Last week I had an amazing stay at the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort. The 153 room property is located on Peninsula Papagayo on the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica overlooking the Bay of Culebra. My friend best described the experience as “glam camping”.
Upon check-in, I was invited to chose my Hyatt Diamond amenity – either 1,000 Gold Passport points OR the food and beverage amenity which was drinks and an appetizer at Chao Pesaco – the on-property Latin-inspired tapas bar. 
We chose the food and beverage amenity, which was tropical sangria and a seared tuna appetizer served with salted mango.
I will write more about the resort later this week, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was looking over my Hyatt Gold Passport account and noticed that I received the 1,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points AND the food and beverage amenity. I figure it’s “no es nada” – it’s nothing … or it’s my favorite mistake!
What I am really waiting for is the 20 percent of my Gold Passport points back from Hyatt’s 20% back on points after you redeem for a points-only stay.
Bottom Line:
My stay was for four nights total – one night was the annual free night in a Category 1 thru 4 for being a Chase Hyatt Visa Card holder, and the other three nights were a Category 4 stay at 15,000 points a night – less the 20 percent points rebate from the Chase Hyatt Visa promotion, so this stay essentially costs the $79 I paid for the annual fee PLUS 36,000 Gold Passport points. Not bad when the Hyatt Diamond line was quoting $500 a night, plus tax and resort fee.
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This property is known to give both. There are a list of properties out there that do this.
@ keith – well go Hyatt! It seems like an inexpensive way to build loyalty. And I would love to see the list. Any hints on where to find it?
What airport did you fly into: how did you get to the hotel: did you stay on property the entire time?
I believe the term is “glamping,” not “glam camping.”
@Michael – we flew into Liberia (LIR), which is about 25 miles away from the Andaz. We rented a car so we didn’t have to stay on the property the whole time. In fact, we took a day trip down to Tamarindo, and took a day trip rafting in the Arenal Volcano area. We also used the rental car to drive over to the Prieta Beach Club and the Dive Bar at the Marina de Papagayo, although the complimentary shuttle at the Andaz runs hourly service to both locations. I would highly recommend a car. Beware tho – the rental price is cheap, but the mandatory insurance was expensive.
@Guyguyguy – ha! Call it what you will, but definitely luxury camping with air conditioning, wifi and an awesome breakfast buffet.
Did you find cheap flights to LIR? It seems pretty expensive to fly there!