Hyatt Regency Merida REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
May 9, 2018, 6:19 am
#31
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: FL, USA
Programs: AA Plat, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriot Gold
Posts: 1,666
House rentals are hit-or-miss almost everywhere. No way I'd roll the dice on that vs. a hotel for what appears to be a short-term stay, and I certainly wouldn't pay more than a hotel to do so. The bus from the Hyatt to centro is 7 or 8 pesos and takes maybe 5 minutes; an Uber or taxi might be $2. And once you've spent a few hours in centro to see the cathedral, etc., some people might very well prefer the Paseo Montejo area that's a block away from the Hyatt.
Jun 2, 2018, 11:25 pm
#32
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: KOA
Programs: DL Gold/MM, HH Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 2,280
SportsTech, I did go the the buffet for lunch one day. There was a wide variety of food, with the main entrees being Mexican, all of which were very good. My total bill, including one beer and a tip, came to just over USD $15 when it hit my credit card.
Jun 3, 2018, 8:15 am
#33
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central CT
Programs: UA MM/1K, SPG Lifetime Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Diamond, HH Gold, Natl Exec Elite
Posts: 1,490
Thanks for the update
Appreciate the follow-up, Richard. I think I will go down for a couple days next month to check it out myself - based on your report, I'll start with an optimistic viewpoint.
ST
ST
Jun 4, 2018, 10:07 am
#34
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: FL, USA
Programs: AA Plat, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriot Gold
Posts: 1,666
All in all we had a really nice stay and would not hesitate to go back and stay there. We ended up paying about $62 night plus taxes. We thought it was a great price which is why we did it that way vs points.
Last edited by miadukes; Jun 4, 2018 at 10:14 am
Jan 9, 2020, 5:07 pm
#36
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,745
We spent two nights here, bracketing nights spent at 3 of the Marriott hacienda properties spread throughout the Yucatan. We really enjoyed the hotel. We had stayed years ago and found it much nicer than I remembered. It's a bargain at just 5K points/night. We used upgrade awards and were given a room for each stay on the club floor. Each time, we got a welcome treat in the room. The lounge had a remarkable array of food in the evening. It was truly a full meal with several salads, some hot dishes, cheeses, prosciutto, cashews, prosciutto, pistachios and varied desserts. Breakfast was not as impressive but certainly sufficient. Don't self park as it is a pain to walk from the garage into the hotel. You have to walk down a flight and a half of stairs, across a corridor, and back up a flight of stairs. Valet parking is free whereas you have to pay to self park. Service was very attentive.
We rented a car from Hertz on arrival at the airport. We turned it in at the Hertz office immediately across the street. A taxi to the airport is 180 pesos or roughly $10.
We rented a car from Hertz on arrival at the airport. We turned it in at the Hertz office immediately across the street. A taxi to the airport is 180 pesos or roughly $10.
Oct 5, 2021, 12:17 pm
#38
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 17
Feb 24, 2022, 11:25 pm
#40
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Taipei
Posts: 1,124
Yep. Did 7 nights recently on a TSU into their Regency Suite King. Had been hoping for an upgrade into an Executive Suite (premium) but it wasn't available at check in anyway. The Presidential Suite was available but I didn't really have any expectations that they'd give us that for an entire week, so oh well.
Suite was fine. I don't have a lot of experience with high end properties or suites, so from that perspective my take is that the hard product was adequate but I could see how some things were really nice and other things seemed cheap. Overall though it functioned very well. And was very very large.
Glob breakfast is fantastic. The breakfast is really like a breakfast/lunch buffet and is served from 7a-12p. Tons of options that didn't really get too tiring even after a week (to be fair I personally missed breakfast three times). One oddity is that the breakfast buffet apparently costs 20 USD but for globalists it's only 10 USD (and then comped off the bill). Just odd that they offer a discount that's then comped. We learned the true cost is 20USD when we had a friend join us.
Lounge is open and is as expected. Better than most/all US lounges, but not on Asia level. It's solid. 6 hot dishes + salad bar + various pastries/breads/desserts from 5-8p. Other hours just drinks, nuts, and a smaller assortment of pasties/breads.
Not sure what else to say...hotel is operating very smoothly. Staff were all quite good. Daily stayover cleaning is available. Location is pretty great (our first time in Merida). Any other questions just ask away.
Suite was fine. I don't have a lot of experience with high end properties or suites, so from that perspective my take is that the hard product was adequate but I could see how some things were really nice and other things seemed cheap. Overall though it functioned very well. And was very very large.
Glob breakfast is fantastic. The breakfast is really like a breakfast/lunch buffet and is served from 7a-12p. Tons of options that didn't really get too tiring even after a week (to be fair I personally missed breakfast three times). One oddity is that the breakfast buffet apparently costs 20 USD but for globalists it's only 10 USD (and then comped off the bill). Just odd that they offer a discount that's then comped. We learned the true cost is 20USD when we had a friend join us.
Lounge is open and is as expected. Better than most/all US lounges, but not on Asia level. It's solid. 6 hot dishes + salad bar + various pastries/breads/desserts from 5-8p. Other hours just drinks, nuts, and a smaller assortment of pasties/breads.
