Hyatt Archives - asthejoeflies

Nov 16 2016

Why are Hyatt Diamonds (me) treated so unevenly?

Since I don’t earn status legitimately, I’ve always wondered what status actually gets you. People like Trevor seem to get treated quite well and even is known at places like the Grand Hyatt Bali. I recognize that he has held status for much longer than me, but the reality is, I have been less than impressed with Hyatt’s treatment of its diamonds. It’s not bad, per se, but as @robertdwyer and I discuss on a monthly basis, it is highly erratic.

Allow me to use my stay at the Hyatt Regency Chicago this past weekend as an example. But really, I could pick any of 5-6 different stays this year where things have seemed…off. Perhaps I expect too much!

And before I get accused of whining, I don’t really care about any of these things that happened. I am just putting them out there as evidence that Hyatt should pay better attention to taking care of their guests needs.

Contacting the concierge

I often like to contact hotels before I get there to let them know if we’re celebrating something or any special needs I need. The best experience I ever had with this was at the Hilton Vienna Plaza – they took care of everything I asked for (cribs and such) AND greeted me by name when I arrived. That was pretty impressive.

In contrast, when I e-mailed the Hyatt Regency Chicago concierge a week before my stay I heard…nothing. Now I would think a concierge should reply to a regular member – they definitely should reply to a Diamond member. But nope, nothing. I used the e-mail address from the website – if that’s not correct then that’s just bad customer service.

Suite Upgrade and Diamond Amenity

One thing Hyatt does well is customer service on the national side of things. I confirmed my Diamond Suite Upgrade weeks ago with no problem, and everything about the reservation was clean. Also, thanks to Matt, I now always ask for the food and beverage amenity instead of 1000 points. We got an almost decent bottle of wine, some prosciutto, and cheese – I’ll take it.

The junior suite was nice – standard, but well appointed. For some reason there were no slippers or bathrobes, which I didn’t really care about, but is something I’ve come to expect, especially in Hyatt suites.

Asking for forgotten necessities

So when we unpacked at the hotel, my wife realized she had forgotten her toothbrush. I also tend to pick up razors at Hyatt stays so I wanted to ask for one as well. We called the front desk and asked if they could send some up (they are complimentary). They said they would send them up immediately.

Fast forward two hours, still no razor or toothbrush. I called again – whoever answer said there was no record of my calling the first time. They said they would send the stuff up immediately. About ten minutes later we received our items and went out for the night.

When we got home, my wife went to go brush her teeth, only to find out that we had only been given toothpaste. Like, come on. That is borderline unacceptable service for any guest, let alone a “valued” Diamond member. The third time was the charm and we got the toothbrush but it shouldn’t be that difficult.

The dreaded deactivated key at checkout

When I checked in, I was thanked for being a loyal Diamond member and asked if I wanted a late checkout. I asked for one extra hour: 1 PM checkout instead of the regular noon checkout.

On the day we left, we got back to our room at about 11:45 AM. Key deactivated! Our room was on the 17th floor so it was a long trip back down, and even then they said they would send someone up instead of just reactivating our key.

Again, this is simple stuff here. 11:45 AM was BEFORE regular checkout time, so there was no reason for our keys to be deactivated. Even if it had been 12:45 PM our keys should not have been deactivated yet, since our late check out had been confirmed. Hospitality 101.

Final Thoughts

This might sound like a complaining post, and it is, in a sense. But as I said at the top, I’m more trying to point out the erratic treatment Hyatt has of its most loyal guests. Like I said, I don’t consider myself that loyal to Hyatt, especially in this new World of Hyatt – but I can’t imagine they know that (I have almost 15 stays this year).

Why not take care of the little things? I used my most recent stay as an example but this is something that has been happening to us in our Hyatt stays all year. Keys deactivated too early, uneven customer service, stuff like this just shouldn’t happen for any guest. And I know these issues aren’t unique to me – I have a Twitter DM thread full of other examples.

As my stays shift back towards Hilton and other chains next year, I’ll be curious to see how well Globalists feel treated in the World of Hyatt next year. I enjoyed being a Diamond the last two years, but not as much as I thought I would. In the end, however, Hyatt has never made me feel truly elite or valued. Pretty neat, but not elite. I can live with that, but I wonder how many of their truly loyal members are treated the same way?

