Miles to Milan: My Stay at Park Hyatt Milan for 22,000 Points a Night

On my recent trip to Milan, we spent two nights at the Park Hyatt Milan. With the most convenient location, impeccable service and Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond benefits that included breakfast, we had everything we needed for a perfect stay in Milan. Although the hotel was $650 a night for our dates, we redeemed 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points a night by transferring them from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

This post is part of a multi-part series about my summer trip to north­ern Italy. Trip report index:

• A $10,000 Euro­pean Sum­mer Trip for $266
• Non-stop Flights in United Busi­ness­First Class on the Boeing 767
• Two Days Sight­see­ing and Shop­ping in Milan
• The Park Hyatt Milan
• An After­noon in Beau­ti­ful Lake Como

Redeeming 22,000 Gold Passport Points a Night

We redeemed 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points a night for our room at the Park Hyatt Milan. The only rooms available with points are actually king bed rooms and we would have been fine with that as king beds are quite large.

However, we did prefer a room with two beds and asked the hotel if a twin room was available when we arrived. They pointed out to us that only king bed rooms are available with points, but since I did have the Diamond status and they want us to have a nice stay, they will let us change. I am not sure whether Diamond status is required, but I believe the take-away from this is that allowing a change to a room with two beds is at the hotel’s discretion so it never hurts to ask. In addition, we did get internet access included as well as a full breakfast due to the Diamond status.

The Chase co-branded Hyatt credit card offers two free nights in any Hyatt. However, I paid by converting Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt Gold Passport points instead. These can be obtained from the Chase Ink Bold, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Freedom Card. While the Park Hyatt Milan would have been a great hotel to redeem two free Hyatt nights from the Hyatt credit card, I wanted to wait until I had the Diamond Status Match Challenge to apply for the card. Those with Diamond status will receive the two free nights in a suite while regular members receive just two free nights. I will be using these for a vacation next year, which no doubt you’ll be hearing about!

Location and How to Get There

The Park Hyatt Milan is in the center of the city next to the Fashion District and Duomo di Milano. I could actually see the Louis Vuitton store in the Gal­le­ria Vit­to­rio Emanuele II from the window of my hotel room. Most sites, including the Duomo di Milano, Sforza Castle, La Rinascente and The Last Supper is under a 10-15 minutes walk from the Park Hyatt. 

Getting there from the airport: Taxi from the airport will cost 90 euros each way so it’s far more cost-effective (and easy enough) to take a train from the airport. You want to buy tickets to the Milano Cadorna railway station (this is a different station from Milano Centrale). The train from the airport to Milano Cadorna will take about 35 minutes and cost 11 euros per person. From Milano Cadorna, it’s about a 5 minute walk to the hotel or you can take a taxi costing around 6 euros if you have a lot of luggage. This is still cheaper than the 90 euro rate all the way from the airport. Trains to Milano Cadorna left once an hour on the day I was there while trains to the main stations are slightly more frequent. The main station is still only about a 10 minute drive (or 10 euro) from the Park Hyatt Milan. That is, if you manage to just miss the train to Milano Cadorna and don’t want to wait close to an hour, then train to the main station and taxi to the hotel is another option.

The Park Hyatt Milan Concierge

The helpfulness of the concierge deserves its own section. They were more than happy to provide information and started helping me plan before I even arrived. By the time I looked for tickhets to The Last Supper, they were completely sold out online. I emailed the hotel and asked if there was any way to secure the tickets and they simply purchased them for me and let me know we can pick them up at the hotel when we arrive.

Throughout our stay, they suggested restaurants, mapped out our shopping and sightseeing routes and were happy to procure any information we needed. We needed train tickets to Lake Como and Zurich and they were able to take care of all the minutiae for us even arranging for someone to pick up our international train tickets at the station. In the end, we spent our two days in Milan without worries of details and the concierge took very good care of us.

At the end of our stay, they just put the tickets to The Last Supper and the train tickets on our hotel bill. I paid with the Barclaycard Arrival so I can redeem my Barclaycard Arrival miles for these expenses. Since everything went on the hotel room bill, it’s considered a Travel purchase and my Barclaycard miles are eligible for this. Barclaycard Arrival miles can be redeemed for any purchase I put on the card within the past 90 days so I have 3 months to earn miles to redeem for this bill. The card also has no foreign transaction fees so I am not paying any extra charges.

The Rooms

Our room had two twin beds and a small sitting area. There was also a desk area and a flat screen TV. The bathroom was quite large and impressive and covered with nice marble furnishings plus lights. It was nearly as large as the room itself. It had two sinks, a shower, a tub, an ironing area and a place to hang clothing.

Housekeeping would come twice a day. Once in the late morning while we were out sightseeing and once at night while we were out to dinner.

The Spa

Everyone staying at the hotel has access to the spa area. There is a Jacuzzi spa in the common area available to both men and women as well as individual steam rooms in the changing rooms. There is also a fitness center in the hotel next to the spa. The configuration of the Jacuzzi is designed with a very peaceful setting in mind. There are reclined lounge chairs in the common area as well for relaxing. Tea, water and fruit are also available.

We went to the spa both days after a day of shopping and sightseeing. It was a nice way to relax before going out again for dinner.

Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel is served in an elegantly designed glass-vaulted atrium making for a peaceful and pleasant morning start.

There is a buffet as well as a menu serving the usual breakfast fare. As Diamond members, we were informed we can order anything we want and it will all be included at no extra charge.

I am a big fan of eggs benedict so I ordered these with a side of fresh berries both days.  Rene had the buffet. As we had the breakfast included, I never saw the bill, but I estimate the total bill would have been about 60 Euros for our meals, buffet and coffee. What can I say? Hotel breakfast, especially at Park Hyatts, is not cheap. The takeaway here is that, if you want to go for the one-in-a-lifetime Hyatt Diamond Challenge, it’s best to wait until you’re using your points to stay at a Park Hyatt or another high-end Hyatt hotel… or if you have lots of upcoming stays.

In conclusion, we had a very nice stay at the Park Hyatt Milan and it was a great use of 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. We enjoyed the concierge’s hospitality, the spa and the breakfast that was included as a Hyatt Diamond benefit.

You can check out the rest of my trip report series, includ­ing how we man­aged to arrange a $10,000 trip with non-stop first class flights for only $266!

• A $10,000 Euro­pean Sum­mer Trip for $266
• Non-stop Flights in United Busi­ness­First Class on the Boeing 767
• Two Days Sight­see­ing and Shop­ping in Milan
• The Park Hyatt Milan
• An After­noon in Beau­ti­ful Lake Como

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