Hyatt's New Award Chart (2026): Every Category and Price Level, Old vs. New
On May 20, 2026, World of Hyatt made the biggest change to its award chart in years. Here's the entire new chart in one place, what it replaced, exactly how much more you'll pay — and the parts of the program that didn't change.
For years, Hyatt's award chart was the points world's favorite piece of furniture: eight categories, three seasonal price levels, no surprises. If you knew a hotel's category, you knew what it cost.
The categories survived. The three levels didn't. As of May 20, 2026, every Hyatt category prices standard rooms at five levels — Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper, and Top — and the ceilings moved up substantially. This page is the reference we wish existed when the change landed: the full new chart, the old one beside it, and the practical playbook.
The complete new chart (effective May 20, 2026)
Points per night for a standard room:
| Category | Lowest | Low | Moderate | Upper | Top |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,000 | 4,500 | 6,000 | 7,500 | 9,000 |
| 2 | 6,000 | 7,500 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 |
| 3 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 17,500 | 20,000 |
| 4 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | 22,500 | 25,000 |
| 5 | 15,000 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 |
| 6 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 40,000 |
| 7 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 45,000 | 55,000 |
| 8 | 35,000 | 45,000 | 55,000 | 65,000 | 75,000 |
Which level a given night falls on depends on demand for that hotel on that date — you'll see the actual points price when you search dates on hyatt.com. The prices are still fixed levels, not dynamic pricing: a night is one of these five numbers, never something in between.
What it replaced, and what the change costs
The old chart had three levels per category. Here's the old standard and peak pricing against the new chart's middle and maximum:
| Category | Old standard | New Moderate | Old peak | New Top | Ceiling increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,000 | 6,000 | 6,500 | 9,000 | +38% |
| 2 | 8,000 | 10,000 | 9,500 | 15,000 | +58% |
| 3 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | +33% |
| 4 | 15,000 | 20,000 | 18,000 | 25,000 | +39% |
| 5 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 23,000 | 35,000 | +52% |
| 6 | 25,000 | 30,000 | 29,000 | 40,000 | +38% |
| 7 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 55,000 | +57% |
| 8 | 40,000 | 55,000 | 45,000 | 75,000 | +67% |
Three honest observations:
- The typical night got 20–37.5% more expensive. The new Moderate level — the middle of the chart, where ordinary nights land — runs 20% to 37.5% above the old standard rate in every category.
- The ceiling moved much more than the middle. A Category 8 night — think Park Hyatt Maldives or Park Hyatt New York — could never cost more than 45,000 points under the old chart. Now the Top level is 75,000. High-demand dates at aspirational properties are where this devaluation really bites.
- The floor didn't rise — and at the entry level it dropped. The old off-peak rates ran 3,500 to 35,000 points; the new Lowest levels run 3,000 to 35,000. A Category 1 night can now cost 3,000 points, below anything possible under the old chart, and the Category 8 floor held at 35,000. Flexible, off-season travelers were largely spared.
There's one more piece of good news: Hyatt has said the move to Upper and Top pricing will be gradual — a limited number of hotels moving a limited number of nights into those levels in 2026, with broader adoption in the years that follow. In practice, most nights you search this year will price at Lowest, Low, or Moderate.
What didn't change
- Free-night certificates still work — everywhere in their range. A Category 1–4 certificate covers a Category 4 night even when it prices at Top (25,000 points). Since certificates ignore the price level, they're now relatively more valuable on expensive dates than they used to be.
- Fifth night free is untouched. Book four consecutive award nights and the fifth costs zero points — still an automatic 20% discount on longer stays, no status required.
- Points don't expire with activity. Any earning or redemption activity every 24 months keeps your balance alive.
- It's still a chart. Unlike Marriott, Hilton, and IHG — which moved to fully dynamic pricing with no published ceilings — Hyatt still publishes exactly what any night can cost. A cap of 75,000 is painful; no cap at all is worse.
What this means for your points' value
NerdWallet's current valuation of Hyatt points is about 1.8 cents each — down from the ~2.3 cents most analysts used before the change, but still comfortably the highest of any major hotel currency.
The practical shift: good value used to be the default at Hyatt; now it depends on your dates. A Category 5 resort at the Lowest level (15,000 points) against a $400 cash rate is 2.7 cents per point — outstanding. The same resort at Top (35,000 points) against a $500 rate is 1.4 cents — mediocre. Same hotel, same chart, wildly different math.
So the one habit worth building: check the cash rate against the points price every time before you book. Divide the cash rate by the points required. Above 1.8 cents per point, book it with points; meaningfully below, pay cash and save the points.
The Chase angle — and a deadline
Most readers of this site feed Hyatt with Chase points, and 2026 changed that side of the equation too. Chase cut Sapphire Preferred transfers to Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3 for new cardholders — and existing Preferred cardholders keep the 1:1 rate only until October 1, 2026. The Sapphire Reserve keeps 1:1.
The two changes compound: after October 1, a Preferred holder's 1,000 Chase points become 750 Hyatt points, each buying slightly less hotel than before. If you're an existing Preferred cardholder with a specific Hyatt stay in mind, transferring what that stay needs before October 1 stretches your points about 33% further. Our full guide to the Chase-Hyatt transfer change covers who's affected, when, and what not to do (short version: never transfer speculatively).
How to book smart under the new chart
- Search flexible dates first. The gap between Lowest and Top within one category is now up to 2x. Shifting a stay by a week — or booking midweek instead of a weekend — regularly drops a night one or two levels.
- Aim your certificates at expensive nights. Free-night certificates ignore price levels, so use them where the level is Upper or Top and pay points where it's Lowest or Low.
- Use fifth-night-free on long stays. It stacks with any price level.
- Do the cents-per-point check. Cash rate ÷ points price ≥ 1.8¢ → use points. Our Transfer Partner Value Calculator does this math across all your transfer options.
- Know where the value still lives. All-inclusives (Hyatt Ziva/Zilara), where points cover meals and drinks for two, and off-season Park Hyatt stays remain the program's crown jewels — our complete Hyatt guide walks through both.
The bottom line
The May 2026 chart is a real devaluation — 20–37.5% on ordinary nights, up to 67% at the very top — and it ended the era when transferring to Hyatt was automatically the right answer. But the fundamentals that made Hyatt the points world's favorite hotel program are intact: published prices, working certificates, fifth night free, and per-point value no other major chain approaches. The program went from "always great" to "great if you check" — and checking takes about thirty seconds.
Published August 12, 2026. Award chart figures verified against Hyatt's announcement and multiple independent sources (NerdWallet, CNBC Select, Frequent Miler) as of publication. Affiliate disclosure: WanderWise earns a commission when you apply through our links; it never affects our analysis. Editorial policy →