BOOKING

We booked with Hyatt Cash+Points for $125 + 10,000 points per night. Cash rates are easily in the $500+ range, so it makes redeeming points a very attractive offer.

We used a Suite Night Award and were booked into a “Park Suite King” and “59 to 72 sqm: Sitting area: Shower and bathtub: Flat TV: DVD: Butler.”

CHECK-IN

When we were headed to the hotel from the domestic airport (Buenos Aires-AEP), the cab driver had never heard of the hotel– we had to show him name of hotel– but it wasn’t until he read the address that he finally had a general idea of where to take us. Then, he drove right past the entrance, but we said it was fine and just jumped out at the intersection. Walking up, the hotel staff obviously seemed a bit confused that we were arriving by (what looked to be) foot.

At check-in, she confirmed our stay and rate and said, “we have a great room for you in our historic building” — perfect. As it turns out, there are essentially 2 hotels in one: a newer building with many more rooms and the old, renovated “palace” or mansion, connected by a courtyard (and underground walkway).

underground walkway between the two buildings

ROOM

The room, a Park Suite on the Palace side, was very well appointed but somewhat small. In fact, I’m not sure that it could even qualify as a “suite” as it had no separate sitting area or room, just a bedroom with a very large bathroom. From what we’ve read online, the suites are much larger in the newer, more contemporary building, but we really liked the style, feel and decor of the Palace building with the very stately feel of the deep molding around the ceiling and the huge antique windows.

view from room window

Within a few hours of checking in, two of the “butlers” arrived with our welcome gift: a fruit tray with apples, some type of chocolate snack and a bottle of Malbec wine.

BATHROOM

The bathroom was huge- almost as big as the bedroom itself. There’s a bathtub in the main, open area with the sinks and then a closed-in shower and separate toilet area. Plenty of space for two people to get ready at the same time.

SERVICE

While we didn’t need anything special while we were there, we found the service at check-in, breakfast, etc. to be top-notch. They were very helpful if needed, and friendly- everything we’ve come to expect and appreciate in a Park Hyatt.

Welcome letter

PROPERTY

The historic property feels regal and luxurious and, for us, provided a comfortable home base for our stay in Buenos Aires. While we didn’t get as much time to enjoy the courtyard as we would have liked, the view from the breakfast table was charming and it was nice to have the feel of both an old, palatial building coupled with a new, modern one.

One if the lobbys

Big area with an in house florist

RESTAURANT(S)

Breakfast was included with our stay and was served in the larger, more modern building. Totally worth the walk, though, because everything was fantastic: a very fresh, hearty breakfast that we looked forward to each morning. There were many options and we took our time savoring the breakfast each day. It was on par with other Park Hyatts around the world, but much better than the Park Hyatt Mendoza where we’d just come from.

A few pictures of the other restaurants and bars:

BOTTOM LINE: 

The Park Hyatt BA didn’t disappoint. We’d eagerly stay here again if we found ourselves in Buenos Aires. The luxurious-feel, historic building and delicious breakfast all fit into what we’ve come to know and love about Park Hyatts.

The post Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Review first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The 5-star hotel is a bit smaller than several other Park Hyatts, but it’s perfect for a small city like Mendoza. I really love how Park Hyatts stay true to the culture and history of the city and especially loved the restored 19th-century Spanish colonial façade.

The hotel lobby is grand and full of marble, with large, floor-to-ceiling windows and a beautiful dining room.

Main Lobby

We were shown to our room and felt like we were staying in a palace. Since Jeffrey used one of his Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrade Awards, we had been upgraded to a suite, so we had SO MUCH ROOM! The room and the hotel were very nice, but arguably not as fancy as, say, the Park Hyatt Vendôme in Paris.

I always love the tasty welcome treats at the Park Hyatt- and the Park Hyatt Mendoza left a treat for us each night of our stay instead of just the first night! #winning

Living area of our suite

More of the living room

Bedroom

Views of the city

Bathroom

We had breakfast each morning at the M Bistro, the hotel’s dining room, where breakfast is included for Hyatt Diamond members.

Breakfast/dining room

The only choice was the buffet, which included made-to-order eggs — all we need for a filling and delicious breakfast. They also had a great selection of pastries, bacon, sausage, cold cut meats, cheeses, and even a smoked salmon bar (with capers, cream cheese, egg whites, lemon slices, etc.). The fresh-squeezed fruit juices were also a treat for us  — whenever fresh-squeezed carrot juice is available, Jeffrey drinks about 5 glasses.

Breakfast buffet

More breakfast options – free breakfast is probably the very best perk of being a Diamond member!

The best part is that breakfast is served until 11am, so sometimes we’d show up right at the tail-end for an early lunch — perfect for saving a bit of time and money.

