Reflecting on my 2013 travel year that was I could name a small but important number of 'good calls'. There was my decision to jettison HHonors points like the Exxon Valdez lost oil or my successful push to make AA EXP or the small fortune I paid for a decent, lightweight laptop. They were all good decisions, the benefits of which I'm sure will be outweighed by the restless nights and staff meetings I spent toying with the choices. But if I had to name the ultimate travel decision of 2013, the choice to out rank all others, it would be the day back in mid-August when I decided that the reviews of the Hyatt Regency Kuantan were simply too bleak to risk a four night stay and I settled on just two. It was two too many.

The Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort is an embarrassment to the Hyatt portfolio.

On entering my seaview room (in village four, where the Regency Club is and adjacent to an empty block of land that sounds a reflection of Sheraton's choice to look elsewhere) I knew it wasn't going to be a typical Hyatt Regency, far less a Hyatt resort, much less a five staff hotel. But as the minutes after my arrival ticked by, the feeling of 'meh' turned to 'oh my God'.

Before I go on I will say that the service recovery was excellent and I'll detail that more later.

The room resembled something a hooker would take their John to and hire by the hour. The lounge chair was stained. A bedside lamp was falling apart. The furniture was scratched and more worn than a Batman costume at Halloween. The exterior of the safe was peeling. There were exposed wires, chipped and scratched walls. Dust. A telephone fixture lay on the floor. The top of the toilet (cistern lid) was stained. The bathroom tiles were dirty in parts, if not mould then then they were so worn they were permanently covered in grime. There were water stains around the taps. A previous guest had attempted to fix the broken wardrobe door by sticking a piece of cardboard in the track. The floorboards were peeling. The compendium was falling apart. Two pillow cases were stained and another was torn. The balcony was dirty and the furniture old and worn.

All this from a property that is not only a Hyatt, but a resort. And an alleged five star resort at that.

I sat at my laptop at the desk that looked like it had been purchased post-Malaysian independence more than half a century ago and reviewed flight options to get out of the place and move to my next destination early. I was prepared to wear the relatively small additional cost and I could do so quite easily. I left my room and walked to reception with the intention of informing them I'd be leaving the next morning but on my way I looked out at the magnificent pool (with no one in it) and decided I should 'swim on it'. So I swam and sunbaked (the emphasis on baked, unfortunately) for a couple of hours before returning to my room. At that point I'd decided, with such a nice (almost entirely) abandoned pool with a nice swim-up bar, I'd just sunbake the two days away. Clearly the chlorine had made me delusional.

I thought I'd rest up before the evening drinks and canapés in the lounge so I inspected the bed. It's not something I'd normally do but I wouldn't ordinarily take my shirt off in public either but. And there it was. The straw that broke this traveller's back: stained pillows and a tear half the size of a cocktail stirrer.

When I made it to the lounge at 6pm I approached a lounge staff member and told her that the hotel was an embarrassment to Hyatt and that my room was a disgrace. I asked her if she be so kind as to ask housekeeping to change my pillow cases so that they were neither stained nor torn. I then took a seat.

About 15 minutes later the duty manager arrived, the staff member obviously having informed him. He seemed genuinely concerned and we proceeded to my room where I ran through the list of issues. I hadn't expected that the staff member would pass on my concerns, at least not beyond housekeeping, but I'm pleased she did. It's funny, though: as I politely told her - in different words - that the hotel would be more suited to a Flag Motor Inn (for the Australian readers) or a Day's Inn or Howard Johnson, it all seemed to be water off a duck's back. It was as if she'd heard it all before - two or three hundred times.

In my room the duty manager was genuinely embarrassed and very apologetic. As the first aspect of the service recovery I was very impressed. He promised to make it right. He visited me again in the lounge about 20 minutes later saying he'd been unable to reach the GM but was arranging to move me to another room. We'd meet again at 8pm. About 20 minutes or so after that the director of rooms paid me a visit at my lounge table and also offered his apologies. And then a short time after that the duty housekeeping manager apologised, no less than four times in the space of 60 seconds. Again, it appeared genuine and I was both impressed and grateful.

At 8pm a porter met me at my room and I was moved to a suite. It was certainly better then but itself not without its issues. The mini-bar hadn't been stocked. There was a tear in the bathrobe and a tear in the corner of the bedsheet where it would surely have been visible to the nice man or lady who had fitted it. But I bit my tongue and soldiered on.

The Regency Club was decent enough and the food offering was mid-range or better. However, the alcohol was not self-serve and indeed was, just like a menu, out of sight. I had to enquire as to what was on offer and when I asked for a vodka and soda water, the drink arrived with no sparkle. Twice. Either no soda water was used or the can had been sitting on the benchtop for a week since the last guest ordered a soda water. Similarly, for breakfast, eggs (and maybe other items) were available but there was no menu and I only stumbled upon that by chance. No information of any kind with respect to the lounge was provided at check-in. The food was nonetheless of good quality and a chef even wandered in and out during the two hour spread.

The internet was generally good but failed on a number of occasions. There are two very nice pools including one with a swim-up bar which I love (and was probably the reason I ended up staying instead of leaving early). They were clean and, for the most part, empty. I would be surprised if more than 30 rooms in the entire hotel were occupied while I was there. I did receive a nice plate of fresh fruit and a welcome letter. The room service I had one night was delivered promptly and by the only staff member (save for the service recovery folk) who showed any degree of interest whatsoever. The staff approach to their role seemed akin to taking a stroll through the park on a Sunday. It was blaise and laid back. Several staff seemed bored, as if they'd rather be anywhere but this five star Hyatt resort.

The final blow came just a few hours ago when, having checked out of the Hyatt and into another property elsewhere in Malaysia, I opened by laundry that I'd sent to the Kuantan laundry. One of my t-shirts had been returned with yellow stains across both the back and front. At least the laundry cost was inexpensive.

Speaking of price, at about $120 a night all in, this hotel is very favourable from a cash perspective but I cannot escape the fact that it is labeled a five star, Hyatt, resort. It is, at best, 3.5 star and probably closer to three. Price is not the only factor in determining a property's worth. It seems from reviews and comments on Flyertalk that, for example, the Hyatt Place Midtown Manhattan should not be asking the dollars it is, nor should it be in the redemption category it now finds itself in as of today. Other factors come into play and in the case of this hotel, it fails in an overwhelming number of boxes.

I understand that reservations are planned to commence imminently. But they are long, long overdue. This property is worthy neither of five stars, nor of the Hyatt name.

Photo album.