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My review of Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower
After one-night in central Barcelona at the Le Meridien hotel, I booked the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower hotel with my own Hyatt Leverage plan. I received a nice free-night promotion from Hyatt, plus was (for a very short period) upgraded to Globalist due to a loophole…
The hotel is fairly far out by the Hospital de Bellvitge station, last stop of the red metro line. It’s about 30 minutes by metro to the city centre, or 20 minutes to the airport by bus.
The hotel building is quite prominent once you have exited the station, on top of which there’s a huge Hesperia sign that is the owner of the hotel.
The lobby is large and impressive.
Once having confirmed my name and ID, the receptionist lady greeted me with a very warm welcome, and invited the duty manager to have a chat with me. She then gave me a thorough introduction of the hotel facilities, breakfast and the club lounge, while accompanying me to the lift.
My (suite) upgrade experience with Marriott, IHG and Hilton has been pretty poor in Europe. This is the first and maybe only time I’m staying as a Globalist, and they upgraded me to a Regency Suite on the 24th floor. The highest guest floor is the 25th, and there’s a famous(?) rooftop restaurant on the 29th.
As there’s no separate living room, it’s probably more of a junior suite. However the TV-mounting wall segregates the space well, and you definitely won’t find it confined here.
The room has a traditional layout, is well furnished, and there’s no apparent sign of wear and tear. It is surely a very high standard as of hotels in Europe.
The bathroom comes with a small wardrobe as well as a jet tub.
It is the tallest building in the neighbourhood by a good margin so you have a nice view.
You can cast content to the TV via Chromecast or the Hyatt mobile app.
As recommended by the hotel staff, I had my breakfast in the main restaurant.
Here’s the buffet:
Classic Spanish breakfast with a large selection of cured meat. The quality is decent, although I’m a bit disappointed that they don’t offer churros here.
The Hyatt Regency Club is located on the fifth floor, and it is Huge!
As a business hotel they’ve done a good job catering to business clients’ needs. There are four conference rooms in the club lounge.
Fruits, snacks and drinks (including beer and wine) are displayed throughout the day.
Happy Hour is 5pm to 7pm every evening. In addition to salad and cheese etc, there are two hot items offered each day. I had a lot of fried meat balls and beef stew…
Liquor and spirited are also on offer.
Breakfast in the club lounge is a lot simpler, although they make some special dishes here such as the Bao.
Gym is very small and I’m not impressed. The swimming pool is contracted so all guests including Globalists must pay a €10 fee per day, which I didn’t use.
When I was checking out, the receptionist again called for the (general?) manage who was on his way out to have a personal chat with me. He was very attentive and asked if I wanted to bring a couple of bottles of water with me.
I’m truly impressed how well Globalists are treated at Hyatt Hotels. Although they don’t have 4pm guaranteed late check-out which I find very useful, it is better than my Marriott Titanium experience is almost every way. Sadly I was (duly) downgraded back to Explorist shortly after my stay.
Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower is a very solid hotel with great guest rooms and club lounge. The location is inconvenient though, so I only recommend you to stay here on your first or last day utilising its proximity to the airport.
Great deal: Lindner hotels now redeemable using Hyatt points
Hyatt acquired Lindner Hotels, a hotel group in Germany a while ago. It looks like they’ve more or less completed the system integration work and Lindner hotels can now be redeemed using Hyatt points.
Here is a list of all the Lindner hotels, as well as me and all which was a sub-brand:
Austria
- Cat 1 / Lindner Hotel Vienna Am Belvedere
Belgium
- Cat 1 / Lindner Hotel Antwerp
Czech Republic
- Cat 1 / Lindner Hotel Prague Castle
Slovakia
- Cat 1 / Lindner Hotel Bratislava
Spain
- Cat 4 / Lindner Hotel Mallorca Portals Nous
Germany
Cat 1
- Lindner Hotel Berlin Ku’damm
- Lindner Hotel Cologne Am Dom
- Lindner Hotel Cologne City Plaza
- Lindner Hotel Dusseldorf Seestern
- Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Hochst
- Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Sportpark
- Lindner Hotel Leverkusen BayArena
- me and all hotel ulm
Cat 2
- Lindner Hotel Frankfurt Main Plaza
- Lindner Hotel Hamburg Am Michel
- Lindner Hotel Hamburg Hagenbeck
- Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Congress
- me and all hotel dusseldorf
- me and all hotel dusseldorf oberkassel
- me and all hotel hanover
- me and all hotel kiel
- me and all hotel mainz
Cat 3
- Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Ferienpark
- Lindner Hotel Nurburgring Motorsport
- Lindner Hotel Oberstaufen Parkhotel
And many of them are already bookable.
