Hyatt Residence Club Sedona, Piñon Pointe: Bottom Line Review

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The Hyatt Residence Club Sedona is a timeshare resort in which units can be rented nightly with cash or points.  It is also a category 4 Hyatt and so can be a good use for Hyatt Category 1-4 free night certificates.  Points or free night certificates book into Studio apartments, though, and those do not include a washer & dryer.  Since we wanted a washer & dryer, we paid the cash rate for a 1 bedroom unit instead.  Luckily for us, rates were reasonable at that time ($222 per night for our 1 bedroom unit).

a person holding a box with a mountain in the background

Trip Background: In January, 2022, my wife and I vacationed in Arizona to escape Michigan’s freezing weather. We flew to Phoenix where we got a good deal on a rental car thanks to AutoSlash.  From there, we drove two hours to Tucson where we stayed two nights at Loews Ventana Canyon and then four nights at Hyatt’s Miraval Arizona.  We then drove four hours to Sedona where we stayed three nights at the Hyatt Residence Club, Piñon Pointe. Finally, we returned to the Phoenix area to stay three nights at Hyatt’s Royal Palms Resort and Spa in Scottsdale.

Hyatt Residence Club Sedona Bottom Line Review

We enjoyed our stay.  The resort is in an awesome location in Sedona.  Our 1 bedroom unit was huge and had terrific mountain views.  While it was too cold to use the resort’s pool, I did spend some time in the hot tub which also offered great views.  The primary downsides were the lack of Hyatt Globalist benefits, and poor upkeep of the unit we were in.

  • Points Price: This is a category 4 resort which costs 15,000 points per night standard, 12,000 off-peak or 18,000 peak.
  • Resort Fee: $20 per night.  In practice, this fee is not waived on paid stays for those with Hyatt Globalist status, but it is waived for anyone who books an award stay.  See: No escape from Hyatt Residence Club resort fees (and no elite benefits).
  • Parking: Free self parking.
  • Turndown service: LOL. No.
  • Housekeeping: No.
  • Internet: Good?  Honestly I don’t remember.
  • Dining: There aren’t any on-property restaurants, but you can easily walk next door to a couple of restaurants.  Our unit had a full kitchen so we bought breakfast and lunch food at Whole Foods nearby.
  • Spa: No.
  • Fitness Room: Yep. It looked pretty nice.
  • Hyatt Globalist Elite Benefits: 30% bonus points.  See this post for details.
    • Upgrade: Nope.
    • Club Lounge: None.
    • Free Breakfast: Nope.
    • 4PM Late Checkout: Nope.
    • Welcome amenity: Nope.
    • Waived Resort Fees: Nope.
  • Room issues: We had a few minor issues that made it clear that our room had not been kept up properly:
    • Fireplace: The gas fireplace didn’t work initially.  After calling, a maintenance guy came and fixed it.
    • Washer & Dryer: The dryer’s lint holder was broken and would fall off when we opened the unit.
    • Exterior light: The light right outside of our door was almost completely out.  We didn’t notice this until returning to our room late one evening.  We used our phone’s flashlight to see the door.
  • Would I stay again?  Yes.  Despite the maintenance issues and lack of elite benefits, the Hyatt is in an awesome location and offers awesome views.

Photos and captions follow

a bed in a room
Bedroom
a living room with a fireplace and couches
Living room
a kitchen with stainless steel appliances
Kitchen
a bathroom with a large mirror and a shower
Bathroom
a bathtub and towels in a bathroom
Soaking tub
a kitchen and dining area with a table and chairs
Kitchen and dining area
a view of mountains from a balcony
View from our balcony.  Warning: Not all units have such great views.
a gym with exercise equipment
Resort fitness room
a path with trees and bushes on the side
Resort path
a swimming pool with a deck and trees and mountains in the background
Resort pool
a table tennis on a patio
Resort ping pong
a person's feet on a pool
Relaxing by the hot tub 
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Boonie

That view is like a painting! Visited Sedona once but would love to stay there. Looks very peaceful and scenic for sure!

