A DEACTIVATED HYDROCARBON CONVERSION CATALYST, WHICH IS A COMBINATION OF A PLATINUM GROUP COMPONENT, A RHENIUM COMPONENT, AND HALOGEN COMPONENT WITH A POROUS CARRIER MATERIAL AND WHICH HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED BY DEPOSITION OF CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS THEREON DURING A PREVIOUS CONTACTING WITH A HYDROCARBON CHARGE STOCK AT AN ELEVATED TEMPERATURE, IS REGENERATED BY THE SEQUENTIAL STEPS OF: (A) BURNING CARBON THEREFROM AT RELATIVELY LOW TEMPERATURE WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY SULFUR COMPOUND-FREE GAS STREAM CONTAINING H2O AND A RELATIVELY SMALL AMOUNT OF O2, (B) TREATING THE RESULTING PARTIALLY REGENERATED CATALYST AT A RELATIVELY HIGHER TEMPERATURE WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY SULFUR COMPOUND-FREE GAS STREAM CONTAINING A HALOGEN OR A HALOGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUND, H2O AND A RELATIVELY HIGHER AMOUNT OF O2, (C) PURGING O2 AND H2O FROM CONTACT WITH THE RESULTING CATALYST, AND (D) SUBJECTING THE RESULTING CATALYST TO CONTACT WITH A DRY AND SULFUR COMPOUND-FREE HYDROGEN STREAM. KEY FEATURES OF THE DISCLOSED METHOD ARE: (1) PRESENCE OF WATER IN THE GAS STREAMS USED IN ALL STEPS EXCEPT THE REDUCTION STEP; (2) CAREFUL CONTROL OF THE TEMPERATURE USED DURING EACH STEP; (3) ADJUSTMENT OF THE HALOGEN CONTENT OF THE CATALYST IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CARBON-BURNING STEP AND PRIOR TO THE REDUCTION STEP; (4) CAREFUL CONTROL OVER THE COMPOSITION OF THE GAS STREAMS USED IN THE VARIOUS STEPS THEREOF; AND (5) EXCLUSION OF SULFUR COMPOUNDS FROM ALL GAS STREAMS UTILIZED.