View of the hotel from Plaza dela Independencia

The hotel’s location was perfect for a few nights’ stay in Mendoza – it’s just across the street from a beautiful park – the Plaza de la Independencia – and within walking distance to many delicious restaurants and shopping. The Plaza de la Independencia has plenty of green space, fountains and a few museums – it’s a great place for people watching and orienting yourself with a new city, as locals are strolling through and enjoying life with their friends and families, too.

The post Park Hyatt Mendoza Review – Mendoza, Argentina first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Criteria:

• Must be a Category 4 Hyatt hotel
• Relatively expensive in $ to other Cat 4 properties (based upon 2 sample bookings with price averaged together)
• Minimum of 4.5 TripAdvisor rating
• Well reviewed or recommended as a good Category 4 property here

Ways to stay for free:

• Use a free night certificate from the Chase Hyatt credit card
• Spend 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for a free night
• Spend 7,500 HGP points + $100 for a free night

16. Andaz Savannah

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $278.50

15. Hyatt Escala Lodge at Park City

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $511.50

14. Park Hyatt Toronto

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $251.50

13. Park Hyatt Busan

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $284

12. Hyatt French Quarter New Orleans

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $303

11. Grand Hyatt Dubai

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $315

10. Park Hyatt Saigon

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $321

9. Park Hyatt Siem Reap

TripAdvisor: 5

Sample price: $335.50

8. Hyatt at Olive 8

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $361.50

7. Grand Hyatt Berlin

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $382

6. Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $509.50

5. Park Hyatt Hamburg

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $330.50

4. Grand Hyatt Seattle

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $361.50

3. Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $210

2. Grand Hyatt Melbourne

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $239.50

1. Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort

TripAdvisor: 4.5

Sample price: $523

The post Hyatt Top 16: Best Use of Free Night Certificates (Category 4 Hotels) first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

My mom had just applied for the US Airways Premier World MasterCard over Thanksgiving, so she received the Companion Certificate in the mail in late December. A little more on the Companion Certificate: this certificate is good for up to two passengers traveling with the card holder on a round-trip Coach Class ticket on US Airways operated flights (so, no partner flights allowed). The credit card holder purchases his/her ticket at regular price and then (on the same charge) purchases up to two companions’ tickets for $99 + tax each. Again, this certificate is only valid for flights within the continental US, so it’s a better bang for your buck to purchase the most expensive ticket (i.e., cross-country) to get a higher percentage off with your companion pass. It looks like the US Airways Premier World MasterCard is still around (there was some talk that it would be a thing of the past come January 2015), and it’s still advertising a Companion Certificate. I was under the impression that the Companion Certificate would also be going away in 2015, but maybe they’ve decided to let it stick around a bit longer?

Side Note: My mom originally applied for this credit card for the awesome 50,000 bonus points with first purchase and payment of $89 annual fee (no need to spend thousands of dollars in the first few months to get the bonus!). These points will become American Airlines AAdvantage points in the second quarter of 2015 and, coupled with the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard she applied for at the same time (which got her an additional 50,000 American points), she’ll have a whopping 100,000 points in the bank — enough to visit Europe twice (or Asia once, with enough points leftover to warrant a free domestic US round-trip!). So, this California trip is a bonus that we didn’t even consider before she applied for the credit cards.

We wanted to take as much advantage of the companion ticket as possible, so we were looking for somewhere pretty far from South Carolina (while still staying within the contiguous 48 states). We settled on southern California because, quite frankly, the weather in much of the rest of the US (excluding the Southeast) is pretty frightful in early February. And, with Winter Storm Juno rolling in the week before our departure (with another snowstorm right on its heels), our sunny destination couldn’t have been better.

We ended up booking my mom’s ticket about six weeks out from Charlotte (CLT) to San Diego (SAN) at $390 and tacking my Companion Certificate on for the additional $99 + taxes, which came out to be $141.20 extra — a pretty significant savings from buying two normal tickets.

The weather forecast for the first week in February looked like the peak of spring time on the East Coast: highs in the low-70s and lows in the mid-50s. I’ll take it!

Our itinerary ended up looking like this:

2 nights in San Diego
3 nights in the Santa Barbara area
1 night in San Diego

We’d heard great things about Coronado Island (just across the harbor from downtown San Diego), so I knew we wanted to stay there. The famous Hotel del Coronado (a Victorian wooden monstrosity — as in, the second largest wooden structure in the US) was a bit out of our price range at $400+/night, so I did some Trip Advisor-ing and ended up booking our first two nights at the Hotel El Cordova, just across the street from the gigantic “Hotel Del”. At almost one-quarter of the price, the location is just as fabulous and its a charming little Spanish-style hotel.

