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Hyatt Regency Indian Wells – Executive Suite with Amex FHR Benefits
Miles is on a Diamond Challenge, and as a result he’s looking for awesome deals to get those extra few nights to push him past the 12 nights in 60 days mark – so what better a time to take a little side- trip and review a hotel you’ve always been thinking of staying at.
Even better? It’s an American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts member with buy 2 get the 3rd free at $124/night. That’s $83 a night pro rated!
- FHR gets guaranteed check in at 12pm
- Late check out at 4pm
- Breakfast for 2 each day
- Room upgrade based on availability on check-in
- An extra amenity – in this case $100 resort credit
Few things about the benefits not listed.
- Resort fee of 26 bucks can’t be paid for with the resort credit.
- Movies, also, can’t be paid for with the resort credit. Food, spa, activities can be.
Breakfast ended up being roughly $35/day. That’s $105 in savings right there. Along with the Resort credit which we used for a couple lunches was $205 in savings on a $107/night room including resort fees. Here’s where it got even better.
Our upgrade?
From a view king to an Executive Suite – which more or less is a ground floor version of their penthouse suite. It was also $300 more expensive per night.
This is the exact reason that I am such an advocate of the American Express Platinum card if you travel at all.
- We got a free night.
- Over $200 in amenities on a room rate of $258 over 3 days.
- Upgrade worth over $300/night.
- At buy 2 get 1 that’s $600 in value
- Add in the airline credit of $200 a year with the card
- Global Entry reimbursement of $100
With this little trip alone we earned $200 in amenities, $600 in upgrades, and $124 in free room promotions. That’s nearly $1000 without including the other fringe benefits of the card. At $450 a year in annual fee, we’ve just paid for 2 years of membership on one trip. Not too shabby!
The interior is modern and refurbished
On to the suite.
The upgrade was amazing. It gave us so much room to spread out and relax. For two people and a Miles it’s definitely way more space than we needed but the Front desk associate that checked us in HOOKED US UP!!!! I’ve had way more amazing upgrades than I have had that latter, and I think being platinum status with hyatt helped a bit.
The hotel certainly looks great. Our room had some minor upgrades but as a whole I think could use a face lift to match the rest of the look and feel of the hotel. The space was enormous but there were little signs of aging – like the showers ( which were dated and had terrible water pressure ) and the problem with insects. It’s a desert hotel and I think some of this can be attributed to guest behavior – with food laying around, but that bug was found when we walked in the door. We were paying a significant reduced rate compared to what this hotel goes for in peak season. It was 110F every day we were there, but the resort was still packed with families. Had this been a peak season rate in the mid 300s I would not have been happy. Especially if I had booked this suite in peak season at over a grand a night ( which, unless I win the lottery, isn’t happening anytime soon, but DAMMIT hypothetically I wouldn’t have been happy 😉 ) The only other complaint would be that the ice machine was next to the bedroom, and Miles loves to sleep with a fan app buzzing, but when it wasn’t, you could clearly hear people getting ice. I’m a light sleeper and it woke me up.
The food in the hotel, from what we had, was delicious. The small sundry market off the entrance is awesome too. Great little things to nibble on: sweets, sandwiches, pastries, and Starbucks coffee ( YESSSSSS)
Would I go back?
Absolutely, if it were this price. There are sooooooo many incredible hotels around the Palm Springs area, and being a hotel geek – I’d chase the best deal. But at roughly $100 a night to stay in a 4star hotel in a huge suite… I mean Cah’mon – you can’t beat that! And Miles gets closer to Diamond?!?! It’s a no brainer!
I would recommend this hotel to anyone who was looking for a couples or family getaway. Not a party hotel for sure. But, for a couple nights and a great retreat for the lady and I…Fosho!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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