North America

Review: Hyatt Place Denver Downtown

Posted on October 13, 2016 by 2btravel

After spending a night in Vail in August, my friends and I drove back down to Denver to spend a day sightseeing there.  We mapped out things we wanted to do and then looked for a hotel central to those locations.  Since there were three adults I specifically looked for a Residence Inn or a Hyatt Place knowing that the layout of these hotel rooms usually works well for us and that breakfast is included.

The only hotel-provided parking available is with the valet. We thought about parking on the street but the valet pointed out it was cheaper to park at the nearby Pavillions shopping center.  He even watched our car for us while we checked in.  Of course that meant we had to walk a few blocks to the car but that was not an issue for us since the weather was so nice.

What we like about Hyatt Places is that there’s a separate area with a large sleeper sofa which along with the 2 queen beds meant that we each had our own place to sleep.

hp-denver-2q-beds

Hyatt Place Denver 2 Queen Beds

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Categories: Colorado, Hyatt, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Holiday Inn Vail

Posted on October 10, 2016 by 2btravel

My travel buddies and I needed a weekend getaway to escape the heat of our respective cities.  I read an article about fun things to do in Vail and as Colorado is a 2-3 hour flight for each of us, it made a nice, central place to meet up.

Knowing that lodging wouldn’t be nearly as hard to get in the summer as in the winter, I’d hoped to get a 2-bedroom condo at a reasonable price.  That way we’d each have our own bed and plenty of space.  It turns out that most of the condos can’t be rented for a single night.  I did have a travel agency track down one place but they wanted $300 for the one night.  No thanks.

I looked at what hotels were available on points and there weren’t a lot of reasonably-priced choices there either but I did find the Holiday Inn had a room that could sleep three adults.  The hotel is actually across I-70 from the resort but during the summer, there’s no charge for the parking deck at Lionshead so we were only a short drive away.

The valet greeted us promptly upon arrival. Leaving the car with the valet is really the only parking option but the price is cheaper in the summer than in the winter.  In the end, we were not charged at all.  I don’t know whether that’s due to my Platinum status, because we booked the room on points or if they just forgot.  But when I checked out there were no charges billed to the room.

Once inside we had a brief wait while other customers were being assisted but then were welcomed warmly and our room was assigned quickly.

hi-vail-hallway

Hallway to our room.  Carpet could use refreshing.

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Categories: Colorado, Hotel, IHG, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Hyatt Place Milwaukee Airport

Posted on September 7, 2016 by 2btravel

For the second night of my long weekend visiting friends in Milwaukee I used the free night certificate from my Chase Hyatt Visa for the Hyatt Place Milwaukee Airport.

I chose this hotel for a few reasons:

  • I knew there would be a nice large sitting sofa where my friends and I could gather to watch one of our favorite shows
  • Breakfast was included
  • The hotel had a free airport shuttle

Even though my room was just across the street from the airport, airplane noise was never an issue.

I’d reserved a king room and received one on the fourth floor.  Just inside the door was the living area with the sleeper sofa, a desk and a cabinet which held the mini-bar and on top of which sat the coffee maker.

hp-mke-airport-sofa

Sleeper Sofa with Ottoman

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Categories: Hotel, Hyatt, North America, United States, Wisconsin | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Crowne Plaza Milwaukee West

Posted on August 28, 2016 by 2btravel

Back in April I visited with a couple of friends for a long weekend.  The Crowne Plaza Milwaukee West is actually in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin which is where one of my friends live.  I used my annual free night certificate from the IHG Platinum MasterCard.

I arrived late on a Sunday afternoon and had a short wait to check in.  Once I reached the counter my Platinum status was recognized and the friendly associate soon had my room assigned.  I was given a king room on the 7th floor.  Though it overlooked a busy intersection, I never had any issue with traffic noise.

