joanek

I have stayed at this hotel about a dozen times in the past 3 or 4 years and have always been treated well---even on priceline stays of 22 dollars, and even with no status.

I've been Diamond for the past year---two weeks ago I was upgraded to a suite, but not the suite Onedog wrote up.
This one, on the regency club floor, was a one bedroom, jacuzzi suite w/sep 2-head shower in the master bath. There was a marble foyer, powder room, small kitchen, dining area (table for 8), and a living room with a bigscreen TV. (I didn't check to see if the sofa was a sleeper.)

The night mgr said if I liked that one, I should check out one on the 7th (Maybe 4th?) floor.

There was also a second doorway --open it and you're right across from a stairwell.

That said, I wish I didn't always find myself waiting for overly crowded elevators and wish the club was still open.

[This message has been edited by joanek (edited 07-23-2003).]

mach92

Just a few comments from a Diamond. Just stayed here 2 nights ago. No upgrade, No Diamond benefit given. The rooms are tired and the staff was avg at best. There is one central elevator and the walk to the room was far.

Breakfast buffet was ok but not $12.00 worth. I found it funny I could not get a newspaper at all. No USAtoday or SFO paper for a Diamond. I asked my sever at breakfast if he could find something. After 10 mins he came back with the SFO paper WOO HOO

Overall its a very avg hotel with avg staff. The ZERO Diamond benefits offered will keep this on my never to stay again list. The holiday inn express would have been better!!

coach

I have stayed at this property four or five times in the past year. Always gotten the diamond benefits (amenity, breakfast coupons and appetizer coupons) and all of the times I have been there with my family, I've been upgraded to a good sized hospitality suite, which worked well for us.

ericwinter

Some of you have had more success than I in getting upgrades. I have stayed at this place many times, and I have never seen the inside of a suite. The best "upgrade" I have received, as a lifetime Diamond member, is to a room with a king-sized bed. Once, and only once, I had a room where I could see the bay.

Of course, suite upgrades are not a standard part of the program, so I suppose one should feel fortunate when it is offerred.

During my last two or three visits, the soda machines, on every floor, were sold out. The only wat to get a soft drink was through room service.

------------------
United Global Services,~2MegaMiles

Hyatt Lifetime Diamond

Starwood Platinum

Steph58

I've stayed here 3-4 times recently and I'd say the Diamond perks are very generous, at least in regard to food! Did you ask for your breakfast certs? As others have mentioned, you also get appetizer coupons (includes a soft drink); our bill for two came to $30 for this, gratis of course. The breakfast buffet (normally $14 I think) was more generous than most Hyatt Regencys. Made-to-order omlettes, waffles, eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, etc. Most breakfast certs only allow for coffee, juice & pastry. You can also use the cert in the bakery/deli if breakfast isn't to your liking. Diamond amenity of cheese and crackers is decent. Had a Sunday paper at the door. RC rooms are ok, nothing extraordinary, but this is a 3* Regency; I can survive without a suite.

[This message has been edited by Steph58 (edited 08-11-2003).]

JIMCHI

We've found the breakfast buffet to be horrible. The only hot thing is scrambled eggs and bacon and whenever I've seen them they look like they've been sitting there since 5 a.m.
It's WAY overpriced for what it is.
The nearby Marriott has a much better buffet with a chef who makes your egges fresh and makes omelettes to order.

kv99

And yet another wonderful experience at this hotel.

So I had a reservation for Wed night and I called them first thing in the morning and tell them I'm coming in at 7 pm, and asked them to block a king/non-smoking room facing the bay with high-speed internet (not wireless).

The girl at the front desk told me they had blocked me in a atrium room. They had nothing else available as they had a big group in-- I said that was unacceptable (I've stayed there about 30 times before and they know very well I hate interior rooms, I've even discussed this w/the GM). So she puts me on hold, and a few minutes later a second person picks up and says that they have nothing on the 8th or 9th floor facing the bay except a 2-double smoking. So I tell her, it doesn't have to be on the 8th or 9th floor--searches around a little, still nothing available, interior rooms only. On hold again. The third person picks up...she insists they have no rooms with high-speed wired internet. I know it's a lie, so I ask to speak with the front office manager who finds a room after having me on hold for another 5 min. on the 5th floor, king non-smoking, sort of facing the bay, with high-speed. Where was that room the first time I asked? In any case, after half an hour on the phone, we seem set to go.

