Hotels Archives - Page 2 of 9

The Lifetime Hotel Status Conundrum

April 3, 2017 By Trevor 3 Comments

I recently read Ed’s post about finishing off lifetime Hyatt Globalist Status, I felt the need to look again to see where I stood on attaining lifetime Marriott platinum status.

Now the challenge of lifetime Marriott platinum status is that it’s terribly difficult to get, because of the requirements, see below:

See, not only does it require 775 nights, it also requires having earned 2 million Marriott points. The nights seem like a lot, but really that’s just 10 years of attaining Platinum status. Big deal, right? But 2 million points, that’s a huge challenge. It used to be easy to generate tons of Marriott Rewards points, back when the Mega Bonuses were fairly lucrative, good for 50k points per quarter. But lately, they’ve been very lack luster.

The Points Requirement is like a Dollar Requirement

The points requirement is the hardest one to make, and it really becomes like the Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) requirement that American Airlines introduced last year. Its hard to make even having the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card (which incidentally has the highest bonus at the moment), which earns 5 points per dollar at Marriott and SPG Hotels.

As you may have noticed, despite having more than double the necessary nights, I still haven’t even generated enough Marriott Rewards Points for lifetime Silver!

Possible Paths to Lifetime Hotel Status

At this point, my biggest shortcoming toward status is the Marriott Rewards Points. As I consider my options, I’m reminded of the fact that I resell a fair amount. So in theory, I could put a lot of spend on my Marriott rewards credit card. The problem is the opportunity cost. Specifically, the card just earns so little. Furthermore, the value of Marriott rewards points, even when you’re talking about 100,000 is still not worth the opportunity cost. In order to get to Lifetime Status at the Platinum level, I would effectively need to put something in the realm of $800,000 spend of my reselling purchases in order to earn 2 million Marriott rewards points! This seems absolutely crazy to me.

In truth I had kind of given up on the near term prospect of lifetime status with Marriott given the Marriott-SPG merger, however Dia’s post about doing the status challenge from Gold to Platinum just really sparked this desire for lifetime status once again in me.

Have you ever sought lifetime hotel status?

Popular Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

January 11, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments

There is a lot of interest in Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages of late. It could be because Southwest chose to go the corporately responsible path, it could be the amazing deals out there due to the new Marriott-SPG Merger, or some fun third option. I first wrote about the Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages back when I asked the question: Is Marriott the redheaded stepchild of Points and Miles Seekers?

Well, a lot has changed, thanks to the various changes we’ve seen in the travel industry. The Marriott-SPG Merger is probably the biggest driver for people to look more at Marriott, but I suspect that Chase’s Ritz Carlton credit card probably had some influence there as well.

A brief review of Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

There are a few Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages, and they further break out based on how many miles you’d like to have transferred to your airline program of choice. The one standard across all packages is that you get a 7 night hotel stay. Of course, the category of that hotel stay also breaks out. Needless to say, a picture will depict this much more clearly:

Marriott's Hotel + Air Packages, book 7 award nights at a Marriott and get 50,000-132,000 miles! Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

Tons of opportunity with the Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

But, the tricky part, you might be thinking, is how to get all those miles? If you’re utilizing the two player game style game–but instead, applying for credit cards rather than chasing Delta Airlines status–then you might have nice balances in each player’s accounts, but perhaps not enough for the package you want.

Marriott typically will let you transfer 50,000 Marriott Rewards points per year. Lets say that 50,000 points isn’t enough, what do you do? Well, apparently, it is possible to transfer more points, if it is for a specific award, and your partner doesn’t have enough miles in their account. Think a week’s stay at a category 9 hotel, or higher, or longer. Stays like that take lots of points. Hundreds of thousands of points. Kind’ve similar to the amounts of some of those packages in the photo above.

Wrapping Up

There’s a lot of opportunity with the Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages. Especially given the Marriott-SPG Merger and the 3:1 ratio (or, put differently, earn 3 Marriott Rewards per 1 SPG point). Even before the merger, this program was a great way to “rinse” your Marriott Rewards points and convert them into an airline mile currency, at, perhaps not the greatest conversation rate. Now is an excellent time to be looking at these packages.

