tl;dr – 136 properties are changing. Here are a few notable moves.
Hyatt is planning some major changes to its loyalty program, which will be coming very soon. In addition to those impending changes, Hyatt is still planning its annual shuffle of award categories for select properties in its portfolio. Each year, some properties shift upwards, making redemptions more costly, and others move downward. This year, 136 properties are subject to the May 20, 2026, moving day. Honestly, there’s nothing too jarring about these changes. Maybe you can chalk it up to fatigue – I’m definitely a bit over all of this Hyatt news – so forgive me if I’ve left my pitchfork at home. You can view the full list of property shifts here.
With that being said, here are some notable shifts:
Notable Properties Moving Up in Category
- Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles goes from Category 4 to 5. A well reviewed option for LA leaves FNA 1-4 land.
- Andaz 5th Avenue in New York goes from Category 7 to 8. Lol.
- The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, NC, goes from Category 4 to 5. – Next time I want to see Duke beat down UNC, it appears I won’t be able to use a FNA 1-4.
- Hyatt Regency Seattle goes from Category 4 to 5. This was a great FNA option in Seattle.
- The Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort Spa and Casino goes from Category 7 to 8.
- Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid goes from Category 4 to 5. Madrid can be an expensive hotel market at times. Big loss here.
- Hôtel du Louvre in Paris goes from Category 7 to 8.
- Hotel Fluela Davos in Switzerland goes from Category 7 to 8. I feel poor just thinking of Switzerland.
- Park Hyatt London River Thames goes from Category 7 to 8.
- Hyatt Regency Lisbon goes from Category 4 to 5. Similar to Seattle and Madrid, this shit up removes a great redemption option for FNA 1-4 awards.
Notable Properties Moving Down in Category
- Dream Nashville drops from Category 5 to 4.
- The Standard, Singapore drops from 5 to 4.
- Macao Andaz Macau drops from 5 to 4.
Big Picture Thoughts
First, the good – it’s cool to see another property come in Nashville come within the realm of a Category 1-4 FNA. I recently stayed at both the Thompson Nashville (Category 6) and the Caption by Hyatt Nashville (Category 5).
Both properties were OK, but I’d be lying if I said that either one of them felt higher than a Category 4. With Nashville expecting a boom in its luxury hotel scene, the Dream Nashville could be a sneaky value for stays in the city.
Same with Singapore and Macao. Both of those properties dropping into the FNA realm are clutch. If you have a few FNA 1-4s (or you can trade for them), you can put together a cheap stay in Singapore or Macao. Notably, all three of these brands – Dream, Standard, and Andaz – become just a bit easier to knock off on Hyatt’s Brand Explorer, if you’re chasing Milestone Awards.
Now the not so good. You likely noticed that many of the properties I cherry-picked in the ‘moving up in category’ section will no longer be bookable by either a 1-4 or 1-7 FNA award. That’s a tough pill to swallow and in general, I think that Category 1-4 awards are inching closer and closer to ‘meaningless.’
I’ll be expounding upon all things Hyatt shortly, but one thing that stands out to me – in no world should a Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, or any branded property in Hyatt’s ‘Essentials’ portfolio ever be higher than a Category 4. I don’t care how much a property punches above its weight. I don’t care where it’s located. At a certain point, you have to have some standard, some expectation/correlation for brand-to-redemption rate. Again, more on this to come!