Jul 26 2016

Surveying Scotland: Hyatt Regency London The Churchill Impressions

I know people don’t care too much about hotel reviews but I still find them useful, so here are some quick impressions of the Hyatt Regency London: The Churchill (what a name). I used a Diamond Suite Upgrade and stayed as a Hyatt Diamond (thanks to the status match earlier this year). As I mentioned, we were upgraded past even the lowest level suite thanks to the great employee working the desk at the lounge. Here are my impressions.

Location

As we discussed on the last Saverocity Observation Deck podcast, I was deciding between confirmed suite in unfamiliar location (Hyde Park) and smaller room in a favorite location (Covent Garden). The Hyde Park location, while a 30 minute walk, is still fairly closely situated to the West End all things considered.

Hyatt Regency London the Churchill — Being close to Hyde Park is very convenient

Oxford Street gets very busy, but as long as you’re okay with that the location proves quite convenient. Hyde Park lies steps away and a lot of the big stuff lies 15-20 minutes east, so the location is great. As I mentioned, there is also a small park nearby which is great if you have kids.

London sites spread throughout the city, so there is no one location, it’s just a matter of what you are interested in doing. But the Marble Arch area pleasantly surprised me.

Room

Obviously, this would be more useful if we had stayed in a standard room, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Our suite had its own living room, a separate bedroom with door, and 1.5 baths. The second bathroom was really nice since we didn’t have to disturb the kids after they went to bed.

Basically, the Regency Executive Suite is a super nice suite. I think the biggest difference between our room and the standard DSU upgrade is the Regency Suite King doesn’t have the extra bathroom. Here are a couple pictures which basically say all that need to be said about the room.

Lounge

The Regency Club served a nice breakfast. There were a couple of hot items (usually eggs and some kind of meet) and your standard continental fare. One thing I think people will appreciate is there are two lounges: one for adults only. I’m sure those of you who hate my kids will appreciate it :). That also helps to reduce congestion though if you go to breakfast late you still might have to wait for a table.

We never got much of a chance to take advantage of the evening canapes and wine, I’m sure they are your standard fare though. As I’ve mentioned multiple times the lounge attendants are great and probably were one of the highlights of our stay.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to stay at a Hyatt, you only have two options in London. The Andaz is in a less desirable location (to me), so that makes the Hyatt Regency London: The Churchill (phew!) the desired option by default. Still, the hotel is more than just a location: the staff is great, the rooms are nice (recently refurbished), and while it feels business-like the hotel still has a pleasant vibe. Diamond suite upgrades are nice, great hotel staff are nicer. On to Scotland!

Surveying Scotland: Introduction

Two kids creates more than twice the work. That holds true for regular life and travel. Nonetheless, we took it upon ourselves to travel to the United Kingdom to celebrate our son’s first birthday. Just kidding, it’s just when we were free.

As always, we paid for the majority of our flight with points. We even booked our first transatlantic flights in coach for the first time in five years. Slumming it! Just kidding, I’m just practicing what I’ve been preaching in my family travel hacking guide.

Read below for details of what we booked and the thought process behind it all.

Flights for Four

I wrote about booking our flights to the UK awhile back. Man, can’t believe I booked this trip back in August 2015. Either way, Delta availability still remains great. We elected to book in Delta One (aka business class) for the extra space. We figured since it was a redeye it’d be good for the kids to have “beds” overnight. I had to pay about $560 for the infant ticket: on international flights you pay 10% of the base fare even on award tickets. So overall call it 187.5K miles + $600 in taxes and fees for the four of us.

I'm convinced screen time is half the reason she flies — I’m convinced screen time is half the reason she flies

On the way back, the decision was between buying three business class tickets on United or four coach seats. Like I said, we haven’t flown coach across the Atlantic in years (though we did fly it to Aruba). That being said, we would fly our kids to California in coach and Europe only takes an hour longer.

Here’s how the pricing broke down:

Business Class (3 seats plus lap infant): 172.5K miles + $819 taxes and fees + ~600 for infant fare

Coach (4 seats): 120K miles + $384 taxes and fees

So basically, flying coach would save us 52.5K miles and a thousand dollars.

This ended up being a much easier decision than expected. You can do a lot of things with $1000… Plus 52.5K Ultimate Rewards points is like another $500. Anyway, we decided to fly in the back on the way home: it’s a day flight anyway. Gonna be interesting!

