Crisp mornings, golden leaves, basking in sunshine.... tomorrow is September and that means the month of Colorado Fall Colors is here!
If you've followed me during the month of September, you may recall, it's one of my favorite months of the year in Colorado. This post is my attempt to entice you to join in my obsession. Here are a few of my favorite stays to enjoy the second half of September/beginning of October, in the mountains nearest Denver; that is Summit and Eagle Counties.
(If you want to see my favorite hikes; look for the "Summit" saved Instagram Highlight bubble in my IG profile: @justcallmehaha)
Summit and Eagle County Hyatt Hotels
Booking Hyatt directly has usually my starting point (by
transferring Chase points to Hyatt to do so); but in the last year there have been so many changes to premium credit cards that include hotel benefits like free breakfast, etc! Now there are several ways to book the same hotel and there are hotels outside of Hyatt that are worth considering. This will depend on which cards you hold, how long you want to stay and your preference for points and benefits.
First - let's look at the hotels and then we'll look at other options to book them! This list isn’t all inclusive of your options; but I’m highlighting some various price points and locations.
(Note that the rates listed below are the lowest potential rates for this time of year. It's possible that room types at this lower rate may be sold out already.)
Hyatt Place Keystone
15,000 points per night
This is the lowest "luxury" level of the Hyatt options. At a Category 4, you could use a Level 1-4 Free Night Award (FNA) here (although to be honest, the cash price is pretty low, that I personally wouldn't use an FNA for this stay) and includes free continental breakfast
Ranahan Breckenridge (Hyatt Vacation Club)
25,000 points per night
This is a Category 6 Hyatt. The benefit of staying at a Vacation Club, is that you typically have an apartment style rental - that offers a little more space as well as a kitchen to prepare/eat your own food.
Grand Hyatt Vail
30,000 points per night
Keep in mind; while you pay $0 in resort fees when booking direct on points, this hotel has a nightly $60 valet charge
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek
35,000 points per night
Keep in mind; while you pay $0 in resort fees when booking direct on points, this hotel has a nightly $60 valet charge
Alternative Booking Methods
If you're trying to stretch your points farther, you may want to consider the Cents per Points (or CPP) value that you're getting from a direct Hyatt booking. That is, compare the Points Cost to the Cash Price for the night you want to book. Take the Cash Price divided by the Points Price. If that number is smaller than 0.015, that means you're getting less than 1.5 cents per point and generally it would be recommended to save your points and pay cash.
However, enter
Chase Points Boost. If you have a
Chase Sapphire Preferred,
Chase Sapphire Reserve, or
Chase Sapphire Reserve Business; in the Chase Travel Portal, there are select hotels that have "points boost" if booked through Chase. Points Boost essentially means that you will get a greater value than 1 cent per point when redeeming points to book a hotel with Chase. You can toggle on the filter to show only Points Boost hotels:
Sometimes you can actually spend LESS points booking a hotel on points in Chase Travel Portal than you will if you transferred points to the hotel and booked directly! Keep in mind though; that if you have hotel status or are collecting qualifying nights at a hotel; if you book in a bank travel portal, you may not receive credit. This will vary per hotel and dates. Generally the hotel will say "_____ (hotel program) Eligible" and allow you to put in your loyalty number)
For example, looking at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek for one night; Saturday Sept 26 through Sunday Sept 27th. If you booked directly with points at Hyatt, Hyatt wants to charge you 45,000 points for a standard room:
But, if I search in Chase Travel Portal, for the same hotel and same dates... I can find the same room for 30,023 (literally 30% less points)! AND to make it even better, because it's an Edit Hotel, I'll get free breakfast and $100 resort credit! Plus it says "Eligible for World of Hyatt", so I'd get credit with Hyatt for that night's stay).
In this case, it's a no brainer: book through Chase Portal!
Note: Sapphire Reserve cards typically have better "points boost" than Sapphire Preferred. If you have both of these cards, make sure you are searching in Chase Travel Portal under your Reserve.
