Hello, I'm John Diaz and I'm the host of Rewarding Routes. Japan stole my heart, so now I made it my mission to visit all 47 prefectures. The way I'm doing this is using points and miles to get me there because let's be honest, it can be pretty expensive. Think of this as your guide of making that kind of travel realistic. The things we're going to be talking about are credit cards, award bookings, the culture, the places you can visit, the experiences waiting for you on the other side of that flight. Every episode I share what I'm learning so you can travel smarter, go deeper, and keep coming back. Let's get into it. Hello and welcome back to another episode. And in this episode, we're going to be talking about all the Hyatt the evaluation news that had come out about a month ago. And I kind of waited on this because I thought they would have released their category updates. But it looks like Hyatt is actually making those category updates this month, the month of April. I'm not sure of the date yet, but once I do find out about those category changes, I'll make sure to update you guys because that's also pretty big news, especially with the devaluation and the mix-up that Hyatt just announced with their new award chart say so. Feels a little bit kind of like they're moving to dynamic pricing, which the other major hotel brands such as Hilton and Marriott have gone over to. And what dynamic pricing is, is basically businesses such as Hilton and Marriott adjusting their prices based on the market demand and whatever the availability is. So, you know, there are properties for over, you know, a hundred thousand points a night, and Hyatt hasn't reached that level of dynamic pricing, but this award chart kind of starts to feel like dynamic pricing in a smaller way, not in such a dramatic way as dynamic pricing itself. So yeah, we're gonna dive deep into what the changes are with Hyatt and what are changing and what you should do for uh your future trips with you know booking with Hyatt because I talk about it so much and it's been our favorite accommodation stays, and you know, Hyatt has such great value with the points and their amazing award chart, but with the changes happening, there are things to know and there are things to maybe look out for. So we're gonna get into that now. So with Hyatt, right now there is a three-tier system. That system is off-peak, standard, and peak. And this is across eight hotel categories that Hyatt has. And you still have access to this until May. They I I don't know the exact date. They haven't mentioned when in May this is going to happen, but you still have access to the original award chart with the three tiers of off peak, standard, and peak. What Hyatt is changing over to is five levels instead of three, and it's going to be lowest, low, moderate, upper, and top. This is still across the eight categories that Hyatt has, but basically the structure stays the same, but the pricing range really stretches out. And this again goes live in May, sometime in May. No exact day. Once I get that date, I'll make sure to update you in the first podcast that comes out with the news, and I'll make sure to do that in the very beginning of the episode so that you know right away that this is happening. You can also follow me on Instagram. Uh it's John Diaz. I'll make sure to maybe make a story about it, um, just giving everybody an update of what's going on. So Hyatt is saying that you know this isn't dynamic pricing, but it definitely feels like dynamic pricing, especially when you look at the chart. So I'll make sure to to uh link the chart in the show notes so that you can visually see it in all the eight categories within all the five different levels, and that way you can kind of understand the different ones. But I'm gonna go over the chart with you here, and it's definitely moving in the direction because there are certain categories and like the upper and the top, even the moderate, um, you're gonna see big price differences, and these points add up with the differences that are coming out. So let's get into the chart here. I'm going to compare the original chart with off-peak standard and peak to the new chart, which is lowest, moderate, and top. I won't I'm only gonna compare those because I don't um you probably don't want to hear me list off every single card category. You can just kind of look it up yourself and see everything a little bit better without me explaining all of it. But I'm gonna compare these with each other real quick. So with the off-peak, say for a category two, compared to the lowest in the new award chart, for a category two, it's actually cheaper. So the one plus with the new award chart is the lowest tier in the new award chart is actually cheaper than the original chart that we have right now. Now, how many properties will we find with the lowest tier? That's to be determined, and you're you're going to have to really pick out like low seasons for when you travel. But you know, there's a lot of categories, so like category five for the original chart is 17,000 points. With the new chart, it's 15,000 points. So that's a plus there. You know, things are a little bit cheaper in the new award chart in its