subdawg

Anyone heard of this vacation club property? This is next door to the Hill Country Resort. We recently rec'd an invitation to stay there (of course, in return for our time in a presentation) for onl $49 if checking in Sun-Thurs. $89 for Thurs to Sat check in. In addition, the former option would also include a $100 GC to the property's rest, etc ($50 for the latter option). Does anyone know if the $49/$89 rate would be eligible for GP points (& in essence, FFN credit)? Has anyone rec'd this offer before?

IK in Seattle

My guess is that if you are staying at the hotel and not the timeshare the $49/$89 you pay will not count towards GP credit since you pay that to the timeshare arm of Hyatt and not the hotel, but any qualifing incedentials should still get you a stay credit. I can not see how it would be any different than an award/PL stay.

subdawg

That makes sense...per a vacation club rep, they stated that I would be able to receive GP points. Who knows if that is really the case since he didn't seem to know about the program itself.

BoulderHyattHopper

I am with SEA, you are probably going to stay at Hill Country. If you are diamond, check to see if the RC is open. We went in 2002 and were there for the final weekend it was open before winter. (In 2002, it was the last weekend of October). No one was in the resort when we went! Fun property...

I think my dad (IHH) has done this with Bonita, but not sure. Again, I think you might want to look into charging some incidentals.

Not hard to do as they have a nice new spa, which is the same brand as... (Bonita, I think!) Stillwater, is that the Bonita one?

But, you can get Bumble and Bumble products! Yum!!!

I highly recommend a yummy shower in the 12 nozzle shower... Yummy!

Sweet Willie

Had a two night stay a couple weekends ago.

Checkin was smooth, quick. No real recognition of Diamond status (or Globalist as I'm now called) that I was aware of. No free breakfast as this is not a hotel.

Speaking of breakfast, the Ice House is a convenience store/market on the property, they sell beer/wine, drinks and breakfast sandwiches as well, the sausage & egg breakfast sandwich on croissant was quite a tasty sandwich (~$6 per).

Pool seemed crowded with chairs, once the other 1/2 of the condo units are developed, it will be packed with people. Service at pool area was very good, the bartenders were terrific. Lazy river was quite fun and offered more seclusion. There is a beach play area for the kids on the lazy river.

Room was nice, small balcony with two chairs and small table. Microwave & fridge in room, along with plates, glassware, cutlery. Bathroom was large, clean. Bed comfy.

Free parking. Our condo building had an elevator.

Very family oriented activities, there is a "block" party on Sat nights, music, food (don't know if they charge), lots of families. They also have an outdoor movie screen for nighttime movies, early one is family/kid friendly, later movie is adult oriented.

Went out twice for dinner.
Viola's Ventanas for Mexican and everything there was just bad, very mediocre.
The Antlers is the steakhouse at the Hyatt Hill Country property, which was enjoyable.

UA-NYC

Post #6 in 18 years...not the most popular property w/FTers it seems

Will do a cheapo night here ahead of a conference at the JW, knocks off the hard-to-get HRC badge (will be up to 14 after that)...any stays past 4 years?

ElevatorEnthusiast

I would be curious to know the same. Photos look really dated, but HRC is not an easy badge to get.

spgplat21

We stay here once or twice or year. The property is showing it's age, but it's still in slightly better shape than the nearby Hyatt Regency in my opinion (although rumor is that the HR is getting a much needed full renovation soon). We like the property because the pool is less crowded (still pretty crowded though) than the main resort and the rooms are more spacious.

Service has certainly slipped with COVID (although of course prices are as high as ever), but we still had a good time. Just a couple examples, the slides all used to be 42" minimum height and there were lifeguards at all of them. Now there are no more lifeguards and it's 48" minimum height. Parking used to be free at the HR if you wanted to use the main hotel facilities and now they charge you $25. You also have to call and schedule a time for s'mores. They were always difficult with late check-outs (check-out is at 10am), but the past couple trips it didn't seem like they even tried to accommodate an early check-in or late check-out. The number of activities was also less than on our pre-COVID visits.

It's a solid property and not a bad choice if you're already thinking of staying at the HR down the street. Neither properties are worth a special trip though in my opinion.

ElevatorEnthusiast

Oof, checkout at 10 AM - that makes the Grandma styling of the HR very palatable. Sounds like this would only be worth it for Brand Explorer.

UA-NYC

Will be there for 8 hours max (just to sleep and go), and it's like $150....even with an extra Uber it's still a big savings over an extra JW night. Won't be much of a review but worth it for the ever-elusive HRC (last opportunity was in Key West for 40K points or $600/night...pass).

UA-NYC

Reporting back - not much to report! Arrived midnight, left 8am. Definitely keep your expectations in check here (they called me right after booking to confirm that I knew the benefits aren't there for Globalists as it's an HRC).

Worth it as one of the cheaper/easier HRC options (I did it for the badge) - could be a fun family trip too during better weather months.