016 - 12:10:25, 19.38

John Diaz: [00:00:00] Ever dream of going to Japan, not just once, but every year. Me too. I'm John. And that dream became my mission, which is why I started rewarding routes. A podcast about making Japan travel possible. Year after year, I learned how to leverage credit cards to earn points and miles turning everyday spending into flights and hotel stays across Japan.

Each episode I'll share what I've learned from booking award travel to building meaningful itineraries and deep diving into regions, traditions, and experiences that make this country so special. Let's build your rewarding route. One trip at a time. Hello and welcome back. And in this episode we'll be talking about Hyatt Hotels in Tokyo and breaking down all of the Hyatts in Tokyo and other Hyatts throughout Japan.

If you're listening to the previous episodes and one of 'em, we talked all about Chase ultimate rewards [00:01:00] and how you can accumulate more Chase ultimate rewards, which you can transfer over to travel partners. And personally, my favorite is Hyatt because. It has such tremendous value. And in our last episode we talked all about, uh, several neighborhoods around Tokyo that you can consider staying at.

And a lot of those neighborhoods are going to be mentioned in this episode because there are Hyatt hotels around those neighborhoods that I spoke about. And that way we could break it down even more in this episode and go into more details. So this is gonna be a great episode. I'm really excited for it.

And let's dive into it. I do want to put our reminder that I'm recording this episode in December of 2025. Points and miles, the values change consistently. So make sure if you're listening to this episode in the future, that you go ahead and research and make sure these categories and these point rates that I'm talking about are still valid.

Or maybe they're a little bit up, which [00:02:00] tends to happen, uh, Hyatt's every year. Go ahead and they refresh all of their hotels depending on demand, and, and Tokyo has gotten. In such high demand that this. This year, actually, in 2025, earlier in March, uh, a lot of categories went up, which means the prices to use your chase ultimate rewards and booking these Hyatts also went up.

So just make sure you, um, always double check because the points of miles, uh, hobby. Changes so much and I'll always try to do my best to update you as these changes happen. But they often change so much that it's a little hard to keep up. But, uh, I'll definitely do my best. So the best way to get high at points is to chase ultimate rewards, which transfer one-to-one or built rewards.

Switch. Transfer one-to-one over to Hyatt. Uh, Hyatt has fixed award charts that I'm going to, [00:03:00] uh, go ahead and put in the show notes as a link so you guys can look at that and you'll see all of the categories, uh, one through eight, and then all the pricing for points that can be used from off peak to standard to peak.

So I'll make sure to link that and that way you can look it over. And when you look at Hyatts and it says it's category. You can determine. Oh, okay. Maybe, um, say it's like a category five, uh, Hyatt. If you're looking at a standard price, it's about 20,000 points. For peak, it's 23,000 points, and if it's off peak, it's going to be 17,000 points.

Hyatt's award chart is so good, unlike the other hotel brands like Hilton and Marriott. Where they have dynamic pricing with Hyatt, it's just a, it's just an award chart and it is what it is on that award chart, depending if it's off peak, standard and peak. So [00:04:00] what dynamic pricing is, I think I've talked about in the previous episode, but what it is, is the points matched whatever the cash price is.

So if the cash price is really high, the points value is gonna be very, uh, high in matching that. So it makes it. Not so great. So when you, whenever you look on like Hilton, you'll often see rooms for like 75,000 points, eight 80,000, 100,000 points. That's dynamic pricing. So we don't have that with Hyatt.

I'm hoping it doesn't ever get to that point, but , who knows what the future has in store. We just kind of enjoy what we have right now and we, uh, we enjoy the value that Hyatt gives us. So before I get into all the Tokyo Hyatts, I wanted to break down some values that you can get. So I'm going to talk about just a few of the Hyatts and what to expect of the value of your points that you would get if you booked with these Hyatts.

[00:05:00] So, uh, the first one would be the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay. This is outside of the center of Tokyo. This is over near, uh, Disneyland and Disney Sea. It's a category three hotels total the pricing. For points will be between 9,000, 12,000 or 15,000. Cash value for this room is between $150 to $220, so your points value can be valued around 1.25 to 1.40 cents per point.

So it's not too bad on the high end. Uh, it's good to get around 2 cents per point, but honestly, when it comes to your points. As long as you're enjoying your trips and you're booking and you're saving money, uh, I wouldn't worry too much about point, um, point's value. I just want to make sure you get some good value, um, because getting usually under a point percent is often not good [00:06:00] value.

