dval44

Dear FT community, I'm sorry for the flurry of posts - this will be my last for a while. I am checking in for my 4-night stay next week and need some help deciding which option I should choose of these three. I'm a discoverist, so no free breakfast:

Option 1 - Cheapo on points
- 4 nights in a Park Villa for 100,000 points
- Seaplane for $1k
- a la carte dining, budgeting $200-300 per day trying to do it light (skip lunch, etc.)
- probably do the open bar for 2 days ($195*2)
- Total would be 100,000 hyatt points + $2,600

Option 2 - Indulge on points
- 4 nights in a Park Villa for 100,000 points
- Seaplane for $1k
- PAI for $256*2*4 = $2,048
- Total would be 100,000 points + $3k

Option 3 - Pay for package
- 4 nights in Pool Villa for $4.5k
- Seaplane is free
- Breakfast and dinner is free
- Budget $500 for drinks
- Total would be GAIN 40,000 points (so +140,000 differential) and pay $5k

We are mid 20s-early 30's couple, eat a fair amount, but she doesn't drink very much.

Thanks!

WillSkiGT

Points stays make more sense for longer stays during peak periods, IMO.

Is the free dinner included in your package?

Makes no sense to do open bar and not PAI, IMO.

You're also not accounting for points gained by paying for things, especially with the Hyatt card. If you do any activities, you will earn a lot. I earned almost 50k Hyatt points from spend during our stay.

Minor point, but it's not a seaplane, just an ATR island hopper, then a boat.

Puppis

Don't forget that you will earn points for all your food, drink, and excursion purchases, even when you stay on points.

Even going cheap and skipping lunch, I think you'll have a difficult time getting the low end of $200 in food and beverages for two people. My first trip here (4 years ago) we were at $1300 for two people for 4 days ($325 per day). And that's with free breakfast, no excursions (just snorkeling on the house reef), skipping lunch a day or two (doing afternoon tea instead), and not much drinking.

dval44

opiuman

Is that package that includes the transfer only available a few months out or only during non peak? Doesn't show for me in early 2020. Could just be a temp promo that they arbitrarily decided the dates on.

platbrownguy

1. LOL; 2. I told you so; 3. Wow you've left quite the trail of posts; 4. Do the luxury escapes package and don't look back! Honestly wife & I are similar demographic to you and the PAI just didn't make sense for us (we did luxury escapes). She doesn't drink much and I prefer to drink what I consider good stuff--and literally 90% of the good stuff had a "not included in PAI" star next to it. I was much happier just ordering what I wanted (a decent $30 bottle of wine that the PH was charging $150 for, rather than a $9 bottle of swill that they wanted $90 for... or Hendricks instead of Bombay, or Remy XO instead of Hennessy). I think I have grown out of the desire to "get all I can" out of an unlimited buffet price when I can instead reasonably afford "enough" of what I would actually prefer to consume. Enjoy yourself, save and rack up some points, and spend those points at some place like the Park Hyatt NY, or Beaver Creek if you ski, or Paris, or Vienna, where the room might be $700-$1000+/night (or where you can spend the points on a premium suite, perhaps, if you aren't in the running for Globalist).

WillSkiGT

Still don't know how you figure coming out 150k points ahead for a 4 night stay.

Transfer does not count as being at a Hyatt property, so the comparison between Options 1 and 3 is:

Save 130k Hyatt points for $2400. If you value Hyatt points at above 1.85 cents per point, book Option 3. Otherwise, book option 1. FWIW, The Points Guy values Hyatt points at 1.7 cents each, so would tell you to book option 1.

I think for a shorter stay like this one, the package the hotel offers can be competitive with a points booking. That's because there are fewer days in your stay to defray the high transfer costs.

But on a longer stay during peak season, points are still an unbelievable deal. We went for 10 nights in December, ending on Christmas Eve. The average daily rate was around $900, excluding transfer. For us, points were a no-brainer at a value of 3.6 cents per point.

As for PAI, Hendricks was still on the allowed list, and I literally drank them out of it. It's really nice not having to worry about a bill, even if you don't eat and drink all that much. You're on an ultra luxury vacation, and it enhances that feeling. Plus, you get free beach BBQ, foods of the region, and private dinner nights. It was worth it to us.

TravelingAssociate

Random question - when were you there? I was there for 6 nights in January 2018 and did the PAI - Hendricks was excluded. Looks like it's still that way based on the menu currently available on the website.

I thought I got my $ worth on the PAI, but was a bit annoyed at all the exclusions. Example - I believe every single champagne is excluded, which seems like overkill to me.

WillSkiGT

12/14/17 to 12/24/17

Hendricks was removed from PAI about half-way through our stay, because they ran out (I may have contributed a lot to that). We were told that we would be "grandfathered in" if they had gotten more. They got more on the 24th but we were on the way out and a G&T didn't sound great at 8am. Interesting that it was never added back - I think Hendricks is much, much better than Bombay Sapphire or whatever else they were serving.

The wine is pretty restricted - IIRC you can only get prosecco if you want a sparkling wine. It was our honeymoon, so they brought us an ice bucket with prosecco once during the stay and one was there at check-in.

The food options were surprisingly unrestricted though - we could order basically any and everything we wanted.

TravelingAssociate

Ha - that's why there was no Hendricks during my stay! Heading back to PHM in two weeks. Having experienced the PAI last year, I think it evens out - the hotel is probably overly generous on the food (as you note, virtually nothing excluded) and overly stingy on the booze (only prosecco, no champagnes, Cuervo the only tequilla, etc). Still think you can get good value if you arrive in the mood to kick back, relax, eat, and drink, with the added bonus of never worrying about the cost.

helvetic

So apparently this property doesn't allow using TSUs? That's disappointing. What are the options for upgrading here?

opiuman

Pay or get lucky during low occupancy. The rates for the different levels are maybe 1-2 pages back.

jasonvr

Yep, cash money or the one category globalist upgrade, but not guaranteed

tearex

Is pricing on the menu at the following still pretty accurate? - Park Hyatt Maldives Menus | Weekend Blitz

Wondering if PAI is worth it for us, as we don't really plan on drinking.

opiuman

Use the menu off the actual hotel website. PAI is only worth it if you drink. FB is better if you don't but still want food.