As you can see, most of the hotels fall under Category 1 or 2 which makes the deal very attractive, as you can redeem for a reward night for as little as 3,500 points. As a benchmark 1 Hyatt point is worth roughly 1.5p / 2c.
Not all Lindner hotels are showing award availability yet so it’s probably still work in progress. If your travel destination is on the list and you have some Hyatt points to spend you are in luck!
Hyatt acquires Mr & Mrs Smith, and remember to claim the free Gold membership
Hyatt made a surprising move yesterday by announcing the acquisition of Mr and Mrs Smith, a hotel booking platform based in London.
I don’t want to get into the very details of the news, and there are already numerous reports on many blogs covering it. Basically more than 1,500 hotels from Mr & Mrs Smith’s global portfolio are to be added to World of Hyatt in Q2, and similar to the SLH hotels they will fit into the existing redemption categories.
It is bad news to IHG and its members though, as once the acquisition is complete the existing tie between IHG and Smith is going to be cut, without a question. That’s a big loss in terms of spending IHG points.
For now however, there is one thing you need to do – we covered a fast track route to claim free GoldSmith membership (usually £400) a couple of years ago, and it still works as of today. GoldSmith isn’t hugely useful, but there’s a chance that Hyatt will offer status match or trial at least to Smith members soon, and it costs nothing to be ready!
Hyatt Lindner offer bonus points posted
Hyatt acquired Lindner – a German hospitality group – recently, and launched a bonus points offer intended for existing Lindner members.
After signing up to this offer, you earn 1,000 bonus points per night when staying at any Hyatt property in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. You can earn the bonus up to 10 times.
It might be to tricky to carry out the eligibility check without breaching European data privacy laws, which is why registration is actually open to everyone. I wasn’t sure if the bonus was going to post, but a friend has just shared his success after completing a stay in Cambridge:
Together with the Bonus Journeys global promotion you will earn 2,500 bonus points per night by the end of May, which is very impressive!
Hotel redemption guide on London New Year’s Eve
London New Year’s Eve, thanks to the famous fireworks show, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. If you are looking for a hotel on that night, you should act as soon as possible, especially if you want to burn some points.
[Marriott]
Marriott London County Hall is the best hotel for watching the fireworks show, and redeemable with points. The redemption price has gone up a little bit this year, from 100K to 106K, but it’s still great value compared to the £1,500 NYE package rate.
Award availability is temporarily blocked right now, but my friend did manage to grab a room a few days ago. I believe more availability will be released in the future – in fact last year it was even bookable on the day.
Marriott London County Hall is inside the Fireworks Zone. The hotel will send you the wristbands a couple of days ahead by courier, which you’ll need to travel in and out of the zone freely. You can chill in your hotel room until the firework starts, and then walk to the White Zone, which is one minute away, to enjoy the show. Fireworks can be seen from rooms with London Eye view too, but don’t expect any upgrade on that day.
I have a couple of friends who stayed here on the 2023 NYE. To be honest the viewing angle from the White Zone is far from ideal, but it is an experience nonetheless.
[Hyatt]
Hyatt “poached” two Crowne Plazas last year, which happens to be the only two London IHG hotels that I liked. The former Crowne Plaza Albert Embankment, to be re-opened as Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment, is already bookable for NYE.
It costs 20,000 points which isn’t cheap, but acceptable for a special occasion. Interestingly, Twin Room with River View (priced at £500+) is available for the same amount of points, although I don’t think you can see any fireworks from the room.
Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars has a better location, but it’s not bookable yet and we don’t know its redemption category.
[Hilton and IHG]
Somehow most Hilton hotels in central London have already sold out. The only sensible redemption right now is the Westminster, a Curio hotel. It’s a newly-renovated hotel, converted from a Doubletree, but at 60,000 points it feels a bit steep.
