UAflyer93

Stayed here in September. Overall, our stay was much improved from when we stayed in 2019. As noted earlier, the service at Ventana is generally closer to that of a 4/4.5 star hotel. However, I found the hotel responsive to requests by text message.

That said, my pre- and post- hotel interactions have been so poor that it’s overshadowed the whole stay. Regarding pre-arrival, I’ve already written about how the hotel concierge took months of back-and-forth — sometimes with weeks of silence — to confirm our activities. It seems like the hotel prioritizes responding to those whose stays are a couple of weeks out.

While we were staying on points, we spent many thousands of dollars on spa and activities. I confirmed before hand that all activities would be eligible for points. (When we stayed in 2019, our stay initially posted as $0 qualifying dollars, and we had to argue to get our points. As such, I made sure to double check this time.)

Lo and behold, our stay posts as $100 in qualifying dollars! I email my Globalist Conciege who is completely unhelpful and tells me that I can’t earn points at Ventana since it is all inclusive! I show her the email from the hotel that says that all Alila Experience activities would earn points but then she proceeds to argue that the activities I had booked were not Alila activities since they are provided by a third party. She then reiterated that we won’t be earning points on alcoholic beverage purchases at the hotel since the hotel is “all-inclusive” but would give us points for our spa treatments. (Of course, these post as only $1k when we had spent $2k at the spa.)

I then proceed to show her that the website lists 3rd party activities as being “Alila Experiences” and show her an email from the hotel that confirms that all activities (including 3rd party ones) would earn points. Instead of apologizing or helping, she then tells that she can’t help and that I should get in touch directly with the hotel.

It’s now been weeks since I reached out directly to the hotel. I received one email apologizing for the confusion saying they were going to deposit points. Today, the points posted but they are missing the Q3 3x points bonus, nor do they show any Qualifying Spend.

It’a a good thing I’ve been dealing alone with the hotel pre- and post- stay. At least my companions enjoyed their stay and haven’t had to deal with Ventana/Hyatt concierge.

josephstern

I think we must have the same concierge.

I definitely got no points at all for spa, as I mentioned up-thread. They claim it isn't owned by the hotel, which seems fishy, but they did give me a few points as a consolation prize.

I think Hyatt needs to clean up this nonsense.

UAflyer93

After many weeks of back and forth, the Ventana concierge finally posted some award points to my account but without Qualifying Spend or bonus points.

I pointed this out, and as expected, they have gone completely dark on me again.

antonius66

Yeah when I stayed last year, I did the falconry for 400 bucks and got nothing for it.

flybie

I have 4 Suite night awards. Is the standard suite available for free upgrade upon arrival? If yes, is it easy to score one in January? I am debating whether to use one of my 4 Suites Awards for 3 nights stay there. If I use the suite night award and get in the standard suite, will they likely upgrade me to another level upon arrival?

NOLAnwGOLD

Burned a lot of points for a suite for 3 nights to get away in August and was great relaxed time. As Globalist was upgraded to a very nice 1 bed room, 2 floor room with 3 balconies. Loved the all inclusiveness of the food, room service and such. The did forget one breakfast order that I placed the night before. The pool bar really needs a bit more food options but really should step up the game on the cocktails. Had they been not so basic, would have loved to have many more. Oddly the restaurant bar doesn't open for a happy hour cuz we would have spent so much more money having drinks there. Was gifted a nice bottle of sparkling on arrival and would stay again both there and in the glamping options.

HALL1C

Is it always possible to swap 2 certs for 60K points in a 90K booking? I’ve seen DP above but is it a YMMV? Just chatted the Twitter team and they said they’re talking to the hotel and it takes one day or two.

coleslaw

It's very YMMV and at the discretion of the property. Some Twitter reps (and Globalist concierges) won't even entertain reaching out to ask, so if you've at least gotten them to contact the property then you're doing well so far.

HALL1C

They did it and even kept the TSU. (Actually the TSU was first returned to account but applied to the reservation after one day.)

sammybk

Thanks for the data point. Have a points reservation for 2 nights in May, but expect to earn a Cat 1-7 cert in December or so that would be nice to swap out for 1 night.

Soccerjoshj07

that seems like a back door way to apply a TSU to a booking that includes a free night certificate! As otherwise I don’t think that was supposed to be possible.

my concierge had no issue swapping out a 30k night for a 1-7 cert

it all depends on availability - I’ve seen people upgraded from standard room to premium suite before and standard suites to premium suites, personally I applied a standard suite award and I had the standard suite assigned to me on check in, but the place was at capacity.

abcx

There is no service charge on award stays, correct? There didn't use to be, but now my receipt for a 3 night stay in May says $90 and the hotel claims there is one, which I've never paid before on award stays. The hotel says it's not a resort fee but a service charge so it applies even to award stays?! I think she's wrong but thought I'd check here. I searched this thread and saw a post saying it only applies to paid stays, but just thought I'd check.

coleslaw

You shouldn’t have to pay a service charge on an award stay. Try your concierge or Twitter if you need help getting it corrected.

xooz

A sample point booking shows no charges in the price summary on the booking page, so there is apparently no service charge disclosed at booking. Seems like a definite error.

bunny425

Hi

I wanted to book the 30K points room in 2022, but unable to find any 2 consecutive days. Has anything seen any 30K points standard room availability in 2022 at all? I searched day by day from Jan-Nov and only saw 2 or 3 30K points standard room on non consecutive days. Did the hotel lock all 30K points standard room? or are all the 30K points room all booked for the entire year in 2022 (is that possible)?

If I wanted to use suite upgrade certificate and 48K points room is available, can I ask my concierge or the hotel to book the 48K points room and pay only 30K points? Or does the 30K points standard room need to be available to book first then apply the suite upgrade certificate?

Thanks!