Hilton Diamond Status Match

As you LCD readers know, my father is a huge SPG loyalist, though he's been known to cheat with Hyatt from time to time.

But when Hyatt started matching to their top tier Diamond status last month, Hilton also jumped into the fray as well. For convenience, you can request the Hilton HHonors Diamond status match online here until January 11, 2016.

So my father signed up and submitted a jpg file of his SPG Platinum Account page. This morning, he received this email.

We've had some nice Hilton stays in the past few years where we definitely enjoyed the complimentary breakfasts, including:

1. December 2015 - Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Costa Rica
2. February 2015 - Doubletree Charleston, SC
3. June 2014 - Hilton Zurich, Switzerland
4. April 2014 - Conrad Hong Kong
5. February 2013 - Conrad Koh Samui, Thailand

That being said, Hilton's Diamond status isn't that much better than the mid-tier Gold status that my parents already had through their Citi Hilton Reserve Visa credit card. Even with Gold, they receive complimentary breakfast and in-room wifi, so the top tier Diamond just earns you more HHonors points and possibly increases your chances at a complimentary room upgrade.

Regardless, we thought that we might be frequenting non-Starwood hotels in 2016 (given the pending Marriott acquisition), so we might as well try out some Hilton properties while holding Diamond status.

Equinox Resort - New Family Tradition?

Hotel Details
Hotel: The Equinox Resort & Spa
Dates: December 24-26, 2015
Rate Paid: 6,000 SPG points + $160 per night
Room Upgrade: Bi-Level Suite
Regular Room Rate: $693/night 
Saved: $533/night
Redemption: 8.9 cents/point

Back in December 2011 (literally, just a few short weeks after I was born), my parents and my maternal grandmother decided to take me on my first trip. It was Christmas time 2011, and they had been learning how to handle me as a crying newborn infant for the past few weeks. My father thought we could use a change of scenery and booked a few nights at The Equinox in Manchester, Vermont for the holidays.

That year, it was quite cold and the snow had sprinkled over the mountains and we enjoyed a charming countryside White Christmas as a new family.

Four years later, my father decided it would be nice to return to the Equinox for the holidays. Aside from a small Christmas tree in our living room (see below), we don't really "go all out" with the holiday decorations, so we were excited about being somewhere else where they did.

So we invited my aunt and my paternal grandmother and drove up together 5 hours to Manchester, VT the morning of Christmas Eve. While we had hoped for another White Christmas, the weather was actually about 72 degrees in New York City and not much cooler in Vermont. But they had the most stunning New England sunset as we pulled up to the quaint little Main Street.

The hotel was historic to say the least. Their website discusses how it was visited by 4 U.S. Presidents over its 200 years in existence, including Presidents William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Harrison.

My father had used his Starwood points to book two rooms using Cash & Points, offering a pretty great value versus paying cash outright. Since it was a 2 night stay over Christmas Eve and Christmas, the cash rates were $693 / night for a regular room. Normally, you could get rates for $200-300/night. So using SPG points to offset the cost made a ton of sense.

Note: the Equinox has a $35 per night resort fee for each room that is not waived even for SPG Platinum members on award bookings. Per the website, "the Resort Fee of $35 per night includes the following amenities and services: unlimited valet parking, bottled water in room, wireless internet service, use of the business center, local telephone calls, in-town shuttle for shopping and dining, morning coffee and newspaper in the common area, access to 850 acres of hiking trails at the Equinox Preservation Trust, use of the Golf Club putting green, resort bicycles, tennis courts, sleds seasonally, use of the spa fitness center, pool, steam rooms, and the sauna."

Nevertheless, we were excited to spend a few nights in the Vermont mountains in a charming, historic hotel over Christmas.



Prior to our arrival, my father applied 4 of his SPG Suite Night Upgrades to get all of us into larger suites. Unfortunately, only one of the room upgrade requests cleared (Room 350), so my father offered the "Ulysses S Grant Suite" to my grandmother. She said it was silly to put me in the smaller room, so she declined and said they'd be fine in the regular room (Room 340).

The Ulysses S. Grant Suite was set up as a regular sized room on the first floor, but had a staircase that led you to a loft like living room upstairs. It was nice to have some extra space, but I'm not sure it was worthy of a U.S. President.

We settled into our rooms and got ready for dinner. They offered three restaurants in the hotel, the buffet style Colonnade (breakfast & dinner), Marsh Tavern (casual fare) and the Chop House (higher end steakhouse). Interestingly enough, the Marsh Tavern and Chop House shared the same entrance with just a open wall partition separating the two dining rooms. If you didn't notice the different furniture, you may not have realized they were in fact different restaurants.

Each morning, we enjoyed a complimentary SPG Platinum continental breakfast offered at the Colonnade (fresh fruits, pastries, cured meats and a large selection of gourmet cheeses). If we wanted to upgrade to the full hot buffet, including an omelette station, then you could pay the $5.50/person upcharge. Alternatively, you could also select items of the a la carte menu and spend up to $48/room, but that had to include tax and mandatory tip, so it was really closer to a $40 credit off the menu.

As you might imagine, most of the guests this Christmas weekend were families (many from NYC). When we checked in, they handed out different schedules of kid-friendly activities each day. Each day, they had several different movies playing in one of the banquet rooms, including Minions and Frozen. In the adjacent room, there were empty tables and board games for families to borrow and play as they wanted. They also had free coffee, hot chocolate and hot apple cider throughout the day for everyone.

Given the relaxing environment, we often found many guests simply sitting around one of the many fireplaces, reading newspapers or books when they weren't enjoying the large indoor pool and spa on the property (note, pool and spa are housed in a separate building so you will have to walk outside).