So I wanted to make sure to mention these because it'll give you an idea of. The amount of value your points can give you. And of course you can use your points any way you want, but I just wanna make sure that I, I lay out all these details so then you can make your choices. So with the Park Hyatt Hotel, which is a category eight in Hyatt's top category, which is a, these rooms can be booked on off peak for 35,000.

Standard for 40,000 or peak for 45,000. So the cash price for one of these rooms would be between $700 and $1,600 a night. So if you were to book this at a standard like 40 K, you are looking around 1.75 to 3.50 cents per point. So. You can see that your value of points, it's much higher. Of course, it's more points, but Park Hyatt is very luxury and it's basically [00:07:00] Hyatt's top brand.

So you're definitely getting the value for your points because for $700 to $1,600, that's a very pricey room. These two examples right here, give you an example of how you can think of points. You could stay at a hotel for more days for a cheaper rate to save money on accommodation, or you can stay at a luxury hotel for less nights, but haven't experienced that.

You probably wouldn't pay cash for, or maybe you would, but. It gives you those options, and that's what I love about Points of Miles because you can determine what kind of trip you want to take. Do you want one that saves you more money and, and gets you hotels for your whole trip, or do you wanna be able to splurge in pockets of your trip and stay at these luxury hotels where?

You [00:08:00] probably might've never experienced in your life, and that's the beauty of points and miles. You have those choices that you can make and it's all up to you to make these memories and enjoy just your everyday spend on these memorable trips. And it truly is incredible and this is why I've become so passionate about points and miles and.

The ability that it, it allows me to either take trips that I don't have to spend a penny on hotels or take trips that I can really enjoy the luxury side of hotels and, you know, experience these things I would've never experienced in my life like a business class seat. Like I've never. Thought I would be in a business class C.

I mean, it's like $6,000 for a business class seat that I was able to book a few years ago. So. [00:09:00] Yeah, it, it's an amazing opportunity and if you love travel, might as well leverage this system that allows you to travel more often, more fre frequently, and um, more affordably. So let's get into the Hyatt hotels in Tokyo, and we're going to organize this clockwise around the Yama line.

Famous Tokyo Line that loops all around the central parts of Tokyo hitting major stations. So we're gonna start with Tokyo Station, and this is the Tokyo Station Marucci area, and this is, I believe, Tokyo's newest Hyatt. The caption by Hyatt Katu Cho Tokyo. This is a category five, so it ranges between off peak of 17,000.

Standard 20,000 and peak. 23,000. This is located near Tokyo Station. I believe it's a 13 minute walk from the [00:10:00] hotel over to Tokyo Station where you can hop on a sheen 'cause it's a major SH hub. Or you can get on the Yamanote line or, I mean, there are so many. Different lines at Tokyo Station. It's massive.

It's one of the busiest stations in Japan and in Tokyo, but it's not the biggest, and we'll get to that one a little later. But why stay here? It's a, uh, I mean, Tokyo station's a great area. I love the, um, UCCI side, which is the red brick building . You're over by Ginza. You're over by Ni, uh, NII.

Shihi. Racho. So there's a lot of areas, um, near nearby Tokyo Station, and it's also a hub for the sheen. So say if you spend five days in, in Tokyo and you stay in Tokyo Station, well, you're not far from. The Sheenan, which can take you over if you decide you want to go to [00:11:00] Osaka or Kyoto or maybe up north to, uh, a Maori or, uh, Sendai or Hokkaido.

You have everything kind of compact there and you know, the amino de line can take you to places such as Shinjuku or Shibuya or Eno or bu. And then you can branch off from there. So I, I think Tokyo Station's a great area. I would love to stay at this Hyatt. I believe it opened up, uh, earlier this year in 2025.

So I think this would be a great option for somebody going for the first time. Uh, I think it would be a great option for. Anyone actually really, so this one's highly on my list. I would love to experience this. There are some great YouTube videos on all of these hotels that I'm talking about. So if you're ever curious about one of these and you wanna see it visually, go ahead and type it in u uh, YouTube and I'm sure somebody has some, uh, [00:12:00] great video on these hotels and the surrounding areas.

So that's the first one on this list. The second one is a neighborhood that we just spoke about, and that's Ginza. And this is the Hyatt centric Ginza Tokyo. I was able to stay here this year and let me say it was a fantastic stay. I love the area of Ginza. I know it's a luxury shopping area, so if you're into luxury shopping, it's great.

