wilma

I have long been confused by whether or not resort fees are waived for Diamonds. The resort fees are often waived at Lake Tahoe & Kauai but rarely at Monterey. To add to the confusion, Monterey charges a resort fee when they are not even a resort! I finally asked for some clarification and here is the official Hyatt response:
Thank you for your message.
It is not a benefit of Gold Passport at any tier level have the resort fee waived. All resorts (and hotels with resort like benefits which charge resort fees) should be charging resort fees to all guests.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact our office.

Best regards,

Karen Smith
Gold Passport Concierge

Robt760

I have found that on a few occasions, the resort fee was waived but the free local calls were billed to me individually. The resort fee had free local calls as one of the benefits. I did not request to have the resort fee removed, but what brought my attention to is was the 10 local calls that I made on the bill at check out. Go figure...I went in thinking I'd be charged a resort fee and made phone calls thinking they were free only to find out that wasn't true. What to do?

787

That is the answer that I would have expected. There is nothing in the Diamond T&C’s that indicated Resort Fees are waived for Diamonds, so any property that does this is just being nice.

The whole Resort Fee thing is pretty much out of control, and it seems pretty much everyone is doing it, at least in NA.

What does Monterey call their fee since they are not a Resort?

wilma

They call it a resort fee! It's funny because I tried to use a FFN during the week thinking they were a resort, and I was initially turned down because you can only do mid-week FFNs at resorts.

Chicago HawkI

I had an award stay at Monterey in June, and they waived the resort fee for me as it was an award stay. They mentioned that had I been on a revenue stay, I would have been charged the fee. Is this the norm, (i.e. If on an award stay, the fee is waived?) or was this a hotel decision?

rfrost

The resort fee was waived on my award stay at Tahoe last summer, and I had the impression it was because it was an award stay rather than because I'm a Diamond, but maybe it was because of both!

Threy

Never had to pay the resort fee at Coconut Point, Grand Champions or Grand Cypress, pretty sure about Scottsdale and Lake Las Vegas either.

Not so sure about Huntington Beach or Cambridge.

BoulderHyattHopper

We never see the resort fee at Bonita, or the others we stay at (Grand Cypress, Gainey Ranch). It seems we did see it once in Hawaii, but even then most were waived. I have never asked and I have just never seen it.

wilma

I guess my point is that the official Hyatt policy is that there is no Diamond benefit that waives the resort fee. Whether or not the individual resorts decide to waive it is up to them.

BoulderHyattHopper

Absolutely true. We all agree it is frustrating to start... Especially if it is not even a resort.

I really feel bad for people who PAY to stay at Grand Cypress Resort. Go to the Amusement parks everyday. Never use the amazing facilities. And then get charged a resort fee!!!

subdawg

The policy that has been explained to me is that if you are staying on an award, it is waived. I don't know if this is specific to diamonds or not. If you are on a paid stay, as a diamond, you can request to pay a la carte for the services (i.e. phone calls)...which is what I normally do.

richee

Wasn't Monterey considered a resort by Hyatt last year? I see they don't list it on their list of resorts anymore, but I could have sworn they did last year. If you look on Yahoo travel, they still list it as "Hyatt Regency Resort & Conference Center, Monterey"

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-3447...rence_center-i

I had to be in Monterey for work quite extensively about this time last year. Most of the time, I just did a lot driving from the South Bay Area to Monterey and back each day. 3 times, though, I spent the night down there and stayed at the Hyatt (paid nights). The first stay, I was told by the check-in clerk, "We'll waive the resort fee for you since you're a Diamond member" The next two times, they didn't offer to waive the fee, and when I told then that my fee was waived on the first stay and what the clerk told me, they acted like I was delirious and making it up.

thebeggar

I guess waiving the resort fees for diamonds has no rules and depends only on the front desk clerk assigned on that particular day. I know that in my last stay in Hyatt Maui & Huntington I wasn't charged a resort fee, but in Kauai I was charged for the fee even if is an award stay. Also different in Hyatt Las Vegas where it was waived on award stay but got charged on a paid stay.

ricepaddy2

In Kauai, I was on an awards stay and was given the option of either the resort fee or the parking fee. I opted for the parking fee since it was less than the resort fee. I later discovered that I could have just parked on the street for free and avoid both fees.

Huntington Beach does not impose a resort fee for either awards or paid stay.

mauld

Earlier this year on a 1 paid + 1 FFN stay at Kauai, I was not charged the resort fee, nor was I charged the fee at my recent stay at Dorado Beach. But I have been charged it at Las Vegas and Huntington Beach.