lowest tier. Once again, not sure how many properties we're going to be finding with the lowest tier. It's definitely gonna have to be low season and yeah, you know, category eight, it stays the same. Uh, just letting you know, for off peak it's 35,000 points. For a new chart, it's 35,000 points, same across the board. It does that for category seven as well. So that's don't that's a really big plus that you can find cheaper options, but you know, we'll find out how available those options for lowest tier are. Now, when it comes to moderate compared to right now the standard, that's when things go up a little bit. And by looking at it, it's around a 25% increase for from what we have now to the new award chart. So from right now, the original standard for a category too high, it would be 8,000 points. For the new award chart in moderate, it would be 10,000 points for a category 5 property in standard. You're looking at 20,000 points. For the new award chart, you're looking at 25,000 points, and for the category eight hotels in standard, that's 40,000 points. The new award chart's gonna be 55,000 points. So you can see the increase there. Uh, roughly it's around 25%, goes up a little bit as you get higher in the tiers. But where the biggest changes and the biggest hits are going to be is when you get to the peak areas, um, which is top in the new award chart. So now we'll compare the current award chart peak with the new award chart top. So for a category two property in peak, you're looking at 9,500 points. For a property in the new award chart, for top, you're looking at 15,000 points. For a category five hotel, you're looking at 23,000 points in peak, and you're looking at 35,000 points in top. For category eight, you're looking at 45,000 points in peak, and you're seeing 75,000 points in top. So you're seeing a over a 60% increase right there, and basically for all the ones that I just mentioned, from peak to top, you're looking at 50% plus increase in those properties once the new award chart goes into play. So that's where your points are definitely it's going to add up in with you know knights being booked in the top category. I mean, the increase is pretty dramatic there, and yeah, just being able to afford those properties, especially the category eights and top, are going to be a lot harder to manage because of the amount of points that you you can accumulate. But we'll see, you know, how many hotels are actually at top. I assume, especially going to Japan during cherry blossom season and any major holidays, you're definitely going to see the top category come up. So those points are going to be extremely expensive for booking Hyatt. And at that point, you know, that's the discussion of do you just book for a hotel or Airbnb or or just a property on booking.com at that point because it's a lot of points to be spending, uh, especially even for just category six hotels. And a situation that can happen is this month in April when Hayat does change its categories and updates it. There are you know properties that maybe are category six right now that go up to a category seven or seven that goes up to an eight. So we're going to see a lot of changes here, and we're going to have to make a lot of adjustments. And the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway is trying to find those lowest and low properties and trying to travel during those low times just to make the most out of your points, especially booking with Hayat, because there is still value there. Um, it's just not what it's going to be right now, and it's going to be ending in May. So now that we went over the uh you know old award chart to the new one coming out, I wanted to give you an example because we are going to be staying at the Hayat Place Kyoto in uh February of 2027. So I kind of wanted to give you an example of me booking it now, which we are going to be booking it, I mean, in the next week. I've been slacking on it, but I need to book it before May. And I'm gonna show you kind of the difference of if I was to book it after May when the changes go into place, so you can kind of see the differences in pricing and and what the changes really are here. So currently the high place Kyoto is at a standard price at 8,000 points per night in the old award chart that is currently out right now, uh, as of April 8th. So this is kind of the price that we're looking at. We're looking at staying seven nights here, so that's fifty-six thousand points. Now, if this same high it plays Kyoto stays the same category too, once the new chart hits, I'm going to compare it to moderate because m moderate is the middle of the table, assuming it's going to stay in moderate, that's a 25% increase. So from going from standard of 8,000 points a night, it's going to move up to 10,000 points a night. So the seven uh the seven night stays that we're planning to do for 56,000 points would increase to 70,000 points, which is a 14,000 point increase. 