Seemingly Confirmed: Cash Portion Of Hyatt Points + Cash Increasing

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Last Friday, Richard Kerr shared on TPG that World of Hyatt would be changing how the cash portion of Points + Cash bookings would be changing. Some additional evidence has come to light today that seems to confirm that these changes will indeed be coming on November 1.

Hyatt Place Dallas/Garland/Richardson
Hyatt Place Dallas/Garland/Richardson

That additional confirmation has come via Point Me To The Plane. Adam has advised that they’ve received a copy of a document sent to a Hyatt hotel that confirms the changes laid out in Richard’s post.

The biggest news from those changes is that the cash portion of Points + Cash bookings will no longer be a fixed amount. At the moment, this is how much you’ll pay when booking a Points + Cash stay:

Hyatt Points + Cash

From November 1, the cash portion will no longer be fixed. Instead, it’ll be based on 50% of the standard rate. That means that the cash portion could be even higher than 50% of the lowest rate seeing as Advance Purchase rates are often cheaper than the standard rate.

For example, my wife and I will be staying at the Hyatt Regency Bali next year to celebrate our anniversary. It’s a category 1 property and so we booked a straight points stay seeing as it’s only 5,000 points per night.

If we’d wanted to book a Points + Cash stay, it would’ve cost 2,500 points + $50 per night:

Hyatt Regency Bali Points + Cash

For anyone wanting to book a Points + Cash stay there from November 1, the cash portion could increase substantially. For example, the standard rate in August is $205 per night, so the cash portion would be $102.50 (or $103 if they round it up). That’s more than twice the amount you’d currently pay. Note that the standard rate is ~17% higher than the Advance Purchase rate of $175.

Hyatt Regency Bali Standard Rate

Seeing as the cash portion will be dynamic, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on rates once you’ve made a Points + Cash reservation. If the standard rate goes down, you’ll be able to cancel and rebook with a lower cash portion.

With the cash portion being tied to the standard rate, there’ll no doubt be some instances where the amount you pay for Points + Cash bookings will actually go down. For example, the Hyatt Place Houston/Katy is also a category 1 property and so currently costs 2,500 points + $50.

Hyatt Place Houston Katy Points + Cash

Paid stays at the standard rate can be had for $84 per night which means the cash portion would reduce to $42. On the one hand that’s great, but opportunities like this are likely to be few and far between. In many such cases, it’d also make more sense to book a paid rate seeing as Points or Points + Cash stays probably wouldn’t provide great value for your World of Hyatt points.

If you’ve been eyeing up a Points + Cash stay, it looks like you have just over a week to take advantage of the current setup.

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[…] the recent rumors about changes to Points + Cash and Premium Suite redemptions, Hyatt has confirmed that those rumors were true and officially […]

Ric Garrido

Wyndham Rewards going to 65% BAR for their cash&points earlier this year killed the value of that reward option for the program. I don’t see much value in Hyatt’s cash& points program either at 50% BAR. Looks like you are better off holding on to points for all points reward stays.

Tom

Massive devaluation of the WOH P&C program. No potential increased P&C availability makes up for this. It really just stinks

william f

Any chance they’d make similar changes to the 100% point bookings? I’m just about ready to pull the trigger on the Chase Hyatt, but am concerned. I like searching for $.05/point or better redemptions