CP MKE West King Bed

Crowne Plaza Milwaukee West King Bed

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Categories: Hotel, IHG, Lodging Review, North America, Uncategorized, United States, Wisconsin | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Landmark Condominiums in Vail, Colorado

Posted on June 15, 2016 by 2btravel

On my second ski trip this season I returned to Vail, Colorado for the first time in 9-10 years. Our group stayed at the Landmark Condominiums – a property that I don’t think even existed during my last stay.

It’s got a terrific location – right on the frontage road of I-70 and just a block away from the slopes on the other side. There’s an underground garage for those who need to park. Even without a car it’s easy to move around the Vail Valley as the public bus stop is right at the end of the Landmark’s driveway. The free bus can take you wherever you need to go on its route and can even connect you with the (paid) bus to Beaver Creek, if you want to ski there.

Each unit is independently owned so decor varied from unit to unit. Most of our group had 2BR units but my friend and I had a 1BR. Not surprisingly that meant that the bedroom contained only a single queen bed. I used the sleeper sofa and after finding a quilted duvet to help act as an additional mattress pad, actually slept pretty well.

The hallway led past the bedroom into the living room. It had several hooks on the wall, which was great for hanging up our coats so we didn’t have to try to squish them in with our clothes.

Hallway with front door

Hallway with front door

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Categories: Colorado, Condos, Lodging Review, North America, United States, Vail | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: The Summit at Big Sky Resort

Posted on May 28, 2016 by 2btravel

I love to ski and went on two trips this past ski season. The first one was to Big Sky, Montana, which is one of my very favorite places. It’s a little remote – the closest major airport is Bozeman (BZN), which is about 90 minutes away – but being a little hard to get to means it’s not crowded. And by “not crowded” I mean that if there are two groups of people in front of you in a lift line, that is a lot. They define a “busy day” as one with more than two people per skiable acre. As someone who is not overly fond of crowds, this is just fantastic for me.

My first trip to this resort was in 1994 and I’ve stayed in four different accommodations over the years since our ski club visits every 2-3 years. By far the best choice is The Summit.

View of the Summit from the slopes

View of the Summit from the slopes

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Categories: Lodging Review, Montana, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

Posted on May 22, 2016 by 2btravel

SPB Trip Planning
SPB Qantas First Class to Sydney
SPB Park Hyatt Sydney
SPB Sydney Opera House
SPB Around Sydney
SPB Flying to/from Uluru
SPB Emu Walk Apartments
SPB Uluru and Kata Tjuta
SPB Park Hyatt Melbourne
SPB Around Melbourne
SPB Flying to Fiji
SPB Hilton Fiji
SPB Snorkeling Trip
SPB Fiji Air Business Class to Los Angeles
SPB Hyatt Regency DFW

It was after 11 PM when my flight from Los Angeles touched down in Dallas. I was rather tired after starting my day in Fiji, flying overnight to the States and it was now approaching midnight central time. I used the phone in baggage claim to reach the front desk of the Hyatt Regency DFW, which is on the airport grounds. I was given instructions as to where to meet the shuttle and was told it would be along within about 15 minutes.

I had debated between the Grand Hyatt DFW, which is attached to the terminal, and the Hyatt Regency for the last night of my trip. The Grand Hyatt is a category 3 hotel, which means 12,000 points per night, while the Hyatt Regency is a category 2 hotel for 8,000 points. While I loved the convenience of the Grand Hyatt, I thought I’d be better off saving those 4,000 points for the future.

Once on board the shuttle we made stops at several other terminals and I believe the van was nearly full by the time we reached the hotel. Since I only had a carry-on (my large suitcase was checked all the way through to Memphis) I was able to head straight inside to check in. Due to my tiredness I was a bit dismayed to see a long line of people waiting to check in. There were three people working the front desk and they were all working to reduce the line but there were just quite a few of us. That’s when I noticed the kiosk. I’d not seen one of these before but decided to give it a try. There were still only a few people behind me in line so I didn’t have much to lose if the kiosk did not work.

