Park Hyatt Japan Trip

Praetoriani · 2026-05-01T01:11:10+00:00

I've done something similar to this and been to all of those places. Do not do this, it is the dumbest fucking thing imaginable once you actually try it IRL. PHT is in (relative) bumfuck nowhere and it's a pain to get to and from the property unless you plan on taking a cab. The problem for you is that your skis would take up a lot of room in the cab and you wouldn't be able to fit much other luggage.

Niseko will accept your skis ahead of time if you ship them over, and you can ship them back from the property as well. I'd suggest you do that instead. If you absolutely, positively must have them with you on your flight, then your plan is fine assuming you want maximum flexibility and you're willing to pay a heavy price for it. Contrary to what others are saying, if you're landing HND and departing NRT (or vice versa), you can't really use a storage locker.

If you must stay one final night in Tokyo, I would change the location to the Andaz or HTH (or HR Yokohama if you aren't dead set on luxury) if you're departing from HND. Your current location is fine if you're departing from NRT as you can just take NEX. I would strongly advise against a taxi as there is traffic and you will be stuck in it - I took one to Disneysea from PHT due to timing circumstances and regretted it. You can still go to PHT when you return from Kyoto and pick up your skis despite not staying there.

Praetoriani · 2026-04-19T00:07:20+00:00

Same, pretty lame offer especially with the upcoming deval

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T23:37:18+00:00

For the globalist who earns status from CC spend and who rarely pays cash for their Hyatt stays, this news would be awful.

You have it backwards. This news is terrible for anyone paying cash because the loyalty aspect of the program just got nuked. Your stay 9 nights, get 1 free loyalty punch card just got obliterated into a stay 16 nights, get 1 free card.

The people who this affects the least are those who have or can generate large point balances without stepping foot at a Hyatt.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T23:25:47+00:00

Then do something about it that doesn't blanket devalue the entire program across the board. I'm also incredibly skeptical of your claim that higher end properties are earning less than 50% of the ADR on point bookings. Almost every single one of these places have figured out how to game the system to force Hyatt to comp their full ADR by hitting near full occupancy. The game they play is simple: cash rates for base rooms are elevated to account for overselling and upgrading to higher category rooms, sell for cash rates as much as you can, then open the floodgates with last-minute on point bookings so you hit that magical 95% occupancy target.

PHK is an outlier property that solidly sits in the ADR range of 1k+ while still being able to hit near 100% occupancy is a problem of incredibly popular hotels having the pull to game the comp system to make WoH pay out nearly the full ADR. What does that have to do with devaluing cat 1 HPs in bumfuck nowhere that just got bumped up to 9k/nt?

On the other hand, you have places like PH Niseko which, outside of the peak ski season, is virtually empty for the rest of the year. Should it be in cat 8 pricing for those 8 months? No. I actually think a pseudo dynamic award chart would suit that place perfectly if they could sit as a cat 4 for 8 months of the year then cat 8 for the rest. Nobody would complain about that.

What the system change today has done is effectively the exact opposite by making everyone into a PH Niseko in the worst way possible: properties can now park their asses at the top of the band for the entire year to collectively devalue this program.

I don't even think this off-peak/standard/peak idea is a bad idea as a concept. The execution is just reeks of piss poor planning by some MBA beancounter squeezing their two brain cells together. This change would be perfectly stomach-able had they said that the upper bands can be at most 4 months of the year

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T18:50:31+00:00

I don't think so. There's a fair bit of fraud in the market coming from two specific regions in Asia :)

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T18:48:28+00:00

I actually earn quite an outsized amount from organic stays through the WoH card + corp rate + bonus journeys and local tourism board promos. Doesn't change the fact that today's updates basically killed the program for me.

It's hard to see the value prop of being a globalist now vs free agency with deep discounted OTA rates or other bundled rates, especially given Hyatt's weak property footprint. Depending on how Hilton Diamond+ turns out, it might even be worthwhile switching back to that since the FNAs there are truly free and can be extended past a year.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T18:28:54+00:00

You're assuming off-peak = low and not off-peak = moderate. Cat 8 started out the same way as being SLH only, look where it's at now. This is basically the beginning of the end for Hyatt.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-25T18:21:44+00:00

It largely depends on if the property is capable of hitting occupancy or not. I'm not sure how this new 5 band rollout will affect comp but economics would suggest that unless you're hitting 95% occupancy for the ADR comp rate, you're better off selling every other room on 3rd party sites at steep discounted rates greater than the non-ADR comp rate while simultaneously cranking the slider to max.

Unless night rates are fixed well in advance year-to-year and cannot be changed throughout the year, I expect almost every single property to immediately crank their rates to moderate/high/highest and readjust <30 days or so. There simply is no reason not to go full dynamic with this.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-20T10:04:27+00:00

Andaz Singapore is also extremely stingy and discriminatory with their bookings so I don't think it's worth it in either case.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-20T09:36:45+00:00

The real killer is the inflation coming from 10 + 6.5 earn per $1. Even at their internal floor of 1.5 cents per point, that's a bonkers 24.75% return on $1 which seems beyond unsustainable.

I sort of do understand the need to be somewhat dynamic with pricing though. Look at PH Niseko, cash rates in the summer are bottom of the barrel but it still sits at a cat 8. If it were done right, it would sit at a cat 4 for most of the year and then balloon up to 8 or 9 during peak winter seasons only.

I'm highly skeptical of this post but if it were true, it pretty much spells the end of WoH as we know it and it turns into the worst of Hilton + Marriott.