Chase Edit Credit
When Chase update the Sapphire Reserve card June 2025, they introduced Edit Hotels and Edit Credit. Edit Hotels are higher end hotels bookable in Chase Travel Portal that come with hotel benefits such as free breakfast for 2, resort credits, potential early check-in/late check out. Edit Hotels typically (if not always), also have points boost!
The Edit Credit, is two $250 credits that can be used (separately) to book a 2-night minimum stay at an Edit Hotel. You simply charge at last $250 to your Reserve card when checking out in the portal. You can do a combination of cash and points, to minimize your net out of pocket cost.
And because I know this has surprised some people: to receive Edit Hotel benefits, you do NOT have to book a 2-night stay. However, if you want to utilize the $250 Edit Credit, you DO need to book a 2-night (minimum stay)
American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts
Similar to Chase Edit Hotels, Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts come with as free breakfast for 2, resort credits, potential early check-in and a guaranteed 4p late check out. Unlike Edit Credit, to use a $300 Hotel Credit, it does NOT have to be a 2-night stay. A one night stay will activate this credit!
(Also note: the 4pm guaranteed late checkout is wonderful if you're doing just a one-night stay! You can potentially check in as early as 12p, and stay until 4p the next day. That's more than 24 hours; just right for a staycation).
The one downfall to Amex Hyatt bookings is that the daily resort fee is NOT allowed to be paid with by points. When you check out in the travel portal, you'll see amount due now and amount due at hotel. The amount due at the hotel is generally the hotel's resort fee. However, for both Grand Hyatt Vail and Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, I have found that you can use the $100 resort credit to cover the $60/nt resort fee and $60/nt valet fee. If you're staying just one night; then your out of pocket cost become $20 instead of $100, due to the resort credit.
If you're interested in learning more about the Platinum card or a Business Platinum Card, click on their links above.
Grand Hyatt Vail and Park Hyatt Beaver Creek both qualify for Chase Edit Hotels/Credit and American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts/Hotel Credit. You can see more here about my experience at Grand Hyatt Vail from fall 2025, using my Amex $300 credit.
Non-Hyatt Hotels
Kindred Resort
This hotel is brand new at the base of Keystone main River Run village. While I haven't stayed here (yet), the points price is awesome, especially if you stay for 2 night and utilize a $250 Edit Credit, then points to cover the rest.
These last two hotels are IHG Properties. While you could transfer points to IHG to book directly; honestly, this typically is not a good use of Chase points from a value perspective. However, I’ve booked both of these hotels with premium credit card benefits instead of Chase points and want to share that option.
Hotel Indigo Silverthorne
In addition to the Chase $250 Edit Credit I mentioned above, for 2026 Chase Reserve cards also have a $250 hotel benefit for "select" hotels when booked in the travel portal. Hotel Indigo qualifies for this $250 credit (as indicated by the gray strip on the photo) on a 2-night minimum stay. This hotel is in a lovely location and is pretty new. We found it very comfortable and worth recommending.
Holiday Inn Express Frisco
I recently open a
Bilt Palladium card (it's so new, I haven't even shared the details yet! I'm waiting for my mortgage to post before I share). This card comes with a $200 hotel credit, twice a year (Jan-Jun, Jul-Dec). It can be used on any hotel in Bilt Travel portal, but MUST be used on a 2-night stay.
It also can be combined with a $100 Bilt Cash Hotel Credit, which ends up giving you $300 off a 2-night hotel stay.
I recently booked (and later cancelled due to a change in plans) 2 nights at Holiday Inn Express Frisco through Bilt Travel for only $9 out of pocket with utilizing these benefits!
Summary
Earning points is often the easier part of figuring this all out. Learning how to use those points is hard - because there are so many different options and ways to use them.
I hope that this post helped offer you not only some ideas to catch fall colors in Colorado; but also showed you that there are several ways to book the same hotel (which honestly, can make your head spin. Especially to keep track of all of these "coupon" like benefits on higher fee cards). It just depends which cards you hold and what exactly you're looking for!
If you book one of these, or if I missed your favorite; let me know in the comments or give me a tag on IG!
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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.
Wondering how I keep all of this information organized? Check out my Points Tracker!
Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!
