Hyatt Reward Stays for Family of Five

projectx

Level 2 Member
I'll get to the point quickly: Finding a resort for a family of five is extremely frustrating.

While it may be a couple more years before we take all the kids on a beach vacation, I can't help but dream. Unfortunately it seems nearly impossible to find a Hyatt resort that will allow 2 adults and 3 kids in a room. After checking the Bonita Springs Resort in FL (struck out), and the Ziva Los Cabos all inclusive (struck out), along with a few others, I called in about Ziva. After trying lots of combinations, the rep told me my best choice would be to book two ocean view suite rooms that connect. This would cost $1,100/night. I'll let you do the math on the points required.

1,200 sq ft rooms and they still won't allow 5 people? That's insane. As I've learned this doesn't seem like it's only a Hyatt problem. Still, to my knowledge Hyatt has the best hotel point redemptions through UR, so I'm hoping to stick with them.

If you're in my shoes dreaming of an awesome tropical family vacation using UR points, what options are there? I'm looking in Florida, Mexico, and Caribbean.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
My experience with hotels abroad is that they have very different policies regarding how many can stay in a room. In the US we tend to pay for the room and then put in the number we feel comfortable having in said room. In most other countries room rates are per capita and so there are often limits on the number per room. So getting a suite could do you no good. It could make more sense to get adjoining rooms. I raised four children and we always got adjoining rooms. Kids in the one room and parents in the other so we had our privacy and yet could still check on them.

In terms of value with UR, Hyatt is the best for sure. I really like their points and cash redemptions. Indeed since the points required are usually about half for that, you could get two rooms for the same number of points as one and throw in a bit of cash. Plus if you do that you can potentially upgrade and get stay credit. Just a thought.
 

Haley

I am not a robot
How old would your oldest be at this future date?
I have three kids, we outgrew a single bathroom by the time the oldest hit 12. Beds were never the issue. With a mix of ages the second room also allows for naps. At the very least you want a balcony, otherwise everyone goes to bed at the same time.

We are down to two at home, but teen girl plus teen boy means one bathroom is still pretty out of the question.

Suites are mostly not designed with kids in mind, one King bed. Pull out couch, maybe. With 5 people almost all my bank points go towards airfare. We sometimes pick a destination based on BRG or other super hotel deals.
 

niehlin2

Level 2 Member
I just completed my diamond challenge. Booked 8 nights at Hyatt Regency Vancouver using points and cash. I requested a suite upgrade and was upgraded to a 2-bedroom suite with a living room in between. It actually was 3-bedroom turned suite with 3 bathrooms. The living room has a sleeper sofa. It worked out great for us. You may consider the diamond challenge in the future so that if you pay cash or points and cash you can request a suite upgrade. This may save you lots of money.
 

TinyElvis

Level 2 Member
This might be a stupid question, but rather than asking about the number of people in a room did you simply ask if you could have a rollaway in your room on checkin?
 

TravelDean

Say NO to road trips
I am in the same boat with 3 kids so I decided to start banking rewards on Arrival so I can use it to pay for AirBnB locations that will suit our family better than a hotel anyway.
Solution: Use the rest of your Hyatt points for a nice anniversary trip and bank cashback to pay for AirBnb with the family.
 

projectx

Level 2 Member
This might be a stupid question, but rather than asking about the number of people in a room did you simply ask if you could have a rollaway in your room on checkin?
To be fair I didn't specifically ask for a rollaway, but the agent was pretty firm that we could not have five in a room, even if 3 are children.
 

TinyElvis

Level 2 Member
The reason I ask is because I encountered a similar situation booking a room at the Hyatt Melbourne. I have 2 kids, and hotels in Melbourne seem to only have 1 king bed or 2 twins in them.. My youngest is just a toddler, so she was fine to sleep with us on the king, but we still needed one more bed. I was told the same thing you were by a Hyatt CSR-- can't exceed the max number of guests. I booked a king online anyways which I could cancel if necessary. After the reservation went through, I called up the hotel direct and asked if they could have a rollaway ready in my room on checkin. I didn't ask any questions at all, just told them to please have a rollaway ready. They were more than happy to comply, and we had 4 people in a room that is supposed to only have a max of 2. There were no issues at all during our stay- staff was super friendly and the kids really enjoyed the breakfast and snacks in the executive lounge.
 

vike

Level 2 Member
I was with a group of 4 that booked a 2 bdrm suite at Hyatt Hacienda Del Mar in Puerto Rico. The beach is beautiful and there were several activities on site to keep kids happy. It had a fully equipped kitchen and a pull out sofa to sleep a total of six. Before booking on points check for possible low rates. We only paid about $150 per night, but might have been lucky with the dates we wanted.
 

niehlin2

Level 2 Member
I am a diamond member and have stayed in several Hyatt hotels since September. Some would accomodate 4 in a room and give us a nice upgrade. We are staying at Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris now. Our room allows 2 persons only. They can add a rollaway bed but we will have to pay €100/night for the extra person. I use points or points-and-cash for all stays.
 