El Cordova Hotel sits overlooking its more famous counterpart and, interestingly, was actually the private home of the main builder of the grander hotel in the late 1800’s. The Spanish-style mansion has been converted into motel-style rooms ranging in size. The lobby is on the street facing the Hotel del Coronado and is just steps away from the beautiful beach and cute shops and restaurants. The rooms are circled around an inner courtyard with plenty of Spanish tiles and bright, colorful flowers to drool over on your walks to and from the lobby.

The quaint and quite romantic hotel is perfect — even the breakfast is just right: a small continental breakfast is included, and the best part is that it’s served in the courtyard, surrounded by beautiful flowers, delicate succulents and beautiful weather.

Check out a few photos from our stay at El Cordova:

El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Grounds of El Cordova Hotel

Continental Breakfast is included

Continental Breakfast is included

Continental Breakfast is included

Continental Breakfast is included

Continental Breakfast is included

Although the rooms are pretty small and basic, the public parts of the hotel are beautiful and we felt very safe — which was ideal for us since we weren’t spending much time at the hotel.

Balboa Park
Old Town for lunch (Casa Guadalajara)
Harbor Tour
Exploring the Hotel del Coronado + Coronado Island

After a packed first day, we planned to finish our time in San Diego by exploring La Jolla, a nearby island and beach with sea caves and seals. Yes, please. Although I’m sure we could spend days in La Jolla alone, our week-long trip to Southern Cal was starting to get booked up quickly, so we planned our second day like this:

Morning in La Jolla with brunch + sea caves
San Juan Capistrano Mission
late lunch in Malibu
Pepperdine University
Drive into Ventura, CA

Although we would have loved a little more time in San Diego, we wanted to start heading up the coast toward Santa Barbara to give us time to stop along the way. We have a friend who lives in the area who insisted we drive through Pepperdine, calling it the prettiest university campus in the US. With helpful tips like Pepperdine and the San Juan Capistrano Mission, we had another jam-packed day ahead of us, but it really helped to break up the drive up the coast.

We arrived in Ventura in time for dinner and an early night to rest up for our next day of adventures. As you may have read about, Jeffrey’s recently gotten the Club Carlson credit card and this hotel chain’s Winter 2015 promo was the best of the bunch, so we settled on the Country Inn and Suites in Ventura for our nights in the Santa Barbara area. Although the hotel is about 25 minutes south of Santa Barbara, it was much cheaper than any other hotel that week because of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, plus we earned an extra 30,000 bonus points for our 3-night stay– enough for several free nights in nicer Carlson hotels around the world! For more info on the Club Carlson Winter 2015 promo (going on through March 29), click here.

The next morning, we had planned to drive back down toward San Diego about 45 minutes to Simi Valley, CA — not the most ideal plan, but we booked hotels and planned our stays then had to reschedule a little in order to meet up with a friend from our hometown for a tour of the Ronald Reagan Library, which was on the top of my mom’s list. That day, our itinerary looked like this:

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library
Drive back up toward Santa Barbara
Explore Santa Barbara, including the Old Mission, antique shops + the pier!

On the next day, we were headed up a little north of Santa Barbara:

Morning at the Gainey Winery in Santa Ynez, CA
Afternoon on a ranch in Lompac, California with some friends

On our final full day in California, we needed to make our way back down to San Diego for our flight on Monday morning. We’d booked a hotel on the northern outskirts of San Diego so we didn’t have to drive all the way into the city the night before, giving us a little more time to explore on our way back down the coast. Our last day’s itinerary looked like this:

Santa Monica Pier
Lunch in Hollywood
Looking for stars before the Grammy’s!

We made our way back down toward San Diego with our final night’s stay booked at the Hyatt Place Vista/Carlsbad. We were trying to balance easy location with affordable cost and settled on the Hyatt Place because it was on our way back into town, so we didn’t need to pay the high premium of staying in the city if we were getting in late and leaving early. For our last dinner, we tried a fun wine bar in Encinitas, CA.

More details on our stops and tours coming up soon!

The post Planning My Very First Trip to California first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The Deal

Hyatt is offering targeted promotions this season, anywhere from 2,000 on up to 65,000 bonus points depending on the offer received. You’ll have to login to your Hyatt account to check the promo you’re eligible for, but here’s a glance at what’s going around:

Promo 1 “2KSTAY1B”:
Earn 2,000 Hyatt Gold Passport® bonus points after your next eligible stay at any Hyatt hotel worldwide during our Stay More Play More promotion.

Promo 2 “5KSTAY2”:
Earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport® bonus points after completing 2 eligible stays at any Hyatt hotel worldwide during our Stay More Play More promotion.

Promo 3 “20KSTAY10”:
Earn 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport® bonus points after completing 10 eligible nights at any Hyatt hotel worldwide during our Stay More Play More promotion.

