Florida 2020 – Hotel Planning

We would have three different hotels to plan. Our first night would be a quick one night stay in Fort Lauderdale. Then we would have a seven night stay in Fort Myers and finally a nine night stay in Orlando.

Fort Lauderdale

We just needed a single night stay. We were looking for someplace convenient, inexpensive, and would allow us to get late checkout. I originally booked a Hyatt location since I have Globalist status allowing us checkout as late as 4pm if available.

As the dates came closer, I realized I had a free night certificate at IHG hotels attached to my IHG Rewards Club card card. The certificate had been extended to expire a the end of 2020 so it made sense to try to use it during this trip since I wouldn’t have another chance to use it.

IHG has several different brands, but Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are two of the more recognizable brands. There were a half dozen hotels near the Fort Lauderdale Airport that we could use the certificate on. I looked for one that looked the best for remote learning, which meant more space and common areas with some privacy/quiet. I focused on ones near the cruise terminal specifically because there weren’t any cruises at the time. They were likely to have lower occupancy which would increase the likelihood we could have a later checkout.

It was trivial to book the room with the certificate which completely covered the room rate and taxes. The hotel also included free breakfast for all guests so we wouldn’t have to worry about that either. We booked a room with two queen beds and a sleeper sofa so it was larger than a standard room to allow us to spread out more while we worked.

Fort Myers

Originally I had booked a room for four nights on points at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa when we were originally going to arrive on a Saturday. We didn’t look at any other hotels in the area as we were going specifically to stay at the hotel.

When we extended our stay to a full week, I noticed a promotional Work From Hyatt rate. With a minimum 7 night stay this hotel offered a rate that included no resort or parking fees (waived for Globalists anyways), a dedicated workspace, and a $50/day food and beverage credit. The rate was about $100/night less than the standard rate that didn’t include the same benefits.

Stacked with other offers available from Hyatt the number of points we would earn from the paid rate effectively made the rate about half of the published rate. In other words for every $100 we spent we got approximately $50 in points based on what I value Hyatt points, so this cash rate was a no brainer for us.

To add further value to the stay, I called Hyatt to see if I could use a suite upgrade certificate. With Hyatt Globalist status I get four suite upgrade certificates. Each certificate is valid for one stay up to seven nights and upgrades a paid or points rate to a standard suite. At some hotels a standard suite isn’t much of a suite, but at this hotel the standard suite looked pretty impressive and definitely worthwhile. Fortunately we were booking far enough ahead that there were suites still available and that booking was confirmed. Having a suite would give us the space for everyone to work and attend school remotely in comfort.

Orlando

Disney World would be the focus of this part of the trip. The boys would be done with school by the time we were there and we’d have 9 days to visit the parks (much more on Disney plans coming up). In my previous visits to Disney with the boys we had stayed in the park. The benefits such as FastPass+, Extra Magic Hours, and the Magical Express made a lot of sense for those stays.

Disney in the COVID era was a much different place. With no FastPass+ or Extra Magic Hours there was much less of an incentive to stay in the park. We would already have a rental car and staying outside the park would allow us to stay in a Hyatt hotel on points to reduce costs.

There are several Hyatt properties not far from Disney World but one caught our eye. The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress seemed to have something for everyone. With attractions like a small pitch and putt golf course, a huge pool with slide (though nothing compared to the water park at Coconut Point), a lake with boat rentals, bicycles, and basketball courts, the boys would find something to do when not in the park. It also was outside the park which was a plus for my wife who is not a fan of Disney magic.

I originally booked nine nights on points before calling Hyatt to see if I could upgrade to a suite. Since a suite upgrade certificate only works for up to seven nights, the split the reservation into two with the final seven nights being a suite upgrade. At that point I switched the first two nights to be free night certificates I had in my account. This would mean that the first two nights would be in a regular room before we’d be able to switch to the suite.

After thinking about this I decided to change up the reservation slightly and use another suite certificate on the first two nights so we wouldn’t have to switch rooms. After even more thought, I realized that was a wasteful use of the certificate on such a short stay. I could use 6000 points per night to upgrade a paid rate so I switched up the reservation once again.

Finally I realized the paid rates had gone down and with the Hyatt credit card points offers on paid rates it made more sense to have paid rates for all the nights. After some confusion on the first two nights of the reservation, I ended up just booking a paid rate on a suite for those first two nights and a paid regular room with a suite upgrade for the final seven nights.

I think with this reservation I made a half dozen changes but I finally got what worked best. While I had originally hoped to book most of the hotels on points, in the end most were paid rates. The promotions Hyatt was offering would earn us what I value at over $1500 in points in return. I’d also be getting a head start on re-qualifying for Globalist status for 2021.

The hotels were locked in and the car rental was one of the last things on the list to book.