Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Review

Grand Hyatt is one of three resorts that make up the Baha Mar complex, alongside Rosewood and SLS. Grand Hyatt is the only one of the three that can be booked with Hyatt points.

First Impressions

From the moment we arrived, we knew this resort was something special. The property is beautiful, the grounds are immaculate, and there is an energy throughout the resort that makes you excited to explore. The casino may or may not have something to do with that! We never gambled and mostly avoided that area, but would love to check it out if we ever went back without our kids. They would never let us go back without them though!😂

One thing that immediately stood out was just how much there is to do. We arrived around 1:00pm our first day and our room was already ready for us. I was fully prepared to go to the Arrivals and Departures Lounge and change into our bathing suits for the day. I even had a bag packed and ready to go! Thankfully, we were able to go right up to our room and get settled in before checking everything out.

Whether your family enjoys water parks, pools, wildlife, sports, or great food, there truly is something for everyone... and then some. It felt somewhat reminiscent of Disney World to me, but I do love Disney World so take that for what it's worth. The only place that truly felt relaxing was the Baha Bay Beach Club and the wave pool - there were so many chairs at the wave pool, it felt like we had the place to ourselves. It definitely felt more like a trip than a vacation, but I prefer that with kids honestly. They were exhausted by the end of the night and that's just the way I like it!

Baha Bay Water Park

The water park completely exceeded our expectations and ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip.

There are huge waterslides for thrill seekers, a fantastic wave pool, a lazy river, and plenty of smaller slides and splash areas for younger kids. We also loved that there are several resort pools outside of the water park, so it never felt like you had to spend every day in one place.

Baha Bay Beach Club

Our two favorite days of the trip were spent at the Baha Bay Beach Club.

The chairs are rented per guest (ages 11 and older) and cost around $150 each, but the best part is that the rental fee is applied as a food and beverage credit for the day. We ordered lunch, snacks, drinks, and still had money left over, so we ordered dinner to-go before leaving for the evening. Make sure to order the ice cream sandwich and thank me later. I'm still drooling over it.

It felt incredibly luxurious without feeling wasteful since we were able to use the entire credit on food we would have purchased anyway. It was a great "yes day" for our kids. It was also much easier to justify the cost of the chairs since we were paying $0 for the hotel. We'll absolutely be doing this again on our next trip.

Endless Activities

One of the biggest bonuses of Baha Mar is just how many activities are included throughout the resort. Our kids loved the basketball courts, which are complimentary to use, and we also enjoyed playing mini golf (although it's definitely on the expensive side).

The resort's marine sanctuary offers several unique animal experiences that you can book, including feeding turtles or tortoises and even a Junior Marine Biologist program for kids. We chose the Turtle Tales experience, and it was worth every penny. It ended up being one of the highlights of our vacation, and we've already decided we'll be doing it again next year.

I've read a lot of reviews saying that Baha Mar doesn't have much to do beyond the water park and pools, and I honestly don't understand that. There were so many activities happening throughout the resort - you just had to know where to look.

One of our favorite nights was the dive-in movie. The kids swam, watched a movie under the stars, and had the best time. By the end of the night, they were completely exhausted (the best kind of tired after a vacation day!). There was always something happening, and I loved that we could have a different experience every day without even leaving the resort.

The Beach

Since there was so much to do around the resort, we actually spent very little time at the beach.

The beach itself is beautiful, but it wasn't our favorite part of the resort. It felt a little busier than we typically prefer, although that's mostly personal preference (I'm admittedly a beach snob!).

It was also fairly windy during much of our stay, so many of the water sports weren't operating. Fortunately, there were so many other activities available that we never felt like we were missing out.

Dining

One thing we appreciated was the variety of restaurants throughout Baha Mar. Everyone always talks about how expensive the food is and it almost scared me away, but we found plenty of budget friendly options. We enjoyed the Barracuda food truck in the water park most afternoons. We all ordered kids meals to save money and it was plenty of food for a reasonable price.

One night, we had reservations at Leola, but when we arrived, we quickly realized it was much more upscale than we had expected. After a full day in the sun with two tired kids, we knew it wasn't the right fit for our family that evening. The hosts were very gracious and allowed us to cancel our reservation without any issue.

Instead, we grabbed takeout from Pizza Lab and it ended up being one of our favorite meals of the trip. The pizza was delicious, and we went back more than once during our stay. While some of the other menu items didn't stand out to us, I would absolutely recommend the pizza if you're looking for a casual, family-friendly meal.

Another one of our favorites was 25* North. They only have dinner a few nights of the week, but it was right by the Baha Bay Beach Club and away from the hustle and bustle. Another place I want to try next time is Costa. It is surrounded by water and kids can feed the koi fish during dinner.

We did try Sugar Factory and won't be running back there any time soon. Honestly, my husband and I both went out on a limb and got the filet and it was actually a delicious meal. The vibe there is pretty wild and exciting, but it was a lot for us.

We intentionally chose many of the less expensive restaurants to keep costs under control, and we still had some excellent meals throughout the week without breaking the bank.

