Hyatt Regency Vancouver - REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
Mar 20, 2016, 3:39 pm
#271
Join Date: May 2010
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Gold...
Posts: 56
Using a DSU is waste of an upgrade at this property. The only way I would use a DSU is if I was in Vancouver close to the end of February and I still had an upgrade left. I've received way better suite upgrades from booking a Standard room at this property.
Apr 28, 2016, 3:37 pm
#272
Join Date: May 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: Delta Plat IHG Dia, Hyatt Discoverist, Hilton Gold, Marriott Plat, Global Entry, TSA ✓
Posts: 110
Junior suite had either 1 King bed or 2 Double beds. (both are connecting rooms)
Room
Suite room had separate bathroom, refrigerator, closet. also pull out couch.
King bed had balcony access and felt little bit bigger than 2 Double beds room (Great for smokers IMO) (connecting door located near door)
2 Double beds room was ok. nothing special. (connecting door located near work desk)
Personally I would not waste DSU on this, unless you are planning to stay more than 3 days and getting King bed (with balcony)
Regency Club
Good selection of food, drinks. it was tasty! also very friendly staff.
Parking
I only had to pay $36 CAD (Friday 6PM to Sunday afternoon) really cheap!
Hiccups
Lost keys, got a new key, one key did not open up the one of two rooms that I booked, asked front desk staff to get me a new key. then we could not get a access to Regency club. Asked again. then one front desk staff told us that regency club closes at 9PM on weekends? (she clearly did not know, but it closes at 10PM). but she escorted us to the club.
Other than that, it was great stay!
Room
Suite room had separate bathroom, refrigerator, closet. also pull out couch.
King bed had balcony access and felt little bit bigger than 2 Double beds room (Great for smokers IMO) (connecting door located near door)
2 Double beds room was ok. nothing special. (connecting door located near work desk)
Personally I would not waste DSU on this, unless you are planning to stay more than 3 days and getting King bed (with balcony)
Regency Club
Good selection of food, drinks. it was tasty! also very friendly staff.
Parking
I only had to pay $36 CAD (Friday 6PM to Sunday afternoon) really cheap!
Hiccups
Lost keys, got a new key, one key did not open up the one of two rooms that I booked, asked front desk staff to get me a new key. then we could not get a access to Regency club. Asked again. then one front desk staff told us that regency club closes at 9PM on weekends? (she clearly did not know, but it closes at 10PM). but she escorted us to the club.
Other than that, it was great stay!
Feb 19, 2017, 6:41 am
#274
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 515
Wow, lucky you! Congrats! I've probably stayed ten times without an upgrade.
Feb 19, 2017, 6:52 am
#275
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Minnesota
Programs: Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,101
Feb 19, 2017, 10:36 pm
#276
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Midwest
Programs: Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 757
I think sometimes it's a matter of asking. I used to just use DSU and never asked. Since I started asking, I would get upgraded at least 25-30% of the times, especially on 1 night stays. I got upgraded to a Presidential suite here on a 1 (Saturday) night stay before WOH was announced.
Feb 20, 2017, 12:55 am
#277
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Between AMS and BRU
Posts: 8,852
You got an actually suite or just the crappy two room configurations they call suites?
Mar 11, 2017, 7:33 am
#279
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol, UK
Programs: HH D, Rad VIP, Marriott G
Posts: 5,359
Review of Hyatt Regency Vancouver with some pictures:
Stayed here at the end of Jan. 2017 for a few days between two hotels (this one obviously and the nearby Rosewood Hotel Georgia) to finally get to look around Vancouver and get to know it a bit better.
There is a bit more to this review than just the hotel room, so if you are only interested in the hotel review please bypass this bit and go down a bit lower to the point where Check In starts. Thanks. For those interested in the city and the rest of the story…read on…
General starting point for this trip and reason for being here:
“Where are you from?” Sounds like an innocent enough question and we each get asked this many times in our frequent traveller lives I am sure. Maybe this is an easy question for many that travel extensively but were born in the same place (be that a town/city/province/state/county or region) they grew up in and still reside in.
I have been down the less travelled path, having moved extensively even as a child, across and up and down this great country, from above the Arctic Circle to a few years on a ship based out of Halifax and feel very conflicted about how to answer such an innocent question as although I was born near Vancouver, I have never lived there, yet my family moved back here after I left home to make my own way in the world…To further complicate this, I’ve been privileged enough to travel and live in a few countries elsewhere in the world and have now lived longer outside of Canada than I did in it…My citizenship remains Canadian but increasingly I wonder who I am and where do I call home/where am I from?
