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Hyatt Regency Valencia Review – King standard
As soon as Miles heard that Hyatt had created a new challenge for Diamond status he knew he had to go for it. He had some around the world travel planned, but needed some nights to shore up the challenge. Being the Hollywood Monkey that he is, he opted for a staycation right around the corner at the Hyatt Regency Valencia. It’s a category 2, the closest and lowest category Miles took advantage of the 20% rebate on points promotion currently running until the end of July and used a points and cash rate of 4000GP + $55 for two nights. This would net out to 6400 GP and $123.44
The hotel is right across the street from the WestField Valencia Town Center shopping mall. Which turned out to be pretty much. Mall walking, sports bars, and movie theaters can make for a fun go at it. Living smack in the middle of Los Angeles, it was kind of nice to stay away in a spot with a suburban non-LA feel.
Check was great. Unfortunately no upgrade was given…which was fine. Otherwise the staff was nice.
The stadard king room was pretty “standard” and is starting to show a bit of wear and tear, but ultimately was very comfy and quiet for the stay.
The stay was fun and it racked up nights. A little time in Vines, a little time by the pool. This hotel would be great for a group of friends to kick it after going to Magic Mountain. There are several sports bars in the area, one across the street and a BJ’s 5 mins away at the Town Center. Go all day at MM and then go out for some drinks and food to recount the day and avoid the madness of traffic on the 5 going back to LA. There is a Movie Theater and several restaurants ranging from healthy to fried decadent goodness and would make for a good day after rollercoasters. Miles had a good time, and if in a pinch, he’d rack a few more nights up here with discounted rates and good points + cash avail.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. 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.