NewAgeTraveler

Hello Flyertalkers! I need your experience and assistance in recommending which Hyatt will work best for me and my family. My fiancé and I cant afford a wedding, so we decided to treat ourselves to a honeymoon vacation using my points and miles in lieu of a costly wedding. We would prefer a beach type honeymoon but it doesn't have to be depending on the country. So here are the details to consider:

- We initially had Hawaii, Beaver Creek or going to Italy in mind.
- I am currently a Diamond.
- We have 2 children(4 and 7), but would prefer to only get 1 room utilizing a DSU. Pull out sofa bed or roll away for the kids. Please don't judge our son is special needs and we need him nearby.
- We both applied for the Hyatt Visa. As a result we have 4 free nights and I have accumulated approximately 200,000 Hyatt points. I have no problem using P+C to try and extend our occasion.
- We would like to try and make this as close as possible to 2 weeks.
- We would be open to staying at 2 different properties, but no more than 3 properties depending on the number of days of honeymoon.
- I have enough AA miles to take all 4 of us basically anywhere they fly.
- We've already been to Gainey Ranch, Carmel, SanDiego, NY, Andaz Papagayo and all the Florida properties and have eliminated these from consideration. We just want to go somewhere new.
- The trip would take place from Dec 26 through sometime in Jan.
- If the property is not near a beach or tropical area, we would prefer to have a pool suitable for children.
- We prefer a property with a regency club.
- I don't mind a resort fee
- I prefer a self parking option

Thanks for your input and recommendations.

price123

I would advise not Italy. There is only 1 Hyatt there and it's a cat 7 so pretty expensive. I also don't think you would want that long in Milan. Beach type holiday in Italy in winter or Beaver Creek may be challenging...

If you are open to travel, South East Asia has some nice Hyatt properties with good clubs. They tend to be good value especially on points or p+c and in locations where you can mix a couple of locations with cheap local flights e.g.

- Thailand: Bangkok, Hua Hin, Phuket
- Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh, Danang
- Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu
- Indonesia: Yogyakarta, Bali

Asia will also be quite cheap for activities, extra food and lots to see and do. Any of these could also mix with Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, depending on your flight options.

Otherwise, I think Hawaii looks a good option and your flights there should be cheaper.

shorthauldad

(No snark intended) but good luck with that bit!

We managed this at once the Hyatt Muscat (but our kids were significantly younger), I haven't managed to find a property that would allow a similar occupancy since.

Mommy Points

I'd look to Hawaii, maybe two different islands if you wanted to (Maui and Kauai?). Grand Hyatt Kauai sounds perfect for you guys and their one-bedroom suite is very nice.

Congrats and good luck!

LASUA1K

I'm not sure I understand. Why can't kids stay in the same room with a suite? You usually have a king bed, or 2 beds, with a pull out couch. Why would occupancy have an issue wih 4 guest? They are 4 and 7, are you saying they should stay in a room alone?

Back on topic, Hyatt Aruba has a nice family suite that should work fine. The bathroom is in between the family room and bedroom. The bedroom is spacious and the family room has a big enough pull out couch.

The Grand San Diego has very large suites for DSU that will accomadate you and the staff there is fantastic and will help with any special needs.

Hyatt waikiki also has great staff that will make you very comfortable. Hyatt Kuai my favorite Hyatt ever. You should be fine there.

Hyatt Bonita Springs has smallish suites but you can still make it work. Large enough that the 2 kids can sleep on the couch.

Ashasan2005

I would second what Price 123 said, and look at Bangkok, and Phuket. With a stop over in Hong Kong. Phuket however might be a tad crazy during New Years Eve. Your Diamond membership will go a lot further in Asia than anywhere else. oh and i would avoid driving if you do Phuket and Bangkok.

karung99

+1 I would suggest GH Kauai, you will enjoy the hotel and surrounding. They also have Camp Hyatt for the kids so both of you could enjoy the honeymoon.

Congratulations.^

thucanhho

Andaz Papagayo:

This has been my best use of points and DSU. We are here now for our second visit with our currently 6 and 7 year old (they will put 2 rollaway in the living room for you to allow privacy.) I will put trip report and wiki soon. Feel free to PM me.

New Bahamas property had lounge and may be better value with cheaper and shorter flight with kids. Suite only allows 2, so may need to clear with hotel 1st.

