Plan your Miraval Journey via online reservation – PAINFUL. Largely due to lack of class availabilities and their availability is not up to date. This link is also hard to find in their normal website.
https://lifeinbalancetucson.miravalresorts.com/
Via Phone reservation – Lengthy wait each time. A couple times when I try to hit “#” to leave a voicemail, the mailbox is full so I had to wait for a live agent. If you get through, they said they will reply within 24 hours, but I never receive any call back.
Via Email reservation – You talked to different people every time. I responded to their 3 email asking about our flight info and even provided screen print from the previous email. The final agent I talked to 2 days before our arrival still don’t have our correct pick up request.
Class availability – They will tell you it is constantly changing which I agree. It is just frustrating when you see the class is available online and the phone agent tells you it is full. Or, they will tell you what other classes are available which is not listed online.
#1 on the Waitlist – Simply means they know we have the interest, nothing more. When there is a cancellation, you had to be at the right place and right time talking to the right person to grab that spot yourself.
Airport pick up – I was 4 minutes late to my pick-up time dashing from the car rental garage expecting a call from them anytime, but nothing. When I located the greeter, he told me that my driver told him that he has everyone on his list and left. Luckily the greeter took me to the next shuttle in their final boarding so I didn’t have to wait for a full hour. Changes can contact 520-825-4000, but I just didn’t realized that I was running for the trains in Japan.
Sessions that my family got in – All positive feedback, learned new things and worth all the hype.
Spa treatment – Excellent 80 mins massage. Due to Covid, no couple massage in the same room.
Food – Honestly, I thought I was going to starve judging all the cute portion pics. Definitely had no problem ordering double portion of the steak with seafood minus all the healthy green stuffs.
Diet Coke – Phone agent checked with the property and told me no soda is available onsite, so I packed my own. Not an issue here, used to pack my own drinks since Hyatt carries Pepsi products. As it turns out, Coke products are available at the bar.
Earliest class on check in date – It seems in Austin you can join them at 8am according to their FAQ. Here is 11am per phone planner before she cancelled our 10am session that we booked online. I was told that I can’t drop off family until 10:30am before their 11am session. Talking to the hotel, it seems there would be some flexibility here. Still not pleased with what the phone agent (based in Austin) did.
Sunrise Suite 601 – used a suite upgrade. Nice soaking tub and an extra outdoor shower. Gas fire pit outside but no privacy during day hours. Service golf cart kicks off dirt every time they go by and your backyard faces the path to the challenge course and the outback hike. Might not be a problem if the room is further south in #616. The short cut from the backside of the Labyrinth is a rocky (loose rocks) path down the hill with railing, not recommending in the dark.
Miraval Suite 519 – used a suite upgrade. Double French door entry directly across from the Yucca pool (99 degrees!) & hot tub (104 degrees) so the location is great. This is the pool they used for some float session and probably why the temperature is so hot. Yes, the room is dated but with fire place inside and a somewhat private porch that you can hear water flowing by made it a very calming experience. If we do this again, we would take this over Sunrise.
Wildlife – Look for their 2 resident owls
Late check out – Granted 3pm check out on the Sunrise suite, but the last shuttle is 2pm to the airport
Hotel SUV (Lexus GX) – Since there is not a 3pm shuttle, YMMV, hotel offered 50% off on their car service to the airport. Full price is $250 and I am guessing we will need to add tax on top of this before divided by 2.
UBER X – Hotel has a recommended driver that lives nearby. Was told $45~$65 from the driver and we confirmed the pickup time in the morning via text. In our case on a weekday at 3pm, the price was $54+tips. Final price is set when the driver arrived resort and you request for the ride on the app. Vehicle is a Malibu and the driver allowed me to sit in the front.
Value – With BOGO at 32,000 points per night, the value is definitely there. We would repeat. Not counting $480 resort fee, we wouldn’t spend $2,500 with tax per night for 2 people. We would need a lot more than $175 resort credit per person to make the cash rate value work.
Day spa package – I can’t get any dates to work, but for $249+ per person with $175 resort fee and have resort access from 8am to 5pm, this seems to be a steal. Probably no Hyatt points credit and don’t know if there is any other resort fee on top of this.