Review: Park Hyatt Sydney

November 14, 2016 By Trevor 6 Comments

This is a long overdue post, as it was just about a year ago, that my wife and spent our anniversary at the one and only Park Hyatt Sydney.

The Park Hyatt Sydney, nested below the Sydney Harbor Bridge, is one of the top Hyatt hotels, as a Category 7. We spent two nights here, utilizing the sign-up bonus from my Chase Hyatt credit card, and we felt that it was a good value.

Arriving at the Sydney Park Hyatt, we ended up walking in. You see, coming from the airport, its fairly easy to just take the train to the Circular Quay station, and from there, its just a 5-10 minute walk to the hotel.

The main entrance to the Park Hyatt Sydney

Checking in to the Park Hyatt Sydney

We arrived somewhat early for check-in, but we were immediately accommodated, and escorted to our room for check-in. Unfortunately, because we were on a “free” vs. “paid” rate, we couldn’t use a confirmed suite upgrade, but we were more than satisfied with our room.

Also of note, when the kind woman checking us in, learned that we were celebrating our Anniversary, she swapped out the normal Diamond Welcome amenity bottle of red or white wine for a bottle of Chandon Sparkling Wine. Small things, but we certainly appreciated the bubbly!

The Room

For a city hotel, the room felt pretty standard, if a little bigger than expected. We of course didn’t have the kind of suite we had at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, but it was very comfortable.

There was a nice sitting area, and of course a nice view of the Rocks.

I’ll also note, that the balcony, which I spent a fair amount of time out on, was very comfortable and had a partial view of the Sydney Opera House.

Park Hyatt Sydney – The Bed

While the bathroom didn’t offer amazing privacy, if you were traveling with someone else, you could make things work. That said, it was a very nice bathroom, and the openness certainly made it feel even larger.

The minibar included a nespresso machine, which is always nice to see.

The selections in the minibar fridge, of course, were at the level you would expect for a Park Hyatt.

Park Hyatt Sydney Amenities: The Gym and Pool

While I’m not known for gracing many gyms, I just had to check out the Gym, and of course the rooftop pool.

One thing of note – there are complimentary cold bottles of water in the gym, as well as showers. So if you’re thirsty, or happen to have a late flight, the gym could very well be on your list of places to visit. Or, you know, if you want to work out, I suppose that works too…

While the rooftop pool feels a bit small, the views are amazing, situated just to the side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The pool also had a great view of the cruise terminal, which makes things even more entertaining, if a particular cruise ship is departing!

Lobby Bar

A hotel like the Park Hyatt Sydney has to have a nice lobby bar, and it certainly did not disappoint. We only had a couple of drinks in the lobby bar, but did find it to be nice, with good views of the harbour.

Breakfast

As a Hyatt Diamond (soon to be Hyatt Globalist), we were entitled to breakfast in the restaurant, and found the spread to be wonderful.

For lovers of carbs, well, you will be on cloud 9.

I was happy to try a bunch of things that were new to me, like Vanilla Croissant Pudding.

Full length refrigerators at the Park Hyatt Sydney brunch spread.

In addition to the wonderful spread, there was also a la carte options.

My favorite was the french toast, that included some chocolate ganache. It was absolutely wonderful.

Wrapping Up

The Park Hyatt Sydney regularly goes for north of $500-800 per night. It has an excellent location, right on the Sydney Harbour, and the service and amenities are excellent for a city hotel. I particularly enjoyed the wonderful view from the room, and the rather extensive spread at breakfast.

Is the Park Hyatt Sydney a must splurge? Unequivocally. But, it really is a wonderful hotel, if you are celebrating a special event, or want to spend the points to enjoy the luxury.

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica: Resort Amenities

October 18, 2016 By Trevor 4 Comments

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Arrival Experience and Room
Resort Amenities
Dining

Resort Amenities

The Westin Playa Conchal had a lot to like, what with being all inclusive, but there were some key points of the hotel that we were very excited for.