Uh, I'm not much into the luxury brands, but I did really enjoy the area itself. Uh, there's a lot of food options. There's a lot of good shopping other than luxury. Um. It's very well connected. Uh, it's not on the YA line, , but there is the Ginza Station about a five minute walk from the centric. You also have the ucci and the HIA line that can help you get to other places in Tokyo.

So it's still really well connected. Um, like I talked [00:13:00] about, it's a great place for shopping and food. You have Skee Market. Um, not too far of a walk. I believe it was maybe 20 minutes. Uh, HIAA Park is closer, maybe around 15 minutes. Shichi is a neighborhood just next to Ginza and I say this is a really good place for.

More affordable food options because Ginza can be a little bit pricier, a little bit on the higher end. So if you just walk over to Shichi, which is maybe a 10 minute walk, you're going to find these more affordable, but really good options. And I actually walked along the train station. If you walk next to it, you'll see these food places just under the tracks.

Um, and they have this brick on the outside. Definitely YouTube it or, or look up some kind of picture so you can, um, visually see it and kind of get what I'm talking at. But there's a lot of great options if you just walk. Literally, if you [00:14:00] just walk from Raku Cho Station, which is right next to Ginza, over to Shim Bai, you're gonna find so many little restaurants and hidden gems.

So I definitely recommend that. I forgot to mention, this is a category seven hotel. So you can look at spending between 25,000, 30,000 or 35,000 points for this day. My experience, I was able to get this at a Category six hotel because I had booked before Hyatt increased the IES on most of the Tokyo hotels.

We had five nights here. The five nights were valued at a little over $4,000. We used 121,000 points. So yeah, it's a lot of points, but once you learn how to com accumulate chase ultimate rewards and built points, which I have an episode all about Chase Ultimate rewards and cards that you can get and ways that you can, um, use the different cards to really [00:15:00] accumulate points.

Then it's very possible to get a large amount of Chase ultimate rewards, which you could transfer over to Hyatt and get really great value. The room itself was spacious, so we didn't worry. I know a lot of hotels in Tokyo are on the smaller side, but all the Hyatts we stayed at, um, during our Tuesdays in Japan.

None of them have felt extremely cramped, all of them felt pretty spacious. Um, there is one awkward thing that the sink is like right next to the bed in like this open area. The, the hotel room looks nice. It's very nice, but it does make it a little bit difficult when you wanna brush your teeth and use the sink and your partner's sleeping in the bed.

A couple feet from the sink. But, uh, other than that, it was, the staff was really nice, even in the lounge, they, um, they'll give you complimentary snacks and drinks and a really nice [00:16:00] lounge area to just relax. And they even have a downstairs bar that you can go to and have a drink if you want. So our stay here.

I, I can't recommend it enough. It was really nice. Even with the increase now to a category seven, I can still highly recommend this hotel. Uh, it's central to Tokyo and you can get around to so many places. Over in Ginza Station or if you wanted to walk over to Yda Cho, which is the closest station that has a yamanote line that can get you, uh, all throughout, um, Tokyo, you can do that too.

So definitely recommend, and this will lead us to our next one. Now we are moving over Toon, and this is between Ginza and Rappongi. You have two hotels in this area, and they're actually next to each other. The first one's the Andaz, Tokyo Torah, moon Hills. This is a category eight, so you'll be looking at prices between 35,000, 40,000 or 45,000 points.[00:17:00] 

Location is in Toon. This is a very corporate headquarters and office buildings area, so there's not a lot of touristy things to do in this area, but it's still a very clean area next to the Andaz, you have the to Moon Hill station, which is on the HIA line.

Uh, there are two stations in Toon, that's Toon Station and Toon Hill Station. And like I said, it's a very nice area, very calm neighborhood, um, around a lot of office buildings and corporate headquarters. You're somewhat near Tokyo Tower. It's a very walkable distance, and right next to the Andaz is the Hotel Tomo Hills Unbound Collection.

Now, this is the hotel that we stayed at. This is a category seven, so it's between 25,000, 30,000 or 35,000 points to book. It is both hotels are very nice, very modern, [00:18:00] very elegant. Um, they're right next to each other. And actually from checking out of the Ginza High Centric, we were making our way over to the Hotel Toon Hills.

And since they're so close to each other, the. Person at Ginza. Um, the receptionist actually called the a taxi for us to go over since it was so near Ginza. Uh, we didn't wanna take the train with our luggage and everything. We thought it would be easier with a taxi, and it is most of the times. If it's a short distance and you have some bags with you, sometimes taxis are the way to go.

