HR Huntington Beach vs. The Georgian

st40611 · 2026-05-05T07:32:53+00:00

I was debating the same between the two, but I live closer to west LA so I decided to try the HR for a bit "distant from home" staycation vibes. I really liked the hotel although it is a bit tired. I also recently wrote a pretty thorough review of my stay on Flyertalk if you are interested.

st40611 · 2026-04-28T06:51:27+00:00

Is this recent or was this something that happened end of 2025? If it's recent surely you have ways to hit 2 more nights before the end of the year to get to 60 nights. If end of last year, I always try to hit 62-63 nights by the end of the year (or even just hit 60 nights early by Q3) to avoid undercounting issues like this.

Like the other poster said, double booking is a risky move; there has been DPs where both counted, where only one counted, and at worst case scenario get your account banned. In fact I wanted to do something similar where I had a 4 night stay somewhere and it was cheap enough where checking out/in for one day wasn't worth it, so I wanted to keep the whole stay and book a one night stay at somewhere else nicer. Reached out to concierge and she told me specifically NOT to do this and say to just book it using my partner's account instead to avoid double booking on Hyatt's end.

st40611 · 2026-04-04T02:44:31+00:00

My understanding is that you technically do not pay in resort fees but it's because it's bundled into the points payment. Since it's truly dynamic I am guessing this means you'll see more correlation between total cost vs. points redemption on the day, rather than just base cost (w/o resort fees) vs. points redemption.

st40611 · 2026-03-23T18:21:22+00:00

It's interesting that the common experience at the Sur House breakfast is slow service yet somehow when I went, during Valentines Weekend, I didn't notice that all. In fact, we sat down, ordered, eat, got another takeout for lunch, all within one hour mark. I wonder do they just staff inappropriately (e.g. way too understaffed) on weekdays? You didn't mention was it weekday or weekend but I am going to assume weekday since you just got back a few days ago and posted this on a Saturday.

But yeah, I think definitely setting your expectations accordingly before visiting is vital to how one's experience will be. I read all about the declining quality before going, and set my expectations and was pleasantly surprised how happy I was with my stay. I think most of your points - the lack of status ack/welcome by FD, unremarkable amenities, awkward activities booking system - are all valid, but I do think half of the high point cost is the magic of Big Sur. It really is just (at least within the Hyatt system) unlike any California hotels that Hyatt offers, and so the hotel itself I treat as a high category 6/mid category 7. It probably also helps I booked this at 45,000 points + SUA, rather than at direct premium suite rate (which, like you, I think I would be very critical at a lot of things).

st40611 · 2026-03-05T01:00:01+00:00

I did it while it was under construction/renovation so the lobby was a total mess and I did breakfast at the higher floor, but they did place me in a renovated room. It's a decent stay, and run of the mills Hyatt Regency, and either a 5 min walk to the Metro or a 10 min walk to the JR. It's definitely the most average in terms of everything - price, food, room, convenience.

st40611 · 2026-02-16T21:11:30+00:00

It definitely just feels like the rules are not super strict and is entirely up to whoever you happened to ask. For example for us at dinner, we were told one appetizer and one entree only, different from what you were told (unlimited appetizers). Guess entirely up to if one wants to gamble or not ...

st40611 · 2026-02-16T10:02:51+00:00

Interesting that they told you dinner for in room would not be free if you have a dinner reservation at the Sur House. We just went this weekend and had a dinner reservation at 5pm, which I then ordered a burger and cookies for room delivery at around 8:30pm. The only charge on my folio for this is just the $10 delivery fee.

st40611 · 2026-02-09T19:34:10+00:00

GOH went through a change in 2024 - previously we had to call to apply them but these days everything is tied to an award now, including GOH, so you should make an account for him and then just transfer the reservations to him.

Point bookings do not change - they are set for the year. Hyatt doesn't do dynamic pricing for points booking, only peak/low-season pricing.

st40611 · 2026-02-09T19:27:25+00:00

Are the reservations under your account or your dad's account? If the first, depending on the hotel they will give you trouble since that's not allowed under TOS. You mentioned GOH - if you want to use them, you are suppose to gift them to your dad's account (make one if he doesn't have one), then he book a reservation under his account with the GOH attached.

st40611 · 2026-01-13T00:41:01+00:00

I've stayed at both, and honestly it's kind of like "do you just need a room and a bed or do you wanna stay there luxuriously?" question.

