Hotels – Page 4 – Traveling Tiger

Trip Review: Hyatt House, Sorrento Mesa, CA // @HyattTweets @HyattConcierge

Thanks to work, I recently had the opportunity to visit San Diego, CA for the first time. I took this as an opportunity to get a few more nights with Hyatt to work on their current Stay More, Play More promotion. I opted for the Hyatt House in Sorrento Mesa: in addition to free parking (which is rare in California), it is located a couple of miles away from a few big name breweries:

AleSmith Brewing Company at 9990 AleSmith Ct
Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits at 9045 Carroll Way
Green Flash Brewing Company at 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd
Mikkeller Brewing Company at 9368 Cabot Dr

San Diego is known for being a haven for beer lovers, having such names as Mission Brewery, Ballast Point, Coronado Brewing, and others.

Amenities

The hotel boasts a free continental breakfast with a rotating protein (sausage, bacon, turkey links, and so on), cage free scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, various breakfast breads, and a compliment of juices. To add icing on the breakfast cake… there is a complimentary omelette bar! After breakfast, there is a full restaurant and bar in the dining area. The central patio has a perpetually burning gas firepit and plenty of outdoor seating.

I don’t hide the fact that I try to adhere to a workout routine when I travel, and I was thrilled to discover that this property had not only the usual battery of cardio equipment, but also a full set of free weights and a cable machine!

The Room

I was put in a room on the third floor that overlooked the central patio with the firepit, so it was a little noisy at night, but not too bad overall. The restroom was huge. Possibly the largest non-suite, non-handicapped restroom I have had in a hotel to date.

Entering the room, I was greeted with a thoughtful snack and welcome note, which I found to be a nice touch. This was found on the counter with the microwave. Underneath the counter I was able to find the micro-fridge as well as two wine glasses and two drinking glasses.

The rest of the room was well put together. In addition to a spacious King-sized bed, there was a very comfortable couch.

Across from the bed was the chest of drawers and television next to the workspace. There were outlets scattered throughout the room, which is a nice change – no more hunting for power!

The workplace is next to the closet with a full-sized iron and ironing board, which is another nice touch. No more having to iron on a bed!

Overall I had an excellent stay and I’m looking forward to coming back (particularly to explore the refreshments in the area)! Keep up the good work, guys!

World of Hyatt – So Many Mixed Feelings

As much as I love Hyatt properties and the service I receive there (regardless of my status), I am consistently finding myself searching for a property near my destination. With fewer than 700 properties in the entire Hyatt family, worldwide, this isn’t surprising. Comparatively, Hilton and Marriott have over 4,000 at their disposal, each.

The changes to the Hyatt program have been making some serious waves in the blogosphere. In addition to going from a 3 tier (base, Platinum, and Diamond) system to a 4 tier system (base, Discoverist, Explorist, Globalist), the qualifying number of nights required for each tier is changing. Furthermore, instead of receiving Platinum status with the co-branded Chase card, you now receive Discoverist with the option of “buying” your way to Explorist by spending $50,000 in a calendar year on your credit card.

There are some very interesting perks that come at the upper tier, but I will be taking a hard look at where I will be staying this coming year. Tentatively, given the very limited footprint I will be largely focusing on other hotels.

Are you looking forward to the changes?

Trip Review: Hyatt Place, Lansing, MI // @HyattTweets @HyattConcierge

Recently I had the opportunity to stay at the Hyatt Place in Lansing, MI. Located behind the Eastwood Towne Center, it is has excellent accessibility to nearby restaurants as well as US-127. Though it lacks a lot of parking immediately in front or behind of the hotel, there is a large parking structure adjacent, and it has no additional fees.

Each room has a massive 42” TV, compared to the 30-40” TV in most comparable hotel rooms, as well as outlets at the desk that have USB ports! There is the standard complimentary breakfast, WiFi, and either a sofa-sleeper or “Cozy Corner”. I was lucky enough to get the latter.

As you can see, the bathroom is very spacious with ample counter-space as well as a reminder that if you forget anything, the hotel staff is happy to provide you with replacements.

Extremely comfortable sectional, to boot

The Cozy Corner, pictured above, consisted of a firm yet giving microfiber L-shaped couch and ample lighting from the hanging lamp. Hyatt goes out of their way to ensure that the color scheme of the room aligns with the coloring of the Hyatt Place logo.

Not a lot of lighting, but outlets with USB

The wall-mounted TV is capable of tilting (offering a good viewing angle from both beds), and the outlets behind the coffee-maker has two USB outlets. Though not having the highest current output, they are sufficient to charge your phones! Just be sure to use an actual adapter when charging any tablets.

