Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Hua Hin

I was a hectic time in Bangkok and now came the time to relax.  Hua Hin has a 5 mile long beach about a 3 hour drive south of Bangkok located on the Gulf of Thailand.  It was discovered in the 1920's by King Rama VII and today houses the official royal residence of the sitting King.  Our stay here would be for 3 nights with the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, a Category 4 property.  This 5 star 204 room hotel located on 12 beachfront acres was meticulously landscaped and private.  In one word the property was magnificent.  Upon check-in were were ushered to the Regency Club check-in desk and provided a beautiful room.  Everything here spoke of lush gardens and greenery.  Once we arrived at our room we found a great bottle of wine, a decadent chocolate cake and some local fruits as our welcoming gift.

Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Sha Tin

As I mentioned in yesterday's post there are three Hyatt properties in Hong Kong.  In planning the trip several factors went into selecting what property I would chose for my stay.  Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula are very densely populated; basically they are located at the heart of Hong Kong proper, Sha Tin is out in a more relaxing mountainous setting just a 30 minute metro ride away.

Hong Kong: Victoria Peak and IFC Building

I have to admit that while I spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to defray my out of pocket expenses on exotic vacations I spend very little time deciding what I want to do when I get to the destination.  Same held true for Hong Kong.  My final destination was Phuket, Thailand and I could have had a decent layover in Hong Kong before catching a business class flight to Phuket but I decided I wanted to see Hong Kong so I booked three days at a Hyatt Regency to take it all in.

Asia Eve

In less than 15 hrs I'll be on my way to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hua Hin and Phuket.  There isn't a frenzy of activity surrounding me as everything is booked, packed and ready to go.  Flights checked, boarding passes issued and hotels confirmed.  Today is not about last minute this and that for the Asia trip, but that is not to say I haven't been swamped with things to do.  I have been very busy with acquiring future travel benefits for myself, things I may or may not need depending upon where my travels take me.

Working Hyatt Experiment - Updated Again

Turns out my experiment detailed here worked after all.  In a previous post I explained how I was hoping to take advantage of two Hyatt promotions at once based on a timing technicality.  I reported that my experiment did not work in my favor, turns out that was WRONG.  The charges I initially reviewed were "pending" when I wrote about the results of my experiment, now the charges are finalized and the purchased points with bonus have been deposited to my Hyatt.  This means I effectively purchased Hyatt points offering a point purchase bonus that was ending on June 30 and will receive credit towards an additional bonus for a required spend that wasn't to begin until July 1 simply by waiting until a few minutes before midnight on June 30. Nice.  

Working Hyatt Experiment Result

In my post detailed here I write about trying to work two Hyatt promotions to my advantage.  One promotion was ending on June 30 the other beginning on July 1.  The promotion ending June 30 was a buying points with bonus special and the promotion beginning July 1 was a spend promo with 5K points bonus for spending $3K in 3 months.  It wasn't the holy grail of trying to work the system to my advantage, but it still FAILED.

Diamonds ARE a girls best friend...

Actually I am talking about, Hyatt Diamond status.  You are all getting a taste of  how using your good credit can help you realize the dream of travelling the world, but what if you could up the ante just a bit more?  I fall into the category of "get me to my destination and have a decent place for me to sleep and I'm happy" but others need their status fix.  We all have experienced the unexpected thrill of a hotel room upgrade or a free drink coupon, but what if you could have the red carpet rolled out for you for an upcoming trip?  My first taste of  the benefits of status came during my stay at the Hyatt Vendome in Paris in April, 2012.

Working Hyatt

I'm trying to work Hyatt to my advantage for my upcoming West Hollywood stay.  In my post about the upcoming California trip detailed here I say how my Hyatt stay is not 100% pre-booked since two of the intended three nights reserved are paid for with reward points while the third night is currently reserved as a paid stay at a rate of $265.  When I reserved the room I had no intention of paying $265 for my stay, I just wanted to hold the room in my name.