Advantages: Central location Disadvantages: Bad service with grubby rooms
As some of you may already know, I have recently returned from a lovely break in Houston, Texas. The main reason for our trip was to go to "Wrestlemania", the WWE's large yearly event. Yes it is slightly sad to travel 5000 miles for wrestling, but you only live once and I am indeed sad! To ensure the expense and hassle would be worth it, we added an additional 7 night's holiday to the trip, making it a 10 night get away.
We booked our wrestling part of the trip direct with WWE and thought the packages sounded like the best deal for our money. Included was 3 nights in the HyattRegency Hotel in downtown Houston as well as a lot of other boring wrestling things I won't bore you with! ;)
My initial reaction when we were told and confirmed on the package, of where we would be staying for the last 3 nights of our trip, I was ecstatic ...
Advantages: That presidential suite looks nice, good views over the city Disadvantages: Service isn't fantastic, above budget for the average traveller
Those of you who attended the Ciao meeting in Birmingham have subsequently pointed out that the Britannia was a bit of a dump. Well, if you ever decide to hold another get together in that fair city, then you might want to save up for a few months and invest in a room at this place.
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
The HyattRegency Hotel is situated off Broad Street, one of the main A-roads in and out of Birmingham City centre. Broad Street has become a haven for bars and restaurants, with a delightful canal side complex and lots and lots of bustling clubs and pubs. As such, it has also become something of a focal point for the hotel trade and there is a real glut of hotels within a 1-mile radius. The HyattRegency is perhaps the most distinctive of these hotels, occupying a prime site opposite the concert hall and towering above ...
Advantages: Stylish room, good service, Rox! Disadvantages: Outside of town, boring breakfast
, or if he had yakked off. However there he was, with a sign saying "Mr V Boy" or something like that. Anyway, I found him, he found me, we found each other... and they all lived happily ever after? Well... er... not quite!
First Impressions
The HyattRegency is not far from the airport and it was dark as we arrived, but I could still see that the building dwarfed everything around it. Certainly it made a good impression as we drove up, with the traditional Nepalese roofs atop simplistic but functional buildings.
As the car pulls up, the hotel's "Casino Tara" is in front. The hotel is to the right, the entrance across a wooden bridge over a "moat" (empty of fish, sadly) and through the front door.
The lobby is quietly impressive. There are no high ceilings or grand atrium; it is quite plain and simple. To the left are a couple ...
