45 Hyatt Category 1-4 Hotels For a Fabulous Free Night Award Redemption – Part 1: Asia and Oceania

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Tl;dr – Next Tuesday – March 25, Hyatt will go live with its 2025 changes to its award charts. As such, I wanted to highlight some properties that could be great redemptions with a category 1-4 Free Night Award Certificate.

Each year, Hyatt shakes up its portfolio and adjusts the redemption costs at some properties, moving some up a category and others down a category. Points and miles fans, Hyatt loyalists in particular, often bemoan these changes, as inevitably, several popular properties shift to higher categories, making them more expensive point redemptions. To me, it’s much ado about nothing – Hyatt’s a fast-growing hotel chain with a thirst for acquisition and on a mission to win the ‘luxury traveler.’ Thus, there’s always going to be new properties coming into the portfolio that represent solid redemptions. Additionally, there’s a lot of skin on the bone, particularly at the lower-level hotels – properties tagged in categories 1-4. If you’re like me and love finding a ‘value gem’ – a hotel that punches above its weight or otherwise presents a unique opportunity – say, for its convenient location, you’ll enjoy the list I’ve set out below. I listed compelling Hyatt category 1-4 properties offering outsized value. Why 1-4, you ask? Well, those are the category ranges you can book with Hyatt’s base-level Free Night Award (FNA). 

Before diving into the list, a few things to keep in mind. Free Night Awards are much easier to come by nowadays, mainly since Hyatt made all of its awards transferable. In the past month alone, I’ve accumulated three FNAs for an upcoming stay by trading other awards that I value less – Club Access Awards and Guest of Honor certificates. Don’t underestimate how a few savvy trades and a winning search on your favorite hotel award tool can result in a few free hotel nights at a fabulous property. 

Of course, you won’t find every category 1-4 hotel here. I’ve cherry-picked these properties for several reasons: some for their location, others for the outsized value they offer compared to the cash rate, still others as they represent a premium option in an otherwise lacking hotel market, and finally, some for the ‘bucket-list’ factor. I’ve grouped them into four regions: Asia and Oceania, Europe and Africa, North America, and South American/Caribbean/Central America. I’ve split the list into four parts, and this first part focuses on Asia and Oceania. 

And, YES! These properties all should still be bookable with a FNA 1-4 after Tuesday. 

Finally, if you’re wondering how to acquire or trade for awards, many social media groups are dedicated to safely exchanging Hyatt awards – I even created one here. Join the group and feel free to start trading awards with your fellow Hyatt members.

Ok, let’s jump into it!

8 Category 1-4 Hyatt Hotels in Asia and Oceania that Warrant Your Attention

Asia and Oceania

Let’s begin with a run of Park Hyatt’s, shall we?

Park Hyatt Hyderabad—Hyderabad, a major city in South-central India, is famed for its restaurants and monuments. If you’re traveling around India or the subcontinent and need some luxury digs, you could do a lot worse. 

Park Hyatt Siem Reap – The gateway to the ruins of Angkor Wat. Enough said. 

Park Hyatt Jakarta – Jakarta is one of those cities where you can throw a rock and hit a luxury hotel. In addition to a Four Seasons, Orient, Raffles, Langham, Shangri-la, Kempinski, Mandarin Oriental, and the new Keraton, you have two Ritz-Carlton’s to choose from and a St. Regis. Your FNA will slide your right into the Park Hyatt Jakarta.

Hyatt Hotel Canberra—A Park Hyatt Hotel—Unlike other popular Australian destinations, Canberra is inland, providing some opportunity for ‘bush time’ nearby. You can use the Park Hyatt as a jumping-off point for a wildlife tour. 

Alila Diwa Club GOA – You get coastal India, beaches, nightlife, scrumptious food, and an evolving culture shaking the last vestiges of former Portuguese colonial rule. Dive into those experiences, then cool off in the Alila’s infinity pool.

Grand Hyatt Fukuoka—Fukuoka flies under the radar, but on a recent trip to Japan, a few Japanese people said it was the best food city in the country. Enough said. Skip the Ritz there and rest easy knowing your FNA has got you. 

Grand Hyatt Melbourne – Melbourne is incredibly underrated. The city has excellent restaurants and nightlife, a vibrant immigrant community, and even a beach. You can drive to see the penguins on Phillips Island or use Melbourne as your launching point for the nearby Yarra Valley. I recently enjoyed a great stay at the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, though you could do just fine burning a FNA at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne. 

Hyatt Centric Kanazawa – With the upcoming changes to the Hyatt award chart, we’re losing solid redemption options like the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, Japan and the Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya, Japan. What if you shake things up and spend some time on the opposite coast, in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture alongside the Sea of Japan. For the cost of 1 FNA, you can spend time checking out timeless gardens like Kenroku-en and other Edo-era gems. Japan on points, is always a good idea.

Conclusion

Ok – there are some solid options in Asia and Oceania. Next up, Europe and Africa. And yes, I’ll combine each part into one master list at the end. 😀