After reading great reviews about the all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, I booked a week-long stay in March. I ran into some difficulties during the booking process, including lack of award availability, but found a way around that. If you’re interested in staying at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, here are some tips for booking paid and points rates:
Redeeming Points at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos
The Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos requires 20,000 points per night. The Hyatt website does not display award availability. In fact, you’ll often get a message that, “The special offer/rate you have selected is unavailable during these dates”.
This may not actually be the case. Above that message are instructions for calling Hyatt Gold Passport to redeem an award.
To find award space, you have to call Hyatt Gold Passport and ask a representative to search for it. Only one of the five nights I wanted was available on points, while the hotel was still selling standard rooms. I imagine it had something to do with the busy Spring Break travel season, when there is much more demand.
The representative did find a premium award for 32,000 points per night. This was going to be the same room type but with an ocean view. Pass. I did not want to spend 12,000 extra points for a better view, so I moved on to Plan B…
Saving on Cash Rates at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos
Paid rates at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos can be pretty hefty – we’re talking $1,000+ per night. However, the resort was running a 50% off promotion, which brought the cost down significantly. Depending on paid rates, it might make sense to pay with Arrival Milesrather than redeeming Hyatt points.
I didn’t want to pay $1,000+ per night for two rooms and redeeming points was pretty much out of the question. Remembering how much I saved with the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, I decided to check it out and found an incredible deal…
Booking the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos Through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
When I couldn’t find award availability and cash rates were too high for a reasonable Arrival redemption ($540 per night before taxes), I turned to the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. I used the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal last summer to book cheap activities and a room at the Conrad Bali Nusa Dua. You can find some really great deals and point rates through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, where points are worth 1.25 cents each.
Sure enough, I not only found reasonable point rates but over 50% off paid rates! The same room selling for $540 on the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos website was going for $284.08 with taxes included. There was also an option to use 22,726 Ultimate Rewards points per night.
This was slightly higher than the 20,000 points required by Hyatt, but it was still preferable to redeeming 32,000 points for a “room with a view” or paying the $540 cash rate displayed on the Hyatt website. I ended up using my Ultimate Rewards points to cover most of the cost for two rooms I booked.
It’s important to note these rates through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal will not earn Hyatt points or stay credit. That’s worth the 50% savings, in my opinion. There are also lots of different room types to choose from through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, many of which were cheaper than a “premium” Hyatt award.
Also, while you won’t earn points or stay credit on a stay booked through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, you can still add the reservation to your Gold Passport account, but only one day before arrival.
Saving on Swim Up Rooms at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos Through HotelsCombined
I found another great hotel gem recently and thought it was worth adding to this list: HotelsCombined. Full disclosure: If you use my link and end up clicking through to book, I’ll get a $0.50 commission. I know, I’m rolling with the big boys now.
Anyway, HotelsCombined searches over 50 travel sites for the best deals and I’ve found some very competitive rates at some sample properties, including the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. I searched rates on April 18 -22, 2016. Swim Up rooms were selling for 40% less than on the Hyatt website.
After I clicked through to the actual travel website listing these rates, I found the rates displayed on HotelsCombined were pretty much inclusive of taxes.
The same Swim Up Rooms selling for $456 per night on HotelsCombined were going for $768 per night on the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos website.
A couple things are off about the initial search. First, the results page lists the Hyatt Place Los Cabos but the photos and room types displayed are for the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos.
While the cheapest rate highlighted is $1,824 for four nights (for a Ziva Swim Up Master Double), when you look at the list of rooms, there’s another option: $1,794 for four nights in a Ziva Ocean View Master Double.
After clicking through to Booking.com, you’ll find the rate changes to $2,136. There is a lower rate of $1,708.80 for four nights, but it’s for one guest rather than two.
Redeeming Two Free Nights from the Chase Hyatt Visa at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos
If you plan ahead, you could redeem the sign-up bonus from the Chase Hyatt Visa at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. The two free nights can be used at any Hyatt hotel worldwide. While most people prefer to redeem them at top category hotels, you can get great value applying them to all-inclusive stays.