It's not Westin, but very comfortable! — It’s not Westin, but very comfortable!

As someone who spends (conservatively) two thirds of a year on the road, comfort in a hotel room is crucial to me, and the little things matter. Hyatt doesn’t pull any punches with these beds, and my back is grateful! My favorite beds are still those at Westin locations, but these are a close second – even beating out the ones at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento!

Speaking of details, the entire closet is resting above the floor, and is further raised within the exterior shell. This allows a space for shoes to fit comfortably (though not boots). Rooms also come with luggage stands, full size ironing boards and irons.

The added perk to all of this is that I was able to take advantage of Hyatt’s current promotion: Stay More, Play More. Shortly after my stay completed, I received my 5,000 bonus points! Score! Be sure to sign up and stay!

I’m really looking forward to upcoming stays at the Hyatt Regency in Mission Bay, as well as the Hyatt House in Sorrento Mesa!

The Yunak Evleri Cave Hotel in Turkey

Turkey has long-since been on my bucket list, and though previously limited to Istanbul, I recently discovered this amazing hotel on Uncrate.

From the Yunak Evleri Cave Hotel Website

The Yunak Evleri Cave Hotel, as the name implies, is a series of 7 cave houses with a total of 40 rooms; there is even a Greek mansion! The rooms are a variety of configurations (Suite, Deluxe, or Classic), accommodating a total of 80 guests. Each room has its own balcony, which is a wonderful touch. The Greek mansion you can find the hotel lobby, meeting rooms, and other amenities. A full list of services and activities can be found here, on the hotel website.

@SPG and @Marriott Account Linking Active!

Lucky, over at OneMileAtATime, has detailed instructions on how to connect your Starwood Preferred Guest number to your Marriott Rewards number. It only takes a few minutes, and the status match is virtually instantaneous. It already matched my Platinum SPG!

In another post, he details some of the benefits of this link. The big thing to note is that the connection isn’t one way – you can transfer Starpoints at a 1:3 ratio to Marriott Rewards points, or go the other way and transfer 3 Marriott points to one Starpoint. Since AmEx changed their signup bonus this year, that means you can use the Marriott credit card to convert 80,000 Rewards points into just over 29,000 Starpoints!

Similarly, SPG Platinums are Marriott Platinums, which means we get complimentary United Silver Elite status. United Gold Elite members are Marriott Gold as well, so they can match to SPG Gold! Not a bad deal, all things considered.

If we keep all the programs separate, I can live with this! At the very least, it seems that the programs will remain independent until 2018, so that is a relief as I love the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

What are your thoughts on the merger?

On Track for @spg Ambassador Status! #spglife #spg100

Thanks to some upcoming travel over the next few weeks, I am on track for attaining Ambassador Status with the Starwood Preferred Guest program. The SPG website describes what this offers for you:

The more your ambassador gets to know you over time, the more he or she can provide the personal touches that make each trip special. Whether it’s an early arrival, shopping, a meeting venue or a restaurant for a client dinner, your ambassador will scope out the local scene to find the best your destination has to offer.

I’m really looking forward to this – having a single point-person for all my bookings would make things a lot more interesting! This takes the idea of a concierge to a whole new level, and I am thoroughly impressed. I hope this isn’t lost when the Starwood-Marriott merger goes through.

2016-09-16-spgambassador02 — Ambassadors in action

Visa Signature – Free Nights and Gift Cards via @Drofcredit

Update: Some additional information has been made available thanks to PointMetoThePlane on BoardingArea. Looks like you can use them together!

DoctorOfCredit, one of my favorite sites for impartial deals and financial advice in general, recently posted about a deal offered by Visa Signature for certain members of the Hilton family of hotels. It is the combination of two offers from Visa that might stack for some pretty awesome results!

The details can be found at the Visa Signature landing page for the deal, but at a high level, you receive a free night for a stay of two or more consecutive nights at a participating hotel (Waldorf Astoria, Hilton Conrad, or Curio – a full list can be found on the DoctorOfCredit website and the Visa Signature page). Additionally, you receive Hilton-lite benefits which are quite nice:

Room Upgrade, if available
Complimentary Wi-Fi
Complimentary continental breakfast daily
Late check-out, if available
Daily $25 food-and-beverage credit

The part where it gets kind of silly is when you combine it with a second offer from Visa Signature where you receive a $75 gift card! Granted, they might not let you apply both deals (they link to one another on Visa’s website, but they both say can’t be combined – only way to know for sure is to call and try), but a free night with premium perks is hard to beat. On top of this, the current Hilton promotion is for double points, which means faster free nights down the road. Be sure to add your number to the reservation when making the booking.

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