I stayed at the Hyatt Place Park City for 6 nights (5 skiing days) last week, used 4 Free Night awards and 30K points. Hyatt Globalist with ~ 70 actual nights last year, 70% in various Hyatt Places (FL, NJ, FL, CA, UT). Traveling solo, no car.

Lyft (5 minute wait, $42 plus tip) from SLC airport to the hotel, Lyft scheduled night before (arrived 10 minutes early, app said he would wait but I was ready, $46 plus tip) from hotel to SLC. Hilton 3x points for Lyft airport rides posted to Hilton Honors account almost immediately.

Hotel is clean, appropriate numbered staff is universally gracious. I’ve been skiing for almost 60 years, 3-5 trips per year for the past 25 years, I understand the ski-resort seasonal employee situation. The (seasonal) staff at this hotel has poorer-than-typical command of English; upon asking the first time for “a cup of ice” at breakfast, the breakfast staff person gestured “1 minute” with his finger and ran to get the front desk agent.

Typical new build Hyatt Place large room with separate bedroom and sofa areas, dresser with 3 large drawers, mini-fridge, small coffee maker, large walk-in shower. No in room safe. Lots of towels upon arrival, didn’t have to ask for extras as I often do. No issues with heat and heating controls. Told of every 3 day housekeeping upon check-in. Large reasonably well equipped fitness center. Outdoor pool & hot-tub with nearby restrooms and lots of towels.

The hotel is 3 separate buildings, North and South buildings each 2 floors with about 20 rooms per floor. Central building has check-in desk, fitness center, bar (with limited dining menu), breakfast area, snacks/toiletries for sale, business center (2 computers, 1 printer), access to pool, small ski-rental shop and 10 rooms on the second floor. Appears to be plenty of free parking. Must walk 5-10 yards covered outside not well cleared of snow/ice to get from North or South building to Central building. At check-in I requested a room in the Central building, offered and accepted 2 Queens vice 1 King.

Breakfast was tasteless scrambled eggs, sausage or thin tasteless bacon, and a third hot dish (either pancakes, waffles, tasteless small churros with chocolate, some kind of repulsive pulled pork or some other sort of meat which was unidentifiable). Coffee and tea station, very tasty red grapes, fresh whole strawberries & blueberries, fresh cut pineapple or cantaloupe, apples, bananas, juices, dry cereals, bagels, breads, vanilla Geek yogurt.

Many organizations adhere to an expression akin to “attention to detail”. This hotel seems to do the opposite, I felt like I was being “nickel and dimed” to dissatisfaction, many small concerns any one of which is insignificant but combined are objectionable. Malfunctioning alarm clock which required replacement, desk light which either flickered or was steady at a very low level, 2 of 3 large dresser drawers would not stay shut, missing control knobs and handles for gym equipment, one (of 2) computers with “down for maintenance” message the entire duration of my stay, sidewalk on hotel property to inbound bus stop NOT cleared of snow and ice.

After wasting an hour obtaining a new alarm clock-radio and half an hour with the engineer looking at the dresser drawers (and not being able to repair) I gave up and stopped trying to get problems fixed.

By far, the most annoying aspect of this SKI hotel is getting to and from the ski lifts (and anywhere else). The hotel does NOT have its own dedicated shuttle (which is desperately needed and would massively increase guest satisfaction and many other ski hotels/lodges have). The bus stop TO the lifts (covered shelter with 3-4 seats) is right in front of the hotel, about 15 yard walk from the entrance. The bus stop FROM the lifts (sign on the side of the road) is across a busy 5 lane state highway at an intersection with a traffic light about 200 yards from the hotel. The sidewalk along those 200 yards is offset from the road and was NOT cleared of snow and ice, it was somewhere under 2-3 feet of snow and despite walking that route 5 times I didn’t know the sidewalk was there until I wrote this and looked at Google Maps satellite image (which shows no snow).

So, when going TO the lifts (inbound, by free bus), most likely in ski boots and carrying skis, one has to walk about 15 yards, half on the hotel entranceway driveway and then half on an icy sidewalk which the hotel SHOULD clear. Upon getting OFF the bus after skiing, one must walk (backtrack) 5-10 yards to the intersection, wait for the light, then cross the road and walk 200 yards facing traffic, half in a left right turn lane and half on the shoulder of a busy 2 lanes in each direction state highway, and then another 20 yards to the hotel entrance. (At least the one time a snowblower was clearing snow from the adjacent parking lot and blowing the snow onto the road where I had to walk, the operator stopped long enough for me to walk by without blown snow being thrown on me. )

There’s only 1 bus route with stops at the hotel, supposed to run every 15 minutes. The bus ride to/from the Canyons Cabriolet is about 3-5 minutes (1 other possible stop) depending on traffic lights, to/from main Park City base area 10-15 minutes (6-8 possible stops) depending on traffic volume and lights. Skis and poles go inside the bus although I coughed up the $10 per night and checked my skis and poles most nights at the base of the lifts. I took the bus 11 times, for my one trip to the Outlets (near Kimble Junction) I took a Lyft going (10-15 minute wait, $15 plus tip) and for return the bus arrived as I was about to call a Lyft. Of those 11 bus rides I waited 0 (zero) minutes 5 times, about 5 minutes 2 times, 15 minutes 3 times and one time waited about 45 minutes.

I didn’t know of the Cooper Lane route, didn’t attempt it. The distance from the hotel to the cabriolet is probably a little longer than what I would consider “walkable” and with no accessible sidewalk (and likely walking with traffic from the back) is not walkable. I did have to take the bus to the main Park City base area once (to visit a boot shop) and from that base area twice, unfortunately once each way on a Saturday. On that Saturday going to the lifts I waited zero minutes but the ride (which should be 10-15 minutes) took 50 minutes/6 stops and the driver suggested we all get off one stop prior to the base area and walk the rest of the way. After finishing skiing (and visiting the boot shop) that day, the wait for the bus at the main base area was 45 minutes and the 3 people waiting next to me for the same bus called an Uber which arrived 15 minutes later at the same time as the bus. (Unfortunately, having not skied at all last year, I forgot Ski Rule #1: no skiing Park City (or Vail) on a Saturday! )

Overall 3 stars out of 5. Dedicated shuttle would add 1 point, no “nickel and diming” would add another point. I used Free Night awards and Hyatt points, had I paid the rack rate I would have been much more annoyed and dissatisfied. The hotel absolutely should have its own shuttle, given no shuttle the hotel should clear the walkway to the inbound bus stop.

(On the Google Maps satellite images below I’ve circled the bus stops (closest to the hotel) in yellow, circled the snow buried sidewalk in aqua, red line on the top image indicates the drive to the Cabriolet and on the lower zoomed-in image the walk FROM the bus stop to the hotel. Same 2 bus stops circled in yellow on both images. One end of Cooper Lane in upper right of top image.)