I love birthdays, especially when it is mine! Lisa and I visited Pietro’s Pirate Pizza yesterday to redeem my birthday reward, a perk for signing up for their loyalty program. It was the last day for me to use it and I sure am glad we went!
A free individual Pizza, soda pop, salad and...
Soft serve ice cream!
Friday night out with Jonas, Rene and John to check out the Dave and Busters at Clackamas Town Center
Jonas and Rene won this PacMan battle
Of course we had to do some basketball skills challenge
Afterwards we went for late night happy hour at Ram Brewery, and the restaurant manager showed off this ring, borrowed for a few days from his buddy who just happens to be NBA player Kevin Love's dad
It has almost been a month since our trip to Phoenix over my birthday weekend. This is a quick review for our hotel accommodations at Hyatt Place Phoenix Tempe Airport.
First off, the more Lisa and I say at Hyatt properties, the more it becomes our go-to choice and first place to look at when staying overnight somewhere. We have grown fond of the Hyatt Place brand, and this visit just reinforced our image of it.
The property is located about ten minutes via car to Sky Harbor International Airport, which makes it ideal for their free hotel shuttle. We called while we were walking through the terminal to the baggage area, and once we got outside to the hotel shuttles pick up area, we only had a five-minute wait. The driver was friendly and we arrived to the hotel at 9:45am — too early for check-in, but just in time to take advantage of their free Skillet Breakfast offerings, which end at 10am. After eating, we were able to leave our luggage in their storage room for our day of sightseeing.
The hotel shuttle provides complimentary transportation within 5 miles, and we used it to take us to the light rail station and also for a pick up at the Desert Botanical Garden. And while I missed the shuttle the morning of the half marathon, the hotel is close enough to downtown Tempe that it only took about 45 minutes to walk there. Additionally, Tempe offers these free community shuttle buses that run on loops around town — one loop took us close enough to our hotel that it was less than a fifteen minute walk from the bus stop, so that was super convenient, especially if you don’t want to pay tickets for the regular bus routes.
The hotel is clean and modern and well appointed for what we paid — in this case, just 5,000 Hyatt rewards points. Otherwise, it would have costed us around $115 for each night during that weekend, which is very reasonable. However, on other dates that rate can go up to over $250 per night, so using just 5,000 Hyatt points makes for a very good redemption. The rooms were pretty large with plenty of room to spread out, including a work desk with task lighting and plenty of outlets to recharge electronics. There was also a small refrigerator and sink and coffee maker. A fitness gym and small outdoor pool were available, but we didn’t use them. Our favorite feature is the morning breakfast with plenty of offerings to satisfy you — fresh fruit, oatmeal with fixings, pastries, bread, cereals and a hot plate area with breakfast sandwiches and other rotating items like pancakes and French toast. The only warning though is that when the breakfast hours end at 10am, they put that stuff away quickly so don’t be late!
Overall this was another winning stay at a Hyatt Place with very minor issues, and we would definitely stay here again if we return to Phoenix for another visit.
Hyatt Place two bed configuration
TV and work space area
Not a shot from some cute town in Italy — this is from Universal Studios in Hollywood, CA. Taken almost ten years ago in March 2007.
Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for our most recent trip:
Days: 3 (Friday – Saturday)
Total spent: $167.20
Per day breakdown: $55.73
Per person / per day breakdown: $27.87
| $86.00 | Amtrak RT for two |
| $2.25 | Amtrak coffee |
| $14.95 | Wing Luke Asian Museum |
| $10.00 | Tri Met MAX tickets ($2.50 each) |
| $54.00 | Dinner out at Janbo Cafe |
Category Breakdown:
| $56.25 | Food |
| $96.00 | Transportation – flights, buses, shuttle |
| $14.95 | Attractions |
| $167.20 | Total |
This was a cheap weekend trip for us, primarily because of our free accommodations on Friday and Saturday night with our friends. They also fed us breakfast and dinner both nights, so it was only fair to pick up the lunch tab at the Janbo Cafe. We did save over $100 using coupons:
$14.95 Buy one, get one free admission to the Wing Luke Asian Museum. We used our Entertainment book discount.
$86 – our Amtrak Cascades ticket was $86 for a round trip for one person. Using our Buy one, get one free voucher from our Barclays Amtrak Mastercard, Lisa was able to travel with me for free so instead of paying $172 for our trains, it only costed us half of that, $86, and thus bringing our per person roundtrip fare to only $42.
Final Thoughts:
I love taking the train and it is so easy and convenient for a weekend trip north to Seattle. The trains, especially the Cascades, are modern, comfortable and a very relaxed way to spend four hours traveling. Despite our long return home and spending three and a half hours on a bus, we realize that weather is a factor and our delay comes with the territory of riding the train. Having the Amtrak Mastercard costs $75 per year, so having the buy one, get one free coupon is kinda a wash, but it does encourage us to consider the train as a travel option. We still have another ten months to evaluate the overall perks for this card, but for now our weekend trip was definitely a success on a limited budget!