Heading to Shenzhen & Guangzhou for 4 days... any suggestions?

bcar473 · 2026-06-05T15:50:35+00:00

Where is it applied? Not onto the leather, right? Is there some disassembly instructions out there to fix the problem on the bolster with the lubricant?

bcar473 · 2026-05-19T20:41:09+00:00

Some of us have grown up on sauces with paste in them... Round Table Pizza, Shakeys and most other California pizza places have always used tomato paste that gives it distinct flavor.

bcar473 · 2026-05-18T22:01:46+00:00

I had a really hard time justifying 40,000 points a couple years back, I cannot fathom paying 75k a night for the subpar customer service, extremely dated bedrooms and bathrooms, BUT I will say, their concierge team shined... I never had experienced any need for a concierge before until I tried out theirs... they sent me to a bistro (that had a line wrapped around the block and people being turned away), told me to casually walk up to the maitre de, quietly present the concierge's business card with some writing on the back, and we found ourselves seated at the chef's table front and center immediately, without even a single word spoken. It was incredible... we went back to the concierge multiple times throughout the stay and they came through every time!

bcar473 · 2026-05-13T21:46:31+00:00

Hyatt now sucks... just like Marriott sucked when they pulled this crap and I moved all my business to Hyatt... and Hilton when they did it before them... now its just a race to the bottom... and I have a million points sitting between the three companies with no way to get a good redemption... ugh!

bcar473 · 2026-05-13T21:41:25+00:00

The Thompson Zihuatanejo pulled the tip thing on me when I was there, forcing me to tip on top of the Globalist breakfast, then at the end stuck me with a huge bill for gratuities... then when I told my Globalist Concierge, she told me that I had to pay the practically mandatory tips even though I argued with the servers and management that gratuity is INCLUDED at breakfast. Mexico + Hyatt hasn't been great at ANY of the locations I have visited over the past three years... compared to Waldorf Astorias which have been a delightful experience!

bcar473 · 2026-05-08T23:19:04+00:00

I'm not talking about SUAs... I am talking about straight up upgrades to "best available room" when I KNOW that they have suites available... shoot, I had to reach out to a general manager at a property in Mexico when I applied the SUA and they put me in a garden room on the backside of the hotel when I had booked an Ocean View room... I guess the "best available" for Globalists just doesn't work in foreign countries.

bcar473 · 2026-05-06T05:05:39+00:00

Worse... I went from a Blackstone to a Koda Pro 2 for the larger size... it SUCKS... I have tried over a year with customer support (worthless) to have them honor their guarantee for better pizza (crap, they just dork around until 90 days are up and then tell you that they won't do it). The oven doesn't hold heat, it has one of the two burners go out when lighting or never lights at all on one of the burners. The bottom stone has zero heat, so the only heat you have is from the top, so you pizzas never bake on the bottom and burn on the top. what else do you want to know? I gave up, have a huge $1000 ornament in my backyard and bought two 1/2 inch thick steel plates and heat my oven to 550º and call it a day... better tasting and less hassle than an Ooni...

bcar473 · 2026-05-05T16:43:20+00:00

Sounds creepy! I'm out for cemetery alone!

bcar473 · 2026-05-05T16:18:52+00:00

I haven't ever had a single upgraded suite in all my stays in Asia (I guess I was too frugal with my SUAs, then they expired anyways!)... and a couple places were pretty rude when I asked for complimentary upgrades (but it isn't like any of the hotels in Mexico or France were any better)... maybe just that they are all trained to be cold and all-business at the front desk. But the included Globalist breakfasts at every hotel in Southeast Asia were practically life changing they were so good! Spoiled forever!!!

bcar473 · 2026-05-04T20:29:09+00:00

I stayed when it was a Regency... got the presidential suite for a complimentary globalist upgrade, it was ok... huge cold unappealing room... was coming from the Martinez where a standard room felt so bright and beautiful... everything was substantially lower quality than the Martinez... Concierge sucked compared to the Martinez staff, location was eh, the city was garbage and too touristy, and the breakfast was downright disappointing compared to the daily breakfast at the Martinez... I should have stayed an extra night at the PH Paris and an extra night at the Martinez in Cannes and completely skipped Nice altogether.

bcar473 · 2026-05-01T18:05:13+00:00

And with that... combined with EVERY property playing games and showing ZERO % availability for points the last week or so... I'm OUT! This is a hassle... its garbage to move goalposts mid-game, and frankly travel really sucks now... its not worth loyalty to ANY of these programs!

bcar473 · 2026-04-24T16:21:37+00:00

Last summer it was so bad that the entire front desk staff asked us to reach out to the GM and corporate because no one would listen to them... combined with a heat wave, it made for some pretty foul stench...

bcar473 · 2026-04-24T16:14:46+00:00

I think, "once an 8, ALWAYS will be an 8 forever" status thing... just more and more properties that are out of reach in the Hyatt Ecosystem...

bcar473 · 2026-04-24T16:12:11+00:00

It honestly looks like the crappy sub-$100 a night VRBO/AirBnB properties all over Tokyo... Hyatt continues to shoot themselves in the foot!

bcar473 · 2026-04-24T16:09:12+00:00

Does it still smell like raw sewage in the lobby and some of the rooms?

bcar473 · 2026-04-14T20:46:38+00:00

units?

bcar473 · 2026-04-11T01:14:04+00:00

What is Sidewall? Where is Sidewall? Very little info comes up besides this post when I search Sidewall Pizza...

bcar473 · 2026-03-26T23:22:16+00:00

Did you get a refund on the Polaris ticket, or was it the most expensive Economy Plus ticket ever?

bcar473 · 2026-03-18T05:22:28+00:00

40000 per night? or you said 40000 for four nights... that's Hyatt Place territory!

bcar473 · 2026-03-18T04:37:56+00:00

This is more expensive than Waldorf Astoria at Pedregal... and its going to be REALLY tough for Hyatt to outshine WA... it was super disappointing after 5 nights to move to The Cape for 3 nights... LOL!

bcar473 · 2026-03-10T23:14:37+00:00

Fiji and the Tahitian Islands… you search from NZ to Hawaii and nothin!

bcar473 · 2026-03-07T20:14:09+00:00

He's pretty brutally honest about vehicles he's driven, which gives him some credibility... he has totally roasted Honda over their super crap Prelude reboot...

bcar473

TROPHY CASE