Guest of Honor Perks

With a Hyatt Guest of Honor, we got free breakfast for 4 (2 adults and 2 kids 12 and under) at the Regatta Buffet. This would be a pretty expensive meal without a GOH, so we thoroughly indulged and loved every minute of it. I've heard some critiques of the buffet, but it tasted pretty good for the price we were paying for it. My daughter will be 13 next time we go so it's possible we'll have to pay for it, but even so, it's still a great deal.

We also got two drink tickets for every day (up to $25 each). We're not big drinkers, so my kids loved using these vouchers for pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris.

In addition to free drinks and breakfast, a Hyatt GOH can get you room upgrades, late checkout, waived resort fees and free parking.

You can earn GOH awards by staying enough nights with Hyatt, or another Hyatt member can gift one to you. It’s one of my favorite ways to make a Hyatt points stay feel extra bougie without paying extra.

Tips & Things I Learned

• Buy refillable cups for $15 at Umami Burger or Sam's Crispy Chicken in the water park; or at Drift Bar or Out Island Bar by the hotel pools. These were amazing for lemonade for my kids whenever they wanted it throughout the week. The bars in the water park had lemonade, but the bars by the hotels pools just had soda. We saved these to use for our next trip.

• Email concierge.NASGH@hyatt.com to confirm or cancel dinner reservations.

• We used this portable safe to attach to pool/beach chairs and it worked beautifully. It fit a couple phones and sunglasses easily with some room to spare.

  

• There are not a lot of hooks in the hotel room or bathroom, so I brought these suction cup hooks that worked great.

• Each room has 4 reusable water bottles. I brought labels for each family member from home. Or you could bring a sharpie. There are lots of water refilling stations, usually by the towel huts.

• There is also a sunscreen dispenser by the towel huts but we never used it. If you need to buy a bottle of sunscreen, it's very expensive so we brought plenty from home.

• There is a flamingo parade every day at 9:30am. We never made it, but heard it was cute.

• There is a nightly fountain show at 8pm at the front of the hotel.

• Regatta buffet has popsicles for breakfast that my kids loved.

• We loved the East tower because it was closer to Regatta for breakfast.

• Kayaks, paddleboards & water hammocks are free (if it's not too windy).

• There is a great playground past the West Tower open from 10-6pm.

• There is a great arrivals/departure lounge in the West Tower that has free water and coffee.

I highly recommend using Zena's Taxi Service for airport transportation. She was reasonably priced, reliable, and always on time, making both our arrival and departure completely stress-free. Her email address is zenastaxi@gmail.com. We will definitely use her again on our next visit. One of the best parts about Baha Mar... it's less than 15 minutes from the airport!

How We Booked This

In order to book this hotel, I opened the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card. This card is currently offering an elevated welcome bonus of 100k Chase points. After meeting the minimum spend of $8,000 in the first 3 months, you'd earn a large stash of Chase points. Those points can then be transferred directly to Hyatt, which is exactly how we booked this stay. If you do open this card, I would also recommend creating a World of Hyatt account at the same time.

If you own a small business, have a side hustle, sell anything online, freelance, or even earn occasional income outside of your regular job, you may qualify for a business credit card. Many people are surprised to learn they're eligible.

If you don’t think you’d qualify for a business credit card, my next suggestion would be the best beginner travel card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Chase points can be transferred to Hyatt to book your stay. This is not a business card, but does count towards your 5/24 with Chase. This means you can only open 5 personal Chase credit cards within a 24 month period.

One of the reasons I love earning Chase points is because they're so flexible. Instead of locking yourself into one hotel program, you can transfer them to Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest, United, and several other travel partners whenever you're ready to book. That flexibility makes them some of the most valuable points you can earn.

For our flights, I opened the Delta Skymiles Gold Business American Express Card. This card has an incredible offer to get 90k SkyMiles with an annual fee of $0 for the first year. My husband has the non-business version of this card, Delta Skymiles Gold American Express Card, which offers up to 80k SkyMiles + a $250 statement credit. I’ll keep both of these cards open so we can each use our own Delta miles without having to transfer points between our accounts and pay a fee.

Pro Tip: Instead of adding your partner as an authorized user, consider having each of you open your own card. Once you've been approved, refer your partner to the same card (as long as you can both meet the minimum spending requirement, or stagger the applications by a month or two if needed). This strategy allows you to earn two welcome bonuses instead of one, helping you build your points balance much faster for future trips. 

If you're thinking about applying for the Chase Ink Business Preferred or the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I'd really appreciate it if you'd use my referral link. You'll receive the same welcome offer available through Chase, and I'll earn referral points at no extra cost to you. Those referral points help us book more family trips so I can keep testing hotels, sharing honest reviews, and finding the best ways to maximize points for families like ours.

Why I Love Using Hyatt Points

One of the biggest reasons Hyatt is my favorite hotel loyalty program is because of the value you get on award stays.

When you book entirely with Hyatt points, Hyatt waives the resort fee. At a resort like Baha Mar, that's a huge savings. Not only does it lower your out-of-pocket cost, but you still receive all of the benefits that the resort fee covers—including access to many of the included activities and amenities.

That's one of the reasons Hyatt points are so valuable. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on accommodations and resort fees, we were able to use points and put more of our vacation budget toward memorable experiences.