I know they're a little bit more in cost, but sometimes that convenience is really nice. But back to the story, normally what I'll do is I'll have Google Maps open with the hotel that I'm going to next. I'll call the taxi over and then I'll show them the hotel on my phone. And Google Maps [00:19:00] translates the hotel's name you can tap it to expand it.

So that's normally what I show 'em. But I had the, um, staff at the height centric. Tell the driver where we're going and they just said Toon Hills. So for me, I, I just assumed, okay. Yeah, that's right. So the driver takes us over, but I notice once we get to the hotel, it's saying Dazs because the checking counters right on the outside.

So I, I go up because maybe I'm thinking maybe they're connected to each other somehow. Um, I wasn't sure. This was my first time staying. So at the check-in, I, I told him, he, I showed him the, my reservation, I gave him our passports. And the good thing the driver didn't leave because they noticed right away that we were staying at the Hotel Omo Hills, which is right next door.

And it's something that happens very often. So, just a heads up, uh, these hotels are very close to each other. Just make sure you're specific on which hotel that [00:20:00] you're staying at. 'cause it happened to us, but the driver was. Really nice about it. Everyone was super nice about it and we made it over to the, um, Hills Hotel in no time.

It was really nice. The staff was incredible at this hotel. Um, they even have a lounge area that you can access and the lounge area has a view of Tokyo Tower. It's an amazing way to just like oversee a bit of Tokyo and see Tokyo Tower at a distance. They have snacks and drinks in the lounge. The hotel room was really modern, really elegant.

Um, I love the bidets at all. These Hyatts, I mean, the bidets are, are the champions of these trips and I love 'em. Um, but overall I highly recommend this area. It is if you're looking to be more central and looking to just walk outside and be more in the, um. The energy or more in the uh, areas to [00:21:00] do things.

Then I would look at maybe an area near Shinjuku or Shibuya that we're gonna be talking about soon. But I find this area was very nice, very quiet, and definitely a little bit of a splurge. 'cause this was just one night for us. So. We splurged and we went ahead and booked this, uh, category seven hotel and enjoyed because this was, I, I forget the cash value, but I believe it was on the higher end, something that I wouldn't pay cash for.

So that's always a good way to determine if you wanna stay at a place or not. Hey, would you pay cash for this? Probably not. So maybe we can take advantage with these points that we have and experience something that we wouldn't have been able to experience. But that's all up to you and for you to determine.

All right. The next hotel we have is in the Rappongi area, and that is the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Ripon Hills. This is a category eight hotel. It's [00:22:00] about a eight minute walk to Rappongi station. It's on the Habia and the to oh eight oh line. Here you have the Rappongi Hills, Maury Tower. There's an art museum and an OB observation deck.

Uh, the fees are roughly around. 2000 yen, so maybe around $15 or so. Um, so it's like an upscale mall area that this, uh, grand Hyatt, Tokyo is around. I haven't been to this area at all, so I'm just kind of going off of things that I saved in my Google Maps. And one of the things I saved was there's a restaurant nearby this hotel.

That I would love to try, and it's inspired by the Filmed Kill Bill. So if you watch Kill Bill, there's a fighting scene inside like this, kind of larger indoor space. And definitely Google this. Uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna link the, the restaurant below so that you can see, um, I'll try to pronounce it.

It's the [00:23:00] bu So this hotel was inspired by Kill Bill. And definitely look it up on Google Maps. I I am going to link it so you could see it. There's also Team Lab, borderless nearby. You also have the neighborhood of Buju bu uh, I'm gonna, I struggle with some of these names. I, some of 'em I get right.

Some of 'em I mess up. Lemme try again. Buju. There you go. I th That's kind. I'm almost there. I'm not gonna do it again. I'll, I'll do it on my own time. But, um, that's an area where Sailor Moon locations in the anime were lo like located. You can see some of those areas in the anime, and now there's manhole covers throughout this area that you can visit.

So if you're a Sailor Moon fan, boom. Stay at the Grand Hyatt, Tokyo. Enjoy the other neighborhoods nearby like Buju, [00:24:00] and it seems like a nice area, uh, at night. Just be careful of those dodgy bars and such. You are not far off from Shibuya, so this area could be someplace that you can consider. So definitely look into it.

Uh, it is a category A I feel like I would prefer to stay at one of the other Hyatts, but that really is up to you. And I know I, I believe this hotel is near a street during the holidays where they light up all of the Chris or all of the trees on this one road. I'm sure I could find a photo of it, or maybe I'll link this hotel.