Promo 4 “50KSTAY20B”:

Promo 5 “65KSTAY25”:

How to Get It

1. Head here to see which promo Hyatt has given you: Hyatt “Stay More, Play More” Winter 2015 no later than April 30, 2015
2. Enter your Hyatt Gold Passport number in the field and click “Learn More” to find out:
   
3.  Your promo will be displayed on the next page–make sure to enter your Hyatt number a 2nd time and click “Register” to complete the final step of registration:
   
4. Complete your stays at Hyatt hotels between January 15 and April 30, 2015
5. You bonus points should post to your account within 2 – 3 weeks of the qualifying stay

Bonus Points Calculator

Don’t forget:

• 4 of the 5 promos are based on paid nights, so no need to frantically switch hotels everyday like some Marriott or Starwood promos.
  
• Standard award nights do not count towards this promo but Cash + Points awards are eligible.
• Nights at MGM M life properties in Las Vegas ARE ELIGIBLE for this promo: “In addition, all M life Eligible Nights at participating M life resorts will be counted toward this promotion.” (more info on that partnership here)
• Typical terms: “For the purpose of this offer, an “Eligible Night” is defined as any night where a member is paying an Eligible Rate, as defined in the terms and conditions of Hyatt Gold Passport. Hyatt Gold Passport members will only receive Eligible Night credit for their room, regardless of the number of rooms paid. You must provide your Hyatt Gold Passport membership number at the time of check-in and choose points or miles for your stay. Hyatt Gold Passport will automatically track Eligible Nights when you provide your Hyatt Gold Passport membership number. Please allow two to three weeks after your stay for bonus points to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account.”
• Promo 1 Terms and Conditions: “You must receive this offer from Hyatt and register by April 30, 2015. You will receive 2,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after your first Eligible Stay from January 15, 2015 through April 30, 2015. A maximum 2,000 bonus points may be earned, regardless of the number of stays completed during the offer period.”
• Promo 2 Terms and Conditions: “You must receive this offer from Hyatt and register by April 30, 2015. You will receive 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete two Eligible Stays from January 15, 2015 through April 30, 2015. A maximum 5,000 bonus points may be earned, regardless of the number of stays completed during the offer period.”
• Promo 3 Terms and Conditions: “You must receive this offer from Hyatt and register by April 30, 2015.  You will receive 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after completing ten Eligible Nights from January 15, 2015 through April 30, 2015. A maximum 20,000 bonus points may be earned, regardless of the number of stays completed during the offer period.”
• Promo 4 Terms and Conditions: “You must receive this offer from Hyatt and register by April 30, 2015. All Eligible Nights under this offer must occur from January 15, 2015 through April 30, 2015 (“Offer Period”). You will receive 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete five Eligible Nights, an additional 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete ten Eligible Nights, an additional 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete fifteen Eligible Nights, and an additional 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete twenty Eligible Nights during the Offer Period. A maximum 50,000 bonus points may be earned, regardless of the number of nights completed during the Offer Period.”
• Promo 5 Terms and Conditions: “You must receive this offer from Hyatt and register by April 30, 2015. All Eligible Nights under this offer must occur from January 15, 2015 through April 30, 2015 (“Offer Period”). You will receive 30,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete fifteen Eligible Nights, an additional 15,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete twenty Eligible Nights, and an additional 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after you complete twenty-five Eligible Nights during the Offer Period. A maximum 65,000 bonus points may be earned, regardless of the number of nights completed during the Offer Period.”

BOTTOM LINE:  Some members will be offered 2k bonus points for 1 stay and wish they had the 65k offer, others will be in the exact opposite boat. Either way, this is what Hyatt feels like giving you for your business during this promo period. I was personally offered the 65k bonus and, given my travel plans until April 30, am quite happy with the bonus as it will prove to be lucrative for me.

The post Deal Blitz: Hyatt Winter 2015 Promo (up to 65k bonus points) *Targeted* first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

This brand new building houses the Park Hyatt in the first 25 floors

BOOKING

Although Jeffrey always handles hotel bookings, I had absolutely no hope of staying at the new Park Hyatt New York — Jeffrey had told me that he had checked and you couldn’t book it with points just yet. He had called Hyatt Gold Passport and asked about booking with a Points + Cash rate and then applying a Diamond Suite upgrade to the reservation. The phone rep said that since the Hyatt New York is a “special property, they do not participate in the suite upgrade program.” She only offered him a suite upgrade rate of 30,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points + $400 per night — no thanks. But, when he went online a few days later (and right before our trip), they were offering base rooms (Park Deluxe King) for 30,000 points so he booked it!

CHECK-IN

The property is smack-dab in the middle of Midtown and very convenient to subway lines. We were dropped off at the corner of 57th and 7th and had just a 1/2 block stroll over to the hotel.