I was thrilled to find I was able to check in, swipe my credit card and the kiosk issued me a key to a room on the 12th Floor. Success! I found the elevator and had a solo ride up.

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Categories: Hyatt, Lodging Review, North America, Texas, United States | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Hyatt Place Los Angeles/LAX/El Segundo

Posted on March 24, 2015 by 2btravel

After wrapping up our visit with our friend who lived in Pasadena, we opted to stay near the airport for our last night in town.  Prior experience had taught us that though it was great to stay out in Pasadena/Arcadia/Monrovia, when it was time to catch our flights if we stayed there then we had to get up earlier.  This was our first time to stay near the airport before a flight home and I think it’s a practice we will continue.

Arranging our stay like this let us not worry about when our flights left as the hotel has an airport shuttle so my friend could return the car convenient to her flight and I didn’t have to get to the airport two hours earlier than I really needed.

We’d stayed in a Hyatt Place once before (though not this one) so I had a good idea of what to expect and this property lived up to my expectations.  We were welcomed at the front desk and promptly given keys to our room.  The staff members were friendly and went over the details about the airport shuttle – I did need a reservation even though it was free – and briefed us on breakfast.

We took the elevator to our room and found just what we expected: a small living area with a sleeper sofa, two queen beds and a bathroom.  The beds were comfortable and there were several pillows on each bed.  A central nightstand had outlets for our electronics.
Hyatt Place LAX Beds

Hyatt Place LAX Sofa Continue reading →

Categories: California, Hotel, Hyatt, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Review: SpringHill Suites Arcadia, California

Posted on March 16, 2015 by 2btravel

A friend and I were visiting another friend who lived in Pasadena, California and we had a free night certificate for a category 1-5 Marriott hotel so we selected the closest one, the SpringHill Suites in Arcadia, about 10 minutes away. The certificate is an annual benefit for those who hold the Chase Marriott Visa card and is good for exactly six months after the cardholder’s anniversary.

As a Silver member we were given a quiet room at the end of the hallway on the third floor. There were two centrally-located elevators for this four-floor property. While both elevators were working the day we checked in, only one seemed to be working the next day which meant more of wait than one might expect.

As all the rooms are suites we walked into the “living area” which contained a pull-out sofa and two small tables that could be used as a coffee table or moved to the sides of the sofa as end tables. Across from the sofa was an area with a desk and chair on one side and a kitchenette on the other. The kitchenette had a built-in microwave and a mini-fridge along with a sink as well as a coffee maker and condiments.

SpringHill Suites Arcadia Sofa

SpringHill Suites Arcadia Sofa

SpringHill Suites Arcadia TV Stand and Desk

SpringHill Suites Arcadia TV Stand and Desk

SpringHill Suites Arcadia Kitchenette

SpringHill Suites Arcadia Kitchenette

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Categories: California, Hotel, Lodging Review, Marriott, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Review: Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Airport

Posted on March 13, 2015 by 2btravel

I arrived in Los Angeles very late on a Friday night and stayed here for one night while waiting for a friend who would fly in the next morning. I took the free shuttle to the hotel. Note that LAX is extremely busy, even late at night, on Friday evenings and it may take quite some time to get to the hotel, even though it’s just a short distance away.

As a platinum member I stepped to the priority check-in lane – but unfortunately got there just after a small group of people stopped to ask the front desk staffer some questions. As a result, the people in the non-priority lane actually got assisted before I did. Part of me wishes they’d been directed to the other check-in lane but the staff member was very professional and answered their questions thoroughly before they left. Once he assisted me it was a very quick process to get my room key and choose my welcome amenity and I was on my way to a club room on the top floor.

Crowne Plaza LAX Club Floor Hallway

Crowne Plaza LAX Club Floor Hallway

Crowne Plaza LAX Room 1623

Crowne Plaza LAX Room 1623

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Categories: California, Hotel, IHG, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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