Royal Beach Club Pool

The first resort amenity that we were excited for was the Royal Beach Club, as I mentioned before, this is an adult’s only resort within the resort. The Royal Beach Club Pool had upgraded lounge towel covers, nice service, and a swim up pool bar. Additionally, you could have serenity if you were further away from the pool bar, or if you wanted to listen to some music, they had the radio playing.

The end of the pool further from the bar had a “beach-like” graduated entry into the pool, as well as some cabanas in the back that went for an additional fee. We didn’t see anyone using them during our stay.

There was also a hot tub – despite the 80-90 degree temperatures outside, we did see some folks enjoying that… it looked nice, though I don’t recall doing more than dipping my feet in.

Westin Playa Conchal Main Pool

In addition to the amenities at the Royal Beach Club, there was a main pool, which was noticeably bigger. While we were there, they were renovating the swim-up pool bar, so they had a makeshift one, that I thought was pretty well done, given the conditions.

The Wildlife

The thing I enjoyed the most about the hotel in general, was the fact that the property was pretty big. It was easily a 5-10 minute casual walk to the beach. In the course of walking around the resort, you got to see a ton of wild life.

The photo below, for example, was right before that four legged critter tried to brazenly take the blue bag that you can see on the chaise lounge on the right of the photo. This guy was quite brazen, as we saw him throughout the trip, always lurking around the main pool.

Then there were the super cute green iguanas. Just chillaxing in the sun, or sometimes in the shade.

There were also monkeys – we counted at least a dozen one evening. They were most active in the evening, as we would see them up in the trees outside of the Royal Beach Club, as we went to dinner each evening. They never bothered us, and I don’t think we ever bothered them. Some of the nicer monkeys we’ve interacted with, which is perhaps a stark contrast with some of the monkeys in Indonesia.

And then there were the cats. This particular one was kind enough to pose for us.

Other Amenities

The other thing that I was very excited for, was the fact that the hotel had complimentary kayaks and paddle boards. Of course in my excitement, I forgot to take a photo of them. I’m kind of glad I forgot my phone that morning, as everything got soaked on our half hour kayak ride! The kayaks are the fairly standard “ocean kayak” variety, where you sit on top, rather than inside. They were all tandem, clearly oriented toward couples.

Wrapping Up

The amenities that the Westin Play Conchal offered where, for me, the right level. I enjoy lounging around the pool as much as the next person. But I really, really like to walk. That’s the thing I find myself doing more on vacation than at home. For us it is relaxing to walk and talk. That said, I think there’s really something for everyone.

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica: Arrival Experience and Room

October 17, 2016 By Trevor 4 Comments

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Arrival Experience

We were very excited to be trying out the Westin Playa Conchal, having received a huge recommendation from our friend @Saianel. Perhaps that increased my expectations, but, our arrival experience was less than stellar.

We arrived around 1:30pm, after the hour or so drive from the Liberia airport. We were nearly immediately welcomed at reception, however the overall process of checking us in took a good twenty minutes.

Checking in at the Westin Playa Conchal

Part of it could have been, that we had a 3 night stay, with 3 separate confirmation numbers, I get that can be complicated. Of course, after the 20 minutes, the receptionist tells us that the room is not ready, and that housekeeping was in the room cleaning it “now.” My response was “ok, how long are we talking?” and her response was that the room would be ready at 3pm. It doesn’t take an hour to clean a room. I later found out that there were only like 4 rooms taken in the Royal Beach Club towers, which left a bad taste.

Lobby of the Westin Playa Conchal

Lobby Bar

So, we did as recommended and grabbed a light lunch at the buffet. We then returned at 3pm on the dot, to find that there was only a single receptionist. There were 3 couples waiting in line, all of us ostensibly just to get our room keys. Finally, we were able to convince one of the gentlemen at the porter station to help us. This took another 20 minutes.

Let me be clear: The arrival experience leaves much to be desired.

