Wintertiger

I am planning a trip to Maui in the summer. The standard suite is not aval during my intended days. Can a suite upgrade award get a specialty suite? THX!

AndyKehn

Doesn't work that way. The standard is the standard.

Wintertiger

Got it. Thank you.

jameswes

Unfortunately, TSU only works for standard suites only. You can't pay extra on top of TSU to go to premium suite. Same thing goes for base room awards. They only have a couple of base rooms available for points, everything else is paid and there's not a way around it.

The main tip/trick I have is to either check for availability yourself or find some other service that does it for you.


The Regency has more suites and much better general availability than the Andaz. So you could always book that first as your backup, and then book the Andaz if the space opens up.

Wintertiger

Thanks for the tip. I went through the whole July-Aug and finally found 5 days from July30 to Aug4. So I did:
1. book 10 days with 300K points
2. ask my Concierge to trim it to 5 and apply both a c7 cert and a TSU.

My Concierge was able to make it 5 days and already blocked an Andaz Suite. She told me the free night certificate cannot work together with TSU but I am totally fine.

platbrownguy

Nice. I've got 7 days in the Andaz Suite coming up. Takes some effort but it's worth it. Will see about paying to upgrade to an ocean view suite somehow but not worried if they say no.

platbrownguy

Just wrapped up a 7-night stay a few days ago, had a great time. Plenty has already been said about this place so I'll keep it short:

Room/Booking

-Booked 7 nights on points (booked 10 using "borrowed" points, then shortened it to 7, then confirmed a suite upgrade to an Andaz Suite once I had the 210,000 points available). Should get 51,000 points back (30k max + 21k), so 159k net points.

-At check-in, I asked about an upgrade to an ocean view suite. The agent initially said that one wasn't available, but when I offered to pay and showed her the website (which showed lots of different suites available), she said "there must have been a cancellation" and said she'd go ask her manager. The manager evidently agreed to move us to an ocean view suite, no additional charge, the next day (it was ~6:30 p.m. and it wasn't cleaned, they said).

-The Andaz Suite that we were assigned would actually have been just fine--it was #418, all the way at the end of the Hema wing, facing the ocean, but with the villa building roofs obstructing the view a bit.

-The next day we moved up to 618, which provided a less obstructed view of the ocean. We ended up being very glad about the upgrade, because the whale-watching from our balcony was phenomenal, particularly during the 2 hours or so before sunset.

Food

-Breakfast was a let-down. Quality of items was good, but the menu has been trimmed substantially, and we were not as lucky as others were upthread with substitutions. There was no "seared salmon" to substitute for the ahi tuna, for instance... and though the ahi was fine (you can order it as a side for $15), I was totally over it by day 4 of 7. The only other protein options are sausage (chicken or pork), bacon, ham, and eggs... and the pork belly that comes in the moco. So not much in the way of variety for lighter protein options like smoked salmon. There was a rotating "special" each day, but on 3 of the days it was just a pastry basket, 2 days it was a chia seed bowl (I guess pets have to eat too), 1 day it was a crab cake benedict, and 1 day it had run out before we sat down at 8:30 a.m. I did have the crab cake benedict and it was the only dish that was truly underwhelming; the crab was just backfin, no lumps at all, let alone jumbo lumps. The fruit plates, though, were nice, and it was no trouble to ask for more papaya and passion fruit instead of cantaloupe and honeydew. Globalist allowance was $49+tax+tip per person, and we only hit the $98 on 1 of the 7 days.

-Didn't try Ka'ana Kitchen this time.

-Ate at the Lehua lounge while live music played one night. "Average bar food," my wife said, correctly. And overpriced. I'd skip, although the Thai shrimp salad was tasty (if way overpriced for the tiny portion size).

-Ate at Morimoto three times at sunset. Fantastic all around. Tried the aged sake flight (hadn't had aged sake before), that was a novelty but fun to taste. All the nigiri was fresh and well-prepared. Negitoro roll was a winner. Japanese and California uni available. The thai curry mahi-mahi was a little overcooked but flavorful. The black cod was outstanding.

-Also went to Spago at the Four Seasons. Food was good (especially the ahi tuna cones and the red curry seafood), but the property itself is garish, reminds me of a dated Vegas scene or something. All the cabanas by the pool are all smushed up together like it's 2019. Much more room to breathe at the Andaz.

Other

-Wife had a massage and pedi at the spa, both were great. Spa hours were limited, 11-4ish.

-Gym was open but with cleaning on the :45 every hour, so plan to use it at the top of the hour. They come around with a spraying device and hose everything down every hour.

-Valet parking operated like normal, except that they also spray your car when you return it (and maybe when you pick it up again, I didn't see).

-We asked about getting a custom design in the sand in the lobby, cost is $250 (we declined, but that seems fair for the labor involved).

-Pool service was good. So was beach service, although it sure would be nice if they did food/beverage service on the beach. Points to places like the St.R Bahia Beach and HR Aruba that have full service beaches.

-Snorkeling was great just off the beach and to the left. Head out towards the rocks and you'll see turtles. 9 to 11 a.m. or so seems best.

Only ~$550 of $1450 spend was given points credit (quite the hit with the current promo!) but an email to the concierge got that straightened out within a couple days.

Overall, a really great and relaxing stay, and a wonderful use of 159,000 Hyatt points.

Some pics:

canyonleo

PlatBrown,

I'm going to guess that Andaz is not allowed to serve food on the beach. You gave some non-Hawaii examples, and in Hawaii all beaches are public property (not owned by the hotel or property owner) so maybe that limits the beach services offered??

platbrownguy

Whatever the reason, it's just an observation! The examples I mentioned are also on public beaches, FWIW.

stvr

Why isn’t it simply 22,500 points per night currently?

platbrownguy

The rebate is 15% with a 30k cap, plus 10% (for cardholders) with some other cap that is bigger than 21k per reservation and thus irrelevant to me.

So the rebate is 30k + 21k.

DnvTrvlr

Apologies in advance for the dumb question. What is the name of the standard suite at the Andaz? Only see a Partial View Suite and above available for my June visit.

Dsm2m2

Andaz Suite.

josephstern

Fully agree on your Spago comments. The food is good but the place, the whole hotel really, has a dated garish Vegas vibe. To me, that's pretty typical of 4S properties from that time.

And the service at Spago is just from a different era. "Mr. Stern! Welcome back! I see from your previous visits . . . " Please. Less friendliness. This is Musso & Frank's style service. I'm not here to hang with you bud - I'm here to be with the people I'm eating with. Granted, my grandparents would have absolutely fawned over this type of BS service, ordered extra-expensive wine, and left a huge (for them) tip of almost 20%. For me? I'm just done visiting. If I come again, for sure I'll book under a fake name to get you to leave me alone. Maybe Wolfgang Zwiener.

I think Ka'ana Kitchen has better food anyway (not to mention to infinitely better atmosphere and service).

But, sure, the parmesan crisps at Spago have no equal.

Dsm2m2

Currently holding a 10-night reservation for later this year and was denied by Globalist concierge when attempting to have it shortened. Was told that 8 days is the new minimum requirement?