Hyatt Gold Passport - Advice for trip to Bali/Hong Kong using points

I wanted to propose my plan for a trip using points to everyone and see if I can get your opinions/advice. I have been traveling for work for the past 9 months so I am relatively new to the points game.

I want to take about a 14 day trip with my wife to Bali sometime in April and stay in Hyatt and Marriott properties using points. I am flexible with the dates too (+/- a month). I plan on using AA miles (70,000) for one ticket and purchasing the other. The flights are through Cathay Pacific stop in Hong Kong. I haven't chosen a date yet since there are no reward flights open yet and I assume it is just too early. Since there is a fairly long layover in HK for these flights, I wanted to make it into a stop for 2 nights.

I am currently a Hyatt Diamond and Marriott Platinum member. I have 2 free suite nights from the Hyatt credit card my idea is to use these at the Grand Hyatt HK. I would then use Marriott points at the Courtyard Bali for about 5-6 nights and then points at the Bali Hyatt for 5-6 nights. I was thinking of paying for the first night at the BH and using a suite upgrade in hopes that I could keep it through the rest of the stay. Also should I book a standard room at 5000 or a club room at 7000?

Does this sound like a good use of points? Is the GH HK the best place to use the 2 free suite nights? My other option would be to use them in Bali and book a Marriott property in HK using points. Any advice would be great!

First off - welcome to Flyertalk and our Hyatt forum.

On the flights - going to Asia is really a long trip - since the trip is quite some time off - perhaps you could try to get enough AA miles to get First Class award for both of you - that would require 270,000 miles combined though - there are quite a few ways to get the miles - Citibank's credit card signup bonuses (they have Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX) - you and your wife can both get cards to double up on the signup bonuses. Take a look at the AA forum for more pointers.

Back to Hyatt related topic. The 2 free Suite Nights from the Hyatt Credit card use at the GH HKG is a good use since it is a pretty expensive property - however, the entry level suite that you would be confirmed into looks pretty worn (and is as reported by one of our members in the Review Thread) - we used Suite Nights at this property back in Oct but the suite wasn't available so we were booked into the highest non-suite category (Grand Harbor Deluxe Corner - or something like that) which we were very happy with. Be aware that the Suite Nights expire 1 year after you get them - so make sure you use them by then. GH HKG isn't the most expensive property in Hyatt's portfolio but it is category 6 (highest category for award redemptions) so it's a reasonable usage.

As to the BH, I would think you should save your points and book a standard room since as a Diamond, you would get club access anyways - and for most properties (not sure about this one - perhaps someone with more experience will chime in) there isn't really a difference between a club vs a regular room.

On the flights - going to Asia is really a long trip - since the trip is quite some time off - perhaps you could try to get enough AA miles to get First Class award for both of you - that would require 270,000 miles combined though - there are quite a few ways to get the miles - Citibank's credit card signup bonuses (they have Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX) - you and your wife can both get cards to double up on the signup bonuses. Take a look at the AA forum for more pointers.

I wish we could fly first class; however I only have 70,000 miles and my wife has 30,000 and we both already have the Citi Aadvantage Visa. I think it would be difficult to get to 270,000 since my work travel does not involve overseas flights. It would be nice though

We did this exact trip from the US last March. We flew JFK-HKG(stopover)-DPS on Cathay in J. It's a long flight and well worth the 100,000/ticket we dropped.

The Grand Hyatt HK is a fantastic property. We stayed here on a suite upgrade and were not disappointed. I've been to the property a couple times and the lounge service and generally offerings are fabulous. You could easily make a nice meal out of it and the view of the harbour can't be beat. We also stayed at the Hyatt Sha Tin which was a nice way to see a different side of HK (It was only $100US and had a decent lounge with terrace).

In Bali we opted for three nights at the Hyatt Resort (versus Grand Hyatt). We were using points as a diamond. At 5,000/night this is a tremendous value. The lounge is of decent quality, although the real highlight was a comped upgrade to a huge suite with balcony (including hammock). The diamond amenity was a local bottle of wine, and they provided two branded polo shirts as a compliment of the suite. This property is not as luxorious as the GH, but we felt it had a lot more character (and was 7,000 fewer points night). You can use the free shuttle to visit the GH and take advantage of the great pool and beach offered their. It's worth noting that the GH no longer has a lounge in Bali, so as a diamond the Hyatt Resort becomes that much more attractive (although the lounge breakfast can't compare to full-service restuarant).

As an aside, we went to Lombok and stayed at the Sheraton Senggi for two nights and its a starck contrast from the island of Bali. If you're looking for a varied experience (and access to the Gilli islands) this is great way to do it.

