I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[Alexle2007]

We're on our summer vacation now and have had the worst hotel experience we've ever had. That being said, I'm know there are many worse things that could happen, but our service has been terrible and if I had paid cash instead of using points for the 5 night stay, I would really be livid. I've never left a bad review, but I'm seriously thinking about it. I just don't know whether I should leave it on HIlton's website, tripadvisor or where??

The front desk employees have been rude and service has been non-existent. It went the farthest tonight when the 35-ish year old man working the front desk used terrible curse words when he was talking to me. I had gone to the desk to get extra towels because they hadn't serviced our room the entire time we'd been there and he blamed it on the management and was over the top in describing what he thought of them. I really couldn't believe it. Anyway, I was just wondering if and where anyone has left a negative review. I know covid has messed everything up, but in my opinion, our stay went above and beyond terrible.

So sorry you are having this experience. I would do Twitter and Trip Advisor.

Hope you are enjoying your trip otherwise!

 

[chattadisser]

We're on our summer vacation now and have had the worst hotel experience we've ever had. That being said, I'm know there are many worse things that could happen, but our service has been terrible and if I had paid cash instead of using points for the 5 night stay, I would really be livid. I've never left a bad review, but I'm seriously thinking about it. I just don't know whether I should leave it on HIlton's website, tripadvisor or where??

The front desk employees have been rude and service has been non-existent. It went the farthest tonight when the 35-ish year old man working the front desk used terrible curse words when he was talking to me. I had gone to the desk to get extra towels because they hadn't serviced our room the entire time we'd been there and he blamed it on the management and was over the top in describing what he thought of them. I really couldn't believe it. Anyway, I was just wondering if and where anyone has left a negative review. I know covid has messed everything up, but in my opinion, our stay went above and beyond terrible.

I second TripAdvisor and Twitter. I might ask for the GM too, if you are up for a in-person discussion, but I would do the other too first, corporate needs to know what's going on if its that bad.

 

[alryan]

I'm operating under the assumption that it'll be fine. DH's plats are up for renewal in January. I plan to book in early January, wait for the credits to post, and then cancel the cards if I don't get a good enough retention.

If the booking is refundable, you can go ahead and see if it charges immediately (the one hotel I booked with Amex Travel did). Then the only worry is if they ask for the card when you check in? I'm thinking they don't.

Thank you. That's what I figured as well. I went ahead and booked one night last night. I guess I really won't know until check in, but I think it will be okay. I didn't think I'd use the benefit at all, but this will work pretty well. With taxes I paid $23.75, not bad for a night away, breakfast for two, and the $100 will come close to covering dinner.

 

[Brandilla]

We're on our summer vacation now and have had the worst hotel experience we've ever had. That being said, I'm know there are many worse things that could happen, but our service has been terrible and if I had paid cash instead of using points for the 5 night stay, I would really be livid. I've never left a bad review, but I'm seriously thinking about it. I just don't know whether I should leave it on HIlton's website, tripadvisor or where??

The front desk employees have been rude and service has been non-existent. It went the farthest tonight when the 35-ish year old man working the front desk used terrible curse words when he was talking to me. I had gone to the desk to get extra towels because they hadn't serviced our room the entire time we'd been there and he blamed it on the management and was over the top in describing what he thought of them. I really couldn't believe it. Anyway, I was just wondering if and where anyone has left a negative review. I know covid has messed everything up, but in my opinion, our stay went above and beyond terrible.

I would suggest leaving one on google as well. So sorry your hotel has been bad!

 

[Judique]

Your pics of Aruba are fantastic BTW and I hope you're having a great time! It looks like a better spot than the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay. Which was fine, but there was nothing interesting about the town it's located in.

I'm going to try the Hyatt in the fall when the migration is on, and my focus will be birds, visiting Blackwater Refuge and eating.

Did you try any local restaurants? Eastern Shore - usually the focus is Maryland Blue Crab, but although I will eat crab, it's not a priority for me, so interested to hear if you found any places with good food?

And, I usually go to Ocean City coming down Route 1. That means it will be all new to me as I haven't been on the bridge side in many years (since the bridge patrol stopped driving me across for free).