14,000 points doesn't seem like too much, but it's almost two extra nights at a category two property. So you can see the 25% increase there with the award chart. So now let me compare this to different tiers in the new table compared to the original table that we have now. So if I was to book this property at off-peak, which is the standard award chart right now, it's 3,500 points. With the new award chart, it's only 3,000 points, so it's actually cheaper. This is I'm curious to see if I'm able to book this property at a lowest tier once that new system comes out, but we'll see how available that will be. And that's another concern because with you know the lowest tier being cheaper, maybe there's fewer of those options and they might get snagged up pretty quickly. And we'll talk about later on ways to maybe get access to or ways to get access to the award chart and bookings sooner than other people, but we'll be talking about that in a little bit. Let's continue with the chart. So we talked about the off-peak with lowest, standard with the moderate, and now let's talk about the same property if it was in peak. And a good example of when this property will be peak is during cherry blossom season. So the higher place Kyoto current award chart at peak is 12,000 points. In the new award chart top, it's 18,000 points. So if we were to do cherry blossom season seven nights at the same category to higher place Kyoto, we go from the original award chart, which is 12,000 points a night. For seven nights, it'll be eighty-four thousand points. With the new award chart top, it is a hundred and twenty-six thousand points. It's a forty-two thousand point increase compared to the original chart. So you can see how much more that brought that stay is going to really cost you. It's going to cost you quite a lot, uh, especially for those times that you know you want to go during cherry blossom or any of the holidays or or just peak times in Japan. Uh, we talked about that a little bit in in previous episodes, but you can see with this example of the lowest tier in the new award chart actually gets cheaper, but after that, everything increases little by little all the way until you get to top, which is a really big increase for your your high-points. And this is where you know it really adds up to stay at these properties during you know, peak seasons, top seasons now with the new war chart. So this asks this really asks the question of like how often will we see the top pricing being applied? Like, is it just during these major holiday seasons, or is it going to be top pricing for a big chunk of the year? So that's something to look out for. And there's going to be a lot of questions until all this goes into play. But I'm I'm just so curious to see like how often we find all these different available pricing for from lowest to top and during what season. So we'll get a really good feel for for it once it comes out in May. Hyatt has stated that this is going to be a gradual change, and it's going to really shift within that first year. So we're not going to see everything just kind of go straight up to top. Um, we're going to see some properties make the changes and slowly it's going to roll out. We just don't know what properties that these are. So this is why there's a lot of questions still to figure out and to wonder about. But yeah, it's it's going to be very interesting how this all plays out. And it's definitely a bumper bummer because I've talked to Hyatt so much in you know all of my previous episodes so far, and how much I've cherished Hyatt. And I still do, and I still plan to get the new high like the Hyatt cards that are coming out. And I'll go over exactly why that is uh coming up here. But yeah, there's a lot of questions to be asked, and we'll find out more and more as the rollout happens in May. But one thing is for sure is if you have Hyatt points right now, definitely get those bookings in before May because you're gonna hit get hit with those increases. And you know, it's something we're gonna do. We're gonna be booking our stays in um the the Hyatt Place Kyoto. I think we're also gonna be staying a week in Osaka and staying at the caption there, uh, which is also a category two hotel. So those we're gonna lock in and get those good pricings, and we'll also be getting the updated categories here this month sometime. So those properties could go up from category twos to category threes or category fours. So we'll find out how all that all plays out because I know Japan is in such high demand. Last year we saw a bunch of properties in Japan go up a category, uh, especially in T in uh Tokyo and Osaka, Kyoto. You're gonna probably see those increases again. We'll see. Once those changes happen, I'll make sure to update you on all of that. And this leads me to getting the world of Hyatt Card. And one big reason that I want to get the Hyatt Card is you know, for the points, but Hyatt has stated that you get one month of early access to award availability, and with the lowest tier in the new award chart being cheaper than the original award chart that we have now, I can see those going really quickly and selling out really fast, especially in Japan. So having that early access is really valuable, and you know it's a reason to get the world of Hyatt card. But if you're someone that wanted to see how the new changes roll out and the categories that get updated, you can definitely wait and see how everything plays out. But