It'll probably be in the hotel photos that there's a street with all these lights on the trees going down the street, leading over to Tokyo Tower. So I, I wish I had written this down in the outline. I don't, and I don't have much time, so, uh, I'll, I'll try to link that down below in the show notes. And yeah, this could, [00:25:00] this could be an option for you.

And this will take us to our next area, big area for a lot of people, a high energy area, and that is Shibuya. Shibuya is on the Yamanote line, so very convenient. It is a bit chaotic. It could get a little bit dirty at night. And there's, you'll see some drunk people here and there. Um. But there is the Hyatt House, Tokyo Shibuya at a category five.

So you're looking at 17,000, 20,000 or 23,000. This is located like a three minute walk from Shibuya Station. So this is something I would actually consider just because of how convenient the location is of this Hyatt. It's three minute walk from one of the biggest stations in Tokyo. This area has so much to do and the surrounding areas around it.

Plus you're on the yata line. So, and at a category five, which is cheaper than some of the other Hyatts, this is why this might be an option. I know the [00:26:00] availability can be a bit tough for the Shibuya Hyatt house, but if you can find it, I think this could be an option. Um. It, it really depends on, on what you're looking for.

But if you, if this is your first time and you really want to be in the action, this could be it. Um, there's plenty of things to do. There's a great nightlife scene, great shopping. You have the Parco, which is a giant mall area that has like a whole level of the Pokemon Center in Nintendo and Sega in Godzilla, and.

Everything that you can think of. Um, the rooms itself have laundry machines in them. That's something you don't see, so that's pretty nice to be able to do laundry in your own room. That's, yeah, that's pretty, I, I, I don't even think I've experienced laundry machines in my room before, so that's like a really big plus for this hotel that you could just do [00:27:00] laundry.

And not have to walk down to a laund mat. Um, being on the yamanote line just helps with getting around Tokyo. So this could be an option. And I know a lot of Hyatt houses throughout the world offer free breakfast. This Hyatt house doesn't probably because of the demand is so high, but, I would, I would consider this definitely.

This is something that, um, I'll go, I'll, I'll have on my list and if I can find availability for it, then I might just book it next. We have the KU area. Also a lot of things to do in this area. Also on the yamano deadline, and this is the, just opened up recently, I think it just opened up yesterday as I'm recording this, on December 10th, it, it reopened.

On December 9th, so yeah, yesterday. And this is the Park Hyatt Tokyo. This is a category A. This was the filming location of loss of lost in translation. [00:28:00] It's about an 11 minute walk from Duku Station, which is the busiest train station in the world, uh, at a Category A. This is gonna cost between 35. 40 or 45,000 points.

I mean, there's a lot to do in Chin Juku. You're central to just so many things in a Park Hyatt, as is one of Hyatt's or if not Hyatt's top brand. You're definitely going to have yourself a luxury experience staying at the Park Hyatt while also staying in an area that has so much around it. So this is something I would love to experience.

I don't know if I'm gonna be able to experience this anytime soon. But if you have the opportunity to stay at the Park Hyatt, I would, I would look into it, definitely. Um, I'll try to post as much information about all of these Hyatt hotels down into the description. It might be overwhelming, so I might keep it down to a few that.

[00:29:00] I would really target. And then you can kind of research and, and do some other, um, ex like, um, exploring and see what hotels or Hyatt that you might wanna consider or neighborhoods you want to be near. Now, another one in Shinjuku area is the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. This one was recently renovated as well.

Um, I believe it just opened up sometimes this year. This is a category five, so you're looking at 17,000. 20,000 or 23,000 points to book. Uh, the location is in Shinjuku, so it's not as central. Uh, it's a bit 15 minute walk to Duku station, but you are about a five minute walk to tome station, which is on the Tori Oto line.

So, and then you also have the Shinjuku station, which is about an eight minute walk. And that's on the Madi, uh, line. This was actually our very first day in [00:30:00] Japan. The, this, the room sizes are very good. They're very spacious. Um, it was decent walking to the different stations. I didn't realize one of the stations was basically just under the Hyatt itself.

If you go outside and then go down some steps, um, you'll, you'll just walk over to a station. This was a really nice day for us. We really enjoyed it. This was our very first time in Japan, so during the stay. I will be honest, we felt a bit overwhelmed with our, our itinerary and like things to do. So we were almost never at this hotel other than like late night, go to sleep, wake up early, we're out.