Not gonna lie: was pretty tired after this flight. We'll see how the return goes — Not gonna lie: was pretty tired after this flight. We’ll see how the return goes

We also used some Wells Fargo Go Far Rewards points to book a quick hop from London to Inverness, not much worth writing about there. Miss you Wells Fargo!

Lodging

While we use miles and points to save money, at this point we have committed to traveling to where we want to go – not necessarily where we can get everything for “free” (note: not free). Thus we decided on Scotland knowing full well that the Scottish Highlands are mostly devoid of chain hotels that we could use points redemptions on.

I’ve written about the importance of having a separate room, especially for my one year old. We can do without but then lose access to the bathroom. Only two of our stops have chains we can even redeem at: London and Edinburgh. I decided to book a room with a confirmed Diamond Suite Upgrade in London at the Hyatt Regency The Churchill. I figured we’d really need that second room to recover from jetlag.

Our first and last hotel room on this trip - not complaining — Our first and last hotel room on this trip – not complaining

We booked everything else through airbnb, Trip Advisor, or directly from websites. For the rest of our trip we will not be staying in chain hotels. Though in this case we’re only giving up staying at a Club Carlson or Hilton in Edinburgh – but I really wanted to avoid getting stuck with a small room. Maybe when H is older. If only this kid would sleep in bed with us!

Ground Transportation

Our one final cost was ground transportation. We bought round trip tickets on the Heathrow Express and then took a taxi to our hotel. We’re planning on doing the same in reverse but will eat the sunk cost and take a cab if we are running low on time for our departure (still recovering from jet lag).

We rented a car for a week in the Scottish Highlands. No tricks or gimmicks just looked for the cheapest price I could find and called it a day. Too much running in the background to worry further.

We’re planning on taking a train from Inverness to Edinburgh, though that is subject to change as well. Everything depends on the kids!

Final Thoughts

When we traveled with one kid, I’d say she only affected about 60-70% of our decision making. Maybe even less (40%?) once we had gotten used to traveling with her. With two under four, about 95% of our decision making has revolved around them. That’s just life for us now. So we’re flying coach, not worrying about saving every last penny, and thus far, having a great time. Will update with thoughts as we go along!

Apr 07 2016

Hyatt Regency Aruba Report Spa and Casino Impressions

Now that I’m a family man, we’ve been gravitating towards the Caribbean more and more. Shorter flights, nice beaches, and less hassle overall. Last year we visited Turks and Caicos, so we wanted to try a new island this year.

We settled on Aruba partially because of our magically attained Hyatt Diamond status. I really wanted to see what a diamond suite upgrade could get us at the Hyatt Regency Aruba. We also spent two nights in a standard room using award nights from the Hyatt Card. Here are my impressions of the hotel.

Hyatt Regency Aruba — Ready to check in!

Standard Room

While it was a bit tight for the four of us, we really enjoyed the standard room. Our view was whatever but what was really helpful was the ability to push the two beds together. While we did have a crib, it ended up just being easier having the four of us in bed. Two beds together gave us a LOT of space.

Other than that the room was pretty standard. The bathtub was great and perfect for bathing the kids. What stood out the most was when I asked them to clear out the minibar they sent up a separate mini fridge instead! Definitely one of the best amenities I’ve ever received at a hotel. I have to think that is because we were diamond but I don’t know that for sure.

One piece of evidence that it wasn’t because we were diamond was that a very helpful hotel worker named Jose (who was great throughout the entire trip) suggested we get one when he saw us entering our room. He didn’t know we already had one so maybe it’s just something they do there.

Bottom line – the standard room is nice enough that I would definitely go back. Yes, it’s a little small for four, but there still is enough space to make it work. The family suite, though, is even better.

Family Suite

While the standard room was adequate, the family suite was amazing. Our last four nights were booked on points and cash which made us eligible to use a diamond suite upgrade. The extra space made a huge difference since we could use the living room after the kids went to bed (instead of going to sleep at 9 PM with them!). There was plenty of space for the crib and in the family suite it was much easier to get our son to sleep in there because we weren’t five feet away.

There is a queen sized bed and also a sofa bed, so the room would definitely be comfortable even if you had bigger kids. There is a nice hallway where you can leave all your shoes and beach stuff, and we even had a nice view of the pool (albeit through a tiny window).