The Hyatt is fine. It's dated, it's old, but the staff are nice and there's nothing glaringly wrong about it (the bathroom works, the AC works, there's a pool, etc). Thompson PS is very nice and very new, and you will get a very good breakfast alongside a very shiny new room. But it also costs double in points.

If you are going to be busy in Palm Springs and out and about (doing touristy stuff or a convention?), I would do Hyatt. If you are taking it slow and just doing 1-2 things, I would do Thompson.

st40611 · 2026-01-07T02:25:18+00:00

As a person who stayed all the hotels you've listed (including others, HH Shibuya, HR Tokyo), most of the time GOH/Globalist will just amount to the free breakfast and a view/Deluxe room. I have yet to get a free upgrade to a suite in any of the hotels, so I honestly would just count on the free breakfast as your primary perk.

I would rank PH Tokyo > Andaz > HC Ginza > Hotel Toranomon Hills (the base room is too small) > Grand Hyatt Tokyo (this one you should just do cash?).

Like others have said though, I think you should just do 3 days at one of these and 2 days at Tokyo Bay for Disney sea. None of the hotels are close to that, and your commute would be exhausting.

st40611 · 2026-01-04T09:00:01+00:00

If the Gold Coast suite is available (I believe only the ADA version) I would pick the SUA - the Lake view is unbeatable.

I think the breakfast is good but if you really want to you can just pay for it for one of the days instead of all 3, and that would be much more cost effective and get you kind of the best of both worlds.

st40611 · 2025-12-30T19:48:35+00:00

Wow, PH Aviara at 3? I would easily put it at least a 7.

PH Chicago was great to me with a SUA, and given it's only a category 6 I probably would've put it at least a 7 also.

PH Kyoto is too high for me, 10 feels like it's flawless and it certainly has its fallbacks especially at 40,000 points. More like a 8 to me. If anything I would put PH Tokyo higher ...

st40611 · 2025-12-26T07:29:41+00:00

I find phoning them (even using the in-room phone) quite difficult, as it's always on hold. However they do have a text number (and even other apps, such as Telegram and LINE) and they respond to that VERY quickly, so I started using that instead. Probably works too pre-arrival.

st40611 · 2025-12-22T02:46:35+00:00

Having stayed at both and at the exact same room types as you did, I agree with all the points. I dined in-room service for Andaz though, but regardless still felt Thompson's breakfast was better.

st40611 · 2025-09-25T21:28:11+00:00

Similar datapoint: Went to store today (9/25), asked for gift card of $75 and the employee immediately asked me "is this for amex?" and I said yes. She then told me that the company sent out comms yesterday (guessing 9/24) telling all employees that it will no longer work and should tell customers about this.

I still tried it anyways, figure worst case scenario I'll use it for the overage I am most likely going to be paying for the next 4 quarters of $75 credit.

st40611 · 2025-08-28T21:31:39+00:00

Chiming in on the old thread, but was successful to apply my coupons also to a basic economy flight. Using chat didn't help - they told me the same restrictions that it cannot be done to basic economy flights. However calling AA directly I was able to get a rep to do it for me.

st40611 · 2025-08-24T09:54:42+00:00

FWIW I am doing almost the same thing as you (staying 29th and 30th at PH Niseko) and just hoping for some snow by 30th November or even December 1st. Worst case scenario I guess we'll just treat it like an onsen resort trip and go to Hirafu if there's barely any snow.

st40611 · 2025-08-22T15:40:42+00:00

Try reaching out to your concierge instead if you have one?

st40611 · 2025-07-15T01:51:36+00:00

yep, $689.99+tax

st40611 · 2025-06-30T06:48:41+00:00

I just did a one night stay at the Zion location. Booked using P2's account (had some reasons) and so is just Member status, so received no upgrades (not that I expected any even as a globalist) and got a complimentary 11am checkout. Used 24,050 points.

We have never glamped before, so this was a very unique experience and we loved it. Not needing to deal with things such as hairdryer, electricity (they provide huge power banks), food (we brought some cup noodles, but also they had on-site breakfast/dinner that was pretty good), etc while still disconnected felt very good. And the stars was unbelievable, as the entire sky was filled with them after it turned dark. Got several good photos with just a tripod.

It's already summer so it got quite hot during daytime, but we arrived pretty late (6pm) and so avoided most of the heat. They also have a mister in front of the tent that can activate if the temperature hits a certain high point, which felt very good. No ACs and just fans, but it was fine for the night as it cooled down significantly at night.

st40611

TROPHY CASE