With cash prices of $2,000 a night or more, Hyatt's Alila Ventana Big Sur is one of the most aspirational properties in the world. The resort gets rave reviews for its serene location on California's coast and excellent amenities – plus, everything but alcohol is included in your stay, even when booking with points.
So what's the problem? It's also one of the hardest to book with World of Hyatt points: You can search the entire calendar without finding a single standard night award bookable with points … until now. Our team recently uncovered wide-open award availability at Alila Ventana Big Sur for many dates, starting in November all the way through July 2024.
Some of that availability has been gobbled up since we first published this post on Monday, but you can still find dates that work with some trial and error – especially from January through March. Your best bet for finding dates that work is on Sundays through Thursdays: You won't find Friday and Saturday night stays, period. And it appears that there's a two-night minimum stay to book with points starting in April 2024.
If you've got Hyatt points (or transferrable Chase points), this is an unbeatable opportunity to book for 45,000 points per night – or some dates for 35,000 or 40,000 points per night in December. That may seem steep, but it's a small price to pay for an adults-only all-inclusive resort that typically costs $2,500 or so. And the fact that you can book this property with points at all is extremely rare.
Even though the Alila Ventana Big Sur is an all-inclusive resort, it prices out based on Hyatt's category 1-8 award chart. The property is a Category 8 property, which means a standard room can cost as few as 35,000 points per night or as many as 45,000 points per night. Unfortunately, almost every night we're seeing standard award availability is pricing out at the highest 45,000-point rate – aside from in December.
Compared to the cash rate, it's still a pretty incredible deal.
Alila Ventana Big Sur is located in Big Sur on the coast of Central California, about 2 1/2 hours' drive south of San Francisco (SFO) or two hours south of San Jose (SJC). Whether you book with a mountain of cash or points, everything but alcohol is included in your stay. Sorry, families: This resort is adults only.
One last thing to beware of: If you need to cancel, be sure to do so at least 14 days in advance of your stay. After that, Hyatt will force you to forfeit one night's worth of points.
Thrifty Tip: Have transferrable credit card points from Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi, or Bilt? You can book Delta flights into San Fransico (SFO) or San Jose (SJC) with Virgin Atlantic points for a fraction of the cost of what Delta is charging with SkyMiles.
How to Book the Alila Ventana Big Sur
- As of publication, there is still standard room award availability at the Hyatt Alila Ventana Big Sur on select dates from November through July 2024.
- Award nights are bookable on Sundays through Thursdays – there are almost no dates bookable including a Friday or Saturday
- You'll have to book at least a two-night stay starting in April 2024.
- Most months have standard room availability bookable for the peak rate of 45,000 points per night, including many dates next summer.
- Log in to your World of Hyatt account, search the property, add your dates, and make sure you select “Use Points” before clicking “Find Hotels.”
- Try searching for one-night reservations at a time to ensure every night of your planned stay is available. If not, Hyatt will show you far more expensive suite availability – or nothing at all.
You should be able to easily find availability to book a standard room with one king bed.
Current Alila Ventana Big Sur Award Availability
Award availability was originally wide open on Sundays through Thursdays from November through July 2024.
Nearly all nights over that span are pricing out at the peak rate of 45,000 points per night for a standard room. But the fact that you can book these rooms at all using Hyatt points is incredible.
To start, log into your Hyatt account and search for the property. You can click the “Points Calendar” option, highlighted below. Fair warning: This won't show you the actual availability that you can book with your points, but it can help you identify nights that have either off-peak (35,000 points per night) or standard (40,000 points per night) award space.
After clicking on “points calendar” it should open up a calendar view where you can see how much each night will cost in points, depending on whether it is a peak, off-peak, or standard night. Just remember, there are no Friday and Saturday dates available for using World of Hyatt points.
Once you start searching for your actual trip, nailing down a three- or four-night stay or longer may require some trial and error. If just one night of your stay is unavailable, Hyatt will only show you higher-priced suite availability … or perhaps nothing at all. For that reason, it's best to search one or two days at a time to ensure there's standard room availability for each date of your planned stay.
As of publication, the calendar is pretty wide open for Sunday through Thursday dates so you shouldn't have too much trouble stringing together a multi-night stay.
Bottom Line
Here's your last chance to book one of the most coveted all-inclusive resorts in the United States with Hyatt points.
While some of this availability got booked after we published yesterday, there's still decent standard room award availability to book the Alila Ventana Big Sur starting in November through July 2024. It's easily one of the best Hyatt properties on the planet. This award space surely won't last long – book quickly!
Photos courtesy of Hyatt Hotels
They’re actually a category 8 property. Alila doesn’t fall under the All-Inclusive umbrella, so even though Ventana is an AI, they’re not a Cat E.
Same amount of points, though!
Cheers.
Thanks for catching that! I have updated the story.