for me personally, I'm still gonna get the World of Hyatt personal card or business card and take advantage of that early access award availability. So that's pretty big. Also, something coming later this year is digital point sharing. This is really big because as of right now, you have to fill out a form and then email the form to Hyatt, and then somebody goes over the form and then you know goes ahead and then and transfer your points and combine your points with you know your spouse or your friend or whatever. But digital point sharing is coming later this year, making it easier to gift to travel companions to combine it with somebody in your household like your spouse. And you know, this will be really good because I have some higher points, my wife has some higher points. You know, if we wanted to combine our points, we'd have to fill out a form right now and send an email. It's a little bit more of a process, but with combining our points digitally, this is just a much better process, much easier, and looking forward to it really. Free night certificates are staying the same, so that's really nice. Um, you can get free night certificate at staying at different Hyatt brands. You'll see it on the app once you open it up, and once you stay at like a Hyatt Place, a park Hyatt, uh on Doz. You'll once you reach four different brands or five different brands, I believe, then you'll get a free award night, uh, one through four categories, really nice, staying the same, nothing's changing there. You also get it if you are a card holder of the world of Hyatt, so that's also good for a free night certificate, and also another reason to maybe potentially get a world of Hyatt card. We still haven't heard any news of a new card coming out. The rumors are still there, but as of right now, it's just the personal world of Hyatt card and the business world of Hyatt card. Also forgot to mention for the one month early access to award availability. Other than having the world of Hyatt card, if you are explorerist or higher tier, then you also get access, and this is how another way to get one month early access to award availability. So, what you should do right now is if you have Hyatt points, say if you have points in chase or your built, then you can transfer those points over one-to-one to Hyatt and then make your bookings before May just to get those current um standard pricings locked in. Another good reason to book right now is because with the category changes coming up, we're going to see you know, category and hotels either go up or go down. So, say the property that you book that that category hotel goes down, you're actually going to get refunded the points, uh, the difference between what you actually paid and the category it dropped down to. Now, if the category goes up for the hotel that you booked, then you get the locked-in standard pricing. You don't worry about anything, you you don't pay an increased amount of points. So I just wanted to let you know that it's really nice to get refunded. This actually happened last year to me when I booked the park high at Busan. The category actually dropped down and they refunded me to different. So that's really that was really nice. And this is it could happen to you right before these category changes get announced here in April and then go into effect maybe in May. So something to look out for there. And basically, this kind of wraps it up for us. Hyatt still the only major You know, hotel brand still have an award chart-ish. Um, there is still some value there. We'll see how it all unfolds, see how often we'll see the very lowest tier that is cheaper than the original, and see how things are priced out, see all the category changes that are going to be happening now. Um, this is going to definitely take a hit for Japan because Japan is just in such high demand. So many people want to visit. We want to visit, you know, we want to go every year. I'm sure you want to visit as much as possible, and maybe you want to see all 47 prefectures, so you're going to be going back and back and back. But we'll see how this all plays out. And you know, overall, these things are going to happen. Devaluations are always going to happen in points and miles. There's no avoiding it. This is just how it is. And there was value for so long, but unfortunately, it's coming to an end. But there still is some value there, and we'll kind of see once it all unfolds in May, we'll see how it all starts playing out, and then we'll talk about it again uh after that, and then we'll just kind of go from there. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know it's kind of a bummer with the high devaluation, but we're still gonna be traveling to Japan no matter what. And if things are get too out of hand, too expensive, you can still book you know great accommodations for really affordable prices, and and you know, there are so many good hotel chains in Japan that are really affordable. And maybe I'll make an episode all about the hotels you could book with cash. And if you're interested in that, just let me know, and I'll make that episode happen. But that's gonna wrap it up for me here, and I'll see you in the very next episode. See ya.