shakim

While I have not stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, I must say in my experience, Hyatt has always been better than a comparable marriott, hilton, IC and even SPG. I'm not talking about treatment I receive, but the hard product, which is the same for everyone. Maybe it's that particular hotel that needs a renovation.

skj

I'm not sure how exceptional it is ... I've been woken by fire alarms probably about once per year on average, most recently at the PH DC. In maybe half of the cases where I learned the cause of the alarm, it's been the property's fault - fire in the kitchen, problem with their alarm system or a staff member breaking a sprinkler head, for example.

AirbusFan2B

mattsteg

Its exceptional enough that e.g. azpine hasn't encountered it in 1000+ stays, nor have I. Whether it's .01%,.1%, or even 1% of stays it's still a relatively rare event.

CIT85

Using stays at HP and HH to rate Hyatt in general is very poor. I stay at HP and HH as necessary evil where there no other Hyatt option and my expectations are low.

I value stays at luxury Hyatt properties,especially no resort fees and no parking fee when on award stays for Globalist (only benefits of all hotel chains).

Only you can decide what's important to you.

mnredfox

CloudCoder

People say that Hyatt has a "small footprint" but for me it's a "complete" footprint.

Hyatt provides cheap stays, luxurious stays, and everything in between ... for most areas where I travel. Sometimes the product is a bit off, but that's true of any product in today's world. I do stay at most all of the chain hotels. But overall, I prefer Hyatt. They seem to offer the most bang for the buck.

shakim

Well Andaz is pretty good (better than W I find) and Centric is new so can't say much. Then you have UB which is sort of like the Luxury Collection with boutique and classic hotels.

if you meant HH and HP, those are pretty good. I always find HP way better than fourpoints or courtyard

moulder3

I agree. You know exactly the room you're getting with HP, the downside being almost all HP have no suites for upgrade. Four Points has some really nasty hotels, but if they have a decent restaurant then you can get free breakfast as your Platinum amenity, if that's important to you.

To the OP: I'd say that if you expect the majority of your stays to be HP & HH, then you may want to re-evaluate Hyatt as your go-to brand. If you enjoy the properties (which doesn't seem to be the case) then maybe it's worth continuing, but otherwise Hyatt elite members get ZERO additional benefits (beyond a bottle of water) at Hyatt Place & Hyatt House properties, which is even more crazy considering they make up something like 45% of all Hyatt's worldwide. If I were in your shoes, the only reason I'd continue with Hyatt is a) if you can find non-HP/HH hotels with lounges along your normal travels or b) you really want Hyatt points for the vacation properties (although I'd suggest you look at points required for Hyatt resorts, as they're often insanely high).

skywalkerLAX

To be fair, you stayed in Hyatt's lowest brands so I'm not at all surprised that the experience so far is less than stellar.

It's the same as staying at a Holiday Inn or a Holiday Inn Express.

pWei

OP, if you're not going to be at areas where Hyatt has their nicer properties going forward, it might not be the best choice.

I'd definitely shoot an email to someone higher up in the HP/HH where you had your issues, briefly laying out your decision to stay there while working at your client (ie. lots more business), laying out the issues, and asking what they can do to fix. I'd say their response should be a harbinger of things to come if you do decide to stay the course.

Many of the nicer Hyatts are outside the USA.

tkelsay

Yes, unfortunately this current client is on the outskirts of Atlanta and there really aren't a lot of nicer hotel options, most of them are the lower-tier brand. There's a few holiday inns, courtyards, hampton inns, double trees, HP/HH, and some others scattered in. There is a Hyatt Regency, it's one of the Regency's without a club unfortunately but it still looks nice from the pictures; however, I wasn't planning on staying there without status as then I'd have to tack on an extra expense of breakfast and the hotel is already priced quite a bit higher than the others in the area. When you add up the higher rate, paying for breakfast, and $10/day parking fee, I wouldn't be able to justify the large difference per night to the client.

Based on this client and my next one lined up, I do think a majority of my stays through June will be at HP/HH. However, the fact is that these stays would almost surely be at another low-tier hotel from one of the other major hotel chains. Therefore, I am somewhat running my comparison between the low/mid-tier hotels for work travel and then I plan to spend my personal travel (either via points or cash) at the higher end hotels that the brand offers.

Ultimately, I decided to leave IHG because the benefits were non-existent when traveling to Intercontinental's on points or on my own dime - they don't recognize Spire elite at Intercontinental so aside from the extra points earning and some other minor things, I didn't feel like Spire was benefiting me at all.

Overall I think the few Hyatt's I've stayed at aren't necessarily that bad of properties.. the HH building is new, the gym is large, and the indoor pool is nice. However my experiences at these hotels in just a few stays has been less than what I expected from Hyatt - fire alarms, broken stationary bike, crawling wifi, grumpy staff, etc.. And I'll be the first to say that IHG hotels, in particular Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Expresses, are extremely inconsistent and quite frankly some are garbage, however there is one nearby my current location that is quite new and has great facilities and fast wifi.

I have reached out to Hyatt via email 2 days ago and I am awaiting a response. I would like to keep giving Hyatt my business because I think the elite program is enticing and is exactly what I am looking for when I travel on personal time (suite upgrades, free parking, resort fees waived, etc.), but if my experience doesn't improve soon then I'm close to just cutting it and giving another brand a shot, perhaps Hilton or Marriott.

I appreciate all the responses from everyone, it has helped me get some perspective of what I should expect at these properties and with Hyatt in general. Thanks.

shakim

Well, the two benefits you don't get is suite upgrade at booking or comped breakfast (since everyone gets breakfast at HP). Still get bonus points, late check out, etc, etc. And in HP's defense, most don't even have a suite to upgrade to. I have never been in an international HP but if they have suites more readily available then that will be something missed for sure.

I think most people that enjoy Hyatt are those that maximize staying at the full service properties, but every once in a while have to settle with HH or HP cause that's the only option on that business trip. Only time I've stayed at a HP on personal travel is for 1 night near an airport to wake up and go to the main hotel next day or a flight.

mattsteg

Suite-equipped HPs are fine about comp suite upgrades in my experience. In general, relative to their peers HPs are fine, especially new-build ones. They're certainly not a full-service Hyatt, but they're fine overall for the most part. Sometimes a tad light on staffing for late arrivals, occasionally noisy AC or tired amerisuites conversion, but not really worse than what my alternatives would be for the stays they get. Good size rooms with a usable work space and a comfortable bed are most of what I care about when traveling on work, and occasionally late checkout.

The quality and the value (particularly on points) of the full service properties is for sure the main attraction, but I have much more of an issue with international footprint than I do with the HP experience.

eponymous_coward

I agree, though it's US footprint for me too. Look at Hyatt in Portland, Oregon vs. Hilton (not exactly a small, inconsequential market, but very typical for Hyatt vs. Hilton for where I travel). It's LOL-worthy.

If there were about 5-10x as many HPs scattered all over the US I'd be way more willing to ditch Hilton for Hyatt- most of my Hilton stays are in HGI/Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites or mid-level DTs that I'd happily trade for HPs and Hyatt's program. But as it stands the footprint in the US is too small and incomplete to make up for the luxe experiences in some cities that admittedly Hyatt does better. But just got back from burning points at a HP in Phoenix during baseball spring training- great value to spend 5k a night for a $200+ hotel room that's perfectly fine for what I need...