Update to Andaz Costa Rica Papagayo Blocking Award Availability

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Andaz Costa Rica Papagayo resort blocking award availability and wanted to provide an update. I fortunately was able to speak directly Hyatt and the hotel and find out what was going on – overall they were extremely helpful. The end result is they are not blocking award availability, they just have very few “standard” rooms available.

On my previous blog post I pointed out two different issues with the hotel not accepting point reservations:

• 1 King Bedrooms available for paid reservations, but NOT for point reservations – During Christmas time I saw that while the hotel was showing 1 King bed available for paid reservations, they were not available for point redemptions. This was actually the only time I saw this particular issue and it did raise a big concern. 1 King bed (as well as 2 double bed rooms) seemed to be their “standard” room type. Hyatt does not capacity control their rooms, so if a standard room is available, then you should be able to book it on points. Or so I thought. After speaking to Hyatt more, I found out that there was a glitch in their system and there actually were no 1 King beds available during those dates. I am not sure what would have happened if I actually tried to book a paid reservation though – I didn’t try since the rates were non-refundable. Since it was the hotels error, they were willing to extend a point reservation my way, which I thought was very generous. Unfortunately, by the time I heard back from them the flight reservations I found using miles were no longer available (not surprised!) so I did not book (it was a non-refundable rate and didn’t want to assume mileage tickets coming available during Christmas break).
• 1 King Bed Forest View rooms sometimes being available on points and sometimes not – While 1 King beds are their standard rooms (and those that are available for point redemptions), they also have rooms being classified as “1 King Bed Forest View”. When you look at the description of the two they are pretty identical, but apparently there is a difference. I am still not sure what the difference is, but I was told that there is a difference and they’ll be updating the description to make it more clear. During off-peak dates there are times when they actually make their 1 King Bed Forest View rooms available for point reservations, even though it is not the “standard” room. I was also told that the week in February I was trying to book there is a huge conference at the hotel, so that makes sense. This is also not a huge resort, so it is understandable that when a conference comes to the hotel, award availability dries up quickly, especially with so few standard rooms available. I just wish they’d make the 1 King Bed Forest View rooms standard rooms as well. This would allow those who earn Hyatt points to actually use their points at this resort and make it so the hotel didn’t hand select which weeks they’d allow those rooms to be part of the point redemption program and not. But, I guess it is what it is!

It seems like if you are planning a stay at this resort and want to use points, book early! Or go during an off-peak time. There are a very limited number of standard rooms available, thus not many opportunities to use points. Although my desired dates aren’t really working for the next 6 or so months, this resort is still very high on my radar. I’ll just be sure to book 13 months in advance next time.