Hyatt Is Postponing Award Chart Season Introduction, Promises Status Adjustments At A Later Point

Hyatt has updated World of Hyatt members about their current position in the current situation of pretty much a standstill of business and personal travel and the impact on the loyalty program.

Members residing in Asia Pacific have already received a status extension but now Hyatt is widening their goodwill policy and pausing their scheduled award chart changes.

The hotel chains have now pretty much all stepped up their game and announced concessions to their customers, be it in terms of relaxed cancellation policies or giving special extensions to elite members of their loyalty programs.

Yesterday I wrote about Hyatt having processed their announced 1 year status extensions for Hyatt Globalist members in the Asia Pacific region.

Last night Hyatt updated their website with new measures to help out their customers.

For reservations overall, Hyatt now has the following procedures in place:

Waiving Change and Cancellation Fees

Guided by our purpose of care, we are temporarily adjusting our policies to allow for maximum flexibility to help you make the right decisions regarding travel at this time:

Existing reservations for upcoming travel between March 14 and April 30, 2020:

All existing reservations made before March 13, 2020 that are for arrivals between March 14 and April 30, 2020 can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations.

New reservations for any future travel:

Any reservation you make between March 13, 2020, and April 30, 2020 - for any future arrival date - can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations.

Existing Advance Purchase Rate non-refundable reservations for travel through June 2020:

As announced earlier, special exceptions are in place for all Advance Purchase Rate non-refundable reservations made directly with Hyatt on or before March 8, 2020 for arrivals before June 30, 2020. Guests holding these fully prepaid reservations who have decided not to travel may still opt, at least 24 hours before their stay, to receive 10,000 World of Hyatt Bonus Points compensation in lieu of both their stay and the offer above (if eligible). World of Hyatt points may be used toward future travel at any of our 900+ hotels across 17 brands globally.

As far members of the World of Hyatt program are concerned Hyatt announced they would withdraw their previously scheduled award chart changes for peak/off-peak redemptions for the time being:

World of Hyatt Member Update

We are closely listening to our World of Hyatt members and using their feedback to continually evaluate ways to flex the program. In the spirit of advancing care for members during these unique circumstances, we are making the following World of Hyatt program modifications:

Suspending Points Forfeiture:

We will be suspending the forfeiture of points through May 31, 2020. As a reminder, our general policy is that points do not expire, but they will be forfeited if a member's account is inactive for 24 consecutive months.

Postponing Award Chart Changes:

We are postponing the introduction of Off-peak and Peak point redemption (originally planned for March 22, 2020) until 2021. This means that free-night redemptions will continue to be at standard rates for the rest of this year. Before we launch Off-peak and Peak point redemptions for stay dates in 2021 and beyond, we'll provide advance notice as we always do.

Evaluating Elite Tier Qualification & Benefit Extension:

In February, World of Hyatt extended elite tier status and award expiration dates for qualifying members residing in Asia Pacific. Visit the World of Hyatt COVID-19 FAQs for details.

Given the quickly evolving nature of the situation, it is simply too early to suggest revised elite tier qualifications and award expiration beyond members in Asia Pacific. However, we know that adjustments will need to be made, and we are committed to communicating these as soon as we can.

Mind you that this apparently doesn't mean that the original Hyatt award chart changes will be suspended either, only the implementation seasonality.

Unless Hyatt forgot to mention it specifically, changes in the award chart will still take place on March 22nd and hotels will either go up or down in point requirements per night.

Here is the pdf we previously prepared:

Some of the highlights in this years changes (in my opinion) are:

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• Andaz 5th Ave New York (6 to 7)
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• Centric Park City (6 to 7)
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• Elounda Gulf Villas & Suites (7 to 8)
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• Hyatt Regency Tokyo (3 to 4)
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• Grand Hyatt Tokyo (6 to 7)
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• Park Hyatt Saigon (4 to 5)

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• Hyatt Regency Amsterdam (5 to 4)
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• Park Hyatt Hamburg (5 to 4)
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• Park Hyatt Mallorca (6 to 5)
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• Grand Hyatt Incheon (3 to 2)
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• Grand Hyatt Shanghai (4 to 3)
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• Park Hyatt Seoul (6 to 5)

What's important to consider here is if you have any favorite hotel that is currently covered under the Category 4 Limit to use the various Cat 1-4 certificates Hyatt provides per year the best is to check if it in fact still remains in this field.

As I predicted Hyatt would come up with further measures directed to all members, not just those in the APAC region. The economic impact of the Coronavirus has now gripped the travel industry on a global scale and I don't think members of various loyalty programs will require much if anything this year to extend their frequent flyer or hotel tier status.