I often end up making our trips plans at the end of the day. It happens to be when I can sit and do all of the tedious work like comparing flight times and prices, looking at hotel reviews and which properties are bookable with free nights, and searching for a rental car.
This also means that I make our reservations at the end of that process because prices can change if I wait until the following day.
Earlier this week, I wrote about how I was considering a stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. After reading your replies, I decided that spending a few days there when we arrive and then changing to another hotel, probably on the north shore, for the rest of the trip would be worth it. I went to the hotel website and saw that there was award availability so I went and booked our stay. 75,000 points for three nights is expensive but we don’t visit Hawaii often and it’s worth the splurge. I have the points, I might as well use them.
With circulation rumors of Hyatt putting Peak and Off-Peak pricing into place sometime this month, it was best to get a reservation on the books considering I could cancel until right before the trip.
It wasn’t until early this morning when I was looking at TripIt to remove the plans for my Southwest flight to Atlanta, that I noticed two entries for our Hawaii trip. This occasionally happens and you have to merge the reservations into a single plan. That’s when I saw my mistake.
I booked the hotel for the WRONG MONTH!!!!!!
I guess it was better to find this out now than when I got to the hotel. The bummer is that there’s no standard award availability for the days I want. I can book a room with Regency Club access and an ocean view for 33,000 points a night.
This would give me the perks I’d be missing out on by not being a Globalist. However, I was already balking at paying 25K a night for a hotel. 24,000 additional points for the three nights so we’d have a nice view from the room and club access is more than I want to spend. But I’m on the fence because if I’m already spending that many points to stay here, why wouldn’t I want a view of the ocean from my room and breakfast and snacks in the lounge?
The cash price for a club room for 3 nights is almost $4,000. I’d be getting nearly 4 cents per point value. It would also be the most expensive hotel stay of our lives and using only CPP isn’t the best way to value points.
The more I think about it, I’m tempted to book the Club Access room. I’m just going to need some time to let it sink in. My alternate plan is to book another hotel for those nights and hope that something opens up at the Hyatt between now and then. I feel like my decision will depend on what other options I can find.
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8 comments
Errrrr…..what makes you think anyone cares what room you book? Everyone values money differently, there is no analytical advise to offer.
We stayed at the GH Kauai in July, great property and beautiful area but being at the south end of the island, its better if you stay there when your activities are in that area. We spent most of our time on our July trip at the Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort, which is further north on the island on the coast, and it recently converted from a Courtyard. Absolutely loved it there, great location for activities both north and south, very friendly staff. We supported local businesses by eating out mostly – they were all hit hard by the pandemic. There was a lot more traffic than usual on Kauai, so keep that in mind when planning activities based in either location.
Spend the points. That is one of our all time favorite hotels. The food in the lounge is better than the restaurants. You will love it.
Knowing that we’re not going to leave the resort for the first day and how expensive breakfast is makes the extra points less painful—the same for getting a guaranteed oceanfront room.
Messing up is when you buy nonrefundable air and hotel for different dates. This is just sticker shock from having to use more points for different dates.
So sorry. It also seems you missed the Marriott points discount deal window as well. I’ve done the same sort of thing. I have a feeling that the hotels aren’t all that full there right now based on my trip coming up next week to Oahu. It might pay to call some hotels directly and see if they will give you a good cash rate. Or have your travel agent see if they can score a good deal. The earning bonuses are really good right now as long as you avoid the big OTA’s.
I was so focused on Hyatt that I totally missed the Marriott promo deal. 🙁
Honesty, I would look elsewhere. The Grand Hyatt was the worst hotel experience I’ve had in my life and I really regret staying even two nights there.