I’d say the biggest drawback of the family suite for a family with young kids is there was no bathtub. Showering kids can be tough and sometimes a little dangerous, but we made do. All in all we definitely preferred the suite, as you would expect!

Regency Club Lounge

The club lounge at the Hyatt Regency Aruba isn’t fancy, but it makes up for that with incredibly friendly and accommodating staff. Breakfast in the lounge was a decent spread, there were cold cuts, bread, bagels, and the like along with two hot items (usually oatmeal and something else).

The evening cocktail hour featured a decent salad and veggie spread along with another two hot items. Just due to scheduling and overall exhaustion we actually skipped dinner two nights – the food at the lounge was enough to sustain us so that saved us quite a bit of money.

Unlike other Hyatt lounges I’ve been to, the lounge never seemed overly crowded even at breakfast. The staff was amazing. They were always attentive and helpful and probably the highlight of the hotel (not just in the lounge). Also, for parents, the lounge has milk boxes (organic!) for kids, just ask the staff. Those same milk boxes go for like $4 in the hotel store so it’s a big deal!

Pool and Beach

The Hyatt Regency Aruba has three different pools though they are connected in various areas. It’s great having a variety so things never feel old. Though nothing is zoned off, there are parts of the pool that feel more adult oriented (like the swim up bar) and kid oriented (like the super shallow “baby pool”).

There is also a pretty awesome looking water slide that I’d say is great for all ages (if you’re tall enough).

The beach in Aruba isn’t as picturesque as Turks and Caicos but it’s still pretty great. Beach chairs are free but if you want a palapa (kind of permanent hut/umbrella thingies) you need to get there early or use the convenient online sign up system. Basically at 4 PM every day the system opens up and you can reserve palapas or pool umbrellas for the next day.

We never had a problem logging in at 4 PM and finding one, though we also found if we made our way to the beach at like 8 AM there would be some good choices for palapas (not all palapas are on the online system as some are reserved for walk ups). My wife observed that there were much longer lines for beach palapas in the morning at other resorts – maybe they don’t have an online system?

Anyway we had a beach in the morning/pool in the afternoon schedule that worked quite well most days.

Food

Like any beach or island hotel, food was overpriced but decent. Since there are so many resorts in a row we mainly wandered around looking for meals though we took lunch at the pool restaurant and at our beach palapa a few times. Don’t expect anything amazing, healthy, or inexpensive and you will be fine. Neither the cost nor the quality was at a level that made us NOT want to eat at the hotel, if that makes sense. It’s just food.

Casino

Alas, I did not find a way to make it inside, but it looked clean and fun from the outside. I decided if I went in it was a black hole that I might never escape, so self control prevailed.

Final Thoughts

We really loved this hotel and thought it seemed the nicest of all the hotels on Aruba’s main drag. The most mediocre part was the food, which was passable, but the pool, beach, and room were good. The staff was definitely top notch and this hotel would be at the top of our list if we ever were to return to Aruba!

Feb 29 2016

Making sure the Hyatt Diamond deal doesn’t get the best of me

For about six hours, it was possible to match almost any hotel chain status to Hyatt Diamond. Ironically, the PR move was one of the many things that has ended up costing Hyatt some loyal customers (I first remember Dia writing she was done in December and Julian just wrote about it this week). I totally understand Diamond members who earned status via hard work being frustrated about that, but this post isn’t for you.

This post is for all of us who glommed onto Hyatt Diamond the “easy way”. I’ve been realizing that having Diamond status has been subtly and not so subtly affecting the way I plan my travel. That has got to stop, otherwise this win-win situation is going to turn into a win-lose situation, with me as the loser! Here are some of the ways status has been affecting the way I plan my travel, maybe some of you can relate.

None of these effects are bad in and of themselves, but it’s important for me to process them so they don’t end up costing me more money in the long run!

It affects my choice of destination

Hyatt has a fairly small footprint compared to say Hilton or Marriott. What I’ve found whenever I’ve had Diamond status (this is the second time) is I subconsciously limit my destinations when I am sitting on the status. This happens by either a) eliminating a destination due to no Hyatts or b) considering one because there IS a Hyatt (Mallorca anyone? Though in my defense on that one we were supposed to go there before we found out it overlapped with our son’s due date. GOOD JOB, SON!)

