Why You Should Plan a Trip to the Park Hyatt St. Kitts This Summer
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Platinum Card® from American Express
After several delays and a near-miss from Hurricane Irma, the Park Hyatt St. Kitts finally opened its doors to guests on November 1, 2017. Based on the experience of one TPG contributor, the resort struggled to get out of the gates early on, with dismal occupancy rates during what should have been a busy time of the year. Well, it appears that this trend has continued into the spring and summer, as the hotel is enticing travelers with an almost too-good-to-be-true offer for the next several weeks.
As detailed on the resort's offer page, if you reserve a stay of four nights or longer by June 30 and complete your travel by July 26, you'll receive your fourth night free plus a $300 property credit per person. With expensive on-property restaurants and a gorgeous-looking spa, that will cut a serious chunk off your incidental bill (note that the credits can't be applied to the room rate).
Of course, it's impossible to know exactly how stellar of an offer this is without considering the actual room rates. After all, a fourth night free isn't all that spectacular if the other three are $1,000 a pop. Spoiler alert: Current paid rates are spectacularly inexpensive.
I actually stumbled across this deal as I was checking on rates for a stay I had booked later this month to celebrate my tenth wedding anniversary. We had originally booked a four-night stay and used Hyatt points to upgrade to a suite, but I couldn't help but cancel and rebook under the new special. Here are the current rates for the exact same dates I will be there with my wife and 3-year-old daughter (May 30 - June 3):
Nope, that's not a mistake; when you factor in the fourth night free, your average rate for all four nights is just $300 per night for a standard Park King (which is hardly "standard" at more than 500 square feet). With taxes and fees, your total cost for the room comes to $1,464. This is just $366 per night, plus you and a companion would get $600 in total credits for the stay. Sounds like a deal to me!
Believe it or not, it gets even better. Let's say you want to head down there for a weekend with some friends. When you change the search criteria to four adults, the average rate does jump a bit, but not too badly, as the hotel allows four adults to share a standard Park Queen room:
The total for this stay is $2,013, including taxes and fees. If you split the room charge evenly among you and your three friends, each person pays $503.25 out-of-pocket and gets $300 to spend on food, drinks, spa treatments or whatever they want. That is an amazing deal, no matter how you slice it.
However, the biggest coup is for families. Let's adjust our search criteria to two adults and two children (ages 5 and 8) for the exact same dates. You'll notice the rate drops back down to the same $300 per night as two adults, though you are "forced" into the Park Queen to accommodate the four guests:
But when you click on the Rate Rules, here's how the special is described:
Details
FREE NIGHT FREE WITH RESORT CREDIT Receive every 4th consecutive night free. Free night is reflected at time of booking. Tax NOT included. $300 Resort Credit per person, per stay
Note that there is no language excluding kids from receiving the $300 credit; it is simply "per person, per stay." The same language is used on the summary page before you confirm the reservation:
If you're keeping score, that's $1,464 out-of-pocket for a four-night stay in a luxury resort plus $1,200 in property credits. That is truly incredible.
(NOTE: This assumes that the property allows kids to be eligible for the $300 credit. Because I don't see any language excluding them, you shouldn't have any problem, though I'd be prepared with a printout of the reservation confirmation.)
Oh, and did I mention that the property has the Island Fort by Camp Hyatt, a complimentary kids club where you can drop your children off each day and only have to pay for their meals? Talk about a vacation!
I'm still not done, though. If you currently have The Platinum Card from American Express in your wallet, you can take this even further by booking through the Fine Hotels & Resorts program. At the time of writing, you can get this exact same rate for two people plus an additional $100 property credit and the standard perks of FHR: complimentary breakfast, early check-in, late check-out and a space-available room upgrade.
The best part is that these rates are readily available throughout the applicable time period, including over the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends.
Getting there
Of course, to take advantage of this incredible offer you'll need to actually get there. The easiest way to do so is on one of American's two daily flights from Miami, and it looks like availability is still relatively open through June and July on these flights (searching for two people):
In fact, I see many dates with up to 7 economy awards!
American also offers a Saturday-only service from Charlotte (CLT) and will be adding Saturday-only service from New York (JFK) on June 9. Both flights have decent award availability during the applicable windows as well.
Our round-trip flights from Miami (MIA) were 30,000 AAdvantage miles per person plus ~$70 in taxes and fees. However, you could also book any of these American flights for just 20,000 British Airways Avios per person thanks to the carrier's distance-based award chart. Just be sure you know the workaround for getting American awards to appear on British Airways' website. Note that we booked through AA because we had a surplus of AAdvantage miles, and because our flights were more than $800 apiece at the time of booking, we got a solid redemption value of roughly 2.5 cents per mile.
You also have Saturday-only service on Delta from New York (JFK) and Atlanta (ATL), though without award charts, you'll be left paying whatever Delta says you need to pay, though I am seeing round-trip flights for 34,000 SkyMiles:
Bottom Line
I was very much looking forward to the opening of the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, and when it timed out perfectly with my tenth wedding anniversary, I jumped at the chance. Now the property is offering a deal that is (almost) too-good-to-be-true, so if you're looking for an excuse to get away for a long weekend this summer, you now have one.
And if any of you wind up being there at any point from May 30 - June 3, look for me, my wife and my daughter!