We definitely didn't pace ourselves right during this part. We were jet lagged. So I would recommend staying at this hotel because it is near the KU like central area. But if I had the opportunity to stay at some other of these Hyatts, I probably would like the [00:31:00] one over by Tokyo Station or the Centri Hyatt Ginza, or the Shibuya Hyatt house.

Those were. Probably a bit more convenient, but the Hyatt Regency Hotel was still a really good stay. It's really hard to go wrong with any of these stays. Um, this is just our experience and the distance, uh, walking 15 minutes to Xin Juku Station, you do feel that when you've been out exploring all day and it takes.

15 minutes to walk back to your hotel. It doesn't seem like a lot, but when we were experiencing like walking five minutes from the Ginza station over to Hyatt centric, then you can see the convenience and how much time it can save you. And I don't know, it's just like, it's nice to be near a train station, like a major train station.

It really adds to your experience. So I would just recommend that, but. I can't, you can't go wrong with the Hyatt [00:32:00] Regency Tokyo. I would definitely stay here again if this was available because it's a category five, so you're not spending that many points. Um, you can stay more nights and stay in such a central area.

So yes, I, I definitely recommend the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, and I can't wait to see what it looks like now because they renovated it since we've been there. And I would love to see how it looks now. Next we have the Tokyo Bay area. This is near Disneyland. This is the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay. This is a category three, so the lowest out of all of the Hyatts that we've talked about, this will be booked between 9,000 points, 12,000 and 15,000.

This is over by the Tokyo Disney area. There are, it's not in the actual like Disney monorail area, so you'll see. If you go on like Google Maps and see it on a map, you'll see Disney Sea, Disneyland, and then around it are a bunch of hotels on a monorail. And you'll see [00:33:00] hotels like the Hilton, the Sheraton.

There's like a Toy Story hotel out there. There's quite a few of them. This one's a bit further out. There is a free shuttle service to the uh, shin Rasu station. So this will take you over to the Disney area and the reviews I read and such. There's not a lot of things to do around this area, but I know the rooms are a lot more spacious.

This is a great place maybe for families that have a larger number of people. They still have shuttle services. There's a breakfast option with a fee. Um, it is near a shopping mall, which is the La la Port, Tokyo Bay. That's where the Pokemon Center is, and I enjoyed this area. I enjoyed that mall, and I, I enjoyed Disney and with us having a kid soon.

I can see this being an option, at least for like two [00:34:00] nights that we can stay here at the high see Tokyo Bay. We enjoy going to Disney for a few days. Um, we can check out the mall, the Pokemon Center and we can kind of just lay back a little bit. I know Tokyo, it, it can feel so exciting and the energy's high in the city, but staying outside of the city isn't too bad and you know, having.

A kid. And for families that have multiple children, this can be a really good value. At a category three, you're not spending many points, so this could be a good opportunity to use those points to get a bigger room to stay near Disney. No, it's not on the monorail, but you, you can still make the best out of it and definitely.

This is definitely one that I'll put in the show notes that, um, you can see videos of, and maybe I'll put a link for the Google map so you can read some reviews and see what people talk about. But yeah, this is an option. So those are the [00:35:00] Hyatts within the Major Tokyo area, but now we're gonna go outside just a little bit.

And this is Yokohama, the Hyatt Regency Yokohama. This is a category three as well. So we just talked about the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay, which is a category three. Well, to the Okham Hyatt Regency is, uh, category three. This is about 45 minutes from Tokyo.

You're about a eight minute walk to the nearest station. Uh, it looks like the rooms are big here. It looks like you get some pretty good value. You're near Chinatown. You can probably catch a baseball game watching the Yokohama Bay Stars. Uh, you can do good day trips from here. Maybe you go to Kamakura.

Um, they, I know they have Pokemon manholes over in Yokohama. I believe the mascot for this area is Pikachu, so you can go and explore those. So there, there's, this is a place I want to stay at. I would love to stay in Yokohama for a few days and just enjoy what Yokohama [00:36:00] has. I had watched a lot of videos on Yokohama and Pokemon Worlds was out here in Yokohama, so I got to see videos of, of that and over by like the Bay Area views.

And it just seems like a very nice vibe, um, and something we want to experience. So this might be something. For category , three hotel, you save a lot on points, so you could stay multiple nights, still have points left over. This could be a really good option if you're trying to just get outside of the, uh, major city of Tokyo and go over to Yokohama, which is still a pretty big city, and, um, just experience a different vibe.

