Member Advice on Chain Hotels: Hyatt Hotels > Reviews > Digging for gold at the Hyatt

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Quality of Rooms
Standard of Service
Quality of Food & Drink
Quality of Facilities

Advantages:	A premier, luxurious, worldwide hotel chain  -  A superb and generous loyalty card scheme  -  Can be surprisingly competitive and cost effective if you know where to look
Disadvantages:	Minimal representation in the UK

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

THE HYATT HOTELS.

The Hyatt name is synonymous with a brand of luxury hotel accommodation around the world. Hyatt hotels are of a generally uniform standard – well appointed, large, modern, fully equipped luxury establishments – usually in the central areas of town or adjacent to the airport. This means that if you are landing in Berlin, Beijing or Baltimore for the first time, you will have a very shrewd idea of the standard of accommodation that you can expect. If you are looking for something with creaky floorboards, draughty windows, chintzy curtains, gouty porters and olde worlde charm then this chain is not for you! Their prime client, I guess, is the business or conference visitor, but if you choose wisely you can partake at least for a little while of the jet set lifestyle. There will usually be a large business centre and rooms are often equipped with internet access and personal fax machines. Most hotels have first class restaurant facilities, a pool, gym and beauty salon. The Resorts may be even larger and are to be found near major tourist attractions.

Bookings are made very simply by accessing the Hyatt web site (www.goldpassport.com). All hotels are indexed by region and area and there is information about location, facilities and rooms available including downloadable sheets in Adobe acrobat pdf format. Hotels usually have floors reserved for members of the Gold Passport scheme. Most floors and public areas these days are designated as non smoking. Most also offer other little extras such as dressing gowns and slippers. A choice of room size, bed size and night rate is usually available and competitive rates may be obtained for longer stays or stays over a weekend. There are also very highly competitive “internet” rates on offer only through the Gold Passport website. (For instance Hyatt Westshore, Tampa currently offers weekday nights for $175 per room against a corporate rate to $280.00 per room). Confirmation of a booking is guaranteed by a credit card number.

The Regency Club facility is the real pearl in their chain. It is an upgrade that will put you on a distinct floor (or floors) of the hotel which will usually be accessed by using your special room key in the lift. In the heart of the Regency Club is the Club member’s lounge. This provides a comfortable seating area – usually overlooking the prime vantage of the hotel, with newspapers, magazines, information packs and television. It has its own concierge – separate from the general facilities of the hotel. A complementary continental breakfast is available. Other refreshments, canapés, soft drinks and bar is provided at various times through the day. In at least one venue, children were not allowed in the lounge after 6:30pm. The extent of these facilities will vary from hotel to hotel.

It is possible to purchase this upgrade at the time of booking – it adds about $25 to $30 a day to the price of the room. It is also possible to upgrade using the Gold Passport scheme.

THE HYATT GOLD PASSPORT

I have mixed feelings regarding the benefits of loyalty cards but here is one that I can express my total satisfaction. Like any other scheme, you are awarded points for each night you stay (this one is based on the dollar equivalent of your bill) in one of the chain’s hotels: the more often you stay, the more points you collect. You can earn bonus points from their partners which may be airlines or car rental companies. Additional points can be earned from various schemes at selected hotels around the world or by booking at slower times of the year. At particularly slow times other special offers may be available (double points, two-nights-for one)

There are three levels of membership in the scheme – Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Gold is the basic first tier which allows you to do the things described above. It also provides access to your membership area on the website.

Platinum status is achieved when you have recorded five separate stays or a total of fifteen nights (whichever is the numerically smaller) in a calendar year. The additional advantages are a 15% points bonus on Gold passport points earned, Platinum Extras certificates, personal reservation and account line.

I joined the scheme five years ago. By dint of luck (being in the right place to take advantage of special offers) I graduated to Platinum status at the beginning of this year and now have a snazzy silver Gold Card with a Platinum stripe across its top edge!! I have also received the second of my Extras certificates. This allows me to upgrade from basic to Regency Club accommodation in any one stay – for the duration of the stay OR “a complementary amenity” (which would be defined and provided at the time of check-in) OR an additional 1000 bonus points when dining in the hotel.

