AALoyalNYC

Hyatt app now shows us upgraded from a Grand Suite King to a 1BR Fountain View West Tower. We booked into a Grand Suite using 35k points/night, so I was hoping for the Globalist upgrade to the next tier. This will be welcome additional space for me and the family. Hopefully it sticks! Check in is tomorrow. Also need our flights to not be cancelled. So, there’s that too

yqx733

I’m planning to use a TSU at this property next year but almost not able to find anything available for the grand king suite which is marked as standard suite. I assume those one bedroom west tower suites are not eligible for TSU. Is there any trick that would make using TSU easier at this resort?

AALoyalNYC

On day 5 of our trip down here for the week. We were very fortunate to get an upgrade to the 1BR Fountain View King East Tower. We’re in The Reserve which did provide a little extra benefit with its small VIP lounge where we could get coffee, water and some light morning breakfast items. The separate express elevator was also a godsend during those peak bursts pre-dinner when there’s a line down the hallway for the regular elevator. No Butler Service this week. Generally room service and housekeeping calls (pillows, wine glasses, ice, robes…etc.) were a disaster. The hotel is completely booked and overwhelmed, this place is not designed or staffed to handle the expected service when paying $2,000/night for a suite at peak periods.

The positives: as so many others have said, the staff is so friendly, and the food, while offensively overpriced, has been very good. Our meal at Katsuya was one of the best sushi we’ve had anywhere, and we’re NYC sushi snobs. Truly top notch. CinKO, which just opened, was delicious and creative. Pizza Lab, super casual but really good Neapolitan style pies. All food by the pool has been high quality and flavorful.

I’d come back here again with a group of friends, but definitely not just as a family of four. Places of this scale are just not out style, but glad we tried it and feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten away this week. Now we just cross our fingers for negative COVID tests this afternoon so we can fly home tomorrow.

saint

Thanks so much for your thoughts. How did your kids like the waterpark? It wasn't ready when we last went. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that. My kids LOVED the ocean and rank it amongst their favorite (and we travel a lot) but I agree with you the food costs were offensive when traveling with so many. I went with 3 kids and we spent a fortune.

AALoyalNYC

We had no problem with 2 roll aways in the East Tower 1 BR suite. It would likely have been tight in the Grand Suite. We were charged $50/night so they didn’t charge double which was nice. For reference, we spent 5 nights and ate liberally with two adults and two kids. Nothing crazy, but we also didn’t penny pinch. The 12 drink vouchers plus free globalist breakfast really help out here. Using points and not having to pay the the resort fee we ended up out of pocket $2,400 for five nights. All meals and drinks on property. The free water at the reserve lounge was also a huge money saver. I think globalist (upgrades aside) saved me $1,000 over five nights. Nothing to sneeze at.

FoCo Finch

Glob breakfast at Regatta buffet. Tons of options for adults and children alike. Property seems to be a stickler for the 2adult+2child benefit rule, however. We are family of 5, and booked two rooms. Per T&Cs, Glob breakfast is up to 2adult+2child per room so figured given how we split the registration we'd be fully covered, but no...they counted us as per stay not per room and made us pay for our 3rd child. Only $10 for kids <12 but made us feel very nickel-and-dimed. Never had this issue elsewhere, especially when booking two rooms which is our standard practice.

FoCo Finch

AALoyalNYC, did you actually get 12 vouchers, or 6 vouchers (good for 12 drinks)?

Asking because as Glob we booked two rooms, and I thought we'd get 1 voucher per room per day. We also stayed 5 nights/6 days, and only got 6 vouchers (12 drinks)...I thought we'd get 12 vouchers (1 per room, per day). Asked two customer experience managers via email about this and one disregarded my question, and the other ignored my email entirely. I can only gather they must think of it as "1 voucher (for 2 drinks), per day, per Glob 'stay' " and not "per room".

skj

Generally, WoH status benefits only apply to the room occupied by the status-holding member. Please share the part of the T&Cs where the benefits apply to multiple rooms. As best as I understand the T&Cs, GoH is the only documented way to share Glob benefits across multiple rooms. Some properties may grant benefits for multiple rooms, but they are not required to.

FoCo Finch

This is a helpful discussion. And if going forward we need to use GoH to enable all 5 of us to eat breakfast free despite booking two rooms, I will be sure to do that.

The T&C's read: “(d) … When staying at a participating hotel or resort that does not have a Club lounge (or if Club lounge is closed), Globalists will receive daily complimentary full breakfast (which includes one entrée or standard breakfast buffet, juice, and coffee, as well as tax, gratuity and service charges) for each registered guest in the room, up to a maximum of two (2) adults and two (2) children.”

We had two rooms registered as Room1=1adult+1kid, Room2=1adult+2kids. Since Glob booked both rooms, I *assumed* Glob breakfast benefit would extend to both rooms booked by the Glob, as they were both individual rooms with individual confirmation/registration numbers, and both below the 2adult+2kid threshold. What I did *not* consider was that benefits are extended to only the room in which the Glob is staying. Which, by the way, if they wanted to I suppose they could have looked at how we registered and only comped breakfast for the room with 1 adult and 2 kids, making us pay for both the other adult and other child.

So, is it indeed the case that in situations like these (family of 5, staying in 2 rooms both booked by Glob), we will always be made to pay for kid #3 because properties enforce the 2adult+2kid breakfast max across the "stay" and not "per room"? And the only way around this is the hassle of booking Room1 as Glob and Room2 as spouse+GoH?

skj

Getting off-topic here, but as I said, many properties will offer Glob benefits for multiple rooms booked by the Glob. It is property-dependent, though, and not required by the T&Cs. Using GoH is a way to guarantee benefits if you're using a free night award for the second room. I've found a call or email to the property in advance of my stay will give me a quick answer if I need to do anything to get the benefits for the other rooms.

Here's a better thread for this discussion ... Globalist benefit for multiple rooms - FlyerTalk Forums

Chgo2AD

Thanks a ton for the recap! I think I’ll move us to the 1 bed suite. Still cheaper than the connecting room option and I like the washer dryer that comes with the suites.

AALoyalNYC

Sorry for any confusion. Yes, 6 vouchers, 2 drinks each, for a total of 12.

Bigmac

Anyone have experience with quarantine (at the Hyatt Baha Mar) after testing positive before going home to US?

Agoldsc1

I don't have experience, and I suspect you know this already, but Bahamar provides a "Travel With Confidence" program which seems pretty helpful and thorough (at least on paper). Details here: https://bahamar.com/travel-with-confidence.

Agoldsc1

I see above that the hotel charges $50 per rollaway bed. If my kids are fine sleeping on the couch, will they still make me pay the surcharge? If so, does the hotel have any way of tracking the number of guests in a room, or would I ostensibly be able to check in alone and then bring my wife and kids up later? We're staying in a one-bedroom suite, so space is not an issue.

Also, is there some general consensus regarding West Tower vs East Tower vs Reserve? Rooms in the Reserve seem to be smaller but more luxurious. Is it worth the trade-off?

Thanks!