Sheraton Salt Lake City

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Sheraton Salt Lake City
Dates: April 11-12 and 14-15, 2014 
Rate Paid: $144/night (including taxes) 
Points Earned: 1,765 SPG

According to my obsessive father, it simply wouldn't be a real trip if there weren't a Starwood hotel stay in there somewhere. Despite spending the majority of his Utah trip staying at the Hampton Inn in Provo, there were a few nights where he stayed in Salt Lake City's Sheraton Hotel, racking up a few more elite qualifying stays and nights towards his 2015 Platinum status.

The first night, he and Paul were staying for Friday night to check out the city and have a great Mexican dinner at the infamous Red Iguana. So for $120/night (+ $15 taxes), the Salt Lake City Sheraton was a great choice. In addition to being at a full service hotel with all the amenities you'd expect, they offered a free shuttle to any nearby area within 5 miles, including a complimentary ride to/from the SLC airport.

My father had booked the cheapest room under his AAA membership rate, but since he was a Platinum, they offered him a larger room with a view in the Tower section of the hotel. Politely asking if there were any suites available, they immediately offered a Loft Suite, but it was a King Bed and there were 2 of them. So instead, they stuck with the regular high-floor room with Double beds since it wouldn't be fair to have someone sleep on the pull out couch in the Loft suite.

The room itself was particularly nice for a Sheraton. It may just be my father's individual experience, but he's never been overly fond of Sheraton and much preferred Westin which seemed to be of a higher class and caliber at a comparable price point. But this Sheraton seemed to be more modern and recently renovated, even though it had been over 5 years since their last refresh.

For example, take a look at the sleek modern bathroom at the Salt Lake City Sheraton versus the other Sheraton bathrooms we've experienced in the recent past.

 vs.

Our room on the 10th floor also had a small balcony that had a nice view of the city and the mountains in the background. While it didn't rank among the best hotel room views in my father's life, it was a nice change of pace from the parking lot view at the Hampton Inn Provo.

The best part of staying at a Sheraton is that they have Club Lounges that you can access for free as an SPG Platinum. There you can get mid-afternoon snacks and beverages as well as take breakfasts in the mornings.

 

  

As mentioned in another post, we left Saturday morning to head over to Park City to check out that scene for a night. But on Monday, April 14th, my father returned to Salt Lake City to sleep there before his flight home the next day. This time, he was traveling solo and could take advantage of the upgrade to the Loft Suite.

Unlike the Tower rooms, the Loft Suites were a longer walk to the other end of the 2 story building that overlooked the inner courtyard. But the additional hassle was worth it when my father opened the door to the spacious livingroom area.

Then he looked up to see the elevated loft where his bedroom would be. The room would have been perfect for my mother and me to stay with my father, but less convenient for two friends since one person would have to take the pull out couch.

But chances are, if my father had to share the room, he would have taken the downstairs couch, because despite being a frequent flyer, he's actually afraid of heights. What a wimp!

Park City in Pictures

Hyatt Escala Lodge Park City

Hotel Stay Details 
Hotel: Hyatt Escala Lodge Park City
Dates: March 12-13, 2014 
Rate Paid: 1 Free Night Certificate
Regular Room Rate: $245/night 
Point Redemption Value: N/A

My father had the weekend off from his work meetings, but had to be back on Monday for more meetings. Since it was such a small window, he didn't fly back home to New York to spend time with me. Instead, he and Paul took a few days to check out Utah, namely Salt Lake City and Park City.

Located only about 30 minutes from SLC Airport, Park City was a quaint little town (population of under 8,000 people) that locals and travelers used as a base for their skiing and snowboarding, but when the Sundance Film Festivals started getting more popular among the East/West coast socialites, the small ski town started to have an economic renaissance with tons of boutique art galleries and expensive condos popping up among the neighborhood coffee shops and ski equipment stores along Historic Main Street.

About 10 minutes away from Main Street, you'll find another developed section of the Park City region called Canyons where some of the ski lodge complexes are. There you'd find Canyons Resort, which has a section of their multiple buildings that are managed by Hyatt as a hotel/timeshare property. In fact, getting to the "front desk" was a bit more difficult than usual, since there were 3 separate buildings with unique names such as Wasatch, Uinta and White Pine, but none of them with a "Lobby" sign in front. Note: Wasatch (1st building to your immediate right as you pull into the driveway) has the lobby and front desk.

After they finally found the front desk, the staff checked them in and informed them that April 12-13 was the very last weekend before the resort lodges shut down for the ski season. It was already starting to get to about 50-55 degrees and the snow was slowly melting. After that weekend, prices for the hotel would have dropped significantly below the $245/night they were for April 12, but it didn't matter for my father since he was using his Annual Hyatt Free Night (Category 1-4) Certificate from his Chase Hyatt Visa card.

