How to Navigate Hyatt Hotel Categories for Awards
Filtering hotel searches by category can help you find properties within your range of Hyatt points.
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Updated · 4 min read
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Contributing Writer The World of Hyatt loyalty program offers many opportunities to redeem points for stays at more than 1,450 hotels and resorts worldwide. Properties ranging from convenient airport locations to five-star Park Hyatt hotels are divided into categories that determine how many points you need for an award night.
Navigating Hyatt hotel categories can be challenging; however, Hyatt allows you to search for a hotel by category so that you only see properties that cost the number of points in your budget. Here are some tips to keep in mind when embarking on your journey into World of Hyatt redemption categories.
What are Hyatt hotel categories?
Every World of Hyatt property falls into a category, from 1 through 8. The higher the category, the more points needed to redeem an award night.
Generally, a hotel’s category is determined by variables like location, type of property and demand. Upscale Hyatt brands like Park Hyatt and Hyatt Regency, as well as hotels in desirable locations, are usually in categories 5 through 8.
If you’re planning a trip to Miami, for example, you could choose a Category 3 property like Hyatt Place Miami Airport-East, located across from the airport. If a glamorous boutique hotel in Miami Beach is more your style, a Category 6 property such as Andaz Miami Beach could be your choice.
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Hyatt award charts: Higher-demand nights cost more
On Feb. 25, 2026, Hyatt announced changes to its award chart that would effectively increase points prices on most nights. Those changes take effect May 2026.
For now, Hyatt provides award charts for its hotels, with off-peak, standard and peak rates for its room rates.
This pricing applies across room offerings, including standard rooms, standard suites, premium suites, Regency/Grand Club, all Points + Cash rooms, all-inclusive resorts and Miraval resorts.
- Standard: Rates start at 5,000 points per night.
- Peak: More points are required when hotels are busiest, starting at 6,500 per night.
- Off-peak: Fewer points are needed when hotels are less busy, offering the best value, starting at 3,500 points per night.
To browse the number of points you need for rooms of every type and in every category, see the charts here.
What's changing in May 2026?
Hyatt's new award chart, which will go into effect in May 2026, will have five tiers per category: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper and Top. This will make the award prices more dynamic and demand-based than before. Most notably, the number of points needed for the highest-demand nights will soon rise dramatically.
Here’s how the maximum prices will change:
- Category 1: 6,500 becomes 9,000 points (+38%).
- Category 2: 9,500 becomes 15,000 points (+58%).
- Category 3: 15,000 becomes 20,000 points (+33%).
- Category 4: 18,000 becomes 25,000 points (+39%).
- Category 5: 23,000 becomes 35,000 points (+52%).
- Category 6: 29,000 becomes 40,000 points (+38%).
- Category 7: 35,000 becomes 55,000 points (+57%).
- Category 8: 45,000 becomes 75,000 points (+67%).
Here is Hyatt’s new award chart.
For more information about what's changing, read our analysis.
How to find Hyatt hotels by category
With some hotel loyalty programs, it can be difficult to find properties where you’ll have enough points for an award stay. You have to keep searching for different dates or cities in a hit-or-miss strategy to find a room in your points budget. But Hyatt has a better way — if you know where to look.
From Hyatt’s homepage, click “Loyalty Program” and then select “Redeem” among the drop-down options.
Scroll down the page and click the “Explore Reward Destinations” box, which will open a map of Hyatt locations.
You also can find the map by going to the homepage, clicking “Explore” and then selecting “Hotels & Resorts.”
On the map you’ll see a “Filters” box in the top left-hand corner of the page. Click on it to sort properties by hotel brand, amenities and — most helpful for award night searches — categories, with the number of points you need for a stay in each category clearly displayed.
Search Hyatt categories
Let’s say, for example, you have 20,000 points and you’re looking to put them to use for a free hotel stay. You could get five off-peak nights at a Category 1, three nights at a Category 2 or two nights at a Category 3 hotel.
To find results that fit into your points budget, select hotel Categories 1, 2 and 3 from the filter and you will see the number of results in the specific area. In our example, the results dropped from 1,184 to 536.
The map will show all the hotels that fall into your search criteria. If, for example, you’ve decided to go to Philadelphia, zoom into the Philadelphia area or type “Philadelphia” into the search bar to see your options.
For each result, you’ll see a “Points Calendar.” Click on it and you’ll see a calendar listing the nightly price in points for that property.
How to earn Hyatt points quickly
Beyond qualifying hotel stays, another way to amass a large number of points is to earn a sign-up bonus for a Hyatt credit card. There are two cards available: one personal or consumer card, and one business card.
World of Hyatt credit cards
Annual fee
World of Hyatt Credit Card
$95.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
$199.
Welcome offer
World of Hyatt Credit Card
Earn up to 60,000 Bonus Points. Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 more Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
60,000 Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
Reward earn rates
World of Hyatt Credit Card
• 4 points per $1 at Hyatt hotels and resorts.
• 2 points per $1 on dining, airline tickets purchased directly from the airline, gym memberships, and local transit and commuting.
• 1 point per $1 on all other eligible purchases.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
• 4 points per $1 at Hyatt hotels and resorts.
• 2 points per $1 in your top three spend categories each quarter.
• 2 points per $1 on fitness club and gym memberships.
• 1 point per $1 on all other eligible purchases.
Benefits
World of Hyatt Credit Card
• Earn one free night on each cardmember anniversary to redeem at any Category 1-4 World of Hyatt property.
• World of Hyatt Discoverist status.
• Earn five elite night credits when you get the card, and two additional elite night credits for every $5,000 spent.
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
• Earn up to a $100 Hyatt statement credit on your cardmember anniversary.
• World of Hyatt Discoverist status.
• Earn a rebate of 10% of points (up to 200,000 points) redeemed after reaching $50,000 in annual spend.
• Earn five elite night credits for every $10,000 spent.
If you seek more flexibility in redeeming miles for hotel stays, consider applying for a more general travel credit card instead. A more general travel credit card differs from a hotel card in that you can book lodging at multiple hotel chains, rather than reaping the benefits of staying loyal to a single brand.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Hyatt is a transfer partner of Chase, so if you earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points via a Chase credit card, you can bolster your Hyatt account by transferring your Chase points. The more high-end the travel credit card, the more benefits you can enjoy, including airport lounge access or automatic elite status in certain programs. That said, a brand-specific hotel card can net you benefits like late checkout or free breakfast, which can have meaningful dollar value.
» Learn more: The best Hyatt credit card offers
Final thoughts on Hyatt hotel categories
Although Hyatt has shifted to somewhat of a dynamic pricing award chart, you can still search for a hotel based on the hotel category, allowing you to view properties that fall into your points budget only.
(Top photo courtesy of Hyatt)
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2026:
- Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph® Card
- Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Luxury perks: American Express Platinum Card®
- Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
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