Royal Beach Club – Pool View Room

We were very happy to have received a space available upgrade to the Royal Beach Club. This is a mini-Adults only resort within the larger resort. There’s a dedicated restaurant, pool, pool bar, and lobby/lounge.

Upon arriving, the gentleman who drove us to the tower—the hotel has shuttles, as the property is sizeable–showed us around our room, and highlighted the different features. As he opens the mini-bar, he shook his head and said that the mini-bar is usually much better provisioned. It had but a few minis. He immediately called, and folks were by to resolve things quickly.

Of course, this isn’t a big deal, but I was left wondering, what on earth took over an hour to clean, when they couldn’t even ensure that the room was properly provisioned?

Aside from that, the room was wonderfully comfortable.

Our first Westin Heavenly Bed!

Closet:

Where’s the “lock” button??

The bathroom was a nice size, with a stand up shower, a soaking tub, and a private toilet.

Of note, with the Zika concerns, bug spray was included as an amenity. This was a very wise move, and we ended up needing to request more bug spray during our spray. The cost is minimal, but the perception, at least that we received, was that the hotel accepted the fact of Zika and wanted to keep their guests safe. Sends a great message!

Patio:

Conclusion

Overall, the arrival experience needs to improve. It wasn’t just us. But, once you get past the arrival experience, things are really nice, with nice attention to detail in the rooms — aside from the mini-bar. I think the inclusion of bug spray may make my list for the greatest hotel amenities.

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico: Restaurants and Chef’s Table

September 12, 2016 By Trevor 2 Comments

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Part One: Hyatt Zilara Arrival Experience and Room
Part Two: Hotel Amenities
Part Three: Restaurants and Chef’s Table

The Hyatt Zilara Cancun has a number of great restaurants. Most are casual, but one is more formal.

Pelicanos

Pelicanos is the Hyatt Zilara Cancun’s kind’ve “beachy restaurant”, it has a pool bar, as well as a regular dining area, that is open air, and with a wonderful view of the pool on two sides, and the beach and ocean on the other. The food was a mix of standard western fare, plus some Mexican options. Our favorite was the dessert.

Spice – Buffet

There was a buffet, which was our primary choice for breakfast. As you would expect, they had made-to-order eggs, a variety of other options, including a fresh juice bar.

Spice also served dinner. In the evening, we peaked our heads in (since we were busy trying other restaurants), and saw a very nice spread as well.

And who could pass up the gelato! (did I mention the desserts at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun were quite good?)

Asiana

Two of our three nights at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun, we enjoyed dinner at Asiana.

It was so good, that despite the wonderful hibachi show, we forgot to take pictures of the actual food. But here’s the menu. This is a place where you go for the show, and are pleasantly surprised by the food. Trust me, get the Yakimeshi rice, its essentially fried rice, and it is one of the best things on the menu–and that is not to say the proteins aren’t great too!

Chef’s Plate

Our friend Jeanne mentioned that we absolutely had to try the Chef’s Plate. It did not disappoint.

It’s a private room, essentially with about a dozen or so chairs, and a view of the kitchen. The thing that spoke to me most about this, was that while they had a fixed menu each night, they were able to modify it, if you had particular allergies or things you wanted to avoid.

We had opted for Monday, primarily because of the Short Angus Beef.

What follows is each particular dish. Of particular note, for the first dish though, are the three blue dots, those imply that the dish is “special”, as I had requested mine to be served without the crab and tuna–I don’t enjoy seafood as much.

The Foie Gras Capuccino was much better than it sounds. The bacon really came off strong, but it really made it to be quite the conversation piece.

Next there was a palate cleanser, they called it Soursop and Gin Raviolis, which confused us, but we just went with it.

Next was the Rockefeller Shrimp.

And the distant cousin, Rockefeller Chicken.

And then the Short Ribs, which were great, although we were all starting to get a bit full at this point.

We finished off with a martini and coconut cream banana, and truffle.

