in category now that they can get the points they need in a category four, for example. So just gonna send that out into the world, okay? What else do you have? Anything?

SPEAKER_00:

Um no, I mean, I just like I said I think it's gonna affect them in a way that they're gonna have to maybe drop the category, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Or increase the welcome offer bonuses on their cars.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, or that.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, a Hyatt card is like$30,000 or 30,000 points. It's like what the bonus is. It's not good. It's not good. Or, you know, for sometimes they do those free, um, five free one through four certificates. That's like an okay offer, but I don't know. The the category for our four properties, in my opinion, are are lacking for the most part.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we'll we'll see what this leads to, but yes.

SPEAKER_01:

So, in short, don't panic, but make some bookings and let's see what happens. I think that's it. That's our episode for today. Um, if you have any questions, DM me on Instagram at travel party of five. I will put our referral links for the cards we mentioned in the show notes. Again, I cannot stress enough. If you're listening to this in the, you know, within the first six weeks of it airing, uh maybe not, maybe not six weeks, maybe four weeks of it airing. No, no, six weeks because the offers, sorry, math is hard. The offers, I think uh the elevated hill and offers expire April 14th, April 15th, I think. So if you're listening to this episode before April 15th of 2026, go in the show notes and use our referral links to get the elevated offer, including the free night certificate. So there you have it. Um, until next week's episode. Safe travels to everyone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, because we're we're traveling too.

SPEAKER_01:

We are traveling. I'm heading off on a work trip actually before we travel. So it's a busy time. Um, but thank you for listening. We always we appreciate you as always, and we will catch you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, thanks for tuning in. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye.