Hyatt is the latest hotel chain to offer a cancellation waiver on non-refundable hotel stays. Previously they were only offering 10,000 points if you had a non-refundable or pre-paid stay and declined to travel. That offer is still on the table in case you find it more generous.
Existing reservations for travel between March 14 and April 30 can be changed or cancelled at no charge as long as you make those changes 24 hours before scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations.
New reservations made between March 13 and April 30 for travel at any future date can also be changed or cancelled at no charge. Again, you need to make those changes 24 hours before schedule arrival, and it includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations. This is essentially an opportunity to secure the discounts of an Advance Purchase Rate while preserving the flexibility of a standard rate.
In addition, World of Hyatt will be suspending any forfeiture of points (points don’t “expire,” but you could lose your account through 24 months of inactivity) and will be considering changes to its elite qualification requirements for 2020. Those new requirements won’t be announced until the scope of the current situation is better understood.
Planned changes to the award redemption prices for 2020 have also been suspended. They will now occur in 2021 instead. These include the typical annual award category changes, where some hotels move up a level and others move down. In addition, they are suspending the move to include peak and off-peak awards at varying prices. A single price for each hotel will remain in place for now.
There are still five hotels that will be changing their categories on March 22, 2020:
| Hotel Name | Current Category | New Category |
|---|---|---|
| Park Hyatt Mallorca | 6 | 5 |
| Hyatt Centric Park City | 6 | 7 |
| Park Hyatt Shenzhen | 4 | 5 |
| Alila Yangshuo | 4 | 5 |
| Park Hyatt Ningbo | 3 | 4 |
Free night awards and Points + Cash awards booked at these hotels on or after 8 AM CDT on March 22 will be subject to the prices of their new category. Since one hotel is going down a category and nearly all other changes are being postponed for a year, I think this is good news overall.