Wrapping Up

All of the dining establishments at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun were wonderful. The Chef’s Plate rose above the rest, but, I suspect that is by design. Even if the entire menu is not to your liking–because, perhaps, an aversion to seafood–they can tailor it a bit. You also get a wonderful opportunity to socialize with other guests. I’d caveat that the Chef’s Plate requires pants and a collared shirt for men. I think all the other restaurants had a much more relaxed dress code.

In entirety, we enjoyed our stay at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun, there were some things that threw me for a loop, like the evening shows, but really, it is an awesome hotel, and I would highly recommend it to folks that are just dipping their toes into the idea of an all inclusive. I’m sure I didn’t consume enough to justify the rack room rate, but, considering I burned the equivalent points as a night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, I felt like we got a pretty good value.

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico Part Two: Hotel Amenities

September 7, 2016 By Trevor 5 Comments

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Part One: Hyatt Zilara Arrival Experience and Room
Part Two: Hotel Amenities
Part Three: Restaurants and Chef’s Table

The Hyatt Zilara Cancun has so much to see and do, that we only left the property once, for a walk on the beach.

Pool

The pool spans nearly the entire property along the beach. There were dozens of cabana’s, a swim up pool bar at Pelicano’s, a water volleyball area, and excellent service from the attendants walking throughout.

We opted to get photos of the pool at night, because that was the only time we could get it relatively empty. It was really quite tranquil at night, too.

Main Area

The main area of the Hyatt Zilara Cancun was a source of interesting events every night except for Sunday. There were folks playing with fire, climbing drapes (I joke), there was a pop-up market, that had freshly made churro’s and other Mexican sweets.

The evening shows were entertaining.

The Saturday evening market.

Mexican sweets, this was filled with cheese. Churro’s were behind this stand.

There was also a store for necessities, like sunscreen.

Spa

Before we went, we had decided that if there was a “reasonable” (by US price standards, not Southeast Asia), we’d consider having a spa treatment, since the facility looked quite nice in photos. When we checked in, there was a “deal” for a 90 minute couples massage. This also got us access to the spa’s facilities (although I think we might have had access by virtue of our Hyatt diamond status).

There were three showers.

There were two hot tubs, as well as a cold plunge. Finally, there was also a sauna and a steam room.

Gym

The Gym was not co-located with the Spa, and had perhaps the best air conditioning in the entire hotel, naturally.

It was ADA compliant.

There plenty of pieces of workout equipment. I’m not really an expert in this area, but things looked modern.

There was also a lap pool outside, though it was closed when we walked through.

And then there was this… which left me a little confused.

This studio was identified as “Pilates Studio” so I assume that is what these contraptions were.

Hyatt Zilara Cancun 24 Hour cafe

The place we spent a lot of time, was the 24 Hour Lounge. It was stocked with some of the coldest beer in the hotel, some light bites, a couple of pool tables, a ping pong table, and generally had the Olympics on (we were there during week two).

Its important to note, that there was an attendant in the lounge whenever we were there, he kept everything stocked, and even set up the pool tables when not being used. He was one of the most polite, and hard working staff members at the hotel.

Conclusion

Overall, the Hyatt Zilara Cancun had excellent amenities. Despite the number of people at the hotel (it was north of 85% capacity when we were there), it didn’t truly feel crowded, even despite a day of heavy rains.

Hyatt Zilara Cancun: Arrival Experience and Room

September 6, 2016 By Trevor 16 Comments

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Part One: Hyatt Zilara Arrival Experience and Room
Part Two: Hotel Amenities
Part Three: Restaurants and Chef’s Table

Hyatt Zilara Hotel Transfer

Arriving into Cancun, I was struck by how new the airport looked and smelled. The one thing that kept ringing the bell in the back of my mind though, was the fact that the hotel hadn’t given us any details about where to find the driver. There were a ton of folks that wanted to help and give us a ride to the hotel (for a fee, of course). We looked around for a while, but saw no signage at all. Finally, I agreed to pay $20 per person for the drive to the hotel. Ironically, right as we were leaving–mind you this was about 20-30 minutes after we landed–we saw a Hyatt Zilara SUV driving into the airport grounds. Our choice had been made at that point.

