Hyatt Regency Bellevue REVIEW - MASTER THREAD

Applefan · Jan 20, 00, 9:50 pm

I'm planning on a spending a weekend in Seattle in February. Does anyone recommend this Hyatt. Also, having never been to Seattle before, is it too far away from the city or is it in a great location. Thanks for the information.

ranles · Jan 21, 00, 2:07 pm

The hotel is in Bellevue, a bit of a drive from downtown Seattle, across the bridge.

The hotel is located directly diagonal from a quite large Mall. Norstroms is a key player there. Several average to ok restraunts inside.

The hotel does not have much of a lobby. It shares space with an attached office building. (all data is 3 years old). It has a sports bar and dining room on the first floor. You can also dine in a good place (Daniels) in the office building. Another choice is CochinaCochina, Italian, in the out side area. Parking is not cheap. The regency club is average plus. The GM is a Jerk, if it is still Randy.

The rooms are generally good. The service is generally good. Food in the dining area, I believe is above average. Ditter, the cook from 5 years ago had it even better. The administration has fallen off since Mr Caplin left.

It is a business hotel. Suits are common.

It is not too far to drive to downtown Seattle, but the Sheraton downtown is excellent too, if that is a choice.

Seattle is a great place to spend 3 months on holiday, or as we have over several visits, besides my business trips. Too much to do to list here.

FFLASV · Jan 21, 00, 6:59 pm

One thing to keep in mind is that while the drive is not long, Bellevue is on the otherside of a lake, Lake Washington I believe. To get to Seattle you have to cross one of two bridges which can get very congested. If you do stay their, taking a cab back and forth will allow you to be in the carpool lane. If traveling by yourself, you can end up spending a lot of time in traffic on the bridge. If staying in Seattle instead, my favorite hotel is the Madison.

RichG · Jan 22, 00, 11:36 pm

Is the Madison the place on a hill by the freeway with very tight turns in the underground parking garage, that was a Renaissance (a couple of years ago)?

FFLASV · Jan 24, 00, 6:02 pm

Yes, it still is a Renaissance actually. It was a Stoffer's until about 1997.

ranles · Feb 6, 00, 8:03 pm

Don,t forget to say "PLUS BONUS" when you check in for an additional bonus of 1000 points.

You also might want to stay at Hyatt (get points, bonus and rental car points) then stay in downtown, then back to Hyatt to get the points a second time, plus 2 "stays" toward being Diamond.

Applefan · Feb 18, 00, 9:18 pm

Thanks for all of the advice. On my trip to Seattle last weekend I spent the first night at the Hyatt for the points and bonus and stayed at the Madison on the 2nd night to be in downtown. Both hotels were very nice. However, I would have to say I liked the Hyatt better. I just wish it was in downtown instead of Bellevue! By the way, I got a great deal at the Madison. In the $119 rate, which was the same as the Hyatt, I got a coupon for free parking, 2 $12 breakfast coupons which they let me combine, and a free movie. Thanks again for the tips. That's why I like this site so much.

RTWSTARALLIANCE · Jul 31, 02, 4:50 pm

I have a reservation for this Hotel. Have
stayed there in the past as a Diamond. My
experience as a Diamond was not that
exciting. What have your experiences been?
Has anyone received a upgrade out of this
Hotel? If so, what kind? Please advise.
Thanks

kv99 · Aug 2, 02, 5:55 am

stayed there on and off for almost two years and ALWAYS received a junior suite and as the staff got to know me, got the presidential or rainier suite if it was open. beautiful views from the junior suites...

QuietLion · Aug 2, 02, 11:43 am

Got a regular room on the top floor and a very nice plate of cold hors d'oeuvres.

kv99 · Aug 11, 02, 10:22 pm

sorry to rant, but let me just say that i have spent 200+ nights at this hotel so i have the right to be a bit irritated.

so i have to go to seattle for some personal business next week and thought i'd stay at my old "home away from home", the hyatt in bellevue for a night on thurs. -- i'd gotten the weekend at the elliott on ffn but needed a place for thursday night.

anyway, i saw that bellevue had a $99 summer break rate (thurs-sun) so i called up reservations who told me the rate was sold out. the next lowest rate was $199!! too much for my wallet, so i thought, let's call in-house reservations and see if they'd open up the summer break rate for me (they couldn't be too full as the sr. citizen rate of $89 was still being sold).

first time i called in-house res was gone so i spoke to the front office manager who insisted that they don't honor this rate on thursdays -- i explained that no, it's just sold out -- but she wouldn't listen and insisted that the rate never existed on thurs. nights, she was very adamant. called back central res. and they confirmed that it is there in the system for that night, just sold out.

so i called back the next day and tried again to get through to in-house reservations again. this time the operator wouldn't even let me through -- insisted that in-house res. will not "talk to individiuals", that they are "they are too busy" and this is what they "pay central reservations for..."

i gave up -- i like the hotel but not to the tune of $199. will find myself a nice motel 6 or something or try and find a senior citizen to go with me to the hyatt

idiots.

IK in Seattle · Aug 12, 02, 8:50 am

Does not sound very customer friendly. They do have an Internet rate of $159, but that may be more than you were looking for.

The Elliott Grand is much nicer anyway. Are you going to attend any of the SeaDoo IV events this weekend?

kv99 · Aug 12, 02, 10:26 am

1K -- didn't find the $159 but found a $169 summer break rate at the elliott -- not ideal, but ok for one night since the other three nights are free.

i stayed at the elliott one of the first weeks they opened last year and really enjoyed. looking forward to visiting again.

didn't know about the SeaDoo IV events -- going to the Olympics for part of the weekend but thanks for the heads up and will look for it!

IK in Seattle · Aug 12, 02, 11:01 am

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kv99:
1K -- didn't find the $159 but found a $169 summer break rate at the Elliott </font>

kv99 - I was looking at this coming Thursday, and think you are probably looking at a week from Thursday, sorry about that. As you already know the Elliott is much better than Bellevue. I don't know if you tried this, but the Elliott has been selling a lot of rooms on Priceline for around $40.

I'm sure the weather will be great for you trip to the Olympics.

kv99 · Aug 13, 02, 2:35 pm

update.

after many repeated phone calls and finally getting through to in-house reservations, i managed to have them open up the summer-break rate at the bellevue hyatt for thurs. night for $99.

looking forward to the weekend! two nights at the elliott, a trip to the olympics, dinner at wild ginger, and maybe a visit to the EMP.