Right before we got to the hotel, Jeffrey logged into his Hyatt app to confirm the reservation and noted that instead of being listed as 30,000 Hyatt points, the rate was listed at $623.14–this might shed some light on how Hyatt corporate and individual properties transfer points and money. Presumably, the Park Hyatt New York received $623 from Hyatt Gold Passport for our stay?

I’m skipping ahead a bit but this might explain why Jeffrey earned 3,510 points on an award stay (full award stay, not points + cash):

Multiple bellmen were waiting on the sidewalk of the 90-story One57 tower to greet us, although none insisted upon carrying our baggage. Although we considered this to be a perk because we feel much more comfortable managing our own luggage, some Park Hyatt guests may think otherwise. The 90-story tower is humungous, but only the first 25 floors are part of the Park Hyatt. After walking through two sets of double doors (that swing with a touch of one of the bellman’s remote controls), we walked in to find a mini reservation/check-in desk. When we arrived, though, they were having trouble with their iPads and escorted us onto an elevator to the main lobby and main reception area for our check-in. This was fine with as the downstairs lobby was rather informal and to be rushed into checking in at a property like the Park Hyatt New York would have been questionable to me. I picture the business traveler or leisure traveling spending $6,000+ over a five-night stay in the city and being rushed through a check-in and given a key as quickly as possible– I don’t care who you are and whether you’re spending personal money, OPM (other people’s money) or using your Hyatt points, if the property fetches in the $900+/night range, you’re at least implicitly asking for some personal treatment, and that entails a proper, formal check-in upstairs.

Once upstairs, we were given the check-in spiel and told that we’d been upgraded from the base room to a Park Studio Suite — I’ll take it! We were offered the option of a 4pm checkout and graciously accepted as we had a late flight out. As a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member, we were told that we had a $60 per person voucher on our account for breakfast each day. They said this could be taken in the main restaurant, the bar area or by using room service/in-room dining.

Sitting area near the main reception area

Reception Area

The less formal Living Room lounge– adjacent to the more formal Back Room restaurant

More of The Living Room lounge

The hallway leading to our room

ROOM

The receptionist escorted us up to our 9th floor suite, number 907, which overlooked 57th Street with views of Carnegie Hall and views as far down as 6th Avenue. She explained the many great amenities of the room and also mentioned that we could have up to 2 items pressed as part of their complimentary service.

The room begins with a hallway with a huge trunk at the end. Once at the end of the hallway, a turn leads you to the bathroom on the right and the bedroom then sitting area on the left.

Park Studio Suite

Park Studio Suite sitting area

Park Studio Suite

Park Studio Suite bedroom

All of the room was very high tech and highly automated. An iPad Mini was available in the room which housed information about the hotel and also allowed for room service ordering. I used the app to request a bucket of ice and had a knock at the room in about 5 minutes.

Also, the number one perk in my book of any hotel these days is a Nespresso machine:

BATHROOM

The bathroom is large and roomy with a door separating the toilet and another door to the shower. A large bathtub is in the main part of the bathroom next to the sink (with no door separating the tub from the bedroom). The toiletries all fit the natural theme of the room — very natural, olive oil/aloe vera based products.

My favorite part of the bathroom is the nightlight– when you wake up in the middle of the night, there’s a small motion sensor that turns on a very faint light, just enough to see but not enough to even begin to wake you up. It sounds a little unnecessary, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve stumbled around a completely dark hotel bathroom looking for a light switch.  

Jeffrey’s favorite part? The TV in the mirror.

Another cool perk in the Park Hyatt’s bathroom is in the shower. There’s a mirror built into the wall (presumably for shaving your face) and, when the shower is first turned on, it immediately fogs up. But, soon, the defogger activates and the mirror is defogged… what?! The Park Hyatt is on top of the little details.

One last note about the bathroom:  the white tile and bright lighting made the room feel open and spacious. And, unlike other hotel’s bathrooms (like the Andaz Wall Street), I wouldn’t have a problem sharing this room with someone other than my husband. The new trend of showers with no doors in a wide open space is fine except if you’re traveling with your kids or friends– or really anyone where a little bit of privacy goes a long way.

Park Studio Suite bathroom

Park Studio Suite bathroom

Park Studio Suite shower

Park Studio Suite bathtub

SERVICE 

The service at the hotel, unsurprisingly, has been fantastic. Like all other Park Hyatts, the extra mile goes a long way in impressive guests and making a lasting impression. After checking in, we left the hotel for a few hours to explore and returned to a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us. An accompanying note congratulated us on our anniversary and hoped we were having a good time celebrating our special day. Again, the extra mile was notable and much appreciated. Little touches like this make you remember the Park Hyatt’s extra touch when planning a future celebration.

Celebration Champagne (or… prosecco)!

Celebration Prosecco!