 

[platamama]

I'm going to try the Hyatt in the fall when the migration is on, and my focus will be birds, visiting Blackwater Refuge and eating.

Did you try any local restaurants? Eastern Shore - usually the focus is Maryland Blue Crab, but although I will eat crab, it's not a priority for me, so interested to hear if you found any places with good food?

And, I usually go to Ocean City coming down Route 1. That means it will be all new to me as I haven't been on the bridge side in many years (since the bridge patrol stopped driving me across for free).

We did go to Blackwater Refuge, and even packed binoculars, but it was definitely the wrong time of year to visit. The insects were impressive though, based on the thunking sounds on the car as we drove through! There was a fly that was as at least an inch long that landed on my side window. 0.0 Going when the birds are migrating is a sound plan.

One thing surprising to me at the Hyatt was that the balconies did not have solid floors, but were basically Juliet balconies with grates underfoot. It wasn't a space to hang out in at all.

We ate dinner one night at the Hyatt, and then one night in town. Turns out that the days we were visiting were the same ones that most restaurants were closed (maybe they're open over the weekend and then close at the start of the week), so there wasn't much selection. The place we ate at was called Snappers and I cannot recommend it. I got crab cakes for dinner and it was quite pricey for not much actual food. Which was sad for me because I love crab cakes.

I drove the Bay Bridge and thought of you! And @WVMomof3! lol

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

7/6/2021 - DISchurners Announcement - Chase, Amex & Misc Support Link THREAD REFRESH

It's time for everybody's favorite event...the semi-annual refresh of the SUPPORT Link Threads.
As a reminder - ANYBODY is welcome to share their support links in these threads. The instructions are at the top of each one.

For those that have previously posted, the easiest way to move them over is:
1) Go to your OLD comment in the OLD thread (you'll see the old threads listed near the bottom of the DISchurners feed)
2) Click EDIT
3) COPY the entire comment text in the edit box
4) PASTE the comment text as a NEW comment in the NEW thread (you'll find the new threads near the top of the feed)
5) CHECK all links to make sure they are active and working and make sure that your description of the offer matches the actual offer!
You do NOT need to delete your old comment when done, you can just leave it in that thread.

This process will help you not have to re-do all your formatting.
Side Note: Many find it easiest to access DISchurners in old reddit. (https://old.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/)

Side Note 2: I would also advise that you check to make sure that all of your links are accurate and working!!

I will post reminders for this over the next week or so and will then remove the old threads with only the new threads remaining.

One more general reminder, reddit flags many support links as spam. I then go in and manually approve them. I will keep an eye on that as we conduct the refresh and approve them all as quickly as possible!

ALSO OF NOTE - I'VE REFRESHED ALL OTHER MAIN PAGE THREADS ON DISCHURNERS.

 

[wanderlust7]

Made a speculative Hyatt booking because the cash rate was low. The deposit charged right away and I got the 8x promo on my Hyatt card, but now I'm wondering if the 8x will be taken back if I cancel down the line? Would feel like I didn't max out the promo lol. I think the 4x for Hyatt will be taken back as I've seen that with deposit refunds. Anyone have any data points to share? I think anything Chase could be relevant.

 

[FloridaNative8]

I know we’ve got a lot of Hawaii travel coming up in this group - we are here now, so I thought I’d give my resort review (1st of 3 resorts we are staying at). Right now we are finishing up our stay at Wailea Beach Villas in Maui.

Pros - the rooms are GORGEOUS. We are in a 2 bedroom condo with a full living room, kitchen and washer/dryer. It’s seriously nicer than my house at home! Tip - it’s a Hyatt property and you can book through the Hyatt website, but you can’t pick your specific room. There are several other websites where you can see and book a specific room. We used Destination Hotels, but I also saw that Exotic Estates has them listed too. I’m sure there are others. We are in Penthouse 306, and the location is PERFECT. The first number is your floor number - I don’t think I’d want to be lower than 3. The Penthouse is the main building with the lobby, a fitness center (super nice equipment) and a game room with a pool table, ping pong table and shuffleboard. It’s the farthest building from the beach - maybe a 4-5 minute walk. There are “villas” closer to the beach. I think there are maybe 8 of those buildings, with maybe 4-6 units in each? I think the unit sizes vary from 2 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms.