Right.

So I get to the hotel at 7:30 pm. I get the room and there's no ethernet cable (I guess I should have one, so it's forgiven), so I spend half an hour getting through to engineering to find me a cable -- then the connection doesn't work, so engineering has to spend time fixing it. Geez. The same thing happened to me at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco earlier in the week!!

The problem is that engineering is running around doing things for the big group that's having the big huge party in the atrium until midnight (can you imagine if I'd had the interior room?), so all this takes forever.

By the time I can get to work, its nearly 9:30 pm, and I'm up until 2 preparing for the next morning's meeting.

I think I'm jinxed at this hotel-- nothing ever works right.

Good things about the stay-- one of the best cheese plate diamond amenities I've had in a while, and I think the breakfast buffet is actually pretty good--the hotel doesn't have to provide a full breakfast and they do.

In general, though, I'm really fed up with Hyatt right now, and I've given up calling Consumer Affairs-- I've now had pretty much 6 rotten stays in a row--La Manga, 2 at Grand SF, Rickeys, SFO, and Grand New York. At the end of FFN in August, I'm off to Starwood.

Sorry for the rant.

[This message has been edited by kv99 (edited 08-15-2003).]

bob95409

Have stayed at this hotel 30 + times. Being a Diamond have always been treated very well. I wish the Regency club would re-open and Scalini's restrauant was great when it was open... I guess we will have to hope the business picks up soon. Spent last Thursday night here. Great stay, excellent Diamond amenities... Breakfast buffet coupons worth $
14.50 each(2, one for wife as well) Appetizer coupons that got us an order of crabcakes and a peppered scallop salad. I can't complain. While at the hotel, took a critical look at the housekeeping and overall maintenance and think that they are doing a tremendous job in keeping this hotel up to Hyatt standards.
Because of being Diamond, I will go out of my way to stay at a Hyatt. One last thing, senior rates are the best in the industry.
Bob

JIMCHI

Stayed at this hotel again this week and got a newspaper without fail. I don't know how Bob got a $14.50 credit towards breakfast. The coupons specifically state on them that they are valid for the buffet ONLY and may NOT be applied toward menu items. And, Bob, where did you get the crabcakes?? We went to the sports bar at 4:30p and while what we had was huge and good, crabcakes definitely were not on the menu. Looked at the buffet breakfast again and it was as pathetic as ever. It is almost identical to the Residence Inn breakfast, but then Residence Inn doesn't try to pass it off as something worth $14.50. Despite staying here frequently, I was unaware they have both high speed and wireless internet. The wireless is free. I have never even seen a connection in the room for high speed internet other than wireless.

We stay at the SFO Hyatt about once a month and like it. But we've had some problems there at times.

mnotting

You can also take a free shuttle (the "Burlingame Trolley") to Broadway or Burlingame Avenue.

Broadway is more "local", with a pizza shop, very good wine store, ice cream store, etc.

Burlingame Avenue is more commercial, with lots of clothing, jewellery shops, Apple store, etc. as well as restaurants. Good ones include:

* Hola - Mexican
* Alana's - Diner (good breakfast)
* Sakae - Sushi
* Straits - Asian fusion
* Crepevine - Crepes, sandwiches, salads
* Steelhead brewery - Good beer and pool, OK food

If you want to stay on that side of 101, Max's is very good.

See also the Sunset magazine writeup.

Explore

Tonight is my fourth stay in a month. If you get a good view, it's a fine property, and is not only the largest SFO airport hotel but the best, in my opinion. Also has GP bonuses regularly.

Try to avoid even-numbered rooms. They face the atrium, where you could have some noise intrusion, and won't be able to get fresh air. Also avoid 4-digit odd-numbered rooms ending between 00 and 05 and between 47 and 99. They face, or are close to the 101 freeway. Odd-numbered rooms between 27 and 45 have a rather uninspiring outlook south along a former landfill on the Bay shore, with a black office building in the foreground. Rooms ending 07 through 25 face north to the Airport, San Bruno Mountain, and downtown San Francisco in the distance. 15 through 25 are best, having the best unobstructed view away from the freeway, the elevator and the ice machine. Unfortunately, on the 9th - Regency Club - floor, most of these rooms are suites, which are rarely if at all given to Diamonds as upgrades. My fallback is 15 to 25 on Floors 6 through 8, using the elevator to the RC.

