Hyatt’s Gold Passport loyalty scheme is making a number of changes from next month, including the creation of a new sixth category. Certain hotels will move to a lower category, but some including the Grand Hyatt New York will move up two categories.
Existing award categories and their redemption values will not change, but from June 4 a sixth category is to be added, with a redemption rate of 22,000 points (as opposed to 18,000 points for a category 5 stay).
A total of twenty properties will be moved into this category, 15 of them from category 5, but five of them from category 4, meaning rdemptions for hotels including the Grand Hyatt New York and the Hyatt Key West will increase from 15,000 points to the new 22,000 rate.
Across the portfolio 65 hotels will move to a lower category, and 89 will move up. Examples include the Grand Hyatt Jakarta which moves from category 2 to category 1, Hyatt Regency properties in Montreal and Vancouver which both move up from category 2 to category 3, the Grand Hyatt Mumbai which moves down from category 4 to category 3, and the Grand Hyatt Dubai which moves up from category 4 to category 5.
All award bookings made before June 4 will be made using the current redemption rates, and existing reservations for stays after June 4 will receive a refund for the point difference if the hotel has moved to a lower category.
The redemption values for all six categories will be as follows:
Category 1 = 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
Category 2 = 8,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
Category 3 = 12,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
Category 4 = 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
Category 5 = 18,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
Category 6 = 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points
The move follows changes to the Hilton HHonors programme at the start of this year, resulting in many hotels moving to a higher redemption rate (see online news December 16, 2009).
For more information visit goldpassport.hyatt.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
