I’m currently spending four nights at the brand new Park Hyatt St. Kitts hotel, the newest high-end hotel in Hyatt’s portfolio. I posted my initial impressions on the day I arrived, and now that my stay is almost over I have a ton more to say…both good and bad. In fact, there’s so much to say that I’m going to break it down into several posts, because there’s simply too much for a normal single-post hotel review like I did for the Park Hyatt Sydney or Park Hyatt Tokyo.
Here’s how I plan to break down the reviews:
- Park Hyatt St. Kitts – Initial Review and First Impressions
- Introduction: Park Hyatt St. Kitts
- Review: Park Hyatt St. Kitts Transportation & Check-in
- Review: Park Hyatt St. Kitts Sea View Suite
- Review: Park Hyatt St. Kitts Park Executive Suite
- Review: Park Hyatt St. Kitts Gym, Pools, Beach, & Restaurants
- Review: Park Hyatt St. Kitts Miraval Life in Balance Spa
- Park Hyatt St. Kitts Final Thoughts
I realize that an eight-part series for a single resort seems like overkill, but there really is that much to say. There haven’t been many others writing about this hotel yet so I know plenty of people will rely on these posts to determine whether to book a trip here. I want to be thorough so everyone can make an informed decision.
How I Booked It
My reservation was a complicated one, because it was actually three separate reservations for the four nights. If you recall, the Park Hyatt St. Kitts was delayed several times for a variety of reasons, and the delays were not small ones. They were delayed well over 6 months. I’ve had my eye on this hotel for a long time, so I booked as soon as I could make time in my schedule. Due to the substantial delay, the hotel offered me two complimentary nights on a stay when the hotel did eventually open, so I made use of those.
I also used a free night certificate that was earned when Hyatt Diamond became Hyatt Globalist (every Diamond member received one of these certificates at the time). The fourth night was booked using 30,000 World of Hyatt points.
I attempted using one of my Tier Suite Upgrade Award certificates but was informed that I had an ineligible rate. When I inquired further, I found that it was the free night certificate that was not eligible for an upgrade. Oh well. Thankfully I got upgraded anyway.
Why I Wanted to Stay at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts
There’s several reasons I wanted to stay here. First, as a blogger, I had interest in reviewing a property that few people have so far. Second, I’d never been to the Caribbean and thought this would be a great place to start. It’s a new country, a new hotel, and it’s a chain with which I have status and points. Third, they have a Miraval Spa, which is a high end spa and is rare to have. Recall that Hyatt recently acquired the small chain that’s made it’s name in the somewhat new “wellness” category.
It had been a while since I’d been on a relaxing vacation, so my goal was to really just enjoy the resort and spend a ton of time at the spa with my wife. I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, but I set aside plenty of money for use on the spa and for dining.
Upcoming Posts
I’m hoping to pump out these reviews quickly. Even just from my instagram posts (I was live-posting during my entire trip), I had probably a dozen people asking for particulars as they try to decide whether to book a trip or not. That’s part of the reason I wanted to review each item separately – I spent a lot of time at the property and paid attention to as many details as I could. In the restaurants review I’ll have menus and pictures of everything we ate, for the spa review (the one you’ll definitely want to read if you’re thinking of a trip) I have pictures of the facilities and the spa menu, and more.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me in the comments or on social media and I’ll be happy to give you more info. There’s a ton of good things about the property, but there were also some extremely disappointing things that may end up being deal-breakers for many.
I’m surprised there didn’t give you a pool suite. They seem to give it to anyone willing to post a review to tripadv
The second room I was given was a suite with a plunge pool.
Pro tip: you should have put the points night first and applied the TSU to that one night and I doubt they would have made you move
Unfortunately that wasn’t possible due to the way I booked my room. Although three separate redemption rates, each was on the same reservation. This was only true because I had to book through a Hyatt Representative as the hotel was not accepting regular reservations at the time because it had not opened.
Any tips on how to get a suite upgrade? We booked a room in January on points/free nights and they said it would be $550/night to upgrade to a suite. We are taking two kids so the suite would be nice! We are just Discoverists though. Any other tips on how to save money there would be nice! (i.e. Spice Mill for burger night, Salt Plage for dinner, groceries instead of the PH breakfast, etc.)
Also are there bikes you can rent?
Only a portion of the hotel rooms are actually ‘open’. They are working on completing/opening the other rooms. With that said, the work being done is by no means loud and there is no new construction, but it limits the room availability. The hotel is expecting a large amount of check ins during this Dec-Apr season due to the newness of the hotel & the lack of other Caribbean islands. The hurricanes brought an influx of tourists to the island.
Continuing on… The staff is BRAND new to this, so even if you slip them some $$, doesn’t make a difference, they feel this would jeopardize their job, and they can’t afford to lose it. When I slipped them $, they were confused. Didn’t understand what was happening. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get the upgrade.
The size of the rooms are nice – for 2 people. For 4 people, it’s a bit tighter. Similar to Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris, the bathroom contains two sliding doors that meet at the corner. But you are in the Caribbean, so the ‘doors’ are more like Barnwood Sliding Shutter Doors So it’s private, but not completely private.
Thankfully, you will be outside for most of the day. Though, keep in mind – the sun goes in early, so at 5pm local time – you’re back in your room. Until dinner.
Getting a suite upgrade without any status is difficult at any hotel. There is no sure-fire way to do this except to pay. I would simply recommend you ask at check-in, as there may be a cheaper option at that time or perhaps the hotel might have rooms to go around on those dates. Otherwise, unfortunately there’s nothing else I can think of doing.