The RC has a good food spread morning and evening, and a beverage list (booze charged for). It has with friendly staff, quantities of 4 newspapers (even the Sunday NYT on Sunday!) plus magazines, a computer terminal, and a balcony with a sweeping northern and airport view. Additionally, both the SF Chronicle and NY Times are delivered to your front door each morning. I don't know any other Hyatt that routinely delivers the local paper and the NYT.

Knuckles Sports Bar has excellent casual food, while Sweetwater's and Armani's Northern Italian restaurant are other options. There's two fitness centers, one on the RC floor, and a swimming pool. Very nice for an airport hotel.

BAGoldBoy

We stayed here last month during a MR and we were pleasantly surprised about how good the hotel was considering the very reasonable. The shuttle bus from SFO runs regularly and only takes about 10 minutes to the hotel.

Check in was prompt and we were upgraded to a suite on the RC floor. The RC wasn't that great IMHO, probably because the hotel was absolutely packed as there was a number of events going on. The evening selection of food was all gone after an hour and in the morning it was standing room only.

There's also a small nice pool area which we had to ourselves, but a bit cold for a dip.

We got in late and the restaurants were all very busy so we walked across the road to Sizzler. Let me just say I never thought I would recommend a Sizzler after a meal last year in Barstow but this one is really well run and the steak we had was superb. Service was good even though they also had a party of 50 in a private room. All in all great value and great food.

Will definitely be staying here on our next flight to SFO

brengaz

I wish I could say the same as the posters before. It may have been just a busy night, but I ended up in a 2 double bed room looking inside (no fresh air, and it showed). A far distance from the experience I had at the HR O'Hare. I had checked in online around 8PM, and arrived a couple of hours later. When I tried to get something better I was told that was the only kind of room available, and room preference is not guaranteed....

The room was tired, no grand bed of course, no desk. Somewhere on this thread I thought I red about free wireless, but it may have been a 2003 post: now WiFi is back to the modest (as defined by the in room brochure) $10/day charge.

Another unpleasant surprise: $17 for parking. That's seventeen US dollars, for a property in hotel row, not a downtown location by any stretch of imagination. The sign by the self parking is really deceiving: a big $3 parking sign, but if you spend the time to read the fine print it says something about
$1/hr and $17 for overnight. Ironically there are several lots where one can park at the airport for much less than that and take the bus to the hotel!!! You can guess what was the most popular topic of conversation I have overheard in line at checkout. Luckily there is a street just north of the hotel where I was lucky enough to find a spot (there were plenty). Most building surrounding the hotel are office complexes and they have signs about tenant only. Across the street is specifically says "no Hyatt parking"!

No papers delivered to the room, but the SF Chomicle available for free in the main lobby.

Among the positives, the staff was really friendly (a definite improvement from earlier posts), and definitely Hyatt-like and the TV had a better than average selection of channels.

It may have been just a bad night, but I'm not sure I would go back again given the options in the area.

MADBOB

Was just there for a quick MR and found the RC service. Nice breakfast and good evening snacks. With AAA rates, one has a hard tome complaining. Bob

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

The shuttle from SFO was quick , running every 15minutes and also stopping at the Marriott first en route to the Hyatt.

Check in was a bit slow with only one check in agent and he was serving but after a minute or two more staff came out and I was seen by David who welcomed me and checked me in quickly and given a choice of amenities ( I chose the cans of soda and the tortilla chips ( I did not see the 1000 points as an option).
I was upgraded to the RC level ( 9th floor ) and given lounge access
The room (9108) was an atrium room but was quiet enough and the atrium was beautifully decorated for christmas)
Room was well maintained and nicely decorated ( it ncluded a nice fluffy bathrobe)
The regency club accessible by key card had soft drinks and snacks during the afternoon with evening snacks from 5pm
There is a small fitness center on the 9th floor ( only for the 9th floor guests) and a main fitness center on the lobby level with an outodoor pool ( open)
I had a light snack in the deli ( soup and cola) as the tortilla chips were very large)

Breakfast in the lounge was good with cereal,fruit and bread.
I was able to chekc out on the tv screen and collect the bill from the front desk.

The shuttle back to the airport ran every 15mins and was quick to get back to SFO.

Overall a very good stay for the price.

Regards

TBS