THE GYM AND POOL

The pool, on the 25th floor, is a whopping 65 feet long, one of the longest pools in Manhattan hotels. With a wall of windows, the view of Carnegie Hall from the pool is breathtaking.

The gym is larger than I expected, with plenty of options. Although my preferred exercise that weekend was walking around to explore, the spacious gym was a dream.

RESTAURANT

As a Hyatt Diamond member we had breakfast included with the room and could spend up to $60 each. While room service is nice, and available as the Hyatt Diamond breakfast amenity, we didn’t want to miss out on a meal in the main restaurant so we headed down to the Back Room, the Park Hyatt New York’s in house restaurant. The chef, Sebastien Archambault, hails from the Park Hyatt Washington’s famous Blue Duck Tavern–review attached–(a favorite of President Obama). If you think it’s hard to spend $120 for two at a hotel breakfast, think again. I tried the WAGYU SIRLOIN ($48) with crispy poached egg and onion and Jeffrey tried the 57TH STREET FISH PLATTER ($23), complete with smoked salmon and pickled herring. Those entrees paired with a $13 juice each quickly brought us up to our $120 target. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium and was so delicious that it melted in my mouth. Although it was a nice portion, I had no problem finishing the plate – it was the perfect amount of food. Jeffrey’s fish plate was tasty, too, and a nice substitute for the traditional egg breakfast. The smoked salmon was full of flavor and paired perfectly with the fish-roe-topped-cream cheese.

While we were in a slight hurry to get on with our day, our breakfast took about one hour from start to finish. It seemed that most people wanted to sit and enjoy their time in the restaurant rather than rush. Even after we were finished, the waiter mentioned something about relaxing and Jeffrey just asked for the check instead. The extra time wasn’t annoying — rather, we appreciated the unhurried attittude of the waitstaff and would much prefer a slightly longer breakfast than a rushed one. This unhurried breakfast was an interesting carry-through on the belief that Park Hyatt is a destination in and of itself, so no need to hurry out the door for bigger and better experiences.

The Back Room restaurant

The Back Room restaurant

The Back Room’s menu

The Back Room

Wagyu Steak

57th Street Fish Platter

BOTTOM LINE: The Park Hyatt’s luxury, prominent location and cozy suites made our celebratory weekend a trip to remember. I liked our stay so much that I’m trying my best to talk Jeffrey into buying one of the condos in the One57 tower above the Park Hyatt. The only problem so far is the $90 million price tag.

The post Park Hyatt New York Review – New York, NY first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The new partnership also rolled out the following status matching scheme, where members can receive reciprocal benefits:

Hyatt Reciprocity Chart:

• Hyatt Member <–> M life Sapphire
• Hyatt Platinum <–> M life Gold
• Hyatt Diamond <–> M life Platinum

M Life Reciprocity Chart:

Well, it’s already been 1+ years since the promo began and it’s now time for many to login and re-register for the benefits.

Follow these steps to ensure that your Hyatt/M life benefits continue for the next year:

1. If you’re a Hyatt member and want to match to M life, head to the Make Vegas Yours With Hyatt Gold Passport And M life website.
2. Click the link to opt-in:
   
3. Click to sign in to your M life account:
   
4. Success! “Your profile has been updated. You have successfully aligned your M life tier status with HGP tier.”
   

For more info relating to the Hyatt / M life benefits, check out some of our other posts:

• How-to: Match Hyatt status to MGM M life status
• Review: Experience with the MGM M life / Hyatt Gold Passport Partnership

The post Time to Renew Your Reciprocal Hyatt/M Life Status first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The Deal:

For every 5 nights, you’ll get a one-time bonus, up to a max of 50,000 points –if you stay all 20 nights. If you’re able to max out the promotion and earn the full 50k points that’ll be enough for almost 2 nights at the Park Hyatt Maldives (pictured at the top). Here’s the earning chart:

How to Get It:

1. You can attempt to register here: Hyatt Fall 2014 Promo no later than November 30
2. Book at least 5 nights at Hyatt hotels between September 1 and November 30
3. An extra 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 and then 20,000 points will post to your account within 2 – 3 weeks of the 5th, 10th, 15th and then 20th night, respectively

I tried to register:

But got this message:

Don’t forget:

• This promo is based on paid nights, so no need to frantically switch hotels everyday like some Marriott or Starwood promos.
  
• Standard award nights do not count towards this promo but Cash + Points awards are eligible.
• Nights at MGM M life properties in Las Vegas are not eligible for this promo: “except that nights at M life resorts do not count as Eligible Nights under this offer” (more info on that partnership here)

BOTTOM LINE:  This is a great offer (if Hyatt lets you participate) that could net up to 2,500 bonus points per night if you max it out. No targeted email? Go ahead and try signing up and see if you’re included: Hyatt Fall 2014 Promo

The post Deal Blitz: Hyatt Fall 2014 Promo (up to 50k bonus points) *Targeted* first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Booking/Check-in

I booked a Standard King room about a week out using a corporate rate. The rate was appx 40% less than the standard daily rate at the time. In addition to the favorable rate, Hyatt was running a promo which gives 1,500 bonus points for Atlanta stays using the “ATL15” promo code. I think this promo has since expired.

