I just paid $1200 for two nights with 2 meals at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. While decent, it certainly isn't worth that price. Wife got a massage for $230, which a massage typically runs about $75-100 elsewhere.

The rooms were basic and the food was less than worth it. The buffet reminded me of Golden Corral.

They "fee'd" us to death, then you add in the various SA and Bexar county taxes. Hell, I could've gone to Cabo for 3 days for about the same price.

/old man rants at clouds.

Something I've learned is don't EVER pre-pay for anything at hotels like the Hyatt, Fairmont, etc. Booking the basic room-only rate and paying everything else OOP will almost always be a better deal.

The cost of your wife's massage is comparable to other hotels with spas. You will always pay more for hotel spa services than you will at a Massage Envy-type place.

If you really want to save money on "luxury" hotels, look into the Capital One Venture card or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Both give you access to a hotel booking portal that (usually) offers the best rate and gives other perks that save money.

For example, I have the Venture card. Had I booked at that same hotel through the Visa luxury hotel website, I could have gotten the cheapest room-only rate, free breakfast for two for every day of the stay, a $25 food credit, a free room upgrade (pending availability), and free WiFi (if the hotel charges for that).

We are staying at the Fairmont Banff Springs and Fairmont Lake Louise in June. I'm paying about the same for the room as I would have though the hotel website, but I get free breakfast (the hotels' "bed and breakfast" rate was significantly more) and the other perks. I've never not been upgraded to a slightly better room.

The Sapphire Preferred cars offers even better perks (I think the food credit is $100).

Interesting. I'll look into it. I have the united card and the venture card.

Holy hell you got robbed.

queso1 said:

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Interesting. I'll look into it. I have the united card and the venture card.

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If you have the Venture Card, the website is below. You have to book the room and pay for the room with a Visa Signature card (the Venture card qualifies).

https://www.visasignaturehotels.com

I love the property for family weekend, but I am selective and won't stay if it is more than $300 per night. You can find cheap weekends if you are flexible. And the Hyatt card is great because they are now a level 4 property, so you get 1 free night per year at a level 1-4 property.

You can stay the weekend for under $200 if you spend a couple hours listening to their timeshare pitch. Just don't get talked into buying. Hyatt Card is a better bet though.

queso1 said:

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I just paid $1200 for two nights with 2 meals at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. While decent, it certainly isn't worth that price. Wife got a massage for $230, which a massage typically runs about $75-100 elsewhere.

The rooms were basic and the food was less than worth it. The buffet reminded me of Golden Corral.

They "fee'd" us to death, then you add in the various SA and Bexar county taxes. Hell, I could've gone to Cabo for 3 days for about the same price.

/old man rants at clouds.

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Yeh you basically paid "rack rate". Never pay "rack rate"... try looking around for deals on Groupon/Travelzoo/Travelocity type websites next time... you can typically get good discounts (you just don't get "royalty points" for it).

Places that are "nice" but driveable from Texas cities always post rack rates high enough to price out the riffraff. Using points and/or shopping for discounts at those places is always worth it.

To give a little more detail, for a long time, I had a family member that worked for Marriott and we got to use the family rate. When you log into the portal with the family rate password, it would show the real prices for rooms. For example, the Hill Country JW Marriott would have a rack rate around $400 but would list around $100-120 (depending on capacity) for family and employees. Somewhere like the JW in downtown Houston would have a rack rate closer to $175 but family rate would drop it to $100-120. They don't need to jack up the rack rate to keep the masses out of that property.