Not everyone has time to fly to the Maldives or scrounge up enough points to stay more than two nights at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. For some, an all-inclusive vacation in Mexico, where additional nights can be easily covered with points is perfectly sufficient.
Upgrading a Room at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos
All of the rooms at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos are considered suites. But you can book a premium room for 32,000 points per night. Booking a premium award or redeeming a Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrade Award on a paid stay only gets you an ocean view room – which many Diamond members get upgraded to anyway. Probably not worth shelling out the extra points for, in my opinion.
When I called the front desk to inquire about the type of room I could confirm with a Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrade Award, I was told they couldn’t tell me that until check-in time. Another front desk agent quoted me $300 per night to upgrade to a swim-up suite.
The front desk wasn’t particularly helpful, so I called up Hyatt Gold Passport. A representative informed me that one of my rooms had already been upgraded to a Hyatt Ziva Suite. Tacking on a Suite Upgrade Award along with a $75 nightly fee would get me a swim-up room.
When I called back to confirm this upgrade, the representative didn’t know what I was referring to and transferred me to the hotel’s front desk. Once again, I was told they couldn’t confirm anything in advance.
Final Thoughts
That being said, I don’t think it’s necessary to book anything above a standard room. This isn’t the type of resort where you’ll spend a lot of time in the room. You’ll be out, enjoying the great restaurants, the beach, and lots of on-site and off-site activities.
Our suites were spacious, but we didn’t spend much time in them and would have been fine in standard rooms. As I pointed out in my initial post about this resort, I do think that while the swim-up suites are a novelty, they’re pointless here since they’re located five feet from the main pool, around the corner from the adults-only pool and lack any privacy.
Unless you’re traveling with kids and want to relax by the pool without worrying about leaving them completely unattended, the swim-up suites aren’t necessary. Or worth shelling out an extra $300 per night for.
Do you have any tips or tricks for saving big at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos? Please share them in the comment section.
Just yesterday I actually booked for two nights one using point and one using cash rate . the cash rate was on sale for 60% for a club room Ocean Master or something for 460 a night, point rate is 20k a night but 10k additional for a two year old child???it is quite steep 10k additional for a child doesn’t eat much ! and according to mommy point child above 3 will incur extra charge…unless points work differently regardless of age…
The extra child fee is pretty hefty – in fact, if you bring two kids, it amounts to the same number of points as an extra room. Now that you’ve booked your stay, I highly recommend you go to HotelsCombined.com and see if you can score a cheaper rate and submit a Best Rate Guarantee claim. I was just on there, doing some searching and found savings of up to 40% on Swim Up Rooms.
thx for the advice price seems the same on the same room type, since my second night is on point, i’m just hoping that the front desk agent be gracious enough keep me in the same room with first day being in club ocean master rm for being diamond…. one can only hope..
I’m sure they will. Unless there’s a space issue, it will probably make things easier for them too.
We have reservations for the whole family on point and free nights in June. Does anyone by chance have the hotel manager’s e-mail address for a pre-arrival request?
I couldn’t find his email (I believe his name is Cesar Fajardo) but I’d try emailing the hotel and asking for your request to be forwarded to him.
cool – thanks!
I guess I got a little lost on how you booked your room…. did you book through HotelsCombined, or through Hyatt and submit a BRG?
Sorry about the confusion. I used the Ultimate Rewards Portal to book the stay. I just became aware of HotelsCombined recently and when I checked it out, I noticed the rates were a lot cheaper for premium rooms, so I included it in this list. Unfortunately, you can’t submit a BRG for rates found at the Ultimate Rewards Portal (it has to be a publicly searchable site), but you can submit them for rates found on HotelsCombined.com.
I booked a 7 night stay here in December with a combination of promotions. I used the 2 night certificates from the Chase Hyatt card and booked using cash. This hotel and the Cancun Hyatt were running a promotion of 50% off nightly rate and fifth night free. I used my Citi Prestige card to get the fourth night free as well. So, I ended up paying for a total of three nights for $1,300 in an ocean view club room. For 7 nights at an all inclusive in cabo for two people, I’ll take it! Hopefully, they’ll run that promotion again. The email for the manager is cesar.fajardo at hyatt.com is listed under the transportation tab.
