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For the last few years I’ve taken my parents on individual Christmas trips. Maybe a night maybe two away to spend some Father/Son, Mother/Son time. For Christmas 2017, I took my dad on a bit of a whirlwind #weekendwarrior adventure that had us going through Chicago for a night before heading on to Los Angeles. We wined and dined, had a fantastic time, and spent one night at the Hyatt Centric Chicago Magnificent Mile.
Seeing as though it’d be the two of us and it was a fun Christmas treat, I decided to use 6k World of Hyatt points to upgrade our entry level room to an Executive King one bed room suite. I have to say…fantastic use of points.
The Deets:
- When: December 2017
- Where: Chicago
- Loyalty: World of Hyatt Explorist
- Upgrade: 6k points for standard suite upgrade
Location:
The Hyatt Centric Magnificent Miles is roughly a block away from Michigan avenue – there’s also a Starbuck’s on the street level of the hotel.
If you’re driving, as we did, I’d highly recommend using parkwhiz or spothero to locate and reserve discounted parking prior to arrival. Downtown Chicago has some insanely high daily rates, but we were able to secure a spot for roughly $20 across the street.
Check in
You’ll head upstairs for check-in. I liked this feature as Chicago winters ARE BRUTAL. Having a lobby that isn’t on street level means you don’t have to have constant gusts of wind chilling you as you either wait for check-in, speak to the concierge, hang out, etc.
Overall check in was made quick and easy through the World of Hyatt elite line and we were in our room within 5 to 10 minutes.
Head past Level 2 to the elevators
We were in town for only the night and didn’t make use of the restaurant for anything other than peeking in to see the score of various games being televised.
The Suite.
Suite upgrades are hit and miss. This one. HUGE HIT. The suite is great size ( 730ish sqft ) and well worth the 6k points it cost to upgrade.
A long corridor and situated in a quiet corner of the floor meant we never heard our neighbors. Centrics are contemporary, but not nearly as modern/hipster as say the overall Andaz brand.
The living room/ my bedroom for the night.
The bathroom was large, uber clean, featured a separate shower and tub, plus it had great water pressure. Only odd things – single vanity. In a large suite…you’d think dual would have been installed.
Gym and pool
It was nice to see a clean and well maintained pool/hot tub combo, but I’m not so sure the pool was necessarily long enough to get an athletic workout in. However…it’s a city hotel that features something kids could hop in and play around.
Gym is 24/7. Large enough ( had people in it so I wasn’t going to photograph any more ) to get a solid workout whether you were looking for cardio or weights.
Overall:
I think the Hyatt Centric Mag Mile is a very strong showing for Hyatt. Centally located, prices can dip under $100 in the winter months. You’re not going to get the prestige from say the Park Hyatt Chicago, but you’ll be saving tons of cash to enjoy the city with, and still have great digs.
Staff was nice, and the concierge helped facilitate a last minute reservation at Bandera ( my fave veggie burger and spin dip ).
I’d stay here again in a flash.
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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