I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina last week. The front entrance and lobby looked pretty nice when I arrived then it was pretty much downhill from there.

During check in there was no mention of gold passport program or status. I am not sure if they are supposed to thank me or mention my nobody status in their program, but at my last stay at another HR (Calgary) they did thank me for my loyalty to Hyatt and for staying with them. This time, no such mention.

I was given a map for directions to my room, which was called a standard room in the bay 2 building by the front desk person. I proceeded out into the unkept jungle courtyard that the management should be ashamed of. The rotting plants and vegetation were really an eyesore. I couldnt see anything but the pathway, the overgrown jungle, and pieces of buildings. Not sure if this is supposed to be charming mood setting type of jungle, kinda give you some sort of tropical spa vibe, but the jungle mess gets a big fail from me.

The map was no good except to show me where, in general, the bay 2 building was. I followed the path to the building, but the signage on the building is quite poor. The front desk didnt tell me much except my room was around the back side of the building. What they didnt tell me was that the entrance to my room was actually outside. As I wandered around the path to the back (which turned out to be the parking lot side) of the building, I saw little patio's hiding behind more overgrown vegetation. I walked around the outside, all the way to the pool and still saw no sign of where to go to get to my room. The signs on the 2 doors to the inside of the building, on either end, had numbers that were not my room. I started to go back around the parking lot, where the patios were, and started peering in through the vegetation, in to the patios. On close inspection it was then I saw that there were actually room numbers and the entrance doors were from the outside. This seemed kinda Motel6 to me, but I finally found my room, and went inside.

As I entered my room at the Motel6, errr, Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina, I was ready to find a nice relaxing Hyatt room. What I found was a dated and poorly maintained room. Not sure why, but I usually turn on the tv when I get in to a hotel room. I reached for the remote, and as is frequently usual for me, it didnt work. I am not sure why this is not a piece of the housekeeping checklist, check the remote as part of cleaning the room and if it doesnt work, call someone before the guest has to.

Ok, no problem I thought, I turned on the tv without the remote and moved on. I went to the bathroom to take a shower, and was surprised to see the circa 1980's faded gold framed sliding mirror doors in front of the closet, they might have looked ok in the 80's, but look cheap and tacky in that room today.

The bathroom was, in a word, terrible. There was rust on the ceiling light fixture. The sink taps were loose. The paint was chipped. There was a small hole in the wall near the light switch. The bathtub fixtures were dull and had calcium or lime or other water stains on them. The piece de resistance of this mess was the floor where it meets the tub. The repeated silicone patch jobs between the tub and floor were done by an amateur hack, at best. There were layers and holes and just an unsightly mess that I really didnt expect to find in a Hyatt Regency. You couldnt miss it either, your eyes get drawn to the hole in the silicone safari someone went on trying to fix things up.

The shower worked ok, the water pressure and temp were fine. I had to mess around with the tub stopper to get it to stay locked in the up posistion when I found the water getting up above my ankles.

The towels, soaps, shampoos and other typical bathroom supplies were as expected, no problems there. I looked and found a basket in the closet which had a shoe cleaning cloth, a shower cap, and a laundry bag. The closet also had spare pillows in a case to keep them clean, plenty of hangers, an iron and a suitcase rack. All of the appropriate room items were in place.

The bed was comfortable, the sheets and pillows were clean and neat as you would expect. As I was only going to be there for a few hours I wanted to pass out for a couple of them before I had to head out again. I managed to get a half hour of sleep before being woken up by the opening and closing of car doors in the very close parking lot. It was the middle of the day though, so that is gonna happen.

My stop at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina was quickly coming to an end. On my way out I had to wait a couple of minutes in the lobby for the supershuttle to arrive to take me back to SAN for my redeye back to BOS. The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina doesnt actually have an airport shuttle. Anyhow, I sat on the couches closest to the front door, with the fireplace on my left. As I waited, I happened to look down at the base of the couch opposite to where I was, and noticed a piece of the couch had come off, exposing the frame, and once again, exposing this property as a poorly kept mess.

I really had no reason to stay here but the 30% off promo popped up, I already had a mileage run booked to SAN, and I needed the nights for the possibilities promo so I decided to try it. I got the room for 111 per night on a prepaid rate, but didnt go back the second day.

The second day, during my second 9hr stop in SAN I stayed at the airport and used the free wifi there, instead of paying 25 for the shuttle, and another charge, 9.95 a day, for the internet at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina.

I am really not hard to please, and I didnt have expectations that were out of whack in my opinion. All I expected was something that sort of resembled what I saw on the website, with some Hyatt quality thrown in. That was not what I experienced at all.

All in all my experience here at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina was a negative one, and I certainly wouldnt go back. If do you go there avoid the bay 2 building at all cost, even the cost of staying somewhere else because when you get through the jungle in the courtyard you will be at a down trodden motel6 on a parking lot, not at at a Hyatt Regency Spa.