Not sure what else to say...hotel is operating very smoothly. Staff were all quite good. Daily stayover cleaning is available. Location is pretty great (our first time in Merida). Any other questions just ask away.
Jun 6, 2022, 10:11 am
#41
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,642
I am toying with the idea of a long stay (2-4 weeks) in January. The idea is to get a jump on 2023 qualifying nights as well as avoid cold weather for a little while. Is the local area good for walking/jogging? I don't really have a specific agenda, but mostly want decent weather and the ability to get out each day for some exercise and wandering. Any advice on safety and layout of the local area is appreciated.
Jun 6, 2022, 10:51 am
#42
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Taipei
Posts: 1,124
I am toying with the idea of a long stay (2-4 weeks) in January. The idea is to get a jump on 2023 qualifying nights as well as avoid cold weather for a little while. Is the local area good for walking/jogging? I don't really have a specific agenda, but mostly want decent weather and the ability to get out each day for some exercise and wandering. Any advice on safety and layout of the local area is appreciated.
You're less than a block away from Paseo de Montejo, the pedestrian spine of Merida. Most of Merida (the expat areas from Centro up north at least) is very safe generally speaking, and certainly Paseo de Montejo felt so as well. I did quite a few runs in the neighborhood at night (10-midnight) and never felt wary. January will be the ideal weather in Merida which means you can probably comfortably go outside most or all of the day as well. Mar-Nov you are looking at staying indoors between 9a and 6p lol.
IOW, your plan sounds solid! Visit some cenotes too!
Jan 19, 2023, 9:00 am
#44
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 409
Finishing up a 4 night stay here. Lovely hotel and an amazing points redemption value at Catgeory 1. I opted to not burn an SUA here since a suite is only 3k points a night more than a standard room and would thus only net me a savings of 12k for my stay (whereas an SUA redemption at a category 6 or 7 would net a ~15k savings PER NIGHT). So I booked a standard suite for a total of 32k points and they upgraded me to the Premium Suite, an Executive Regency King.
The room is very spacious and on the 17th floor, which is very convenient as it's the same floor as the club lounge. The lounge only opens after 1pm, which is a little inconvenient since you can't make a coffee run in the morning, but from 5pm they have a decent selection of food (3 rotating hot dishes, charcuterie, basic salad bar, sweet breads/pastries) and complementary alcohol (your basic Mexican beers and liquors, no craft beers or top shelf alcohol, but not a bad selection either).
The room has a door between the living and bedroom, a half bath in the living, a circular table with 3 chairs, sofa, mid-century modern chair, and basic minibar. The Nespresso machine is an off brand, as are the coffee pods. It was a weird machine and while the pods tasted decent, I ended up just running down to the restaurant and grabbing coffees to go. The staff was happy to accommodate. The bedroom had a very comfy king bed (soft, not like more modern hard Hyatt beds), a loveseat, and enough room to have both a rollaway for our almost 4 year old and a crib for our 7 month old. The master bathroom is HUGE with the highlight of the room for us - a massive bath tub with jacuzzi jets. All 4 of us could fit in the bath comfortably and we really took advantage of that with the kids.
The pool here is just okay. It may be because I'm visiting in January, but the pool only gets sun for about an hour or two all day, and because of that it's kind of chilly in and around the pool. The wind is strong too. The bar next to the pool is nice, though I never saw anyone actually using it.
The globalist breakfast is at the main restaurant, and the buffet is HUGE. It's almost comparable to a buffet you'd find at an AI like Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun. I mean it's laughable to think this is a category 1 buffet that is "on par" with an awful cat. 1 hyatt place breakfast you'd get in the states. Four varieties of freshly squeezed juice, tons of fruits, salad bar and charcuterie, tons of breads and pastries, made to order egg station, lots of different hot dishes, two different soups, empanadas, other fried goodies, and every day guaranteed cochinita pibil, lechon, and tortillas. Just a fantastic spread.
The location is okay. You're a 20-25 minute walk to the historic center, but on the other end of things, you're an easy walk to Kuuk if you're into high end dining (and you should go here. It's awesome!) and a stone's throw away from Hermana Repulibca, a local brewery. An uber to the historic center is easy and even a Comfort or XL will run you no more than $5-7 each way.
The staff are all lovely. Requests made through the app are brought to your door promptly, and nothing feels like too much of an ask at the front desk.
Overall, I thought the city of Merida was okay, but I like Oaxaca much more. Because of that, I probably won't return. That said, if for whatever reason I were to be back in Merida, I would absolutely, 100% stay here again.
The room is very spacious and on the 17th floor, which is very convenient as it's the same floor as the club lounge. The lounge only opens after 1pm, which is a little inconvenient since you can't make a coffee run in the morning, but from 5pm they have a decent selection of food (3 rotating hot dishes, charcuterie, basic salad bar, sweet breads/pastries) and complementary alcohol (your basic Mexican beers and liquors, no craft beers or top shelf alcohol, but not a bad selection either).
