Beginning March 1st 2024, the Rio in Las Vegas was bookable through Hyatt. For globalists, you get:
- Waived Resort fees (saves $45+/night)
- Free breakfast at Hash House A Go Go, for 2 adults and 2 children
- Elite Qualifying Nights
- Upgrade to a renovated room in the Ipanema Tower
I arrived on 3/4 and tried to do mobile check-in (both on phone and at the kiosk) but they both failed. I manually checked into my room after waiting about 5 minutes in line. I was told that globalists could do elite/VIP checkin but there wasn’t a dedicated line for it. They provided 2 waters at check-in. The resort fees seem to be manually removed at check-in so it seems like ghost stays aren’t an option. I also asked about upgrades but I believe they consider the renovated room as an upgrade and didn’t want to push it.
The room itself was surprisingly nice given the price point. The renovated rooms are about the same level as NYNY or Park MGM, but much larger. They have an empty refrigerator, which is a nice change compared to strip hotels. Even though the hotel is huge, everything seemed centrally located in relation to the Ipanema tower. The front desk, gym, and restaurants were all within 5 minutes walk from my hotel room door.
I ordered 2 entries for $54 for takeout from the bar at Hash House and charged it to the room. They were efficient and took only about 20 mins to get my order ready. The portions were large enough that I could probably make 4 meals out of it.
My only hiccup with the hotel came when going to the fitness center. I called the front desk to confirm that the fitness center opened at 5AM. I went down at 6AM but they were still closed. I asked the front desk what the hours were and they said 7AM. However, they still weren’t open at 8AM.
I stayed from 3/4-3/8 (4 nights). My total for the 4 nights should be $36 + $40 + $24 + $24 = $124. In return, I get 4000 points from bonus journeys, an additional 750 points from Hyatt spending, and card points. I was able to book the points plus rates before they were removed so I should be receiving an additional 5000 points. So $124 for a total of about 10000 points and 4 EQN. Oddly enough, the bill for my first day said I had earned 2 EQNs but will see if they post.
In the future, weekday nights at the Rio should be around $24 per night for Globalists. Currently, Hyatt Bonus Journeys offers 1000 points per night until April 30th. There is also a new hotel promotion April 1-June 30 where nights earn an extra 500 points.
In theory, if you’re local to Vegas or visit often, you can get 60 night globalists for:
March: 17 days at $24/night, earn 17k points from Bonus Journeys, 4k from spend.
April: 14 nights at $24/night, earn 4k points from Bonus Journeys, 7k from New hotel bonus, 3360 from spend. April is the month where both promos stack.
May: 8 nights at $24/night, 4k from new hotel bonus, 1320 from spend.
June: 21 nights at $39/night, 10.5k from new hotel bonus, 8190 from spend. The June nights are more expensive, but may potentially go down (or up).
Total: $1755 and you receive 60k points, a Cat4 Award ($150), 2x2k Next stay award, 3xGOH award ($150), 5x SUA award ($250), and a Cat7 Award ($350). The total value of the milestone rewards is roughly $900. The values are estimated from certain websites. You would also get breakfast (with plenty of leftovers) every day, as well as a place to stay off-strip.
I don’t know how long this will last. It seems like they are losing money for each stay, especially if people take full advantage of the breakfast benefit.
Since the MGM/Hyatt partnership ended, I didn’t have a reasonable way to attain Globalist status but this was even better than expected. This would actually be perfect since I prefer to stay off-strip and I travel to Vegas monthly anyways.