The Grand Hyatt in the Bahamas was scheduled to open May 1st and allowed customers to book cash or points reservations. I wanted to spend some beach time here so I made a reservation in May.
Well I received this email today which didn’t seem like a good sign:
Hyatt Email
I called the number and the rep told me that they are planning on delaying the opening date to June 1st, 2015. (UPDATE: opening date has been pushed back to Aug 1) This meant that my May reservations were no longer valid. Luckily they are giving customers in this situation some options.
- You can change your reservation to a later date and they will reimburse you for any airline change fees up to $300 per person (you must provide receipt).
- They will book you in the Atlantis which you must pay for but they will compensate you with 40,000 Hyatt points no matter how long your original reservation was for.
- You can cancel your reservation and they will redeposit your points (if you booked on points) plus you will receive an additional 20,000 points per day for your reservation plus they will reimburse you for any airline change or cancellation fee up to $300 per person (you must provide receipt).
These seem like pretty fare compensation packages and allows you to be flexible in your plans or allows you to stick to the same vacation plan. I’m glad that Hyatt is trying hard to make this right due to the opening delay.
If you decide to go with the 3rd option and cancel the reservation, there are other hotels that are available to book with on points. If you go to Award Mapper (which is neat tool for looking up what hotels you can book with points) and search for Bahamas, there are 3 additional hotels you can book with points.
Other hotels on points in the Bahamas
There is one other property that you can book with on points and that is the Atlantis which is part of the Marriott Autograph Collection. You have to call 1-855-696-4732 to make a reservation with points and there are 4 towers to choose from which can range form 35k to 45k points/night.
Just as a reminder, all the resorts charge a resort fee even for award stays which can be as high as $50 per day.
Also if you decide to book close to the opening day, there could be a chance that there is another delay so choose your rebooking wisely. If you made a reservation in May, then look for an email coming soon.