In terms of IHG, the only economical option left in central London is Holiday Inn Oxford Circus at 32,000 points. There were many more better options when I checked last week:
- Staybridge Suites London Vauxhall – 34,000 points
- Holiday Inn Express London Victoria – 19,000 points
- Hotel Indigo Tower Hill – 25,000 points
But the availability has gone now. Keep checking as they might come back, but I’m most certain that it’s just going to get more and more expensive.
Hyatt “Dine Local” triple points offer
Hyatt allows you to earn points when dining with them even when you are not a staying guest. Their “Dine Local” offer is now back which makes the deal even better.
You can check the offer details and participating hotels at this link.
- Valid between September 15 and December 20
- Earn triple base points (=15 points / $1) when dining as a non-staying guest
- Bonus points is capped at 100K per transaction, which is very unlikely an issue
Note that if you are staying at the hotel, you must settle your bill at the restaurant instead of charging it to your folio. Otherwise you’ll earn double points under the current Bonus Journey offer instead.
There are 10 participating hotels in the UK:
- Great Scotland Yard
- Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill
- Andaz London Liverpool Street
- Hyatt Place London City East
- Hyatt Place West London Hayes
- Hyatt House London Stratford
- Hyatt Regency London Stratford
- Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport
- Hyatt Regency Birmingham
- Hyatt Regency Manchester
I very rarely eat at any hotel restaurant unless I’m staying there. If you do though, it’s a good chance for you to bag some Hyatt points.
Hyatt selling points at 30% off
Hyatt has brought back its best-ever promotion for buying points. Until September 30th, you can enjoy 30% off when buying at least 3,000 points, and the annual cap is 55,000 points.
The promotion used to come in the forms of 25% off or 30% / 40% bonus in the past, so 30% off is as best as it gets.
However, GBP and EUR are extremely weak at the moment, which means buying points in USD may not be ideal. With the discount 10K Hyatt points cost $168, or £145.5.
Daily Getaways: 20% Marriott discount and great hotel deals for Northern Europe
Daily Getaways is an annual online sales event hosted by the U.S. Travel Association. Various travel packages (mostly hotel related) are available for purchase across a couple of weeks, usually with a very heavy discount.
Although it targets the U.S. market, some of the deals, specifically hotel point packages, are very worthy even if you reside elsewhere. Note that when you purchase you must fill in a U.S. billing address, so you need a payment card issued in the U.S., or that doesn’t verify billing address.
There are a few deals to be had next week.
July 26th – Choice Privilege
- 14,000 points = $84, qty: 1,147
- 28,000 points = $155, qty: 1,561
- 42,000 points = $220, qty: 1,300
- 55,000 points = $285, qty: 1,590
This is way cheaper than how much Choice usually sells their points, and given there are more than 5,000 packages on sale you should be able to grab some easily.
Choice has their main footprint in the Americas, and thus isn’t a popular or well-known program in Europe. However they do have some low- or mid-range properties in Europe, and with their strong ties with Nordic Choice you can redeem points on luxury hotels in Northern Europe too.
The great news is, most of the Choice hotels in Europe costs between 12,000 points and 20,000 points per night, which means under this deal you pay no more than $104. There are quite a few options in London and Paris for example, although they are only two-stars and three-stars.
The same pricing apply to those five-star hotels in Nordic Choice though, including The Thief in Oslo that typically costs €400 per night:
Unfortunately availability is scarce, but there are many other hotels with wide-open availability that are around the €200 mark.
Choice points don’t expire as long as there’s account activity in any 18-month rolling period.
July 27th – Marriott Bonvoy
- $100, qty: 1070
- $250, qty: 252
- $500, qty: 200
You can buy these e-giftcards at 20% discount. They can be used at most Marriott-branded hotels upon check-out to settle any charge, and they never expire.
It is effectively 20% off on top of whatever other discounted rate you are using. As it’s only a payment method, you earn all points and credits as usual.
July 29th – World of Hyatt
- 30,000 points = $396, qty:2
- 50,000 points = $660, qty:6
- 80,000 points = $960, qty:8
The price has gone up significantly this year, whereas the availability dropped to a ridiculous level. Although the packages are still a lot cheaper than when Hyatt sells points, it would be extremely hard (or lucky) to get any of them.