Enjoy your trip.

To me, fourteen days on Bali is too long, although staying in two different hotels in different parts of the island would help. Also, two nights in HK, especially when jet lagged, is not enough.

I wish we could fly first class; however I only have 70,000 miles and my wife has 30,000 and we both already have the Citi Aadvantage Visa. I think it would be difficult to get to 270,000 since my work travel does not involve overseas flights. It would be nice though

I think the signup bonuses for the Citi MC & AMEX are 30,000 miles each - so that's an additional 60,000 miles for each of you. If you have money that you could park with Fidelity, that's another up to 50,000. It would involve some work but you could get there.

Even if you "only" get to Business class, that would make the trip so much better than coach. If you are a little short of the miles required, you can buy some miles directly from AA.

To me, fourteen days on Bali is too long, although staying in two different hotels in different parts of the island would help. Also, two nights in HK, especially when jet lagged, is not enough.

I meant 14 days for the whole trip. So after the days flying and in Hong Kong it would be more like 10 in Bali. Also, how many nights do you recommend in HK? I could add one or two, I just didn't think there was that much to do there.

I am not sure why you say the GH Bali does not have a regency lounge. We stayed there and it was a very nice regency lounge. The web site still shows one also..

It had a lounge about a year and a half ago, although it was primarily outside.

A thought. Booking suites at the BH using all points is very difficult and a very good deal (very hard since they only have a few). You need to call and I worked this for a couple months for a trip that was initially 10 months out. Getting confirmed for all my desired nights took me probably more than two months, but I got it. Sadly, and then I had to cancel the whole trip. Anyway, my thought is that you should start looking at the availability and hold some nights that might work for you while you wait for the flights and finalize your travel dates.

I would book it now if I could but AA can't find any award flight availability for March, April or May. It is very frustrating and all they said is to keep calling back. Does anyone know how far out award tickets on AA partner airlines become available?

Personally I would say 14 days was not enough in Bali.

The lounge that the GH had - was that the airport lounge - long gone.


The Grand Hyatt is a better hotel, however the Bali Hyatt is a great hotel and an awesome location - close to the main activities of Sanur.

The Grand Hyatt is very close the Bali Collection for great shopping - and the resorts do run a shuttle between them so do take advantage of that one day and experience the different areas.

If you want to do some tours - the Bali Hyatt is much better placed to trips to Ubud etc.

Personally I would say 14 days was not enough in Bali.

The lounge that the GH had - was that the airport lounge - long gone.


The Grand Hyatt is a better hotel, however the Bali Hyatt is a great hotel and an awesome location - close to the main activities of Sanur.

The Grand Hyatt is very close the Bali Collection for great shopping - and the resorts do run a shuttle between them so do take advantage of that one day and experience the different areas.

If you want to do some tours - the Bali Hyatt is much better placed to trips to Ubud etc.

Thats why I am planning on spending half the trip at the Courtyard Marriott, which is in the same area as the Grand Hyatt and then the other half will be at the Bali Hyatt. I dont have enough Hyatt points to stay at Hyatts the whole time and since I will be at the Marriott it would'nt make sense to stay at the GH and be in the same area the whole time.

So one vote that 14 days is too long in Bali and one for 14 days is not enough. I am leaning towards longer than shorter. We wanted to do some scuba diving and this can take up whole days so I think a longer stay would be better.

I would book it now if I could but AA can't find any award flight availability for March, April or May. It is very frustrating and all they said is to keep calling back. Does anyone know how far out award tickets on AA partner airlines become available?

I've never paid any attention to coach awards but do know that First on Cathay is often released within 2 weeks of the flight. You can sign up for a BA account and use their tool to check for the award you are seeking rather than calling all the time.

Spouse and I are planning to use our suite nights at this property. Are the suites confirmed at booking or is it that we won't find out until checkin?

Also, if we end up getting the highest non-suite room, will having a crib in the room make the room feel cramped? Thanks for comments

First off - welcome to Flyertalk and our Hyatt forum.

On the flights - going to Asia is really a long trip - since the trip is quite some time off - perhaps you could try to get enough AA miles to get First Class award for both of you - that would require 270,000 miles combined though - there are quite a few ways to get the miles - Citibank's credit card signup bonuses (they have Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX) - you and your wife can both get cards to double up on the signup bonuses. Take a look at the AA forum for more pointers.

