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Just burned 6 FFN over X-mas holiday. We were first assigned a regular King bed on 9th floor. I asked about suite up-grade and was informed pay up grade is available for $300/night. I then said we usually get op-up at other locations as Diamonds.....she replied they only comp Regency access for Diamonds and we end up with a large Executive King (1209) on 12th floor.

Problem with this room....your TV remote does not work when you lay in bed, you have to get to the foot of the bed in order to switch channels or adjust volumes. On the flip side, lots of room for kids' roll away bedS.

Regency club's food is fair and they have an open bar. For this reason, 1000 GP points is a logical choice for Diamonds. There seems to be alot of guests of guests so the club is always packed. I asked for dining room bkfst coupons, was first turned down and an exception was made for the remaining days without a big fuss. Since we only got 2 breakfasts per day, they actually made money from us for my kids' meals. It was nice to see they added staff at the club to monitor access.

On 24th & 25th, Coke products were spotted in the lounge. First I thought our Pepsi-sentence is over, but I think they run out of Pepsi and Coke is on sale down the street.... As suspected, Pepsi returned on 26th.

We have been to many "heated pools" and no other pool is as hot as the one here. Swim out feature is great. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Was told about $12/night resort fee, but this fee was not on my bill when we check out....assuming this is additional Diamond perk here.

Great resort, will definitely come back either summer or winter. Not a bad way to burn FFN.

ORDflyer

I used to take my kids there when they were smaller. Hotel was good, especially the restaurant down near the lake, but the casino is an intolerable rip-off, worse Blackjack rules than most.

baccarat_king

Great Report,

IMHO, Suite Upgrades at Casino Properties are quite difficult to score. Unless you are a qualified player... the properties are much more interested in holding back the premium rooms and suites for their COMP guest. I tend to find that elite hotel status is secondary to "casino status" at these types of properties.

forcemejure

Just returned from a 2 night FFN stay.

The $12 resort fee is waived on award stays, NOT for Diamond status.

I agree that the welcome amenity is wasted on anything other than points when you have RC access.

We were also able to use a $100 dining cert. This property has a history of accepting them on FFN and award stays.

Ordered the Buffalo Wings in Cutthroats on the 2nd night and sent them back in disgust. Seriously suspect they might have a health issue in the kitchen there.

On our last day went to the Lone Eagle Grill for lunch. Had a fantastic meal up until the drink waiter dumped an entire tray of drinks on our table. We were only lightly sprayed, but everything on the table was drenched and one chair had to be replaced and there was NO RESPONSE from management. We spent several minutes drying ourselves off and watching them replace everything on the table, so there is no way this went unnoticed.

Still, we were having a great time and charged the food to the cert, so not a big deal.

wuhoo

just came back from ffn stay

- room on 9th floor (w/ connecting room), given regency club access. asked about changing rooms to nonconnecting, only two rooms available (one smoking, one ada) so stayed put.
- great experiences with ski and car valet
- not so great with housekeeping -- requested additional laundyr bags via phone, never got them (had to grab some more from housekeeping on the call the next morning). also they wanted $3 per wine glass! just for use, no wine inside.
- great deal w/ casino club signup -- free $10. it is not tied to a card, the cashier gave my wife and i two $10 bills to use. which we ended up keeping.

TravelGuy1965

You can get the wine glasses from the Regency Club from 5PM-9PM for no charge and even have wine in them

I use most of my FFNs at Lake Tahoe; Presidents Day Weekend, Next weekend, and the last weekend in March.

richee

We were going to be at Lake Tahoe on FFN this coming weekend, too, but wife had to have minor surgery, so we just cancelled it, in case anyone is interested.

I love Hyatt Diamond CS. They're applying those nights to our stay at Kauai coming up in April booked using points.

wuhoo

yeah, we shouldve grabbed them from the regency club, but when we were planning on having our wine it was about 10pm and the club was closed and all of their glassware was gone. it was on our last night too. i hadnt realized prior to that night that they would charge us for wine glasses, seems like a silly thing to do esp for diamonds.

JIMCHI

Just spend a FFN night there and had a very nice stay. Stayed in the new section. Rooms in that section were quite large and have balconies, although they don't offer any view of the lake. Had a great lunch at the Lone Eagle Grille. Asked about an upgrade to Regency Club but they wanted $65, which seemed high to me.

NewAgeTraveler

Has anyone stayed here recently? I have a reservation for Feb 20-23rd and I'm looking for feedback on diamond upgrades and current conditions.

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

I stayed there in July for a few days on an award reservation. Had a lake side cottage.

What a wonderful experience.

People in the (quite small) RC were nice, food was fine, had breakfast there plus a peek in the evenings.

The casino is really wonderful (big win). Last time there it was a dump (big loss).

I've stayed in the main building before, a looong time ago. My recollection was that the rooms were fine, if somewhat small. Overall, friendly, helpful staff. Hunting lodge decor seemed extremely well done.

But staying in one of the cottages is really a completely different experience.

richee

Have been back up here since Saturday for our annual Holiday ski week using FFN's.

As with all our previous stay here, have been upgraded to a Regency club room (on either the 11th or 12th floor).

The Regency Club (on the 11th floor) has been remodelled and was originally planned to be ready by Christmas. It's not quite done yet, and they expect the Club to re-open sometime in early January. In the mean time, they are using the space formerly occupied by Ciao Mein restaurant (next to Sierra Cafe) as the Club.

Part of the remodelling of the club includes a much needed enlargement of the "main clubroom" by expanding into the guest room space that was right next to the club. Though it looks like the "overflow" room across the hallway has been converted into a guest room, so there's no next gain in total space.

The open entrace in front of the elevators has been walled off, with an exit door there. The entrance into the club is now via a door on the hallway with a room keycard access.

Wine, beer, liquors are still free at the club.

We'll be back again in February more FFN's, so should be using the new club then.

NewAgeTraveler

do you think it is better to stay in the lake side cottage or the regency club remodeled floor?

AMA

There is usually a significant difference in $pricing$ between the main hotel complex and the cottages, so investigate for your schedule.

While the cottages do have some kitchen facilities, it's not what one would call really expansive, but is certainly better than nothing at all.

Also, the view/location of the individual cottages varies quite a bit - the ones closer to the water have, of course, the nicer view, but also have more foot traffic and marginally more noise. The other, recessed cottages would be quieter and more private.

Apples/oranges...cottages are right by the restaurant and Lone Eagle Grill, but you have to walk to get to the main hotel. Just the opposite if you're staying in the hotel.

Another interesting area in which to stay are the vacation timeshares, which are located on the northwest side of the main parking lot. Very nice, decent kitchen, a personal favorite of mine, depending up pricing(either through Hyatt or on one of the reseller/rental websites).

richee

Just the club has been remodeled. The rooms themselves have not.