My favorite activity, however, was putting small notes on one of the many Christmas trees around the resort.

But the main Christmas Tree was the one at the base of the stairs by the Marsh Tavern and Chop House restaurants. This tree was the same one that I stood by when I was just 1 month old years ago.

Have I changed much since then?

Andaz Papagayo - Diamond Breakfast Benefit

One of the best benefits of Hyatt Diamond status is free breakfast. Not to be accurate, Diamond status members are supposed to get Club Lounge access where they serve complimentary breakfast.

But for hotels that don't have lounges, the restaurant breakfast is offered instead (a much better alternative!) and sometimes even free room service breakfast.

The Andaz breakfast is set up at the Rio Bhongo restaurant as a self-serve buffet with a made-to-order omelette station, though they also offered an a la carte menu as well. The sticker price for the buffet breakfast was $32/person plus the additional 10% service charge and 13% taxes. So definitely not cheap!



But thankfully, my mother landed Hyatt Diamond Status just before our stay. Now the 5 of us on the trip could all enjoy a hearty breakfast each morning, without ever seeing the bill. Here's what the breakfast spread looked like.

The Continental Breakfast Part

Not pictured, but my father's favorite part was the Bread Pudding of the Day. My father loves Bread Pudding.

The Hot Buffet

The hot food options rotated, but they usually had gallo pinto (rice & beans), plus eggs, plus some protein (bacon or sausage) and some vegetable.

And for the healthy guests that didn't want carbs and fats, they also had a great selection of fresh fruits and juices.

Now, since we know not everyone has Hyatt Diamond status or wants to pay $32+ per person for breakfast, the best option seemed to be the $12 Gallo Pinto item off the menu. It looked like a better presented sampling of the exact same items from the hot buffet section, but it would be a much better alternative if you wanted to save money.

Andaz Peninsula Papagayo - Part 3

One of the best parts about the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo was the abundance of activities (both free and paid) that you could engage in.

When we arrived, we were given the schedule of activities that week. My family definitely took advantage of several that really made our trip more memorable.

We obviously didn't get to try all the activities, but I wanted to highlight a few of them that we did elect to do.

1. Paddle Boarding (Free)
Paddle Boarding was one of the activities my parents did while I was having a blast in the Cambi Kid's Club. Neither of them had ever attempted to paddle board, so this was a fun learning experience for both of them. Down by the Andaz beach (which isn't really as amazing as you'd hope), they had an outsourced staff who would get you set up with free non-motorized activities (kayaks and paddle boards) but would also set you up with jet skis (for a charge).

My mother went first so my father could snap a few photos. She suited up in her life jacket and went into the water.

After a quick intro lesson from the guide (~2 minutes), she was ready to head out.

Before you knew it, my mother was about 100 feet out and drifting into the beautiful Culebra Bay. She was a natural, keeping her balance the entire time, though there were some near falls when the jet skis went by. Unfortunately, my father's short stature low center of gravity didn't help him as much as he hoped. He went down a few times, which made my mother pretty happy.

2. Happy Hour at Chao Pescao
From 4:30PM-5:30PM on most (but not all nights), the Andaz had Happy Hour at their tapas bar, Chao Pescao. All drinks were half price ($6-7) and their mixologist was pretty amazing. As you can see, I came to play hard. I just discovered a drink called the Shirley Temple and I was ready to have a good time, so I wore my party dress.

The bar was an open air structure, with plenty of indoor seating, but there was also a balcony area with couches and high tables as well. The indoor seats had the benefit of the ceiling fans circulating the air. Unfortunately, the outdoor seats (at least that night) didn't have any breeze so we were pretty sweaty from the humid, hot weather.

We shared our big couch seating area with another family and ordered a delicious round of drinks

As you can see, the drinks were as pretty to look at as they were tasty to drink.

This is a photo of me when asked how many drinks my father had.

3. Mojito Mixology Class ($15/person)
For a modest fee of $15/person, you could learn how to make fun mixed drinks. The price is actually well worth the experience, because you're also drinking as you're learning, so it's kind of like a private happy hour.  When we RSVP'ed, there were only 2 spots left. However, my parents were the only two that showed up among the class of 6. So my aunt decided to join them as well.

We met at 4PM at the Ostra Restaurant where we used the restaurant's bar before they opened for dinner at 6PM.

As you can see, they had already prepared many of the ingredients we'd need to make our masterpieces.

Our teacher was great at explaining the basic tools we'd need to use, plus some techniques on how to muddle, mix and strain.

 My father went first and tried to make a strawberry mojito.

Then my mother gave it a shot as well and came up with a pretty tasty drink with a nice blackberry garnish.

I wasn't there to sample their drinks, but they came back pretty tipsy and smiling, so I have to imagine these drinks they made hit the spot.

 

4. Forest Walk
At 8AM Thursday morning, my family dropped me off at Cambi Kid's Club after breakfast and head over to the Lobby to meet the rest of the group that we'd be doing the 1 hour Forest Walk with. We were introduced to our guide Manfred and entered into the woods behind the resort.

Some of the guests were well prepared (i.e. had applied bug spray) and then there was my mother. For some reason, she didn't want to put on bug spray. Big mistake! Nevertheless, she borrowed some Off! from the guide and continued onward.

Manfred explained about the different types of plants in the area, what animals were local to the peninsula and how the ancient local inhabitants lived in these very woods before the resort companies leased the land from the Costa Rican government to build the Four Seasons and the Andaz.

We even saw some pottery from the native people that inhabited the area years ago.

The best part was backward repelling down the steep part of the mountain using a rope. It wasn't anything that Bear Grylls would be proud of, but it was good fun for my family.