We arrived at around 10:30pm on a Friday night and, despite the very late arrival, were upgraded to a Junior Suite. Funny enough, even though we were upgraded, nothing was mentioned about a Diamond amenity or breakfast so I subtly asked. At this point, the other desk agent pipes in, “Oh, you’re a Diamond? What you do want you amenity to be?” …A little odd since they just announced the room upgrade for being a Diamond.

The Hyatt Atlanta Midtown has a total of 194 guest rooms. We ended up with a 3-tier upgrade from Standard Room to Junior Suite.

1. Standard: 1 King, 2 Queens (365- to 432-sq.-ft.) BOOKED
2. Standard: Corner King ( 430-.sq-ft.)
3. Deluxe: 1 King, 2 Queens (470-sq.-ft. )
4. Junior Suite: 465-sq.-ft. two-room suite RECEIVED
5. Executive Suite: 1,167-sq-ft top-floor corner suite

The Room

We took the elevator to the 11th floor and found our room at the end of the hall. First impression: Everything is very new, sleek and modern. We found the decor to be “refreshing” and homey feeling. Upon entering the room, we found the living room:

Junior Suite: Living Room/Sitting Area

Junior Suite: Living Room/Sitting Area

There was ample seating:  a sofa and chair and a TV mounted to the wall. If my memory serves me correctly, the sofa was equipped with a pull-out bed as well.

Junior Suite: Living Room/Sitting Area

Following the hallway back was the closet:

And then the King bedroom:

Junior Suite: King Bedroom

Junior Suite: King Bedroom

One dead giveaway that it’s a new construction:  the carpet was extremely plush and comfortable for walking.

Call me crazy, but it looks like they’ve configured the hotel so that ~30% of the rooms are Junior Suites

View from the room:

The Bathroom

The bathroom was well done and quite nice. All shower- no tub. And the shower had its very own loofa, just like a spa!…(go with me on this one; it’s all about the little things in life).

Junior Suite: Bathroom

Junior Suite: Bathroom

The Gym

The gym had a good sized indoor lap pool.

Apart from that, it was a new hotel gym:

Lobby/Bars/Restaurants

Despite getting in pretty late (around 10:30pm), the bar was still going strong and why not have a drink to…uh…fully sample the offerings of the hotel:

There’s no club lounge, so Hyatt Diamond members will get free breakfast served in the restaurant. You’ll need to show your coupons; I had to request mine at check-in after I mentioned Diamond status. When we got down to breakfast, we learned that the Diamond breakfast voucher was good for the buffet only.

Seeing as how we were pretty late to the party (scrambled eggs can only warm under bunson burners for so many hours), we weren’t enthralled with that option and ordered off of the menu. It was this decision that we learned that the voucher was worth the equivalent of $14 value/person. Be forewarned that, by the time you order juice, coffee and a breakfast entree, it gets to be closer to $20/ head.

Despite the minor shortfall in value, the breakfast at Fork and Juniper was delicious.

Fork and Juniper menu

Fork and Juniper breakfast buffet

BOTTOM LINE: The Hyatt Atlanta Midtown is a good, new option for those wanting to stay in the Midtown area. They’ve got a quality restaurant, Fork and Juniper, onsite and, from what I can tell, Diamond upgrades will likely be plentiful.

The post Hyatt Atlanta Midtown Review first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

1. Understand your credit score

This is imperative to getting in on the free miles game. Start by reading our Credit Score Crash Course post here. This will give you an idea of what is behind your credit score.

2. Look up your credit score

Before going any further, figure out what you’re working with. Please don’t go to just any website for a credit report– there’s a reason that the FreeCreditReport.com guys can afford all of those TV ads and catchy jingles:  they’re making a ton of money off of the uninformed consumer. Here are 3 great sites that are reputable, legitimate and free (none of the sites will ask for a credit card!):

• AnnualCreditReport.com – This is THE site for free credit reports. In fact, “Under federal law you are entitled to a copy of your credit report annually from all three credit reporting agencies – Experian®, Equifax® and TransUnion® – once every 12 months” and this is the site that provides it. Note: it provides credit reports, not credit scores.
• CreditKarma.com – Provides an approximation of your FICO score based upon data from TransUnion.
• Credit Sesame – Provides an approximation of your FICO score based upon data from Experian.

Your FICO score is typically what most lenders will use to judge your credit worthiness — but unfortunately isn’t free. You can order a report from the official FICO agency on their website, myFICO.com, but it will cost you and probably isn’t worth it–the 3 sites above should give you ample data to make an informed decision.

