Hyatt announces 2016 hotel category changes - great news for Hyatt India hotels

Hyatt have just announced changes to categories for several of their hotels. The good news is, all changes bar one, of the Indian hotels of Hyatt, are actually seeing a drop in categories, which will make them cheaper than before. These changes take effect on 1 August 2016, so if you’re planning to book award nights, to take note of these changes. Here’s more. 



Globally, a total of 50 hotels have seen upward category changes (yeah, that’s not a good thing). The good news for India is that none of these hotels is an Indian hotel! On the other hand, 56 hotels are seeing reductions in category, of which over 30%, or 18 hotels, are in India. Here are the complete list of Indian hotels with category reductions.


A complete list of all category changes by Hyatt this time round - up and down - can be found here.

It is also interesting to note, that while the new points requirements kick in effective 1 August 2016, if you've got a situation where you've spent points on an award at a hotel whose category is being reduced, Hyatt will actually refund the excess points back to your account. And I think that's great!

As a reminder, here are the requirements for reward nights using points, as well as points+cash options, for each of the Hyatt categories.



Hotel chains keep adjusting the specific categories that each of their hotels belong to, usually once annually. These changes are done – and often, even necessary – in order to better reflect the demand for the hotel in terms of its paid rates. This in turn reflects in the number of points required for an award night at each hotel. Changes in categories result in the hotel being moved up or down, which in turn means a higher or lower points requirements for an award night, compared to earlier.

Overall, these changes make Hyatt Gold Passport points more valuable than before, since a point can potentially “buy” more now than earlier. I don’t stay much at Hyatt hotels (if at all!). My last stay at a Hyatt was nearly 4 years ago. That said, there are tons of Hyatt aficionados out there who I’m sure will find these revaluations interesting.

Readers: What do you think of these changes? Do you agree with Hyatt that they better reflect the actual demand for paid rooms?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris

Image
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day's sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today's world of terror threats), and I'm grateful to them for that. The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here's a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn't come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case). Index of posts Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class Review: Serendib Lounge, CMB airport Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris Re...
Read more

Defunct airlines of India - Part 1

Image
ASan and I met for lunch over the weekend. If you knew us personally, you'd know that we're both forever thirsty, if you get my meaning. You'd also know that there are always discussions around ideas for posts. Most of them are flights of fancy (pun intended!), and almost always unviable. But two men with some alcohol in them can dream, can't they? Anyway, this time the discussion finally got down to something that interests both of us, though in very different ways. ASan is a bit of a history freak, getting dreamy and bleary-eyed when you talk of anything 20 years or older (he thinks he’d have fit better into society a hundred years ago, than now). And I'm an AvGeek to the core and a huge  fan of REG Davies. So when the talk finally came around to Indian airline companies that used to be, we hit paydirt! After some decent and serious research, we think we've come up with our own Indian Aviation History 101. Given the volume there is to share, we’ll be splitting...
Read more

Kolkata's new terminal, and what a relief! (And lots of pictures)

Image
For the longest time, Kolkata (CCU) had pathetic terminals – both for domestic and international flights – and it was high time they did something about it. Now, the Airports Authority of India must be complimented on the new Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The airport is really fresh, swanky, and actually makes the flying experience in and out of CCU a whole lot better. The new terminal is an integrated terminal for domestic and international flights, and set out in an wide “V” with unequal arms, the longer arm being the domestic side. The terminal building itself is at one end of the runway, and is to the right of the old terminal, when viewed from the city side (left from airside). This picture, courtesy Wikipedia, shows it quite clearly. I flew in on SG 323 ( trip report here ), and on reaching CCU, we parked at the apron, though sufficient aerobridges appeared available. Cost cutting I suppose. The bus then took us to the terminal building, and this is what greet...
Read more