Luckily, there is an Air Margaritaville, if you want to grab a beverage to consider your airport transfer options.

The drive to the hotel took about 20 minutes.

Hyatt Zilara Cancun Arrival Experience

We were welcomed from the moment the car drove up. Everyone was very helpful and offered to store our bags if the room wasn’t ready. As we only had our carry-on we decided to keep our bags and find out for ourselves if the room was ready.

The Arrivals lounge for Hyatt Diamonds was closed so they had us check in at the normal check-in desks.

Gina, who checked us in (and out) was very helpful. She made sure that we had our dinner reservations and knew where everything was located.

Cancun Arrival Drink at the Hyatt Zilara

Arrival Mimosa at the Hyatt Zilara Cancun

Hyatt Zilara Cancun Room

They upgraded us to a (insert name of room) room. It was more then enough room for the couple nights.

The tub took up quite a bit of room though.

The bed was comfortable.

The bathroom had a shower with a view and a sink. In the room, as well as a another outside of the conventional bathroom area.

Hyatt Zilara Sink 1

Hyatt Zilara Sink 2

There was the closet, that included a safe, however, nothing special there.

And since it was an all inclusive the mini bar fridge was fully stocked. Though they need to upgrade the snacks.

While the full liquor bottles were a nice touch, I think I might have liked a bit higher shelf — I tend to drink Appleton’s rum, for example.

There was also a nespresso, however we could never find any of the pods.

Pro Tip: Do make sure you call for turn down. We forgot one night and missed out.

Conclusion – Hyatt Zilara Cancun Room

Overall, we felt the room was fantastic. The view was nice, the bed was comfortable. The pillows were good, and further bolstered by the fact that they provide additional pillows based on your desire (e.g. firm, soft, relaxing, etc.) at check-in.

Diamonde the Giraffe visits the Grand Hyatt Dubai

August 3, 2016 By Trevor 1 Comment

Back in December, a group of friends and I were relaxing in a beautiful Park Hyatt DC suite, chatting about miles and points. At some point, this video came up in conversation:

Ever since we saw the video, we have had the joke that when we traveled as a group to a Hyatt, we should totally bring a Giraffe (Note: you definitely have to check the video out to understand the rest of the post!)

A while back, the group of us jumped on the 6 First Class award availability that Etihad had released, and this past week was the flight. With that, meet Diamonde the Giraffe!

Diamonde at the airport

In fact, she rode in the front seat of the Etihad car service from Abu Dhabi’s airport to the Grand Hyatt Dubai.

Diamonde at the Grand Hyatt Dubai

When we arrived, it was fairly humorous for Toby, the nice chap checking some of our group in, to see a Giraffe as part of the party.

Our next stop after dropping our bags, was the Grand Club Lounge. It was quiet, since it was 9:30pm, but Diamonde still enjoyed the lounge.

Diamonde in the lounge

In fact, Diamonde was even more excited for breakfast.

Diamonde at Breakfast

Getting some coffee

Checking out the breakfast spread

After breakfast, Diamonde checked out the rest of the lounge:

Welcome to the Grand Club – Room Number Please?

Scoping out the City from the Family side of the Grand Club

A quick check of e-mail before heading downstairs.

Heading downstairs!

Then we took a tour of the property.

A little piano?

Checking out the natural habitat in the lobby

A selfie with the Grand Hyatt Dubai in the background

Checking out the pool.

Diamonde even made it to the pool, but all of the photo-ops, required a bit of a snooze.

Having a snooze in the shade.

Overall, it was an entertaining couple of days with Diamonde.

Before checking out, our friend Tom (who had bought Diamonde) arranged with the Concierge to find her a good home in Dubai.

Bidding farewell to Diamonde

Overall, we had a lot of fun with Diamonde the Giraffe, and still do get quite the laugh from that Hyatt Diamond video!

My Disappointing experience at the Grand Hyatt Dubai

August 1, 2016 By Trevor 3 Comments

I just wrapped up my 5^th or 6^th stay at the Grand Hyatt Dubai this past weekend. It was my second time staying there this month, and after the first I was wary about the second. After the second stay, it is pretty clear to me that this property, built in 2003 is past its prime.