Recall that back in February 2013, my father applied for the Hyatt Visa and it earned him 2 free nights in ANY Hyatt hotel in the world (Category 1-7) after spending $1,000 in three months. My parents and I used up those certificates for 2 nights at the Park Hyatt Vendôme in Paris (a Category 7 property) which retails for $800-1,000/night! While that is just a one time sign up bonus, the Hyatt Visa card comes with another Annual Free Night Certificate to use at any Category 1-4 Hyatt property each year you hold the card. Of course, keeping the card for another year would cost my father a $75 annual fee, but the Free Night Certificate came early enough where he could redeem it and then still cancel the card during the 90 day grace period so he wouldn't have to pay the annual fee. Though, even if he had kept the card for another 12 months, $75 is a nice discounted price to pay for a night at a beautiful ski resort. But I digress.

The Hyatt Escala's lobby was very ski lodge-ish, but with a slightly modern twist of sharper lines and edges. It reminded us of the super modern Westin Riverfront at Beaver Creek we visited in August. My father didn't really spend any time by the Hyatt's lobby fireplace, but it would have been a nice indoor area for me to run around as my mother sat reading a book.

My father found out that their room was in the Uinta building across the driveway from Wasatch.

They first drove our rental car to the underground parking garage, making sure to find signs to the Uinta section of the garage. From there, he took the elevator right up to the 3rd floor in Uinta. His room was the C room in the 3 room suite, so there an initial front door that opened into a small room with 3 more doors. They finally made it into the room and found a very nice, but modestly decorated room. It had a small desk in the corner (with inconvenient electrical plugs) and a small working fireplace. Wifi was complimentary for Hyatt Platinum members, but it was pretty weak most of the time. But the place was definitely a resort and a welcome change from the "business" hotels they had been staying at for the past week.

A nice touch for families was that they had a small kitchen area (including a small sink, mini fridge and microwave). But other than that, the room more like a guest room of someone's house than a real hotel room. If I had to guess, they were given the second bedroom of the connecting suite, and not the master bedroom. Also, no balcony for them, but there was a decent view of the other Canyons Resort buildings down the side of the mountain.

The bathroom was surprisingly large relative to the size of the bedroom area having a separate bathtub and stand up shower. If my mother and I had joined my father there, we probably could have used a double sink, but for 2 guys, sharing one sink would be more than enough.

Another key feature was the hourly shuttle from the hotel to Historic Main Street so you could enjoy a few hours there without having to worry about driving back home. After a long week of work meetings, my father and Paul were anxious to let off some steam.

The other amenities at the resort was a heated outdoor pool, a hot tub and a steam room in the gym. There was Après-Ski each afternoon at 4PM and also had a nice bar/restaurant by the lobby. Overall, the Hyatt Escala Lodge is definitely somewhere my family could enjoy a long weekend at.

But truth be told, I'd much rather spend a few nights at Starwood's St. Regis Deer Valley (see photo below) just a few minutes away.

Salt Lake City in Pictures

Hampton Inn Provo

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Hampton Inn Provo
Dates: April 6-11, 2014
Rate Paid: $100/night (including taxes)
Points Earned: 10,562 Hilton HHonors 

As mentioned last week, there weren't too many hotel options in Provo, but we were fortunate that the #1 hotel ranked on Tripadvisor was in the Hilton family. While there weren't any amazing amenities in a limited service hotel, the Hampton Inn served is purpose and was a decent price point for a moderately long 5 night stay.

The rooms were perfectly fine and included several convenient features including a microwave and a mini fridge. All guests had access to complimentary in-room wifi, though they did give Hilton Gold/Diamond status members access to a higher speed wifi network that would normally cost money.

Despite being a limited service hotel, they also had a small business center with access to computers and printers, an indoor swimming pool and some coin operated laundry machines in the building. The front desk sold single serve detergent and dryer sheets as well as an assortment of snacks and soft drinks.

As a part of all business traveler hotels such as Hampton Inn (Hilton) and it's competitors Four Points (Starwood), Hyatt Place (Hyatt) and Fairfield Inn (Marriott), they all offer complimentary ready-made breakfasts to their guests in the lobby. While usually nothing really impresses my father, this breakfast offering was pretty great, especially their breakfast bagels (think pizza bagels, but with eggs, cheese and bacon). Additionally, while they continued to have the staples (cereals, waffles, yogurts), they'd also rotate the main breakfast offerings every day which kept it interesting for those of us staying for multiple nights on extended stays.

What my father did say though was that the front desk employees were THE FRIENDLIEST he has ever encountered. Despite not being able to offer any suite upgrades, or even complimentary breakfasts or wifi (since both were free for everyone anyway), it was very refreshing to deal with people who were genuinely happy to help you. When my father would come back in the evenings after a long day of work meetings, the front desk would have at least 1 of the coffees fresh and waiting for our arrival. And after checking out on Friday April 11th, my father and Paul were returning on Sunday April 13th. Knowing they'd be returning, the front desk staff had their room keys waiting for them without having to show their ID and credit card again.