Author Archives: edwinandlisa

Hyatt Place Los Cabos Review

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We stayed at the Hyatt Place Los Cabos for the first two nights of our vacation in Los Cabos.  Our quick review…

Points used:  5000 per night.  This is a Category 1 Hyatt property, and therefore the lowest cost in points.  The regular rate is around $90 per night.  There are no resort fees.

The property is practically brand new, opening its doors in late 2013.  However, a hurricane swooped in October 2014, which resulted in a lot of damage, so much in fact that the hotel had to close and undergo extensive renovation work.  So it is a brand new hotel twice-over!

The hotel has a prime location with bus transportation, ATMs, shopping and restaurants all within a five-minute walk.  It is also in a safe area with lots of activity and lights.  The staff are friendly and bilingual and the hotel has pretty much all that we could want — outdoor swimming pool, well-appointed 24-hour access gym, room service, bar service, computers and comfy sitting areas indoors and outdoors.  Our favorite part was the extensive breakfast buffet that featured fresh fruits, a granola bar, different juices and a wide variety of hot foods.  Seriously, since breakfast goes until late morning, you can pretty much fill up and not need to eat again until the late afternoon/early dinner.  Wifi in the hotel was pretty strong and fast.  Our room was spacious and well-appointed with plenty of plugs to recharge.  

About the only thing we didn’t like was one of the elevators was out for almost an entire day, so there was just one to service all five floors and all the guests.  Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal because we could just take the stairs, but the stairs up are not accessible through the public spaces.  So we were forced to use the elevator going up, but we could use the stairs going down because they would empty out into the employee-only area but we could find our way out to the main lobby.  Not a huge deal, but the waits for the elevator could be tiresome.

All in all this was a fantastic place to stay, offering a great value for all that you get.  We were very satisfied with our experience and we would most definitely stay here again!

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Our room featured a separate sitting area

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View from our fourth floor window

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Breakfast spread

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Variety of juices

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Anatomy of Vacation Costs: Winter Break in San Jose del Cabo

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Here is a full breakdown of our expenses for our most recent trip:

Days:  8

Total spent:  $1,135.18

Per day breakdown:  $141.90

Per person / per day breakdown:  $70.95

$831.98 Airfare with companion ticket
$200.00 First class upgrade
$63.00 Seat upgrade to exit row
$29.00 Airline food and drinks
$53.00 Food
$52.00 Airport shuttle and local buses
$85.20 La Posada Real resort
$0.00 6 nights at hotels, paid for with points
$18.00 Walmart liquor and souvenirs
$35.00 Tips – bar, room, food service
$60.00 Massage and tips
$1,427.18 Total
$292.00 Minus airline upgrade fees through credit card
$1,135.18 Total out of pocket for 8 days

 

Analysis:

This was a vacation where we used a lot of points to save a lot of money.  Our biggest expense ended up being mostly for airfare, then it was local transportation, food and tipping.  Here is how our hotels break down:

  • Hyatt Place.  5,000 Hyatt points per night.  Retail value (booking on their web site) per night was about $90, so $180 for two nights.
  • Holiday Inn Resort.  35,000 IHG points per night.  Retail value (booking on their web site) per night was about $180, so $360 for two nights.
  • La Posada Real.  Paid their standard rate of $85.20 per night.
  • Hyatt Ziva.  Two free nights by using the free night certificate offered by our credit card.  Normal points redemption rate is 20,000 points.  Standard discounted retail booking online per night is about $400, so $800 for two nights.
  • Total retail value for points used over six nights:  $1520.

This was our first try at doing an all-inclusive resort.  It ended up working out pretty well.  We spent our first two nights at the regular Hyatt Place, which gave us a chance to go out and try some local restaurants.  We were also fortunate that the hotel offered a delicious and bountiful breakfast buffet every morning, so we filled up and didn’t really need to eat until the afternoon.  The Holiday Inn Resort offered food at all times during the day, but since I was sick I wasn’t really able to take full advantage of this.  The La Posada Real offered unlimited drinks and a full breakfast — they also had a plan that included other food, but we decided to opt out of this in order to try some other restaurants outside the property.  And finally the Hyatt Ziva — oh man, that place is dangerous!  So many food options to choose from, plus unlimited everything.  We definitely got our full value out of that resort.

So bottom line is did we enjoy our vacation?  Yes we did.
Would we do another all-inclusive option?  Yes, if it made financial sense.  There are some pretty swanky all-inclusive resorts for upwards of $1000 per night, and that just wouldn’t be worth it to us no matter how fancy the place is.  I think our basis would have to fall in line with our sweet spot for cruise deals  – around $100 per per person, per day.  In other words, $200 per day budget.  The Holiday Inn Resort is right around that budget, and it is a place we would definitely return to.  The Hyatt Ziva was a step above, but we still wouldn’t pay $400 a night for it.  We would only do the Ziva if we had the points for it.  People can sometimes buy Hyatt points with a 40% bonus, bringing the cost per point to 1.7 cents.  At 20,000 points, this would bring the cost down to $340 per night.  Not bad, but still not around the $200 per day budget that we have.

This winter break vacation was a real eye opener as to how much we can save using credit card points and perks.  We saved at least $400 by using Lisa’s companion fare on Alaska Airlines.  We saved $1500 on hotels.  Another $300 of airline upgrades.  Total this all out, and we saved $2200 on this week long vacation just through strategic use of our credit cards:  Alaska Airlines, IHG, Hyatt and Ritz Carlton.  Granted, these all have various annual fees, but we do get incredible value from their benefits and we will continue to keep these cards so long as they continue to bring us these savings that we enjoyed over the last week.  After all, spending just $71 per person per day is easily attainable for our budget and it was a week of pure relaxation and fun.  All thanks to our credit cards,