Other pros - the location. Right on Wailea Beach next to Grand Wailea (which is insanely huge-looking - we haven’t explored there). And the main building is literally a one-minute walk to Shops at Wailea, which is a really nice outdoor shopping and dining complex. Everything from high-end stores like Prada, to Banana Republic, to an ABC convenience-like store. And tons of restaurants. In two days, I think we’ve walked over there at least 4 times to eat or grab things we needed. No place is closer than Wailea Beach Villas. We are also walking distance to Grand Wailea and Wailea Beach Resort (Marriott), so you’ve got easy access to their restaurants. There is also a stand at the Marriott to rent kayaks, boogie boards, and snorkel gear. I assume that’s open to everyone but I’m not positive. (A con for Marriott - it’s NOT on the beach. It overlooks rocks and is a bit of a walk to a sandy beach. Not a far walk, but it is NOT beachfront).

The beach isn’t huge (I’m used to North Carolina beaches!) but it is nice and not insanely crowded. They’ll set up umbrellas and chairs for you (free).

Cons - it’s not a true resort in that there are no restaurants or bars on-site. The restaurants aren’t a huge deal because Shops at Wailea is so close, but it would be nice to have a beach or pool bar to get drinks. There is a food truck at Grand Wailea that you can access, but it’s very limited in their drink selections -a handful of beers and maybe two cocktails.

There are two pools and they are really small - an adults only (18+) pool near the beach, and a family pool near the lobby (a decent uphill walk from the beach - maybe 4-5 minutes?). Both have hot tubs. No slides or anything like that. BUT, even though they are small, because the resort is so small, we’ve never seen them crowded at ALL. No problem getting chairs and umbrellas any time of day.

I think that’s it? Tomorrow we move to Hyatt Residence Club in Ka’anapali for 3 days, and then Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu for 4 days.

For excursions, we’ve done - Haleakala Bike Trip (not the sunrise one - that required a 1:30am departure from our hotel, but the morning one), through Bike Maui. Not for the faint of heart. As a nervous parent of fearless teen boys (15 and 17), it was pretty terrifying for me (I would have loved it if we were adults only - I was busy worrying about my kids the whole time!). I can’t imagine taking kids much younger than mine on that trip.

Molokini and Turtle Town snorkel trip on the Calypso -we did this this morning, and it was a blast. The boat is the biggest in Maui and has a jumping platform and two slides (my kids love that stuff, so that was why I picked this boat). The crew was phenomenal. The snorkeling at Molokini was pretty disappointing given the build up - we saw a lot of fish but not much variety. And we had to cancel Turtle Town because of swells and went to an alternate spot where we didn’t see much of anything. But even with that, I’d highly recommend Calypso - most of the boats go to the same spots, so you won’t get much variety there, and Calypso was a fun boat with a great crew.

Oh, and for anyone going to Hawaii anytime soon or even not soon - make excursion and restaurant reservations NOW. Everything is and has been booked up solid for weeks (thank goodness I’m a crazy Type A planner and booked everything 6 months ago)! Some restaurants are walk up only - expect 60-90 minute+ waits, even if you go early (5:30ish). Take out is your friend - even the really high end restaurants are doing take out, which saved us our first night here - another reason we love having the Villa with so much room and a full kitchen.

I’ll be back with more later! Happy to answer any questions.

Thanks for this report!! We leave for the Grand Wailea in about 2 weeks, and I'm also a crazy Type-A planner so our rental car, dinner reservations, and tours (Haleakala and Road to Hana) were booked months ago - thank goodness!

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Has anyone gone to Sesame Place in PA and done the Dine with Elmo character meal? If yes, would you recommend it. We are doing a 2 day trip and am considering doing dinner the first night with Elmo since we'll get to the park later in the day and then breakfast the next. Not sure if it's overkill.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

No date published on end of CSP 100k right?