So definitely look into that. But I'm gonna go ahead and give some examples here. So I want to give an example of, say a signup bonus that you can hit, and I'm gonna give you the bare minimum signup bonus. So say you signed up for like a Chase Sapphire Preferred, which gives you a signup bonus of 60,000 points, which you can definitely find [00:37:00] this card for certain periods of times.

With a limited time offer, up to maybe 80,000 points, 90,000 points, we even see a hundred thousand points. So definitely look out for those limited time offers. But let's just use the example. You got a Sapphire preferred, you hit the sign a bonus, and it was 60,000 points. Now you can take those points and transfer 'em over to Hyatt points because they're, they're a transfer partner and this is what you can get.

So you could get five nights at a category three. So this was like the Yokohama Hyatt Regency or the Tokyo Bay, uh, location that's around for standard pricing, 12,000 points each. You could get three nights at a category five. So standard price is around 20,000 points for these, or you could say one night at a luxury category eight.

And this is just a low end signup bonus. You can get multiple [00:38:00] signup bonuses with Chase cards and really accumulate your Chase Ultimate rewards that we talked about a couple episodes ago. And you can even have a Player two system if you have somebody else that's doing this with you. And you can accumulate over a hundred thousand points, maybe over 200,000 points, whatever that you can accumulate.

Well, you can take this example that, yeah, you could stay a few nights one night at luxury or you could stay multiple nights. You can cover an entire trip if you stay at a low, lower category, Hyatt. So it, it really depends on how many points that. You can accumulate and the kind of trip that you want to take.

And even with a low signup bonus, you know, you can still find ways to cover multiple nights of your trip and maybe use the other nights for booking, uh, like a Rio Con, which is a traditional inn. Or you can stay at an Airbnb in a neighborhood. So that you can [00:39:00] get more of a neighborhood feel and wake up where the locals are, you know, so there are different ways to experience travel and not all of it always has to be in a hotel.

It could be different, uh, different places for different experiences, but this is just a way to be able to save more money. On the everyday spend that you make and you can really take advantage of these points to make these trips so incredible. I know I wanted to talk about the Hyatt hotels in Tokyo, but I wanted to highlight a few others around Japan, some that have really caught my eye in that I really plan on visiting.

So let's go over 'em. We have the Park Hyatt Neco. This is up Inao, this, say category eight. This is a ski resort. I've never been skiing or snowboarding or any of that. I've lived in Colorado for one year. I never took advantage of [00:40:00] it. It's something that I'm a little afraid of if I'm honest, but it seems like an incredible experience.

So I, I'd love to try it at least once and, and give it a shot, but. This, this Park Hyatt in Mexico looks incredible. And there are really good YouTube videos. I think Ask, ask. Sebi has made several videos, I think he goes almost every year. Um, so I, I, I love seeing, um, when people stay here and, and how the hotel looks and, and the location that it's in.

And that you can take a shuttle over to a nearby town and experience some restaurants out there. It just looks really nice overall. There's another one, the Hyatt Regency in Okinawa. This is the tropical, uh, island of Japan. This is the category five. You have that breach, beach resort, ocean views, uh, tropical kind of vibes.

You have the very sought out Park Hyatt, Kyoto. This is [00:41:00] probably Japan's number one, Hyatt. This one, the availability for this hotel can be extremely hard to find. It is a category eight. It's very luxurious. It has a traditional design as well. It looks incredible. I mean. I wish, uh, I hope one day to stay here.

I'd love to stay here at least one night. It probably won't happen anytime soon because personally, I think I'll take more days of a Hyatt than staying at a luxury one just because we have a kid on the way. Um, but who, who knows? That might change. If I could stay one night at the Park Hyatt at Kyoto. It, it does look incredible.

This is one I'll definitely link down in the show notes that you can see. that's, I, I'd say that's probably Japan's number one Hyatt from what I've read and what I've heard. Uh, the next one is the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka. This one is very [00:42:00] high on my list because I, we want to visit QU, uh, for our next trip.

And this is something I might be planning this trip soon and then talk about it in the episodes coming up. Um, my whole, what flights I plan on redeeming, what places I plan on booking activities and itineraries and deep diving into those. But the Grand Hyatt Fuca as a category four, it's connected to the Canal City Hakata Shopping Mall.

Um, it seems like a really well connected Hyatt. It seems like there's a lot to do around there. Uh, Fukuoka or Hakata is known for, its called Sue Ramen. Uh, this one's very high on my list. I plan at, especially at a category four. So it's on the lower end, um, of points. This is 'cause a place we really want to visit and do a little bit of a tour of Qsu.

