Hyatt Gold Passport - Expedia Concierge at Hyatt

I am staying at the HR Maui in a couple of weeks, and have been referred to someone at Expedia to book activities like Golf, vs. using the local concierge. What has been your experiences working with them?

I am staying at the HR Maui in a couple of weeks, and have been referred to someone at Expedia to book activities like Golf, vs. using the local concierge. What has been your experiences working with them?No experience, because I never used them, but I understand Expedia reps handle all activities, reservations, and the like at the Hyatt Hawaii properties. I don't think there is a "local concierge" to work with anymore.

I am staying at the HR Maui in a couple of weeks, and have been referred to someone at Expedia to book activities like Golf, vs. using the local concierge. What has been your experiences working with them?

Being referred to an expedia "concierge" sounds very strange. personally I would refuse to deal with a call center (presumably overseas) and insist on speaking with management or concierge on property.

Did you book through expedia?

Were you told directly by the property to contact Expedia?

Being referred to an expedia "concierge" sounds very strange. personally I would refuse to deal with a call center (presumably overseas) and insist on speaking with management or concierge on property.

Did you book through expedia?

The concierge on property at Hyatt Maui are all Expedia employees.

That's correct. I think the hotel outsources that function. And they have done a surprisingly good job. Originally I thought I could find better excursion deals online but it turned out their price was better than anything I could find. And you can charge everything to the room. (More points if you have a Hyatt credit card) In addition to selling tours/luaus, they also offer advices to sightseeings, restaurants, beaches, etc just as you could expect from a regular concierge.

The concierge on property at Hyatt Maui are all Expedia employees.

I've organised my trips through them at the HR Waikiki (they're the only concierge on the property) and was pleased overall with the service; there weren't any problems.

Maui has concierges in the Regency Club that are Hyatt employees. If you are on the club level they are great .

For what it's worth, when we were in Maui last month, the Expedia concierge booked the Drums of the Pacific luau at the Hyatt for us at $76.99 plus tax, much cheaper than the public rate of $105 plus tax.

All the hotels used to outsource their activities desks to private companies. That included some on site activities and booking off site activities.

Expedia stepped in several years ago and basically took over that business from the small private companies that used to do it.

-David

Just remember they are not Hyatt employees and basically just on-site sales agents. I ignored them until one Maui trip and approached with several things I wanted to try. All my ideas were "great and you will love them". All were not for us and we ended up feeling a bit stupid.

So I guess I always hated that the great Concierges always tune my pre-trip formed plans and send me somewhere else after they ask me some pointed questions, things such as likes/dislikes, etc. YMMV, but no such worry with these reps, they will sell you exactly what you ask for. ;-)

Just got back from a stay there. I was hesitant but heard what they had to say. Great recommendations and absolutely no hard selling. They don't tend to sell the "cheaper" packages or outfits for excursions though. Meaning you can get a cheaper price on certain types of activities IE snorkeling somewhere else, but the ones they seem to deal with are the larger more established outfits. We got an excellent discount on our helicopter tour and they even have "last minute" deal specials for those of you who don't plan ahead. Book in the morning for afternoon, or book in the evening for next day, and large discounts to regular rates. I even cancelled one excursion after the company changed the itinerary and boat type on us, and refund was issued right away. I had club access and the lounge concierge refers you to the expedia desk. But of course they will help you with suggestions. Overall a good experience though.

Thanks, all! I am currently trying to book some golf through them, and so far she seems extremely helpful.

Is it customary to tip someone like this when you see them at the hotel? If so, what are customary amounts?

The concierges are ok for giving you ideas if you haven't done research yourself. They are good if you want to go on activities with relatively well established vendors.

From my experience though, they will NOT tell you anything you don't specifically ask. For example, if you want to rent snorkels they'll recommend their place for $20/day, but not tell you there's a place down the street that rents it for $5/day. They also don't typically do more for "reserving" a place than calling them up. And depending on who you get, it might be as simple as "Hello, do you have any spots on the 1:45pm? Ok...*hangs up*, sir they have no room." I thanked her and called the place afterwards "Hi ,do you have any spots on the 1:45pm? No? It's important for me and my girlfriend though, is there a way you can make room? There is? Fantastic, thank you!" This was HR Maui.

I did have one experience where I wanted to do a bunch of things, told the concierge and she was awesome enough to schedule everything out with minimal downtime between activities after sorting through like 20 different vendors. It wasn't perfect or cheap but it saved me lots of time and I was impressed. This was Grand Hyatt Kauai.

My point being YMMV.

If you are getting bad service like that from their chosen service providers (in this case, the Expedia activities people) I would make a point of telling Hyatt about it. (post stay survey or email to the GM or to Hyatt.)

-David