Hyatt Grand Cypress in Orlando just lowered the category.

nhwiki

Kauai. Good shot at decent to great weather. Once you're there, you're there, and with kids that age, as long as they are "water kids" as most are, they'll be fine for the whole stay and that means you'll be fine too. Very decent camp Hyatt for a little honeymoon time, decent food options now in the Poipu area - spend 2 weeks there pretty much every year, and we don't ever grow tired of it.

If you're looking at Dec. this year, though, you should probably make that reservation now, as the suites there tend to sell out at prime times a year in advance.

cmjaffe

You might have trouble booking award stays for long period during Xmas holiday for Hawaii. Hear great stuff about Regency Cozumel, but it hasn't opened yet. They'd have a regency club (I believe) and you shouldn't have a problem having 2 kids with you in room.
Congrats.

sam_goh

I think this is mainly for the international options. Europe + Asia, even for many base suites, have a 3 occupancy limit. The extent to which properties will tolerate or work with you varies quite a bit. We run into this every summer

And @ the OP, Italy is a terrible choice for Hyatt points.

texdoc

GH Kauai has large suites 1100sf+... had a king bed and 2 roll-aways and still tons of room. The sofa isn't pull out.

jkjetsetters

I would highly recommend the Hyatt Regency Maui. It's a great property in & of itself, but also in an awesome location where you can walk on the beach boardwalk to lots of other resorts, restaurants, Whaler's Village (shopping, restaurants, etc.), etc. It's also a very short drive to the town of Lahaina.

It has a great, huge main pool overlooking the ocean, as well as a 3000 sq ft children's pool/aquatic playground. All the kids we saw there looked to be having a blast! They also have an awesome swinging rope bridge. The main pool has lots of waterfalls and caves you can swim into, as well as a neat bar in one of the caves.

They do offer a kids club for ages 5-12, which goes from 9am-3pm & 5pm-10pm, if that's something you're interested in.

If you did take advantage of the kids club or a babysitter, I highly recommend you & your wife enjoy a romantic meal at Japengo (onsite). It's one of our favorite restaurants on Maui, excellent sushi, fried rice, etc. but also one of the best filet mignons I've ever had. It melts in your mouth. I had it twice in 3 days once lol. You can request a sunset view when you make a reservation, so it's the perfect package.

Another great romantic thing we did was the 10pm 'Tour of the Stars.' It's for couples only, and you get champagne & chocolate covered strawberries. Great view of the stars & we learned a lot too.

They do charge a daily resort fee, but I know you said you're ok with that. They also do have a Regency Club. The breakfast at Swan Court is also supposed to be very good, we tried to go one morning & it had a huge line though so we went elsewhere.

It looks like you could get a 2 double bed room or King w/pullout sofa (451 sq ft) for 20,000 points/night starting on Dec. 26th. Not sure if you'd be able to upgrade to a suite or what options they offer there.

I haven't been to Kauai, but from what we've heard it's even sleepier than Maui (most things shut down by 9pm, hardly anything open past 10pm), so Kauai is perfect if you only want to relax at the resort and/or enjoy nature (hiking etc.) Others that have been there may have a rebuttal to this or more suggestions activity-wise, but that's just what I've heard. We've been to Oahu as well, & to us it was too busy & crowded, felt like being in a mainland city (the Waikiki area). Maui was the perfect balance of relaxation & a beautiful beach setting, but there are still lots of things to do/see if you want to. Overall I think the HR Maui is a great place for families, and also romantic for a honeymoon. Let me know if you have any questions!

I also wanted to add, you can do a beach wedding ceremony on Maui for pretty cheap, if you guys did want to have a little family ceremony. We got married at a resort there which was very pricey, but I know lots of people do simple, affordable beach ceremonies. I'm not sure what their pricing is for beach ceremonies, but we used Platinum Weddings Maui & they were fantastic.

dannyrado

Watching this thread with interest, as I often have many of the same questions...

A slightly different suggestion, grand hyatt Dubai. Grand suites are spacious, weather guaranteed, new year fireworks in dubai, plenty of good eateries and entertainment in the city, and the city is as cheap or expensive as you like. We often have a kids evening in one of the malls (deira City center is close by) where we do the fast food thing in one of the food courts, the obligatory toy shop visit, and a visit to one of the many soft play's.

Dubai is very much a love it or hate it place though...

bdemaria

I agree that Hawaii seems ideal - but the chance of getting a DSU to clear between Christmas and New Year's is highly unlikely, the the paid rates for a room at Kauai during the time will be very high (c. 650/night).