Third Time’s A Charm
I’ve reviewed the Hyatt Regency in Monterey twice already, so I’ll keep this summary rather short.
I pulled up to the hotel around 12:30 in the afternoon on a beautiful Saturday. I left my car out front to go check in. The valet requested my keys in case they needed to move my car, so I obliged. However, I forgot to mention that just the previous night I discovered the window had come off it’s track. (I was able to get it back into place by holding it in position and bringing the track to it’s top position, so when I left it in front, all appeared normal)
Check-In was smooth. I was helped by Nina, who advised that my points+cash booked king bed room had been upgraded to a golf-course view room. She also explained my Diamond benefits (half-off resort fee, complimentary breakfast, amenity). Though I had a good experience with the food and beverage amenity on our previous stay, I opted for points this time around. Nina offered a 4 P.M checkout, which I happily took. She also offered turn-down service and bottled water, which I also took. I was told my room wasn’t ready yet, which I had no issue with given that it was only 12:30. I did hear another guest be told their room would be ready around 2.
I walked out of the lobby with a gleeful face, it was quite the gracious check-in.
As I approached the car, I was approached by Nick at the valet. Nick asked which car was mine, and when I pointed he explained that they had rolled down my window. “Noooooo!” I cried, half-laughing at my faux-pas. I explained that this was a prior problem, no fault of the hotel. None-the-less, Nick offered to send a bottle of wine to the room. I told him it was not necessary, and he told me that if there was anything he could do, to let him know. I suggested maybe throwing some extra points in my account (not that I felt I deserved it, but you know… he offered something).
I was taken aback when Nick told me he was going to deposit 6000 points! Now 6000 is not enough for a free night at the Regency in Monterey, but the going rate on points is about 2.4 cents each (presuming no promotions). That means I was getting about $120+ worth of points for an incredibly minor inconvenience.
This also surprised me because about a week before, Kim had cut her hand on a piece of broken glass lodged in the couch of a local Hyatt Place. All it had required was some Neosporin and a Band-Aid, and the supervisor on duty agreed to place 5000 points in the account (her way of comping our Category 1 night). At the time it happened we were happy with the resolution, but now we’re thinking we should’ve asked for more!
After fixing the window again (a 5 minute task), I made my way to the Fireplace lounge with tablet in tow. I spent a couple hours there just relaxing and playing games on the tablet, and ordered a fantastic Roasted chicken sandwich and some rum and coke. Around 2:30, I approached the front desk, and was told the room was still not ready, but it was listed as vacant and they would put a rush on cleaning it.
I went out to make a couple phone calls, and about 20 minutes later, the room was ready. I brought the bags to the room and ran off to pick up Kim from her business meeting.
Our night was restful, and in the morning we made our way to TusCA for breakfast.
Our previous two breakfasts at TusCA involved the full buffet. I felt at the time it was the best value, since the full buffet was $22 while most of the menu items were $15 or less. But we were both in the mood for menu items. The problem was I couldn’t decide on the Crab and Artichoke omelet or the White Chocolate French toast. Kim couldn’t decide on the donut holes with Nutella or the smoked Salmon on bagel. A quick run to the front desk confirmed my suspicion: our Diamond free breakfast would take care of WHATEVER we ordered (up to 4 registered guests). So we got all four, and it was not a mistake.
Even nicer was that when we initially ordered, the server offered to bring us crab, artichoke, and white chocolate so that I could bring an omelet and French toast from the buffet and save some money (a $7 difference for the two entrees vs the buffet). I mentioned we were Diamond members, and he told us then to order whatever we wanted. The total bill with write-in tip came out to $75, a fantastic amenity to have as a Diamond member.
Overall this was a great stay. We had the best meal we’ve had at this hotel, and while there was no availability to be upgraded to a suite, we were quite content with our golf-course view room.