 

[iujen94]

Thanks for this report!! We leave for the Grand Wailea in about 2 weeks, and I'm also a crazy Type-A planner so our rental car, dinner reservations, and tours (Haleakala and Road to Hana) were booked months ago - thank goodness!

I know your reservations are set, but we ate dinner last night at Humble Market Kitchin (a Roy Yamaguchi restaurant at Wailea Beach Resort - the Marriott - which is easy walking distance). It was definitely expensive (one of our two splurge meals on this trip), but it might have been one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten! The appetizers are particularly fantastic, and two would make a very filling (and not too crazy expensive) meal.

 

[FloridaNative8]

I know your reservations are set, but we ate dinner last night at Humble Market Kitchin (a Roy Yamaguchi restaurant at Wailea Beach Resort - the Marriott - which is easy walking distance). It was definitely expensive (one of our two splurge meals on this trip), but it might have been one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten! The appetizers are particularly fantastic, and two would make a very filling (and not too crazy expensive) meal.

Thanks for the recommendation, adding it my list! I left a couple of nights open, fully prepared to either have a wait to dine in or get take out those evenings (and to show my family that why, yes, I can go with the flow sometimes )

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

We're on our summer vacation now and have had the worst hotel experience we've ever had. That being said, I'm know there are many worse things that could happen, but our service has been terrible and if I had paid cash instead of using points for the 5 night stay, I would really be livid. I've never left a bad review, but I'm seriously thinking about it. I just don't know whether I should leave it on HIlton's website, tripadvisor or where??

The front desk employees have been rude and service has been non-existent. It went the farthest tonight when the 35-ish year old man working the front desk used terrible curse words when he was talking to me. I had gone to the desk to get extra towels because they hadn't serviced our room the entire time we'd been there and he blamed it on the management and was over the top in describing what he thought of them. I really couldn't believe it. Anyway, I was just wondering if and where anyone has left a negative review. I know covid has messed everything up, but in my opinion, our stay went above and beyond terrible.

What brand? I didn't know that Hampton Inn's have a 100% guarantee promise. My really good friend works for hilton. A Hampton Inn I stayed in Feb (in FL) was terrible. I got the room for free. She's told me the things people complain about are insane. My complaints were legit.

Also she told me to complain to the Diamond desk if the hotel didn't take care of the issue. I'm a Diamond member. So that's an option too.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I read on another CC site that there are changes to Venmo starting this month. I'm planning on using Venmo for the rest of the spend I need to meet on my CIU. Does anyone know the changes and if this will affect me being able to do that?

 

[stitchfan18]

Made a speculative Hyatt booking because the cash rate was low. The deposit charged right away and I got the 8x promo on my Hyatt card, but now I'm wondering if the 8x will be taken back if I cancel down the line? Would feel like I didn't max out the promo lol. I think the 4x for Hyatt will be taken back as I've seen that with deposit refunds. Anyone have any data points to share? I think anything Chase could be relevant.

I asked a similar question about doing a speculative WDW booking with the elevated Disney Visa categories and someone responded that the bonus points get taken back along with the normal points. If I remember correctly. whoever responded had all the points taken back from a Hyatt cancellation on their Hyatt card.

 

[happ]

No date published on end of CSP 100k right?

I read a random post on reddit that it was rumored to be 7/17, but I don't know how valid that is.

 

[stitchfan18]

Does anyone know if MLB concession stands usually code as restaurants/ dining with AMEX?

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I asked a similar question about doing a speculative WDW booking with the elevated Disney Visa categories and someone responded that the bonus points get taken back along with the normal points. If I remember correctly. whoever responded had all the points taken back from a Hyatt cancellation on their Hyatt card.

I made dining ADRs a couple of weeks ago and had to prepaid for CRT at the time of booking. Right after I booked, I was able to change it to a better time and my Disney Visa only showed them taking back the normal points for the first booking and not the bonus points.

 

[chattadisser]

Does anyone know if MLB concession stands usually code as restaurants/ dining with AMEX?

Not sure about MLB concessions but we went to a few college World Series regional games and those concessions coded as dining on the CSR.