Since there is a lot of recent activity in this discussion, I would like to share our impressions form our six night stay in February. We stayed at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek last season, which makes for an interesting comparison.

1. Check-In:
   • A bit lengthy since I inquired about the available suites. In the end a suite was just ready for occupancy as we finished our check-in around 1:45 pm. The bellman brought the luggage quickly.
2. Room / Suite:
   • We booked a standard room on points with a confirmed SUA prior to our stay (way in advance). We overheard that suites get "overbooked", which may explain the ordeal another FT member reported with the upgrade being cancelled.
   • The Grand King Suite was definitely on the smaller size of the range given on the website. Still it was nice to have a small separate living area. The bathroom only had a shower, it sounded like few suites have a bathtub. Unfortunately the water pressure was very low.
   • We stayed in the lodge building facing the courtyard where the cars arrived. Luckily in the winter noise wasn't an issue.
3. F&B:
   • We ate at Gessner the first night. The quality and presentation was surprisingly upscale and of high quality.
   • Unfortunately the noise level was extremely high. Some large groups talking very loudly, and one family ended up playing cards with shouting discussions. The ambience did not match the quality of the food.
   • Another night we ate at the Japanese restaurant Makato. The sashimi quality was very high and the cuts were very small. I only recommend it if you are not too hungry.
   • The big let down was a pizza we had for takeout one night from the on-site Gore Creek Market. We choose the meat lovers, which turned out to be a frozen salami pizza warmed up with some ham on top. It was definitely a supermarket frozen pizza quality. As the other restaurants had a good quality, we did not expect this.
4. Shuttle to Vail
   • Overall works well. There are two shuttles which run continuously. There is a mobile web page to track the current location. We used it a few times for dinner in town.
5. Sauna
   • Huge disappointment. The only way to access the sauna is to by a $50 spa day pass and even then, it closes at 6 pm. Not suitable if it is close to 5 pm after you are back from a full day of ski.
6. Ski Valet
   • As the previous member commented, this was the highlight of the stay !
   • Very good service. Our skis and boots were stored overnight. When you check in, you are assigned a bench and the warmed boots are brought to you. At the same time the team prepares your skis on a rack outside
7. Cascade lift
   • Never very busy, even at 8.30 am. Once we were the third group and we did not even try.
   • The lift is a bit slow and you are at the very western edge of the resort, so it takes quite some time and a few lifts to get to the center of the action.
8. Post-checkout experience:
   • Latest checkout offered was 12 pm, even my status should have offered at least 2 pm.
   • There are no shower or changing faculties if you want to change clothes on your last day of ski. If you want privacy, the only choice is to use one of the bathroom stalls.
9. Departure:
   • We felt we were kicked out as fast as possible. Suitcase was thrown over as the bell man rushed to the car.
   • Don't even think to be offered a bottle of water for the road !

Our stay at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek felt much more high end. The service there was more personal and caring. We could not apply a SUA but got a very nice room.The sauna is part of the spa too, but it is accessible without having to buy a day pass and open much longer. While skiing at Vail and Beaver Creek is both different and fun, we overall enjoyed the Park Hyatt more.