gregorygrady

I've now run into this a couple times lately and I'm a bit confused on the Glob bennies at Destination Hotels (NOT Residences, which don't seem to offer bennies). I've read the T&Cs and well as the link here with the dates that various Destination Properties joined WOH:
http://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en...ew-brands.html

Specifically I'm curious about Lodge at Spruce Peak in Stowe, VT and also Resort at Squaw Creek near Lake Tahoe. Both of these properties have an asterisk which means they offer limited benefits. From reading the WOH T&Cs, the properties with an asterisk are Destination Residences, not Destination Resorts. However the 2 properties I mentioned are MOSTLY Destination Resorts (yes they offer some 2 & 3-bedrooms Villa type accommodations which I assume is what makes them (partial?) Residences, but seems like the majority of their rooms are standard 400 Sq Ft room types. I don't exactly understand WHAT bennies each of those properties offer, nor do I think the Glob Reservations or even the Front Desk staff at the hotels even seem to know. How do I find out what "limited benefits" are offered? Supposedly they both offer free parking and waived resort fees on award bookings. Also they both offer standard room free night award redemptions and free breakfast per the link above. But what about 4PM late checkout (if available)? What about room/suite upgrades at time of checkin?

Also, it slightly bothers me that these hotels offers standard awards, premium awards, standard suite awards, and premium suite awards for point redemption, yet they won't accept TSUs to book into those standard suites. What's up with that?

From reading various FT threads, Destination Hotels also seem to be quite bad at posting points and stay credit after the stay. This was my experience as well with my recent stay. In fact my 3-night award stay posted with 3 eligible nights and $0 eligible spend, despite spending money for 4 different meals at the restaurants there. I had to call in to the Glob line to get those points posted manually, however then they didn't get the 4x pts during the current promo. Nor did I ever get a 25% refund of my initial points spent for the award rooms (also under the current promo). Sort of frustrating that it's so unclear what bennies you qualify for (and why) when staying there and also that it's so hard for them to post points to your WOH acct.

Finally, if you have any experience with Glob bennies at these or other Destination Hotels, I'm sure other FTers would be interested to hear, so please post them. To start, it seems like Resort at Squaw Creek offers a $30/person breakfast benefit. Lodge at Spruce Peak offered breakfast and they also offered me a 1-category upgrade, but that's probably only cuz I got lucky and called the hotel the day before checkin to ask some of the above questions (ie, can I redeem a TSU?, is parking free and resort fees waived?) and was connected to the Rooms Manager, who said he would block me into a Studio room (1-level upgrade).

stmadfish

Do you finally got the 25% pointsback? Do you have to call?

gregorygrady

No, I never got credited the 25% points rebate. Thx for the reminder to call them as it's been almost 2 months now since the stay.

rrrrrich

Wyndhurst Manor gave an upgrade from a Junior Suite to a Cottage Suite and $60 per room Globalist breakfast benefit. There's no restaurant dining for breakfast (and a mandatory $10 delivery charge).

stmadfish

Could you update? Do you get 25% pointback?

Jack Durden

This bothers me, too. I was only considering the location because of the availability of the standard suite for point redemption. This appeared to be a good indicator that the standard suite is available for reward redemptions, with the plan of booking a standard room with points redemption (6 of 7 nights points and 1 night with a free night) then call and use the standard suite upgrade redemption. That sure back fired on me, as it was then not possible to get the free night (category 1 to 7) credited back to my account. A reward redemptions agent says it's been credited back but I can't see it online, the points were credited back and visible online, but not the free night award [over a month later and I still can't see it online].

skj

Your issue may have been you can't use a suite upgrade award with a free night award. They can only be used on nights paid for with cash, points, or points+cash.

sch_flyer

Resurrecting this thread as I've been trying to figure this out for The Lodge at Spruce Peak - according to my concierge, it is categorized as a "Destination Residence" in the Hyatt system, which puts it on a "Suite Free Night Award Ineligible" list. However, Suite Free Night Awards are available at this property for their suites (Standard Suite Awards book into the 1-bedroom suites, and Premium Suite Awards book into 2-bedroom suites). These award seem to be at property's discretion - while suite awards are available in low season, only standard room awards are available during winter months even when paid availability is there. This unfortunately makes the property ineligible for using TSUs to uprgrade paid stays to suites. Confirmed this with the property directly. Other than this bizarre TSU situation, all other Globalist benefits apply (free breakfast, upgrade on arrival, waived resort fees, late checkout) at this property (confirmed directly with the front desk).

Baffling, but as I understand, most (if not all) units beside "Classic Rooms" are privately owned/timeshares. They are available outside the Hyatt/OTA booking channels on VRBO/AirBnB for much lower rates. This is similar to other Destination properties, such as Wild Dunes, with the difference being that at Spruce Peak, the condo/suite units are part of the resort building and are booked through the same channel as the hotel rooms at Hyatt, and at Wild Dunes, rentals are separated into their own Hyatt "property".

jayer

Should I have gotten a night/stay credit on a points-only reservation? At least I thought Hyatt had started giving night/stay credit for points stays, but perhaps I mis-remember.

Was kind of a fiasco getting checked in and checked out. What was submitted to Hyatt appears to be different than the folio, and has the check-out date altered to reflect no overnight stay.

59Impala

yes

MSPeconomist

For the night credit, what time did you check in? Can we assume you didn't have a day rate or some daily use a room as an office at a Hyatt deal?

jayer

You may assume that. Full overnight stay on a published points rate.

gregorygrady

Yes, you should have gotten night/stay credit. These Destination Resorts (well, at least the Lodge at Spruce Peak) seem their have a non-standard folio that doesn't contain the normal info all my other Hyatt folios contain. I'm betting there is some type of data transfer issue between Destination Hotels and WOH, based on my stay there earlier this year where I got stay/night credit for an award stay, but no points for incidental/restaurant spending. Also, it took ~3 months in addition to a couple different phone calls to get my 25% points rebate during the promo going on earlier this year. Honestly if it's only a single stay/night credit you are missing, I would probably just write it off. If you are at 29 elite nights at the end of the year, then I assume you'll be able to call WOH and get the stay credit fixed at that time. Otherwise it's just not worth the hassle............

jayer

After a few days but before I made any contact the stay just corrected itself out of the blue. While agreeing with you a random stay may not usually be worth complaining about, this one will, or seemingly did, put me over for a Brand Explorer Award. Also out of the blue bonus points posted. Really don't understand how they happened and not sure they should have, but not about to rock the boat by asking.

Goes to prove two things: Somebody on Flyer Talk probably has been there and knows the answer, and don't get in too big a hurry to call Hyatt.




































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sch_flyer

My experience with Destination Resorts is that it takes a couple weeks for the stay to post normally. They are not integrated into the Hyatt system, so it takes a lot longer than typical 24 hrs to post.