Rescheduling Our Hyatt Stay and Bracing for Hurricane Milton

Several months ago, our reader Lynn (she allowed me to use her name) was kind enough to gift Nancy and myself Hyatt Guest of Honor certificates. For those unfamiliar, it’s basically a way to share Globalist status perks with friends and family. Nancy has already put her GOH to good use in Colorado, but I’ve been procrastinating. Well, I’ve finally redeemed it towards a stay at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa (see my review) and we were scheduled to go there this weekend. It’s located 1.5 hours from our home, making for an easy (and relatively cheap on points) getaway.

Something my husband and I want to do in a near future is have a separate local getaway with each of our kids. That way they would feel special, or at least that’s the goal. My daughter loves this particular resort, so that’s the first kid we picked for our weekend getaway. My son was fine with it, and was planning to enjoy his time with grandma. I’m hoping to take him to Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Kissimmee (see my review) while using our Hyatt credit card renewal certificates.

Since my GOH cert will expire next February, and the stay has to be competed by that date, it made sense to use it first. However, when I looked at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa website last Friday, there was a note that the private island was closed for the next few weeks due to damage from hurricane Helene.

That’s something my daughter was really looking forward to, and last time we went to this Hyatt, the island was closed as well. Reluctantly, I called the resort in order to cancel the reservation. The front desk rep said they would waive the cancellation fee due to island closure, but that I would need to reach out to Hyatt and let them handle the process.

When I called, the Hyatt rep said I could simply reschedule without penalty. It sounds like you can do it for any reason, so keep that in mind if your plans change. I’ve decided to do just that, and tentatively look at going next winter right before the GOH expires. Unfortunately, the rate is 20k points per night instead of 17k I previously paid, but it is what it is. It’s definitely pushing it close, but we have a lot of plans already and I don’t want to have trips back-to-back  just for the sake of free breakfast and parking.

But it is a lesson not to put off using certificates that have a hard expiration date. Use it or lose it.

Hurricane Milton enters the chat

Last Friday, when I was working on changing the dates of our stay, I had no idea that it would be the least of my problems. At that time they were saying we would likely get a lot of rain from Milton midweek and that’s about it. Well. I’m not even sure that Hyatt will be operational in a few days. But my biggest concern is what awaits us here at home.

As of right now, half the models are taking the eye of the hurricane right over our house. We don’t live in an evacuation zone, but this storm is a monster and the wind will be no joke. Sadly, my husband can’t leave for work reasons and my MIL refuses to evacuate. I thought about taking the kids out of town, but don’t really want to leave my husband behind.

During hurricane Ian he volunteered to drive to the coast to look for gas and started getting sleepy at the wheel. Fortunately, I was with him and took over. Me and him are a good team, and it has been this way since we were 17 years old. Naturally, I would never knowingly put my kids in danger, and our house is built very well and has a metal roof. If we got on the road, we would be risking an accident, and traffic in Florida is nuts right now.

I fully expect to lose power for days, possibly weeks. Talk about stress. Why are we living in Florida anyway? Oh yes, beautiful beaches, proximity to amusement parks and pleasant weather in the winter and fall. But you have to pay the price, and this is it, folks.

Twenty years ago, we were slammed by hurricane Charlie and got winds of 150 miles per hour. Imagine sitting right next to railroad tracks and having a freight train passing by. That’s what it was like. My husband’s uncle and his family were in their house when the roof came off.

It shouldn’t get this bad with Milton, at least not where we live, but who can say for sure!? Ironically, we may end up going to Hyatt after all if it has power this weekend and we don’t.

Either way, I got my essentials at the local Walmart, hoping for the best:

Here we go… again.