Thanks Kendall! I’m going to modify the way you’ve typed the email, just to discourage spam. Great point about the 5th night free from the Citi Prestige card – I left it out of the list but it should definitely be taken into consideration.
Great report Ariana, and will remember your discovery of potentially good hotel deals via CUR’s. (have lucked out with car rental deals there in the past too) Am aiming to be in Mexico/Cabo in May/June too, depending on what IHG half price deals we see. (for an extended stay in that area and/or Cancun) About the ocean views, concur about not seeing what the big deal is about the “swim up” rooms… but for us, seeing ocean front rooms can be a big plus. We’ve been at Island resorts (like Aruba IHG) where ocean front really matters (rather than getting stuck in rooms by back parking lots — with jackhammers from nearby construction…. grrrr….) By contrast, those resorts with true ocean front rooms can be reallllly nice…. if you like sleeping to roaring sounds of surf. (best part about the Melbourne Radisson — all rooms there are ocean front, as you may recall.) Hyatt Zilara Montego Bay was super nice, but few rooms there fronted the ocean. (the “ocean view” rooms were a bit of a misnomer — with the ocean, “silent” and far, far away….) We see Hyatt Zilara Cancun may be nearly all ocean front….. (a distinction w/ a difference, to us anyway — and for us, more attractive than the new Hyatt Ziva @ CUN)
Thanks, Will! Would you recommend the Hyatt Zilara Montego Bay? I’m now hooked on Hyatt’s all-inclusive resorts and am wondering whether to hit up Cancun or Montego Bay next. As for the views at Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, it seems to be that most of the rooms have at least a partial oceanview room. Also, the resort has so many public seating areas from which to enjoy the view, that even if you end up with a bad view, at least you can enjoy a nicer one from elsewhere.
Hi Ariana. Belated reply to your question, we really did much luv the Montego Bay Zilara — and you have the option to enjoy the many super restaurants at both the Zilara and next door Ziva properties…. The beach was a bit narrow at MBJ. We too are looking at canun Zilara — of all the Hyatt all-inclusives, this one seems to have the best rooms available for the free nights — with virtually all rooms with balconied ocean fronts and even jetted tubs.
Back to the Ziva at Los Cabos, that’s the one hesitation for us for just after memorial day. We’re learning that the suites available for “free night” or award redemption are garden facing and/or near the kids pool. (bit of a let down to hear that, yet perhaps we’re being too fussy)
Thanks for the follow up, Will! Wow, it’s awesome they let you try restaurants at both resorts. I’m definitely going to give this place a try, maybe at the end of the year. Honestly, you won’t spend much time in the room at the Ziva Los Cabos. There’s so much to do and so many great spots throughout the resort, that you will not care about the room. Mine was actually facing the kids pool as well but because it was a suite and only the living room end faced the kids pool, we were never bothered by any noise (besides, there is probably more noise at the main pool than the kids pool…though this isn’t a super loud resort by any means). Trust me, if that’s where the room is, you won’t have issues with noise.
Different subject, how did you get around? By chance did you rent a car in Mexico? (the base rates seem all but free — literally — but am rather “terrorized” by all the reports of high add on fees at the agencies…. and the wild tales of traffic stops & …. such.
Rental cars were just $1 and I believe the insurance cost was another $20 per day, which is still a bargain. We took the bus to downtown San Jose (I believe the fare was $0.50), which is also walkable. We also took a bus to the Cabo Marina one day and that was another easy ride that cost just $2.25 per person. I had heard people drive like crazy, but didn’t witness anything at all like that. I’ve heard stories of corrupt cops stopping tourists, but can’t really speak on that personally. I think the bus is sufficient for getting around.
From what I gather here, the Hyatt Ziva doesn’t do cash+points?
Correct, nor does the Hyatt Zilara brand.
From what I understand, Points and Cash is not an option at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos.
Quick update dp , as a diamond member I received an upgrade upon arrival to a one bed room suite ocean view. I had originally booked on point and cash stay , cash was upgraded tier than point but the fina l upgrade had me stay in suite without changing room. This is awesome!
Nice! That’s kind of what I had – my room was technically a pool view room, but it had partial ocean views.