I could talk about both – real life and Hyatt’’s Diamond Status, that is. Let me address dealing with our real life on the road first. Earlier today I received some unsettling news. I wish the yummy breakfast or the fact that the boys were finally sleeping in a room they were not sharing with their parents was enough. It wasn’t. I tried to push this news aside and to tell myself, “hey, we are at Disneyland. You have all the free Zen tea you can drink, because there is a Starbucks inside of this hotel.” Nope. My manipulations did not work either. Instead I decided I must face this unsettling information head on. I spent two hours on our hotel couch and another two in our hotel bathroom trying to make sense of it all. Somewhere between hour one and hour four I reminded myself, “just because you are on the road and having fun, life does not stop.” It didn’t and I did my best to address it. The cool thing about traveling during these moments is spaces are small, people are moving and time is limited. Take the time to address things and then remember to put them aside so you can enjoy the ride.
Now on to Hyatt’s Diamond Status: In the interest of full disclosure I can tell you that a perk of living in the same hotel for a very long time is that you will eventually achieve top-tier elite status. In particular, Hyatt’s top tier, Diamond, comes with some very appealing perks. I am still deciding if the emotional consequences of four people living in the same very small space to get the status was worth it. Yesterday, I thought the long Emeryville Hyatt House living was worth it in exchange for our very cool Anaheim Hyatt Regency stay. The free breakfast was awesome and our room upgrade rocked. Today I am on the fence.
Currently we are staying at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Golf Resort (Palm Springs). We do not golf, and are staying at a resort built around a very large golf course. Kyle keeps asking, “why do they build resorts based on such a boring sport?” Oh son, if you only new.
Currently I am sitting in chair in our hotel suite living room. And after starving all day (really, all afternoon), and then inhaling a most bizarre Whole Foods strawberry, chia seeds, almond and coconut milk pudding concoction, I really may puke. I am actually serious. I may literally (not figuratively) barf and I am hoping it is red. Here is why I am hoping I barf red. I think the Strawberry will help. See, after seeing the red barf picture my friend just posted on Facebook, and after witnessing a young girl vomit red all over Disneyland last night, I want to go three for three. So vomit you had better be red. Ew! And in my super pukey state, Eli keeps asking me stuff and more stuff: “Mom, come here. Mom, I need the password. Mom, where do I put my dirty clothes? Is this my allergy medicine? Mom!” I feel bad, because I keep grunting and then shooing him away. Poor teen. He has no idea his mom is about to puke. (by the way and later on, my stomach settled. There will be no three for three, at least, not tonight.)
Alas, as I sit in this very large hospitality suite I ponder our current reality. You see, one of the perks our Diamond status affords us is room upgrades. We also are entitled to Club Room access where available. I will let you know how the Club Room food is. And tonight we hit the crazy mother lode of room upgrades. If only they had upgraded us to the $1,000-something-or-othe-dollar-a-night villa [wink wink] – if only. And even without the villa upgrade, this particular room upgrade is something I am having a hard time processing. First, when I say large, I mean, really, really crazy huge! Regarding the décor, even though the room is circa 2000, it feels more circa 1986 in a fancy Ferris-Bueller’s-grandparents-sort-of-way. I feel the urge to make a highball, martini or smoke an unfiltered cigarette. Our crazy room contains glass coffee, end, and lamp tables, a giant wooden dining table, wooden furniture, vases in all shapes and sizes, a china cabinet, two desks, an office, yes, an office, complete with a computer that was quite fancy when it was new, two slightly gaudy bathrooms, two new television sets placed in old TV cabinets, all sorts of lights on set on dimmer switches, a make-up area between the bed and the bath. I love the space. I love all the chairs. I am mixed on the outdated-ness and disappointed with poor use of all of this space. For starters, we only have one bed. Yes. One bed! We have everything you COULD NOT imagine, enough space for a very large family, yet only one bed. Seems impractical, and we decided to give up our giant room and asked for a room with enough beds. To our surprise, when we asked to move to a room with enough beds, the girl giggled and said, “these are the only suite types we have.” I am not sure that is true, but that is what she said. We now have two rollaways. Eli’s is in the office and Kyle’s is behind the couch.
“Mom, you need to write about this place.” Kyle says. Now I am.
The third Diamond Perk is late check-out. I think this is my favorite perk. We do not have to exit the hotel until 4:00 PM. Tomorrow until 4:00 PM, we will bask in the grandeur of our room and maybe even enjoy a large meal at our huge dining room table. Perhaps I can get the outdated computer to work, or maybe even sit down while I apply my mascara in front of the oversized make-up mirror.
By the way our room is so big that when I scream for Dave he does not hear me. Wait. Maybe he doesn’t hear me because he does not understand lady voices [wink wink]. I love this man!
Moments later I hear Dave in the other room, “Oh there is a yoga matt here.”
Sidebar: the Hyatt Diamond challenge (how we got fast tracked to diamond status) stay 12 nights in the next 60 days. You get diamond status for the rest of the year, plus 6000 bonus points. To get enrolled, you have to be sponsored by a hotel. The sales manager at the Hyatt House in Emeryville signed us up.
Sidebar: free tea refills at Starbucks with the Gold card
Sidebar: the perks of Hyatt diamond (as-available room upgrades, free club access or breakfast in hotels with no club, late checkout, bonus points, 4 guaranteed suite upgrades, various other perks at the discretion of the hotel, such as free parking.