Once you’ve reviewed your credit and feel that you’re in good enough financial health to open a credit card (or 2), you can start shopping the current bonus offers.

3. Shop for big-bonus credit cards

Credit cards want your business. They stand to make a lot of money off of you by collecting the 2-3% service fee they charge to vendors, and even more if you end up carrying a balance. This means large sign-up bonuses for credit card products from different banks and card issuers.

How do I find the deals? Good question, we regularly post about credit cards being offered with an attractive sign-up bonus. Alternatively, you can reference NerdWallet.com: Reward Cards for a list of all the cards being offered. We’ll get your started with the best credit cards on the market today:

• Lufthansa Premier Miles & More Mastercard = 50k miles – more info here
  • This card will give you enough miles to for a free round-trip flight in economy from the U.S to Europe.
• Chase Cards
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred = 45k points – more info here
  • Ink Bold Business Card = 50k points – more info here
  • Ink Plus Business Card = 50k points – more info here
  • All of the above Chase cards let you earn Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer directly to United & British Airways (and a host of others, but your best option in the USA will be United):
    
  • Points needed for a flight:  the 50k bonus you receive will put you very close to a round-trip flight to anywhere in the world. Here’s what it costs in points to different areas of the world:
    • 35k to Central America/Caribbean
    • 40k to Northern South America
    • 60k to Europe and Southern South America
    • 70k to North Asia, Japan and Oceania
• United MileagePlus Explorer Card = 50k miles – more info here
  • See above for how far United can take you; it might be a good idea to apply for both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the United MileagePlus card so that you’ll have 100k miles to work with. If you’re headed to Oceania for 70k miles, you could then use the remaining 30k Ultimate Rewards points to book a few nights at a Hyatt hotel while on your trip.
    
    
• United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card = 50k miles – more info here
  
  
  
• US Airways MasterCard = 40k miles – more info here
  • The 40k won’t get you as far as the other offers, but if you have a trip envisioned in a few months, if might be a good idea to apply for both the this US Airways MasterCard and the AAdvantage card below. When US Airways and American Airlines continue their merger later this year, you’ll be able to transfer points seamlessly between the 2 programs, yielding a total of 90k miles.
  • If you’re willing to travel at “off-peak” times, you can squeeze a good bit of value from the 40k US Airways miles. For example, the U.S. to Europe or South America from Jan 15 – Feb 28, 2015 is only 35k miles.
    
• Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage World MasterCard = 50k miles – more info here
  • At the “MileSAAver” rate, you can travel from the U.S. to Japan/Korean for just 50k miles!
• British Airways Visa Signature Card = 50k miles – more info here

4. Dream big and book your travel

Plan ahead! All of the above credit card offers can take anywhere from 2 to 10 weeks from signup to having the points hit your account so make sure you have plenty of lead time.

The programs that you’ll be confined to booking through will all depend on the currency of points you plan to acquire in step 3. My tip is to keep your options as wide open as possible and start with a currency that is transferable to many programs. An example would be any card (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, Ink Plus) that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. This will give you flexibility to use your points for either hotels (Hyatt, Marriott) or flights (United, British Airways, Southwest….) and is a good start for beginners. Keep in mind that any points not put toward your flight can be transfered to hotel points.

Here are a few of the guides we’ve written about using points– should be helpful for getting a gauge of where you can go most easily/for the least amount of points:

• British Airways: US Airways Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of Charlotte-CLT
• British Airways: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios
• British Airways: Ultimate Honeymoon: The Caribbean for Free with British Airways Avios
• British Airways: Caribbean Island Hop with British Airways Avios (only 4,500 points/flight!)
• Hyatt, Marriott: Paris, France: Best Hotels for Free Using Points –> Spoiler alert, the answer is: Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme Hotel Review – Paris, France
• Delta: How-to: Use Delta SkyMiles to Book an Award Ticket to Europe: Searching Availability
• Delta: Ultimate Honeymoon: Thailand with Delta Skymiles
• United: All about our Turkey–Istanbul/Cappadocia–and Portugal Trip
• United: Award booking with United miles to Istanbul/Cappadocia, Turkey and Lisbon, Portugal
• United: Ultimate Honeymoon: French Polynesia with United miles
• United: Ultimate Honeymoon: Thailand with United miles

And, please comment below if you have any questions about where to go/how far your miles can take you–we’re happy to help!

Other travel-related necessities to help you plan:

• Great Travel Tool: Get a Credit Card with a Chip
• Travel Tool: Award Calculator
• Great Travel Tool: T-Mobile Unlimited International Data & Texting (and Cheap Calling, too)

The post How-to Guide: Taking a Trip For Free! first appeared on Weekend Blitz.