There is no time limit that points can be held in your account although there is a minimum booking requirement (I think one stay every two years) to keep the account open. When you have enough points, they can be traded for a number of benefits – room upgrades, Regency Club activities, free accommodation. The hotels around the world are banded into four tiers according to status and luxury. The Hyatt Regency in Birmingham is 3*. Your could get a free night here for 12,000 points. The Grand Cypress Resort (near DisneyWorld Florida) is a 4*. For 160,000 points you could claim a package consisting of seven nights bed and breakfast for two, five dinners for two and a welcome “amenity”.

AROUND THE WORLD I’VE STAYED WITH YOU

I have stayed in a number of the Hyatt Hotels in the US and Europe. Each has had its own characteristics but service has been efficient and attentive. The underlying imprint of the Hyatt brand has been palpable. Of personal note are the following:

Hyatt Regency at Orlando Airport.

This was the one that started us off. We have stayed here for several overnight stops on arrival in Florida from the UK before collecting our hire car the following morning. The hotel is built impressively into the terminal building and the balconies look down over the shopping concourse. The kids love the ‘all you can eat’ breakfast buffet especially the fresh squeezed OJ and the huge Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and lashings of maple syrup.

Hyatt Regency, Downtown Tampa

This hotel is the usual base for my trips to Tampa. I stayed there to write my recent CIAO review of the city (http://www.ciao.co.uk/opinion.php/OpinionId/5314293). It is the ideal spot for the activities of the downtown area and the waterfront. It is within walking distance of the Tampa Bay Ice Palace (my local rock arena), the Convention Centre and the Florida Aquarium. It has an atrium bar alongside a two story waterfall feature. It also serves chilled draft Ybor Gold beer (if you have never tried this brew you don’t know what you are missing!).

A couple of years ago we stayed in a two bedroom suite on the 14th floor. This consisted of a king sized master bedroom; a second room with two queen beds and a king size drop down couch in the living room. There was a fax machine and internet point provided. Our daughter had her ninth birthday here and she was delighted to find a box of chocolates from the hotel at breakfast.

By the way, last year we went to Florida for a quick break, staying for three nights in Tampa, three nights in Orlando and two nights in Tampa. That counted as three stays (towards our Platinum status) and gave us a voucher for a free night during our next trip)

Grand Hyatt, Berlin

This is a superb hotel near the Potsdam Platz in Berlin well placed for the tourist and cultural delights of the city. I posted a review recently (which please have a look at!) which describes this Hyatt in greater detail. (http://www.ciao.co.uk/opinion.php/OpinionId/5315425)

Hyatt, UK

It is a shame that the Hyatt chain’s presence in the UK is now minimal. Until a year or so ago they had two properties in Sloane Square, London – a few minutes walk from Harrods and Harvey Nicholls. These were the Carlton Towers and the Lowndes Hotels. Sadly they have been transferred to another (non Gold Point) group. The only representative now is the Hyatt Regency, Birmingham which overlooks and is linked to the International Convention Centre and Gas Street Basin.

I have also stayed at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort, Lake Buena Vista and the Orlando Hyatt; the Hyatt Westshore, Tampa – all in Florida and the Manhattan Grand Hyatt, New York. I am due to visit the newly refurbished Hyatt in Brussells later this year.

CONCLUSION

All in all we have enjoyed our stays at the Hyatt hotels. For the casual booking they are not cheap (Hyatt Regency, Tampa last September (2001) was $224 per weekday night and $119 per weekend night) for a King room but quality and service are assured. With careful planning, the special offers and the internet rates, these luxury hotels become very competitive in price. The Regency Club is an additional touch of luxury and pampering that you just would not want to miss – the provisions in Berlin could have brought our stay up to full board had we wanted it.

We will maintain our Gold Passport and remain loyal to the Hyatt chain. We will continue to collect our points towards that dream vacation in the years to come….

… MAUI?
… MARRAKESH?
… JAPAN?