We'll see how that goes. We'll see if we'll be able to do that this time around. Or if we have to pivot to another place. But, [00:43:00] um, we'll see in future episodes you'll be able to listen in and see my whole thought process and maybe I'll go back and forth on places. But, um, you'll, you'll see my entire, um, planning process and I think that'll be really interesting because I don't really hear.

Podcasts or much, maybe there's blogs of a whole process of booking trips and the thought process. And of course everyone has different thoughts and, and different ways of planning, but I would find it interesting to really, um, pick brains of people who travel and what they prioritize and, and just learn from that.

So, uh, I'm just excited to share about it and hopefully it can create value for you. And help you with your trips that you plan on, um, booking in the future. And of course, I'm here to learn from you as well. I don't know nearly as, as much as so many other people who travel [00:44:00] to Japan frequently and people that live there.

And I, I just want, I'm just here to learn as much as I can and you know, this is why I created this podcast to learn and. To share what I learned with you and to learn from you. And that's what just makes it so exciting. And, and I'm really glad to have started this 'cause it's something that was on my mind for so long.

So I'm just, I'm glad I'm just putting it out there. But the, um, we'll get back to it. The next one is the higher Regency Haku, the Resort and Spa. This is a category six. This is near an onsen. This is, this has mountain views. It looks like a really nice relaxing Hyatt. Uh, I don't know much about it. Haven't really looked at any videos or anything of the high Regency Haku.

Um, nearby you have the, um, someone nearby, but you have the Fuji Speedway Hotel, the Unbound Collection Category six. This is right nearby the, uh, Fuji [00:45:00] Speedway. I don't know much about cars, but I believe there's like a car museum nearby. Um, maybe you can do a tour of the track or, or ride on it. I'm not sure, but, uh, I think this would be great 'cause it's, it's, you also could potentially get views of Mount Fuji.

Um, Fuji Sun is very hard to see. I think there's like a 30% chance of seeing it, but, um, yeah, I think that'll be a cool one. A Fuji Speedway hotel. That sounds really cool. And. Very unique. So I, I'd love to look more into that because I would love to stay near Mountain Fuji, um, and maybe book one of those rooms.

It, it probably won't be with points, but, uh, book a room over in, um, Kawaguchi Cole and have a private onsen in the room, uh, with a view of Mount Fuji. That sounds very nice and relaxing. The next Hyatt we have is the Hyatt House Kanawa. This is a category two. So roughly you're [00:46:00] looking at about 8,000 points to book this hotel.

It's not a super flashy Hyatt. It seems like a very standard Hyatt house, but Kazaa is definitely on our list. There are some places that I saved in my Google Maps, um, like the, uh, traditional neighborhood of Hii Chaa district. You have a samurai district, you have a beautiful garden in the Ken Roku end Garden.

Uh, so this, this is the area I would love to stay in, and I would love to explore in that category too. You could probably just stay here a full week and just explore Kane Zawa and do day trips. Maybe you could rent a car and drive out, maybe drive over to Shida, Cawa, or Tama. There are just so many ways in different places to visit, so it.

It can really open up, uh, a different type of trip to Japan and a different experience. And I know, and I've [00:47:00] read and heard a lot of experience of, of driving in Japan and how it can really just feel so free and really change the vibe from going from major cities to more smaller towns and more local towns where.

Maybe people don't speak as much English, but they are just as friendly. And if you're able to just say a few words and, and hint at what you're trying to say, they're very accommodating. So this is, um, something I would love to experience and, and this is why I would love to stay at this Hyatt and kind to, to just save some money, um, stay in this beautiful place and then take trips.

From Kanazawa to those other, uh, towns nearby. I definitely didn't do this list in order, but uh, here's another one in Kyoto. It's the Hyatt Place, Kyoto. It's a category two. It's not where [00:48:00] the action is, like the Park Hyatt. Um, Kyoto is near more things. The Hyatt Place is a little bit further out, but still.

For category two, I'd definitely stay here for sure. If I, if when we go back to Kyoto, 'cause I think we're definitely going back and, and we will do like, uh, UJI next time, which, um, we love matcha and we didn't get to do na nada before, so we'll experience that. And yeah, so that, that kind of wraps up the whole list.

Um, other Hyatts around Japan that have caught my eye. And I'll make sure in the show notes to include as much details as as I can. And if you have any questions or if you have any recommendations for me or any stories or experience, definitely reach out. I'd love to hear about these things and I'd love to learn from you.

And so that we can all learn from each other, right? So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you got some value from it, and I'll see you on the next [00:49:00] one. See you.