Hyatt 2026 Category Analysis

It's been a wild beginning to 2026 for World of Hyatt fans. In February, we learned that Hyatt was blowing up its entire award program and making sweeping changes. Just last week, we learned that these changes, along with the annual Award Category changes, go live on the morning of May 20, 2026. It was clear that these changes are almost universally bad, but Hyatt promised there were good changes as well. Last week, we referred to those positive changes as “fool's gold,” and our Hyatt 2026 Category analysis below clearly supports that moniker.

Photo of Grand Hyatt Athens / Courtesy World of Hyatt

Sweeping Program Changes

Before we dig into the nitty gritty analysis, remember that at 8am CT on May 20, 2026, the World of Hyatt goes to five (5) different tiers of award nights: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper and Top. Overall, these new award charts mean there's now a best-case scenario of a 14.3% decrease in nightly cost and a worst case scenario of a 67% increase in nightly cost. Again, you can read about all those tiers HERE. The positive changes are that soon we can transfer points between members online and instantaneously, and World of Hyatt elite members (Explorists, Globalists, Lifetime Globalists and World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers) will have advance availability for booking award nights.

2026 Award Category Changes

Almost two months after the sweeping changes were announced, we learned the annual Award Category changes. If you thought Hyatt might spare us more bad news, you were wrong. Those Award Category changes included 112 properties going up a Category level and 24 properties going down a Category level. At first glance, those numbers show that almost 20% of the changes were positive and would lower nightly costs. At least, that was Hyatt's argument. We dug quite a bit deeper and stated those “positive changes” were mere fool's gold. Closely examine the data, and there's very little positive at all.

The Hyatt 2026 Category Analysis: What the Numbers Say

Costs

When you break down the twenty-four (24) properties that went down a Category level, you quickly see there is actually little change. Looking at the lowest nightly price, the middle, and the highest nightly price, we see the following:

Hotel	Category Change	Lowest Per Night	Middle Per night	Highest Per Night
Hyatt Centric Delfina Santa Monica	Cat 6 to Cat 5	-6,000	0	+6,000
Andaz West Hollywood	Cat 6 to Cat 5	-6,000	0	+6,000
Hyatt Place Santa Barbara	Cat 6 to Cat 5	-6,000	0	+6,000
Hyatt Centric Downtown Denver	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
The Time New York	Cat 6 to Cat 5	-6,000	0	+6,000
Dream Nashville	Cat 5 to Cat 4	-5,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Place Memphis/Wolfchase Galleria	Cat 2 to Cat 1	-3,500	-2,000	-500
Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue Austin	Cat 5 to Cat 4	-5,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Regency Al Kout Mall	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
Grand Hyatt The Red Sea	Cat 7 to Cat 6	-5,000	0	+5,000
Grand Hyatt Dalian	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Regency Beijing Shiyuan	Cat 2 to Cat 1	-3,500	-2,000	-500
Andaz Nanjing Hexi	Cat 3 to Cat 2	-3,000	-2,000	0
Commune by the Great Wall	Cat 3 to Cat 2	-3,000	-2,000	0
Hyatt Place Chongli	Cat 2 to Cat 1	-3,500	-2,000	-500
Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort	Cat 7 to Cat 6	-5,000	0	+5,000
Grand Hyatt Shenzhou Peninsula	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
Grand Hyatt Sanya Haitang Bay Resort & Spa	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Regency Sanya Tianli Bay	Cat 3 to Cat 2	-3,000	-2,000	0
Hyatt Regency Dharamshala Resort	Cat 5 to Cat 4	-5,000	0	+2,000
Andaz Macau	Cat 5 to Cat 4	-5,000	0	+2,000
The Standard, Singapore	Cat 5 to Cat 4	-5,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Centric Playa Del Carmen	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000
Hyatt Place London City East	Cat 4 to Cat 3	-4,000	0	+2,000

Lowest Nightly Cost

While we don't yet know the number of nights each month that we can expect in each of the 5 new tiers, we can assume (or at least hope?) that the lowest and highest costs will be outliers and most nights will fall in the middle 3 tiers. At the lowest nightly cost, every single hotel that moved down a Category will cost less than it would at the lowest currently nightly cost before all the changes. Unfortunately, that's only a small part of the overall picture.

Middle Nightly Cost

The middle tier of 5 tiers in the new Hyatt Award Charts is where we will focus our attention. We do this because this is likely where most nights will fall, and the analysis is similar for the two tiers on either side of the middle tier. In this middle tier, only 6 of 24, or 25%, of hotels that moved to a lower Category cost less than they currently do at standard rates in their current Category. Combined with the 112 hotels that moved up a Category in the annual changes, that means at the middle nightly cost, a total of 6 hotels will be cheaper after May 20 (4.4%) and a total of 130 hotels will cost more (95.6%). It's very hard to sugarcoat this news. It is horrifically bad.

Highest Nightly Cost

The Hyatt 2026 Category Analysis is possibly the most surprising at the highest price tier. Most hotels' maximum increases (compared to the current highest cost) aren't nearly as dramatic as the maximum decreases at the lowest levels. More bluntly: The cheaper nights are much cheaper at the new levels than the price increases on the most expensive nights. Additionally, regardless of tier, 3 hotels (the 3 Category 2s moving to Category 1s) are cheaper in all these scenarios than their current prices.

Location

Possibly something that is not mentioned enough in the the Hyatt 2026 Category Analysis is the locations of the “positive” Category changes and the hotels that are moving down. Overall, of the 24 hotels that are moving down a Category:

• 8 are in the USA
• 9 are in China and 12 total are in Asia & Pacific
• 1 is in Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean
• 1 is in Europe
• 0 are in Africa
• 2 are in the Middle East

If you remove China, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, you're only left with 13 Hyatt hotels worldwide that moved down a Category.

Categories

Of the 24 properties that dropped down a Category, here's the breakdown:

• 0 Category 8s dropped to a Category 7
• 2 Category 7s dropped to a Category 6
• 4 Category 6s dropped to a Category 5 (and all in the USA)
• 5 Category 5s dropped to a Category 4
• 7 Category 4s dropped to a Category 3
• 3 Category 3s dropped to a Category 2
• 3 Category 2s dropped to a Category 1

Looking at this on a graph, it looks like a very rudimentary Bell Curve. While we'll never know what actually happened, it seems very plausible that Hyatt decided close to 10% of the hotels should change Categories this year, 20% of those changing should go down a Category, and it attempted to distribute those changes in a somewhat even fashion across Category 2 to Category 7.

Hyatt 2026 Category Analysis: ToP Thoughts

World of Hyatt enthusiasts rarely are excited by the annual award chart changes. Unfortunately, 2026 is a historically bad year for these, since they are now coupled with the overall devaluation of the program and the introduction of 5 tiers of award night costs in each of the 8 Categories. Remember, everything above is analysis of the good and positive news coming from the Category changes. If that's good or positive, no one ever wants to hear the bad news.

What are your thoughts on these changes? Come over to our Facebook group and let us know.