We just got back from 6 nights at the Hyatt Regency in Aruba. We stayed for free using Hyatt FFN awards and had a great time, though I would have not been totally pleased with the resort if I had been paying $$ for the room. As far as Hyatt resorts go, the Aruba property is no where near as nice as the Kauai property. The entire hotel is badly in need of redesign and upgrade. There is a display by a design firm in the lobby, so apparently this update is coming soon. We did stop in several other hotels and the Hyatt is the nicest property on the island.

Hotel / Accommodations
The lobby and outdoor areas were very nice.

We were upgraded to the Regency Club floor, which is always nice as we are light breakfast eaters and the Regency Club Lounge suffices. The staff was very friendly and went out of their way for us. They were happy to stuff our backpack full of bottled water when heading to the beach.

The room itself was small (there were no suites or rooms with full balconies available) and dated. The room was not any nicer than your run of the mill airport Hyatt. Luckily we did not spend much time in the room. There were no Grand beds. The bathrooms have supposedly been updated recently, but you could not tell. The sinks all have sprayers rather than running streams of water. Also, there is no cold water in the hotel. The C faucet ran warm, which was annoying. The best thing I can say about the accommodations was that maid service was excellent and the turndown service did a complete 2nd clean on the room on the evening. There were no PPV movies or online account status check on the in room TVs.

Hotel Facilities
The beach was very nice, and that is why we came here to begin with. You had better like the beach, or Aruba is not the place for you as there is not much else to do. We had no problem getting a beach Palapa. All you have to do is call ahead and ask for the Towel Hut. They will reserve you a hut for $25/day, which is small change compared with the money you will spend overall on this vacation. I stopped down the day of our arrival and gave the towel hut manager $20. We were upgraded to a front row hut for the week. They set it up with four chairs (2 in / 2 out), rafts and an ice bucket every day. Just call ahead and you avoid the 7am shuffle to get a spot.

There were a lot of power boats and jet skis buzzing by the beach. I find this annoying. The beach was beautiful and the water blue (but not clear), but way too many natives pushing Parasailing (which should be avoided as the trade winds are too strong), etc.

The Stillwater “Spa” was little more than an overblown gym (which did not have enough air conditioning). Anyone going here for the spa will be let down. The massage was good, but the facilities are just not than nice. One small steam and sauna shared by men and women. They need to build out an entire new spa facility is they want to consider themselves a spa resort. I remember the beautiful spa in Kauai, and going there every day to shower in the lava rock showers. The spa in Aruba does not remotely compare.

The casino was fun. I was not planning on gambling much, as I go to Vegas to do that without my girlfriend. However we ended up gambling every night and met some fun people while in the casino. We bet small, but won enough to cover dinner every night! Beware if you are a serious gambler, the resort players will drive you nuts with some of their black jack moves (e.g. 3rd baseman hitting a 13 against a dealers 6).

Dining
Café Japengo at the hotel was excellent; we got our sushi fix there several times. The pool bar is good for lunch on the beach. Palms is just OK for lunch. We did not try Ruinas del Mar. Otherwise we ate dinners out of the hotel (Marandi was the best; Texas de Brazil was great; Aqua Grill was disappointing; and Flying Fishbone was a beautiful setting but overall bad experience).

Overall
This resort is nice, but badly in need of a complete upgrade of all rooms and common areas. They could also use a new spa if they want to compete as a resort. Also, too many business incentive large groups were there. it is just not what I want to deal with on my vacation. We enjoyed Aruba and it was just the thing for a break from the Boston winter, however we probably won’t be back any time soon.