Apparently this is what the Isle of Skye looks like. But there aren't any Hyatt properties there! — Apparently this is what the Isle of Skye looks like. But there aren’t any Hyatt properties there!

This is really stupid in this instance because I have Hilton Diamond status as well for the next year. So I shouldn’t be limiting my destinations, but those confirmed suite upgrades sway my subconscious quite a bit. Sure, there’s a good chance I can score a suite at a Hilton, but there is no way for me to know before I get there.

Luckily, my wife won’t stand for going to a place just for a hotel (or just to fly on an A380), so that helps balance things out. This summer we are going to Scotland, land of zero Hyatts, and I’m just going to make do. Which leads me to my second point.

The allure of suite upgrades can cause me to ignore more family convenient options

In Scotland, since no Hyatts exist, I booked us a nice house and a nice apartment to stay in. These places feature kitchens, double baths, lawns – aka things you would never get from a hotel.

Contrast that with our upcoming trip to Aruba. I really, really wanted to redeem a Diamond suite upgrade, so I convinced myself that it would be better to stay at the Hyatt Regency than finding an apartment. This was easy to do.

Oh hey, since we’re Diamond we get free breakfast, money saved (and unlike the Devil’s Advocate, breakfast is pretty important to us even though I don’t care for it – must. feed. toddler.)
The hotel is on the beach so it’s going to be way more convenient. An apartment further inland might prevent us from going to the beach as much. Plus it has pools!
It will be easier to have the resources of a hotel at our fingertips rather than figure everything out ourselves

Now, those are all valid points, and I don’t regret booking the Hyatt Regency Aruba at all. Still, I barely looked at any other options, and when that happens, it’s definitely something for me to internally keep an eye on.

I can sometimes fool myself into spending more money

Here is the biggest kicker for me. It is lovely to enjoy suites if you are paying the cost of a regular room. But it’s very easy for me to convince myself to toss in an extra $50 to stay at a Hyatt and confirm a DSU as opposed to staying at another hotel. Plus I might not just be passing on a cheaper hotel, I might be passing on a cheaper and more conveniently located hotel!

This suite at the Andaz 5th Ave was pretty sweet but did it cost too much?

Take London, for example. We are spending a few days there before hitting Scotland and I am going to book a refundable room and confirm a DSU. But the refundable rate is 440 quid – over $600! Now, I’m not going to pay that (I’m going to wait to see if cash and points open up but want to “hold” the suite), but I am tempted to. Again, it’s easy to justify – I’m saving a ton of money in Scotland lodging so have extra left over to splurge in London. Very dangerous thinking.

So it’s important for me to set my lodging budget ($350/night for a suite as I said in a previous post) and stick to it. If not, I just have to let it go…probably…okay yes I should let it go. Temptationnnn!

It affects my Ultimate Reward usage

Before we had kids, this wouldn’t have mattered that much. Spend some UR points to redeem cash and points or free nights at Hyatt and we still had plenty left over. But in 16 short months I will be forced to pay for four tickets. If I need to use Ultimate Rewards for those I’ll need pretty healthy balances.

So I’m using Ultimate Rewards for Hyatt more and more while at the same time Chase is 5/24ing everything and earning UR is getting harder and harder. Is staying in a suite for three nights worth having to pay cash for one of my broodlings to fly to Asia? Tough one. I can earn quite a few UR but the number isn’t unlimited, so I need to weigh all those things on balance.

Final Thoughts

As always in these “Joe thinks aloud” posts, I’m just processing how having Hyatt Diamond status has been affecting my travel planning lately. I don’t think any of these effects are bad in and of themselves; they are just things I am trying to stay aware of. If I know I’m paying extra but my wife and I are okay with it, then fine. I just don’t want to be fooled into bad decisions by the allure of suites and executive lounges. When he said it at the time, I disagreed, but I now know for sure FQF was right: giving out Diamond status was a great move for Hyatt’s bottom line. Hopefully I can keep it a win-win situation, instead of turning into the biggest loser.

Contacting the concierge

Suite Upgrade and Diamond Amenity

Asking for forgotten necessities

The dreaded deactivated key at checkout

Final Thoughts

Location

Room

Lounge

Final Thoughts

Other Posts in this Series

Flights for Four

Lodging

Ground Transportation

Final Thoughts