I was on my phone on top of a mountain in a clearing surrounded by redwood trees with two, and sometimes, if I held my arm at a specific angle in the direct sun, the bar count went to three on my i-Phone. My wife told me there was no way I could buy Hyatt points at 10am surrounded by 128 first-grade kids. Amazing how engaged six and seven year olds can be in a picture and word game of forest-setting bingo.
10:00am on i-Phone and that Daily Getaways 24,000 points page loaded and I hit BUY. Spinning, spinning, spinning….after something like 30 to 60 seconds the screen pops up saying ‘unavailable’ and ‘retry?’
Another button click and spinning, spinning, spinning….after something like 30 to 60 seconds the screen pops up saying ‘unavailable’ and ‘retry?’
Switch to 40,000 points and hit BUY button. Spinning, spinning, spinning….after something like 60 to 90 seconds the screen pops up saying ‘unavailable’ and ‘retry?’
Life goes on.
I went back to the group of six and seven year olds and helped kids with a forest scavenger hunt. One Spanish-speaking girl I knew has weak English skills, but fine intelligence, was wandering around without anyone to help her check-off the 30 or so objects to locate, like a Banana slug or squirrel or something rough and something smooth. Other kids had checks all over their sheets and hers had none as she walked around aimlessly. There were loads of adults, so I helped an English language learner find items on the scavenger hunt checklist.
This is a banana slug, common to coast redwood forests in California. The banana slug is the unofficial mascot of University of California Santa Cruz on the north side of Monterey Bay.
In my line of work it helps to have Hyatt points for good discounts when I travel. I have about 40,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points at the moment. I would have loved to have bought another 40,000 points for $375.
My parents had their eye on a Hyatt Place hotel room in New Mexico for 8,000 points per night where the rates are around $170 per night when they plan to visit. They could have had five nights for $370, but they did not get into the Daily Getaways sale today either. They were not alone. I missed out too. This Flyertalk thread beginning at comment #213 reveals far more people missed out on Hyatt points than were successful.
Consoling my mom that it was truly luck of the click whether you got in on the sale offer, I realized that the low number of 160 sets of points and a load of travel bloggers with a combined daily readership of about 100,000+ readers telling their audience this is a great value meant there were likely 5,000+ people on the internet at 1:00pm eastern time today trying to buy some Hyatt points. The odds were better than the lottery, but not good odds of getting into the sale with only 160 sets of points for sale.
So, instead of being bummed about missing out on the sale, I am getting into the ale after an exhausting day spent with first graders.
I have 40,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points in my account right now, a Hyatt Visa credit card and I have stayed in a Hyatt Hotel three times in the past month.
Today, I helped a child learn. I think I bought some good karma, even though I missed out on the Hyatt deals.
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