hyatt

Hyatt Olive 8 Seattle Review

Hyatt Olive 8 Seattle Review Loyal Hyatt visitors to Seattle are faced with a tough decision:  Grand Hyatt or Hyatt Olive 8.  There is also a Hyatt Place and a Hyatt House (opening May 2015); however those properties are outside the downtown core.  If you are in town for a conference … Read more

Daily Getaways Valuation

Screen Shot 2015-03-17 at 4.37.51 PMThe US Travel Association is once again running its Daily Getaways promotion.  Beginning March 23 there will be a different offer for a limited time each day.  An interesting change this: there is NO added discount for using an Amex card.  You can find discounts on rental cars, hotels, and theme parks.  Only the first three weeks’ offers have been posted as of this post.

Likely the most popular offers will be for the hotel stays that, for the most part, come in the form of loyalty points.  Below I have created a grid that shows the cost per point for each of the hotel point offers.

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Hyatt Diamond Challenge 2015

 

Hyatt Diamond Challenge 2015

Note: As of June 1, 2015, the Hyatt Diamond Challenge 2015 has been updated.  Diamond status is now good through February 2017.  Reports are also in that you can directly contact Hyatt Gold Passport at 1-800-228-3360 to enroll in the Elite Tier Offer.  Read more here.

I first signed up for Hyatt Gold Passport last summer after I learned about their relationship with Mlife.  Since I was a Gold Mlife member I received Platinum status with Hyatt’s loyalty program.  I had signed up for hotel loyalty programs before, but with the purpose of earning miles on Alaska Airlines for my stays.  In 9 months I have accrued 20,000 points with HGP through my stays at Mlife hotels in Vegas and Hyatt hotels.

The benefits of Platinum HGP status are minimal; it was devalued even more last month when all guests were given free wifi.  Reports over at Flyer Talk have some people being offered a Hyatt Diamond Challenge (also known as the Hyatt Gold Passport Elite Tier offer) with 12 nights in 60 days.  Some said the offer was targeted only to those with a high number of stays in 2014 while others said they were able to enroll in the challenge by contacting the property of their upcoming stay.

I have four booked reservations between now and June so I emailed the two properties that had an email posted on their website.

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Mileage Run Istanbul

Mileage Run Istanbul

Mileage run Istanbul…via Houston and Paris.

Last night I couldn’t sleep and was checking out some of my favorite people I follow on Twitter.  I came across this tweet:

I was intrigued so I booked.  Here is why:

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Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Review

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara for a weekend in October, 2014.  The hotel is older, my guess it was built in the mid 1980’s, and has a large footprint of 501 rooms.  The closest airport is San Jose (6 miles), a small airport that makes getting in and out easy.

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I assumed it would be quiet on a weekend when business travelers were at home, but was I wrong! This is definitely a conference hotel (it is attached to the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley).  There were two conferences at the hotel (ironically neither were tech conventions); one was quilters the other was high schoolers. As you can imagine, I was disheartened to say the least. Luckily, the check in agent could tell I was not looking forward to a weekend with youngins, so he put me on the 13th floor away from the students. I thought he said he “upgraded” me as I am a Platinum HGP member, but it turned out that the only upgrade was that it was on a higher floor.

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The dishonest resort fee

I believe the most deceptive practice in the travel industry is the resort fee.  It is the complete antithesis to hospitality.  It is a made up revenue stream that serves NO purpose except to increase profits.  There is ZERO benefit to the hotel guest.  At least with an airline baggage fee you have the choice and get a benefit of not having to schlep around your bag.  Or with the prepaid fuel charge you don’t have to worry about filling up your tank before returning your rental car.  But resort fees serve no benefit to the customer.

Note: Resort fee does NOT cover slippers. Sorry.
Note: Resort fee does NOT cover slippers. Sorry.

This weekend I stayed at the Aria in Las Vegas.  Overall it is a great property and one that I’ve stayed at at least five times.  The daily resort fee is $32.48; which is a significant amount.  For my visit this ended up being an extra $100, or the price of one night.  I basically stayed three nights for the price of four.  On the Aria website it lists the amenities included with the resort fee:

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