iahphx

Yeah, I'm grateful to be able to play the points game and be able to stay at these properties. They wouldn't otherwise make economic sense to me.

canyonleo

They make economic sense if your'e a scuba- or free-diver, and do shore diving vs. only boat diving. Name another option (within Caribbean and Hawaii)... I can maybe name one - some more expensive more remote Turks & Caicos or Bahama locations.


Hawaii is a great economic option for a reef fanatic... even a foodie.

kapooncha

Another option is getting an Airbnb for a much lower cost than the Andaz Maui.

canyonleo

Which I do for the other half of every Maui trip I do. But these two can't be compared, lots of trade offs in both.

kapooncha

Well of course, one option is luxury, one option isn't. But you said your main thing is diving. The type of accommodation you have has no bearing on your diving experience.

canyonleo

For me, comparing to VRBO/AirBnB isn't about luxury - one can VRBO a place as nice or nicer than Andaz (I love Makena Surf)... the Andaz is steps from a great beach, with great reef, with a nice breakfast, great pools, pretty people... not many condo options have all that.

sam_goh

Back for another Christmas Season. Got upgraded to a x40 suite, but without much of a view. Our stay runs through Christmas and New Year's which is as peak as it gets I suppose. Breakfast is as good as always, property looks well kept up with, recent sod fixes still need to grow in.

Mixed feelings about the Luau. The flat area has been terraced a bit to allow for better viewing of the performers. This has come at the expense of blocking the ocean view a little. And that used to be a peaceful gathering spot to watch sunsets, which is taken away by the setup. I had thought that the noise would be annoying (as compared to the HR Maui) but it's not too bad - I'd daresay it's a classy gathering. Although if I had that $X million 4 bedroom villa where the view is now ruined, I'd be hot.

Was hoping to extend our Christmas streak here, but the award game playing has gotten really bad. I do wish that, especially as a corporate owned property, they would do more to open up availability for loyalists to benefit at the end of the year.

canyonleo

Award game playing isn't any different than last couple of years... in fact it's better for the moment (booking multiple/back-to-back 3 night stays is not so difficult).


Events do impact enjoying sunset on the chairs on the grass, but how frequently is there an event (I think in my recent 6 night stay there was a corporate event two of the nights).


Agree, "glad I don't own south half villa" - well... not really

sam_goh

Well, it makes it challenging to book 3 when the holiday season min 5-7 day stay is in effect :/

canyonleo

Good point. Well, try booking six nights, then call your concierge or WoH and change three of the nights to points, then call back the next day and change the other three? ...or something like that?

sam_goh

They got it locked down. Anything past ~12/20/19 or so to 1/4/20 is not bookable via points. 3 day search gives you no rooms available and 5-6 day searches give you Mauka view rooms. Make it obvious they're screening since all other room types are available, especially base suite. After that, 3 blocks work but looking for 6 day does not. The games that are being played

Boraxo

According to Lucky at OMAAT, the current work around is to search for 1-3 night stays or 8+ nights. Award stays of 4-7 nights are blocked. Don't know about holiday periods....

Why Hyatt allows the property to play these games is beyond me.

Kacee

This is a Hyatt corporate owned property. It is literally Hyatt playing the games.

johndoes

I booked Andaz Maui on points for July-end 2019 (award booking / Globalist status). Wondering what benefits are available to Globalist at this property.

1. Free parking as Globalist / award booking?
2. No resort fees due to award booking?
3. Free daily breakfast?

If i missed any other benefits - appreciate getting some detailed info, thanks in advance

jameswes

Yes, those are all standard benefits for all award bookings / globalist benefits.
Free Parking is a huge savings (~$40? per day, can't remember exactdly)
No resort fees is also a great benefit. This hotel actually provides useful benefits for their resort fee, so getting that waived is great as well.
And they have one of the best breakfasts of anywhere in the Hyatt brand. For four, our bill was over $100/day, also waived.

The only other thing to mention is that upgrades are as available. So you can get upgraded (and I had a two night stay get upgraded from the base room to an ocean view suite once) ,but don't expectd an upgrade.