Hotel category changes are a part of life, and as long as they’re adequately communicated, I have no problem with them. As is the case with any outstanding travel deal, if there’s outsized value, you better take advantage while you can, because it’s not going to last forever.
In January it was IHG’s turn to change categories, in February Starwood changed categories, and now it’s Hyatt’s turn. A few weeks ago, the news broke that there are 106 Hyatt hotels that are changing categories.
- 1 is going down 2 categories (the Hyatt Centric South Beach in Miami)
- 55 are going down 1 category
- 49 are going up 1 category
- 1 is going up 2 categories – the Hyatt Place Asheville Downtown in Asheville, North Carolina, USA
The category changes are going into effect on August 1st, and as long as you book before then, you can get the current award rate. If you have a reservation for after August 1st at a hotel whose category is going down, you will get a refund.
I always find it a bit disingenuous that the marketing spin is that “Look, more hotels are going down than going up! It’s not that bad!”. While that is technically true, it belies the fact that the hotels that are going up in category are the ones everyone wants to stay at, while the ones going down seem to always be in India and China! Seriously 25 of the 56 hotels going down are either in India and China. So good news if you live or travel often to one of those 2 countries; bad news if you live anywhere else.
I have been to the Hyatt House San Juan Puerto Rico, which is moving from a Category 2 to a Category 3, and I can say that IMO that is a justified move – the cash rate during our stay was $275
Map of Hyatt hotels changing category
As always, I find it much easier to look at a map to see where these changes are. The geocoding isn’t great (to the street level) but it will at least should get you in the right city / country. In some cases there are a few hotels in a given city that are changing category, so in those circumstances, the table may be more helpful
As you can see, although the spin is that many hotels are going down in addition to the ones going up, North America is COVERED in red (hotels going up in category) while all the green is in India and China
Table of Hyatt Category Changes
Here is a sortable table of the 106 Hyatt hotels changing categories
Readers: Any hotels changing category that are on your “list”?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Good map. Very interesting.
Although Hyatt billed this as more hotels going down than going up, unless a traveler spends the majority of their time overseas, this is clearly a devaluation.
Agreed – another time where the details clearly paint a different picture!
“the hotels that are going up in category are the ones everyone wants to stay at”
Did you seriously type this with a straight face? I’m assuming you understand the basic concepts of a market economy. Should I not?
LOL yes I know what you mean and I agree. My only point in writing that was to contrast that to Hyatt’s official statement, which was more like “Hey some hotels are going up and some are going down, so it’s all even”, when that really is not the case
I was just at the Asheville Hyatt Place in June, and loved it. I thought it was a huge redemption deal, and plan to go back with my family for a weekend in the fall. The pool is nice, the views wonderful, a nice bar, great staff, a rooftop restaurant is coming… It was undervalued before. Book now, people!
the location for hyatt regency jersey city is way off.
3 hotels we frequent in Nashville are going up, and also the Hyatt Centric in Chicago. Boo.