Christian

Considering that they offer no Globalist benefits (c’mon people, is breakfast too much to ask?), I’d pass. Thanks for the review.

Chuck

You guys should do an in depth look at the Hyatt residence club (timeshare) program and point system. As long as you don’t buy new during a sales pitch, you can get serious value out of the program. We bought our deeded week at coconut plantation in Florida second hand on eBay for virtually nothing except the annual taxes and some transfer/documentation fees. We never stay during our actual week, but instead cash it in for points which we can get far better value for (as long as we don’t stay Saturday nights). I’m a globalist (and we still love staying at “regular Hyatts as well), but don’t mind not getting the benefits at residence clubs because they have so much space. As a family of 5, we don’t fit comfortably in most hotel rooms; but we love the space and amenities of the 1 and 2 bedroom units at residence clubs. They also often share property amenities at “sister” locations like the Hyatt regencies next to residence clubs in San Antonio and Coconut point/plantation (pools/water slides/beach access, etc).

Margaret

Chuck, i have been thinking about doing this same thing. Is there anywhere in particular you looked to gain knowledge of the Hyatt timeshare system?

Chuck

Honestly, the best info is on the residence club member site once you’re logged in. I think they purposely don’t put a lot of info out there accessible to everyone. You can probably Google the charts with Diamond/platinum/gold/etc. weeks. They have all the resorts on there and it’s based on demand. They also have a really confusing system with home resort preference period and CUP points which then become LCUP points depending on when you use them. It’s very confusing system that I’m still learning even a couple years in. That’s why I think FM would be great at digesting all of it and summarizing it into succinct explanations. Anyway, that didn’t really answer your question, but there are some timeshare websites out there that go in depth about the details of the program. I’d be happy to answer any specific questions though.

And no @anon, my wife and I sat through one of the “90 minute” presentations (which actually took like 3 hours) where they wanted us to pay like $30,000 for their newest program. Ridiculous. But we saw the 2 bedroom condos and loved all the space for our family and in-laws

anon

Is this some marketing for HRC between Margaret and Chuck…

Art_Czar

Wrapped up a 2 nights points stay earlier this week. As expected, no upgrade at check-in, but received a VR call 3 days prior to check-in offering an upgrade, if we scheduled a 90 minute VR presentation with their team. We had a packed schedule and passed, but may offer an upgrade option for anyone with 90+ minutes to spare on their trip.

AlexL

Finally this review is out. I thought you may have forgotten about it. The view from your balcony is very nice. Thank you for the review.

Last edited 2 years ago by AlexL
Elizabeth

I spent 5 nights there last August, using free night certificates and points. Technically this only gets you a studio. The studios are crazy small. The hotel was super nice and found us a 1 bedroom for the next four nights. I told them that I knew I wasn’t eligible for an upgrade and would happily pay because I couldn’t see staying in the studio. They did not charge me for the upgrade. The one bedroom is very nice and we enjoyed having the space, a kitchen and washer/dryer. The pool area is lovely but they shut it down if there is lightning anywhere within 50 miles-which pretty much happens every day in August. Kind of a bummer because we hiked every morning and enjoyed the pool in the afternoon. People need to know it’s a timeshare, not a traditional hotel so it doesn’t have the same services and amenities and be prepared for the super small studio. If you go in a downtime there is a good chance of an upgrade, but it’s not a guarantee. Otherwise, I think it’s a fantastic place and would go again. Good location, walking distance to a lot of stuff.

NK3

Just to clarify, the studios are 350 square feet. For a timeshare that is small, but by hotel room standards I did not find it to be “crazy small.” I have stayed here 3 times, twice was upgraded to a one bedroom (way more comfortable) on 1 night stays, and once spent 3 consecutive nights in a studio. There is bed, sleeper sofa, small kitchenette with microwave, toaster and small fridge, and a small outdoor area with the studio.

Internet was good while we were there. We were able to do Zoom work calls, etc.