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smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
I am in the same boat with 3 kids so I decided to start banking rewards on Arrival so I can use it to pay for AirBnB locations that will suit our family better than a hotel anyway.
Solution: Use the rest of your Hyatt points for a nice anniversary trip and bank cashback to pay for AirBnb with the family.
I raised four and when we traveled with them when they were young, we got two rooms, one for the children and one for us (adjoining). We like our privacy and never did the kids in the room thing. As they got older we looked for properties that were more like apartments or Hyatt House type accommodations as with two boys and two girls we ended up needing to further separate them by gender. As the children got older, the food bill at restaurants gets higher and I always wanted to have the option to cook if possible and liked places that had kitchens. Traveling with a large family and doing hotels rooms, even suites, was less than desirable the older they became. I agree with the notion of saving the suite type rooms for special breaks for the couple. It's good for your relationship. I have been with my SO for 35 years and survived raising four to adulthood and I really agree that more casual places are better for children and more luxe choices are good for the couple!
 
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MarkD

Level 2 Member
When our 3 kids were younger and we stayed in hotels, we would bring a single blow up bed for the third kid. The other two would share the second queen/double. If we stayed multiple nights then the kids would rotate taking turns on the blow up bed. In the morning just deflate it and store it in your luggage. I was like camping to them!

We did this for a week at Disney World. The kids didn't care. They were so excited to be there. Once they hit the teenage years we splurged for two adjoining rooms.

To each his own on this solution. Some may not be comfortable doing this.
 

fstop75

New Member
Most of the max room occupancy concerns are based upon fire code issues. If you ask someone at the hotel/resort, they will likely hold firm to the listed max occupancy if for no other reason than CYA. It's funny, I have stayed in suites that had dining room tables for 10, but were listed as max 3 guests, go figure. If you are planning on staying in the USA though, I wouldn't be concerned with 5 to a room. If I were ever questioned I would play it off as a last minute change and you had to bring all three kids!

If you don't feel comfortable with that then, your only choice is to pay for two rooms.:(
 

niehlin2

Level 2 Member
We stayed at Hyatt Time Square in October. I booked with points and was upgraded to a suite. Our 3 girls slept in the living room on a sofa bed. They didn't care. Actually there was enough space to put a roller bed. Being a diamond member, we were allowed to spend $150 a day for the breakfast.
 
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The Ikonik One

Level 2 Member
I am in the same boat! I'm looking at all inclusives because with 3 boys 7,8 and 10 food ND eating out is becoming expensive! Then again is hard to take a trip with the notion that only 2 of my kids are welcome. Anyway. This post http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2017/06/28/hyatt-free-nights-not-limited-ziva-zilara/
Implies that people don't even have to pay extra for kids when booking at Hyatt all inclusive resorts... Anyone has any experience with this?
 

Ttitle

Level 2 Member
We are five too. I always book rooms with 2 adults, 2 kids. I get a rollaway bed when I can and when I can't, my oldest sleeps where he can find a space. I like the blow-up bed idea (and I'm sure he would too!) We just did Fairmont Kei Lani and asked for a roll-away bed and it wasn't a problem.
 

LoveTravellingFree

Level 2 Member
We have 4 kids, ages 10, 8, 6, 4. Hyatt is our favorite chain because the lower end redemptions (Hyatt Place (and some Hyatt Houses maybe)) often have rooms that sleep 6 (2 queens and sofa sleeper). So when I can book a room for the 6 of us and get free breakfast for 5/8K points, I'm happy.

We had good luck at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui this January because everything is suite style. But that's far from cheap and we had used Fairmont Credit Card signup bonus certs.

I did some research a few weeks ago and found a few suite style properties with Marriott that sleep 6 on points. I have also found that a lot of their lower end hotels do the same and will sleep 5 or 6.

In short, if you want a deluxe resort, be prepared to pay for 2 rooms. If you want to stay on lower end, you can get some good value out of Hyatt, Marriott, and even Holiday Inn Express and Suites.

If I was wanting to be in a resort area, I would likely AirBnB instead of paying for 2 rooms and would save the points for a sweet trip with my wife (last year we did Santorini/Dublin, this year San Diego, next year I'm not sure yet--kids are too little for us to be gone more than 10 days so I'm reluctant to do Maldives/Austrailia/NZ still).
 
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