Like many people in the points-and-miles world, my main, go-to hotel program used to be Hyatt. The first thing I did when planning a trip was to check whether there was a suitable Hyatt and, if I had enough points, book it. This was especially true if I needed to travel at a peak time. 

Sadly, that changed on May 20, 2026, when Hyatt introduced its new award chart, which devalued points, especially in the higher price range and during high-demand periods. 

That doesn’t mean there won’t still be great deals with Hyatt hotels, especially with their free-night certificates. But points travelers will likely need to diversify their approaches and may not be able to stay at Hyatt properties as often.

As the squad often reminds us, the landscape is always changing, and we need to adapt accordingly. 

As I reconsider my loyalty to Hyatt and start playing the hotel field more, here are the questions I’m considering before booking any stays: 

• Is there another hotel program whose points or free-night certificates I could use instead?
• Do I have a credit card hotel credit that could be used to book this trip?
• Should I pay cash? If so, what will be earned on that spend?
• Would a vacation rental make more sense?

In this post, we’re going to look at a few Hyatt properties and then show how to book them another way or how to find a similar stay that will work for your travels. Having some more choices to consider can help take a trip from not possible to bookable.

 

Beachfront All-Inclusive That’s a Hit with Kids

Hyatt’s Ziva brand of all-inclusive resorts has been popular with families, including Alex’s kids. As they’ve grown more popular, the price of points has increased significantly. With the new award chart, the Hyatt Ziva Cancun, for example, could now cost a whopping 45,000 to 85,000 Hyatt points per night for two people in a standard room (plus additional cost to add children).

If you have Hilton points or free-night certificates, you could take your family instead to Hilton Cancun All-Inclusive Resort. As with the Ziva hotels, the Hilton Cancun caters to families. The beachfront property has a family pool, kids/teens clubs, lots of activities for guests of all ages, and 12 restaurants. 

When I searched in May 2026, standard room award availability was wide open here, including most of March 2027 and all of April 2027—prime spring break time. 

This hotel generally costs between 80,000 and 130,000 Hilton points per night for a standard room. Like Hyatt’s all-inclusive bookings, your points only cover two adults, and you pay a cash fee per night for the kids in your room. This could be a great deal for your family, considering how much easier it is to amass Hilton points than Hyatt points. 

You can also use the squad’s favorite free-night certificates here if you can find standard room availability. (Keep in mind that the fifth-night free benefit you can get with Hilton status on a points booking does not apply to free-night certificates.)  

 

 

Family-Friendly Stay in Midtown Manhattan 

The Thompson Central Park is ideally located for seeing Broadway shows, walking through Central Park, or visiting nearby museums. The hotel is popular with members of our Facebook group. I’ve stayed there twice, and I also love this property. Unfortunately, as a Category 6, this hotel can now cost as much as 40,000 Hyatt points per night. 

But there are alternatives to book it! If you have the American Express Platinum Card® or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, you could use your $300 hotel credit here, as this property is part of The Hotel Collection.

Enrollment required. Get up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually for up to a total of $600 in statement credits per calendar year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection* bookings through American Express Travel® using the Business Platinum Card®. *The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay. 

That $300 would bring this three-night stay that I searched for in August down to about $400 per night for a family-size suite, not outrageous by New York City standards. Just keep in mind that you must book a minimum of two nights to get the credit when booking through the Hotel Collection. 

While that’s still expensive, you’ll earn 5x American Express Membership Rewards® on that prepaid hotel spend. Additionally, the Thompson currently offers free breakfast for Hotel Collection guests (not all Hotel Collection properties do), and you’d have a $100 property credit to use on site. 

I also checked Bilt’s travel portal and Chase Travel℠ for these dates—as they offer similar credits on their premium cards—but the rooms were more expensive. 

If you also hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Sapphire Reserve for Business℠, you could use your Edit credit here and pay for the balance of your stay with Ultimate Rewards® (though I’d only recommend doing this if Points Boost is available at a value of at least 1.65 cents per point.) 

 

 

Couples Stay in Downtown Seattle 

A few years ago, my husband and I had a lovely stay at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in downtown Seattle. This hotel is still a Category 5, but now Category 5 hotels can cost up to 35,000 points per night. Depending on the time of year you’re traveling, this might be too pricey for your points balance.  

So if you wanted to book this property in cash, you could consider booking a paid stay through Rove to earn Rove miles on your booking. The weekend I searched in October using Rove would cost around $1,100 for three nights, but the stay would net you more than 9,000 Rove miles. (You could earn even more Rove miles booking the non-refundable rate.) 

This stay would not be a loyalty booking, so you wouldn’t earn Hyatt points or benefit from Hyatt status. So you’d want to weigh the importance of those benefits before booking this way. Rove does offer some loyalty-eligible bookings at other hotels, and you can search specifically for those stays if using status or earning elite nights is important to you. 

Alternatively, you could book through another portal and see if you have any card-linked offers to save money on your stay. I use SaveWise to help me find these offers on my cards. 

 

 

International Vacation Rentals

One of the most common questions in our Facebook group is how to find reasonably priced accommodations for a family internationally. This is especially true in Europe, where most hotel rooms are strictly limited to two people. 

Many traveling families look to vacation rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO for these types of trips. While you may miss the convenience and service of a hotel, extra space and access to washers and dryers can be useful, especially on longer international trips. 

With the increasing points cost of Hyatt hotels (especially in places where a family might need two or more rooms), vacation rentals will likely become more appealing to many travelers. While you can’t directly book an Airbnb with points, Toni recently shared many ways to save money or earn points for future travel when booking a vacation rental. (And Chase recently announced that the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a new spending multiplier of three points per dollar on select vacation rentals, which could be a great way to earn points on one of these stays.)

For example, is Prague on your bucket list? Jess absolutely loved this charming city. If the Andaz Prague is no longer in your points budget, you could book a two-bedroom, two-bathroom AirBnB for a family in the heart of the city for a reasonable cost during the U.S. Thanksgiving week. This apartment offers a kitchen, lots of space, and a washer and dryer. 

 

 

Bottom Line

Our Hyatt points may not stretch as far as they used to, but with a little diversification and strategy changes, you can still make points work for your family. 

 

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