The room has a door between the living and bedroom, a half bath in the living, a circular table with 3 chairs, sofa, mid-century modern chair, and basic minibar. The Nespresso machine is an off brand, as are the coffee pods. It was a weird machine and while the pods tasted decent, I ended up just running down to the restaurant and grabbing coffees to go. The staff was happy to accommodate. The bedroom had a very comfy king bed (soft, not like more modern hard Hyatt beds), a loveseat, and enough room to have both a rollaway for our almost 4 year old and a crib for our 7 month old. The master bathroom is HUGE with the highlight of the room for us - a massive bath tub with jacuzzi jets. All 4 of us could fit in the bath comfortably and we really took advantage of that with the kids.
The pool here is just okay. It may be because I'm visiting in January, but the pool only gets sun for about an hour or two all day, and because of that it's kind of chilly in and around the pool. The wind is strong too. The bar next to the pool is nice, though I never saw anyone actually using it.
The globalist breakfast is at the main restaurant, and the buffet is HUGE. It's almost comparable to a buffet you'd find at an AI like Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun. I mean it's laughable to think this is a category 1 buffet that is "on par" with an awful cat. 1 hyatt place breakfast you'd get in the states. Four varieties of freshly squeezed juice, tons of fruits, salad bar and charcuterie, tons of breads and pastries, made to order egg station, lots of different hot dishes, two different soups, empanadas, other fried goodies, and every day guaranteed cochinita pibil, lechon, and tortillas. Just a fantastic spread.
The location is okay. You're a 20-25 minute walk to the historic center, but on the other end of things, you're an easy walk to Kuuk if you're into high end dining (and you should go here. It's awesome!) and a stone's throw away from Hermana Repulibca, a local brewery. An uber to the historic center is easy and even a Comfort or XL will run you no more than $5-7 each way.
The staff are all lovely. Requests made through the app are brought to your door promptly, and nothing feels like too much of an ask at the front desk.
Overall, I thought the city of Merida was okay, but I like Oaxaca much more. Because of that, I probably won't return. That said, if for whatever reason I were to be back in Merida, I would absolutely, 100% stay here again.
Feb 20, 2023, 2:58 pm
#45
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 41
The above post summarizes it well. We stayed here for 1 night for traveling to Tulum the next day and visit the pyramid on the way.
it definitely exceeded our expectations. Mostly the food.
after yr 2022 where you see a flush of globalist, i finally got voluntarily upgraded into a suite again. A regular regency suite. I guess many globalists got upgraded into this suite so i think taking your chance is ok.
the decors — they tried, but it seems that you can only get so much craftsmanship in this area. It feels a developing country hotel. the staff had a bit of difficulty understanding english and they did not give me club access nor mentioned breakfast options at first. They knew it, but just forgot basically.
everything else was just great, mostly the food i had to say. The food feels very authentic and delicious. They did not try to please the american tourists like the cancun area hotels. They presented their food mexican way and they are delicious. The club had a lot of fancy deserts and great fajitas. We arrived late and rushed out which is the most regrettable thing we did — should have just stayed and have those fajitas. It appeared that there were not many club guests….
the morning is in the restaurant for globalist. It is a huge spread and very mexican. We had the beef stripe soup, and it was impressivly rich and delicious. Countless deserts. Many kinds of hot dishes. There’s nothing category 1 here. It is the most expansive breakfast i see in a hyatt in north america — if one is looking at authenic mexican food, it likely beats those all inclusives as well. Just impressive.
we think Merida is a lovely city and worth a little visit if one has the chance. Not too much to see/do here in the city, but enough stuff around the area and in Yucatan province. And this hyatt can be a very good base for all those activities with a super bang for the bucks…
it definitely exceeded our expectations. Mostly the food.
after yr 2022 where you see a flush of globalist, i finally got voluntarily upgraded into a suite again. A regular regency suite. I guess many globalists got upgraded into this suite so i think taking your chance is ok.
the decors — they tried, but it seems that you can only get so much craftsmanship in this area. It feels a developing country hotel. the staff had a bit of difficulty understanding english and they did not give me club access nor mentioned breakfast options at first. They knew it, but just forgot basically.
everything else was just great, mostly the food i had to say. The food feels very authentic and delicious. They did not try to please the american tourists like the cancun area hotels. They presented their food mexican way and they are delicious. The club had a lot of fancy deserts and great fajitas. We arrived late and rushed out which is the most regrettable thing we did — should have just stayed and have those fajitas. It appeared that there were not many club guests….
the morning is in the restaurant for globalist. It is a huge spread and very mexican. We had the beef stripe soup, and it was impressivly rich and delicious. Countless deserts. Many kinds of hot dishes. There’s nothing category 1 here. It is the most expansive breakfast i see in a hyatt in north america — if one is looking at authenic mexican food, it likely beats those all inclusives as well. Just impressive.
we think Merida is a lovely city and worth a little visit if one has the chance. Not too much to see/do here in the city, but enough stuff around the area and in Yucatan province. And this hyatt can be a very good base for all those activities with a super bang for the bucks…