(Rumor) Hyatt Is Going To Dynamic Cash & Points Pricing
Richard Kerr over at TPG broke some sad news today that Hyatt is going to be making some negative changes to the Points & Cash booking program.
Today, October 31, is the final day you can book them at the old rates. It may be worth it to lock up some speculative bookings if you use points and cash bookings often.
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Details
Apparently Hyatt will be changing the cash portion of cash & points bookings from a fixed rate to a dynamic portion on November 1, 2018. The points cost will remain the same:
- Category 1 – 2,500
- Category 2 – 4,000
- Category 3 – 6,000
- Category 4 – 7,500
- Category 5 – 10,000
- Category 6 – 12,500
- Category 7 – 15,000
The cash version will now be 50% of the cash rate. This is a huge change from the current fixed price of:
- Category 1 – $50
- Category 2 – $55
- Category 3 – $75
- Category 4 – $100
- Category 5 – $125
- Category 6 – $150
- Category 7 – $300
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What This Means
This is not as bad as it would have been a few years ago since award nights now count towards elite status. In the past many people used points & cash bookings for mattress runs or to save on their way to Globalist. I imagine P&C bookings have dropped off quite a bit since the change has been implemented.
This does mean that the chance for getting out-sized value while saving some Hyatt points will no longer be possible. If a category 4 room was going for $300 or more (like the Hyatt Place Marathon) then you were getting 2.6 cents per point. With this rule change you would only be getting 2 cents per point. Still a good value but the value goes down as the cash price goes up.
Conclusion
While this probably doesn’t affect people as much as it would have a few years ago it is still a devaluation. It doesn’t affect me at all since I almost always use points but for people looking to make their points last longer it leaves them at a crossroads. It will now depend heavily on the rack rate whether or not you will be tempted to use points & cash bookings going forward.
Hat Tip – TPG
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Plus you have to pay the full tax rate on the cash part, which can run up to another 25%. Forget that.
I have multiple upcoming stays at a Cat 3 hotel that runs $400 for peak nights. I’m currently paying 6000 points + $86 with tax. That now increases to a $230 cash portion. One more reason to use Priceline Express and Bidding, where I often get Hyatt rooms at far less than 50% of the Hyatt website price…
Taxes and fees can be a real killer for sure James
Add in resort fees required for cash & points reservations, the value proposition over all points awards is almost nil.
That is a good point – that is my favorite part of award stays, avoiding taxes and fees.
Aren’t they also introducing Premium Suites bookable via Points? Thanks
Yes that is something else that was rumored as well.