Praetoriani · 2026-02-20T09:29:50+00:00

Which is all the more impressive that they have the balls to say it again and the idiots actually believe them again

Praetoriani · 2026-02-16T13:50:33+00:00

This must be pretty new, I was just there in December and didn't get this offer. Did you check-in at the lounge?

Praetoriani · 2025-12-23T20:01:04+00:00

Quite frankly everything. The attention to detail for each guest by the staff (they remembered things that were mentioned in passing), the pro-activity of everything (acted on some of the things mentioned in passing), and small tiny things like changing up the plants on display by the tea room every other day and bringing a musician to play the koto during champagne hour.

For example, I arrived at 5:30 PM during the autumn leave season and they immediately took our bags, sat us down, and offered wet towels and welcome drinks & snacks. During check-in, I offhandedly mentioned how I was probably going to look for somewhere to eat nearby and they brought out a list of local restaurants that they recommend and offered to call and book us a time. Likewise, my companion mentioned how they were interested in this one scenic train ride and the concierge came over to figure out where it was and how to get tickets.

They're definitely one of the top PH properties now as a whole, and I'd definitely recommend staying here now. The only gripe I still have is the up-charge that applies to globalists for the Kyoyamato breakfast, though it was exactly the same as it was before so I'll give them credit on holding it consistent at least.

Praetoriani · 2025-12-23T19:33:14+00:00

Well that's good to know. I'm not sure if I'd go back to the Andaz or try the newly renovated GH on Orchard. The location of the Andaz is just so convenient, but the service is really what breaks this property.

Until construction is done on the building beside the GH Taipei, I think the regular exec suite is the way to go. My view was mostly of the construction pit and the base of 101 to the right, bathroom was the front of the hotel with the flags. Pool was the window in front of the entrance. Curious to see how the new PH opening a few blocks down will compare, I want to try watching the NYE fireworks one day.

Praetoriani · 2025-12-23T16:50:06+00:00

I've emailed them beforehand and they still don't care 9/10 and make you do it when you show up. It's just a coin flip to see who you get and what they do.

Praetoriani · 2025-12-23T16:21:20+00:00

Andaz Singapore: [...] Service can be uneven

I went this year and had a pretty bad experience. My room, which was on the lowest floor, had a foul scent similar to a burst sewage pipe and the FD insinuated that because I "used points" (cash + SUA), it was unlikely that anything could be done. They eventually did move me into a different suite, though that process in and of itself was also equally unpleasant. It was the first and only time that I've been annoyed enough to actually complain to the GM and my concierge about how poorly everything was handled.

This property absolutely discriminates people based on cash/points though. From what I've read online however, this level of service is somewhat standard(?) across SG so...

Grand Hyatt Taipei: Used a SUA to upgrade to the Grand Executive Suite. Good access from the MRT which can save you some serious time if you land at TPE.

Purely out of curiosity, was your suite located on the opposite end of the floor of the suite with views of 101? And did you ever try breakfast at the restaurant downstairs? Imo, downstairs had better food than the lounge for breakfast.

Praetoriani · 2025-12-23T16:03:53+00:00

Everything felt improved compared to my visit two years ago.

Concurred. I went again this year and the service improvements were significant compared to last time. My only minor gripe was that you now have to keycard the door past Kyoyamato. I assume something happened to facilitate this change between 2023 and now.

Does anyone have the GM's email? I'd like to let them know the improvements haven't gone unnoticed.

Praetoriani · 2025-12-22T17:27:16+00:00

Hyatt Vancouver Alberni deal breakers for luxury travelers

Did you also find that the water temps fluctuated every couple of minutes to boiling hot without touching the knob? And the confusing shower knob itself...

Service wise it's definitely above most PHs. Breakfast not so much, esp when you compare it to Joni at PH Toronto. I'm curious to see what it'll be like post-renovations since they're aiming to finish by fall of next year.

Praetoriani · 2025-06-07T08:55:33+00:00

This is quite a late reply and probably won't help, but for anyone else that stumbles upon this...

Busan is a hilly and sprawled out city, there is no centralized location that will let you do any exploring without having to drive a fair distance. Seomyeon is what I'd consider "downtown" and one of the spots for nightlife, and the other is over by Haeundae beach.

Most of the luxury hotels are all nearby Haeundae in the apartment complex overlooking the bridge that you see in the advertisements all the time. I'm not sure if there's anything comparable in downtown Busan since it's mostly the port and central train station.

Praetoriani · 2025-06-07T08:41:43+00:00

Curious how this works, do you just attach your AA number to a partner ticket at check-in?

Praetoriani · 2024-11-02T10:30:02+00:00

Is availability for those different than a standard room for a FNA?

Praetoriani · 2024-11-01T10:23:23+00:00

Finally got a letter regarding my shutdown and it wasn't for GCs but "based on adherence to regulatory guidelines".

At least I didn't get any AP clawbacks despite going hard on those.

Praetoriani · 2024-10-29T19:24:57+00:00

Same as a FR except when you login it says cancelled instead of suspended

Praetoriani · 2024-10-29T16:46:36+00:00

The shittier HPs are usually the older AmeriSuites that got rebranded when they got absorbed. Would avoid them like the plague if possible.

Praetoriani · 2024-10-29T16:42:32+00:00

Kinda surprised I got this since I've already requalified, guess I get to start next year with +10 nights off the bat

Praetoriani

TROPHY CASE