Taipei

When will the rooms be redone, if it has not been done yet?

ACfly

Just stayed there last weekend, and the room on the Club floor felt like it was refurnished. - Colorful wallpaper. Love the Club lounge, which has been totally refurnished - sleek, minimal,and earthy.

slocouple

Liked the view from the room and the Regency Club, but did anyone else have a room that had a bit of a strange layout? Ours was long and skinny with the TV in an armoire against one long wall. This was opposite neither the bed nor a couch -- there were a couple of desk chairs in the room but no seating opposite the TV. You had to pull out the TV and swivel it, but couldn't really see it well from anyplace.

theguyfromsocal

I needed to stay during a weeknight and got the AAA rate of $161 plus tax plus $16 parking - out the door for about $200. No upgrade to speak of for my Diamond status, but there was a major convention event going on and I did make the reservation at the last second. I did get full breakfast for two (worth $36), appetizers and drinks in their restaurant in the early evening (worth about $30+) and nearly 6,000 total points for the stay since the regency floor/lounge was closed (not to mention 2,000 as part of the 5 nights for 10,000 bonus points which would bring the points up to about 8,000). So, it seems like decent value to be sure.

I did have one question ... when I checked in, the front desk asked me if I wanted 500 points to my airline and acted like I was getting that in addition to the 5x points for the stay? I was not aware that a Hyatt hotel could give you both the 5x points (+30% bonus for diamond) as well as 500 airline points. Can anyone address this as I think in accepting those 500 airline points I may have lost the 5x points. Thanks for the clarification as I am a Starwood guy and this was my very first stay as a Diamond Hyatt after a tier match.

peteropny

You are correct that if you took 500 airline miles, you lose the points (you're still eligible for the 1W (1,000 points Diamond amenity), DN (2,500 closed club compensation), and you'll still get the 2,000 part of the 10k for 5 nights promo since that is separate from the stay).

theguyfromsocal

Yes, I have now confirmed that offering me those 500 United points was to result in me losing my 1000+ Hyatt points - I have fixed that to cancel those 500 United points. Thanks.

danger

Due to the Qantas A380 dramas my flight into LAX has been downgraded to a 747 and will now arrive later, at 5pm on Thanksgiving Thursday. I had originally planned to take a shuttle as the 9.45am arrival really would have been fine to take a leisurely ride to the hotel. However, now I'm thinking I'm really just going to want to get straight to the hotel.

I'd appreciate it if those in the know could give some advice on transport, leaving LAX around 5.30pm/6pm and going to the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. Would a cab be a viable option? What should I expect to pay? Is the route likely to be all congested due to the time of day and, possibly, Thanksgiving? Would I just be best to still take a shuttle? I'm loathe to take a rental car as I'm from Australia and we drive on the other side of the road!

VA1379

I can tell you from personal experience that traffic in LA is pretty bad on a regular basis. The times that are off-peak for traffic on the East Coast are often clogged with traffic in LA. Saturday morning at 7 am often has more cars on the road than you could imagine so I would not expect a holiday to necessarily mean a lot less road traffic. 5:30-6 pm on a regular weekday is rush hour time so you won't be making any quick progress.

Hyatt Long Beach is about 22 miles from LAX. The Super Shuttle runs about every 10 minutes from LAX (and you don't need an advance reservation). I went to their website to price the fare and it came out to $17/person each way. A cab will cost at least 5 times that amount based on this website. You are looking at a fare of roughly $65 for the distance alone plus whatever time you sit in traffic, and you are expected to tip on top of that (10-15 %). 22 miles at $2.70/mile + $2.85 flag for the first 1/9 of a mile + $2.50 surcharge from the airport = $64.75. Every hour you wait in traffic is another $29.19 ($0.30 for every 37 seconds). A quick trip with little traffic will probably have at least 10 minutes wait time, so you are looking at a fare of about $70 in the best case. In the worst case you could be stuck with a one hour+ delay, and that would push the fare to $95 or more depending on the delay length.

The quote for the shuttle also showed the cost for a private car, a private van, and a smaller, private van of $100 (4 passengers), $85 (9 passengers), and $58 (5 passengers), respectively.

The shuttle is the cheapest option, but the exclusive minivan is the best if you want to get to the hotel as fast as possible and save some money. A private car is preferable to a cab since the fare is fixed.

danger

VA1379, many thanks for your detailed reply.

stimpy

I lived in LA for many years. There will be very little traffic Thanksgiving afternoon. Most everyone will be home with family and/or watching football. Personally, I would rent a car, or take a taxi. I hate those shuttles where you have to stop at 5 other places before they get to yours.

danger

Thanks, stimpy.

Decisions!

stimpy

Two other points.

1. You can use the car pool lane in a taxi. So definitely no traffic issues.

2. The Aussie dollar is higher than the US dollar.

poptarts

+1, regarding light traffic on a holiday.

NDDomer86

Except that LA may be the only city on Earth where the carpool lane often moves slower than the regular lanes.

stimpy

It depends on when and where. From LAX to the Hyatt, there are two main options. The 405 to the 710, or the 105 to the 710 (or the 105 to the 110 to the 91 or 405 to the 710 ). On the 105, the carpool lane is pretty much always faster. Usually, much, much faster. On the 405 it is also usually faster, but at certain times when peak traffic is building up, you can find a few stretches where the regular lane passes the carpool lane. But over the balance of the whole drive, the carpool lane is still faster.

This is from someone who has made these drives a million kadgillion times.