Back to Hyatt related topic. The 2 free Suite Nights from the Hyatt Credit card use at the GH HKG is a good use since it is a pretty expensive property - however, the entry level suite that you would be confirmed into looks pretty worn (and is as reported by one of our members in the Review Thread) - we used Suite Nights at this property back in Oct but the suite wasn't available so we were booked into the highest non-suite category (Grand Harbor Deluxe Corner - or something like that) which we were very happy with. Be aware that the Suite Nights expire 1 year after you get them - so make sure you use them by then. GH HKG isn't the most expensive property in Hyatt's portfolio but it is category 6 (highest category for award redemptions) so it's a reasonable usage.

As to the BH, I would think you should save your points and book a standard room since as a Diamond, you would get club access anyways - and for most properties (not sure about this one - perhaps someone with more experience will chime in) there isn't really a difference between a club vs a regular room.

Spouse and I are planning to use our suite nights at this property. Are the suites confirmed at booking or is it that we won't find out until checkin?

Also, if we end up getting the highest non-suite room, will having a crib in the room make the room feel cramped? Thanks for comments

Suites are confirmed at time of booking if inventory is available.

The highest non-suite room is "huge" - having a crib shouldn't make it feel cramped.

I would book it now if I could but AA can't find any award flight availability for March, April or May. It is very frustrating and all they said is to keep calling back. Does anyone know how far out award tickets on AA partner airlines become available?

Yes, unfortunately if you want to play the points game for CX with AA miles or suites on points with Hyatt, you pretty much have to just keep calling. Anyway. I think I got an award ticket on CX from LAX-HKG-DPS in J/F about 9 months out-- check the AA forum for help on that. I already mentioned the timelines for get a suite on all points. Having played this game many many times, I would encourage you to be persistent and it will pay off. Grab the stuff you can change/cancel for free (ie. these HKG/Bali Hyatt stays), even if you have not firmed your dates-- build up from there. Also if diving on Bali, you will be looking at other hotels too and 14 days for your whole HKG/Bali trip may be tight, doable, but more difficult to get "everything in" and get good matching award/revenue tickets.

Be aware that you will need three tickets:

USA-HKG
HKG-DPS
DPS-USA

The only stopover you are allowed on an AA ticket is at the US gateway. Otherwise, if your stop exceeds 24 hours, a separate ticket will be required for onward travel.

Be aware that you will need three tickets:

USA-HKG
HKG-DPS
DPS-USA

The only stopover you are allowed on an AA ticket is at the US gateway. Otherwise, if your stop exceeds 24 hours, a separate ticket will be required for onward travel.


i recently experienced on award tix i booked a couple weeks ago for a trip in sept/oct.

booked 1 j award ticket on CX using AS miles (100k) and 1 using AA (110k) miles. however, alaska let's you do a stopover in hkg, whereas aa only lets you do a stopover in the us gateway (for us this would be SFO as we're going SEA -> SFO -> HKG -> CGK -> DPS). so the end result is i have an open jaw on the AA flight and have to use an additional 25k avios to buy a one way award from CGK back to HKG.

tips from my experience:
- use the japan airlines award tool to find availability, write down the flights numbers and dates, and then when you find the availability you want, feed those to the reservation agent
- we're staying at the bali hyatt in a club room on points for the first 4 nights. IMO, it's worth the extra 2,000 per night not having to worry about whether we'd get upgraded or not (i'm only platinum), and especially since it's such a cheap redemption level.
- you can get a hilton card and redeem points for nights at the conrad.
- you can get a priority rewards card and redeem points for nights at the intercontinental.
- you can get an spg card and redeem points for nights at many properties.
- cash/points are also redemption options for the above. just do the math on redemption values.

* the above points are assuming you want to spend as little cash as possible on flight/lodging.

personally, i like leaving 2-3 nights open in the middle so as to have the opportunity to do something spontaneous. we're staying at the hyatt to start, ubud hanging gardens for the last 3 nights, intercontinental/laguna/conrad each for a couple nights, then leaving a few nights open. maybe we'll rent a boat... who knows.

that's the adventure in traveling that i love so much.

Does anyone know much the suites are per night at the Bali Hyatt? I don't ever see anything above a club room on the Hyatt website.

Does anyone know much the suites are per night at the Bali Hyatt? I don't ever see anything above a club room on the Hyatt website.

Click on the suites area on http://goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp/en/awards/hyatt_free_night.jsp - since the BH is category 1 - a suite is 8,000 points per night (3 night min).

Click on the suites area on http://goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp/en/awards/hyatt_free_night.jsp - since the BH is category 1 - a suite is 8,000 points per night (3 night min).

I meant how much is a suite per night in dollars?

I meant how much is a suite per night in dollars?

Call reservations - a lot of properties don't put their suites online.