I first stayed at the Grand Hyatt Dubai in November, 2013, staying subsequently in March 2014, March 2015, July 2015, and twice in July 2016. In the first few stays, we had developed a great rapport with the lounge manager at the time, who has unfortunately moved on.

Grand Hyatt Dubai – A Tired Property

The Grand Hyatt Dubai is currently doing some major work around their convention and conference space. I suspect that is where they get a greater return on investment, so hopefully they will complete that work, then shift their attention to the rooms. The rooms are nice, but you can definitely see the wear. The style is definitely an indication of when the hotel was built. It is not clear to me whether there was a refresh done, at least since I have started staying at the hotel.

One thing in particular that jumped out to us, on this stay, was the fact that the fire doors were closed the entire time of our nearly 2 night stay.

Fire doors at the Grand Hyatt Dubai

Put another way – these doors are supposed to remain open normally and close in the event of a fire. If there were power issues, I could see this as understandable, but there were none. Further, we had friends staying on 3 other floors, none experienced what we had on the 9^th floor. I view this not necessarily as a hassle of opening the door, but more as a safety issue. The last day we were there, one of the doors was propped open.

Fire doors at the Grand Hyatt Dubai

Propped because it was not engaged to the magnetic component, that is in place specifically to release the door, in the event of a fire.

The Staff

I won’t call anyone out in particular in a negative way, but of the dozens of people I interacted with, only two left even a slightly positive impression. Toby, the front desk manager for the night shift, truly seemed to genuinely care, but he was the only one.

We arrived in our room, to find the little box of amenities—toothbrush, razor, hairbrush, etc—to be incomplete. We figured this might have been a one time oversight, but, there was no replenishment or fix after house keeping cleaned our room the next day.

Other front desk staff, when we checked out, asked how our stay was, I explained some of the issues. Instead of taking notes, they merely said “Well we will do better next time,” and walked away.

Conclusion

I am beginning to think that repeat stays at any hotel more than 4-5 times is becoming a bad idea. I’m not sure if it’s me, and I’m just looking past things in earlier stays, or if the Grand Hyatt Dubai has gone down hill. I think it is the latter. I had a similar experience with the J.W. Marriott Khao Lak, Thailand.

I can say this: I cannot recommend the Grand Hyatt Dubai. There is a Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek that has recently opened , there is a Park Hyatt Dubai, across the creek, as well as a bunch of other Hyatt properties in the United Arab Emirates. This, especially when the Grand Hyatt Dubai seemed to be more expensive by $20-40 US.

The Points Requirement is like a Dollar Requirement

Possible Paths to Lifetime Hotel Status

A brief review of Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

Wrapping Up

Checking in to the Park Hyatt Sydney

The Room

Park Hyatt Sydney Amenities: The Gym and Pool

Lobby Bar

Breakfast

Wrapping Up

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Resort Amenities

Royal Beach Club Pool

Westin Playa Conchal Main Pool

The Wildlife

Other Amenities

Wrapping Up

Westin Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Arrival Experience

Royal Beach Club – Pool View Room

Conclusion

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Pelicanos

Spice – Buffet

Asiana

Chef’s Plate

Wrapping Up

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Part One: Hyatt Zilara Arrival Experience and Room Part Two: Hotel Amenities Part Three: Restaurants and Chef’s Table

Pool

Main Area

Spa

Gym

Hyatt Zilara Cancun 24 Hour cafe

Conclusion

Hyatt Zilara Cancun, Mexico for a long weekend

Hyatt Zilara Hotel Transfer

Hyatt Zilara Cancun Arrival Experience

Hyatt Zilara Cancun Room

Conclusion – Hyatt Zilara Cancun Room

Grand Hyatt Dubai – A Tired Property

The Staff

Conclusion

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Part One: Hyatt Zilara Arrival Experience and Room
Part Two: Hotel Amenities
Part Three: Restaurants and Chef’s Table