With my parents having returned to B.C for their retirement years., anytime I tell people I am going back to see them and they ask where, I have this situation where I say B.C. or Vancouver, and then people say, oh, that must be a nice place (or worse, oh, I’ve been there and really liked xx…) to which I have to reply that I’ve no idea really (which gets some looks I can tell you) as although I was born here and my parents are back here now, I’ve never spent any length of time in B.C. and whenever I have travelled back it has been to land at YVR and then get a rental car and go to where they were living (for a while it was Nanaimo, now it is near Kelowna) so I’ve never spent more than a single night in Vancouver at a time and then only at the airport! I’ve spent more time on vacation in some countries than I have in the city where I was born.
To add to that, having lived so long outside of Canada (over 25 years now), I have the odd identity crisis where I do not know if I should be calling myself Canadian, British, German or European…or just simply lost!
So, a very long lead-in to why I was staying here, I wanted to finally spend a week at least in the city nearest to where I was born to finally explore and start to get to know this great city and see if I call it “home”, still use the occasion to get to see some family and also try to see if I still felt comfortable calling myself Canadian or if I would be a stranger in my own land.
The reason for choosing this hotel was a combination of location, ease of access to everywhere on foot or public transport (I’m a fan), price and the ability to use some points to help offset the costs, especially given the rather sharp decline of the UK Pound since the Brexit referendum.
I stayed at this hotel twice in the end, first time around it was for 3 nights in a room for me on cash rate, combined with 2 nights on cash and points for my parents in another room and then a day use stay here again a few days later at the end of the trip paid with cash to bridge the time gap between check out at the nearby Rosewood Hotel Georgia and my late evening flight back to the UK (which was cheaper than extending the check out at the Rosewood).
I did very much enjoy the city, the people, the diversity and the food. I’d happily live in B.C. again and somewhere near Vancouver (It’d be nice to be able to afford to live in it I’m sure but not for the compromise on the value one gets for the money here compared to a few hours away.) I’m finally able to at least say I’ve been briefly to some of the main places and tourist sites as well as being able to recognise some of the things that people talk about when they say they’ve been here. ^
I look forward to returning to explore the city more again sometime, when time and circumstances allow and feel slightly more comfortable still calling myself Canadian. (eh?)
You can certainly explore most of Vancouver by foot if the weather is nice and with public transport (the sky train is great, as was using the buses every now and again) you can get a surprising distance covered without the need for a car. The hotel was great for walks between rain showers given the time of year and to be able to walk to most restaurants I tried while staying here. I tended to just walk around and choose restaurants spontaneously where possible but given the size and popularity of the city, some places did require reservations (especially those rated highly on TripAdvisor).
I tended to walk around 12 Km as a minimum each day and the days that i went further, such as walking to Stanley Park using the coast path and then back through the other side of the city and looking around without a specific (shorter) path, it was easily 20 Km so you may wish to consider some assistance to get to places if you have some trouble getting around.
I used the Sky Train to get to downtown and back from the airport and it was easy to use and follow stops and the payment was very reasonable in my mind compared to a taxi. I travel light so only had hand baggage (one shoulder bag) so wasn’t worried about step free access but it is worth noting that some stations did not have working escalators or lifts so you may need to check that before deciding where to exit as a nearby station may be step free and only a few blocks from where you were first thinking of exiting.
Obviously the seafood was brilliant here with the large Asian community that so prizes this cuisine, however, there was plenty of other choices as well and I didn’t feel that I was only having one or two choices besides the usual meat and potato choices…
There was plenty of shopping venues nearby for every type of retail therapy as well as plenty of nice and different choices for coffee shops, art venues and museums. A great city.
Now to the hotel review, thanks for persevering!
View from Room:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view from room by BA_pics, on Flickr
View to neighbouring Fairmont and towards central downtown:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view to Fairmont and downtown centre by BA_pics, on Flickr
Check-In: I had done online check in using the app, I have no status to speak of and mentioned I would be arriving very late (after 10 PM). I happened to have my birthday during my stay but this did not flag up anywhere on their systems so a missed opportunity on their part (even though I had left them a note about this in comments) but it didn’t detract from the hotel stay in any way. The front desk staff was great and friendly. I was quickly on my way to the room (which has the funky and certainly for first users, confusing elevator call system which is touch screen based but outside the lifts and takes some getting used to). I mentioned that I had a second reservation for my parents the next day and they confirmed this for me as well.
The lobby area is quite large and there are quite big glass areas to watch the commuters go by or other tourists during the day if you wish from the main lobby seating area where you enter the hotel or from the Starbucks that is integrated into the lobby corner of the building and was generally always busy due to the convenient location for people passing by.
Parking is underground and can be valet or self park. My parents used the garage and the lifts are opposite the room elevators and fairly easy to use but there are still some doors and to and fro’ing that is needed so can be a pain if you had large bags or several family members. The cost for two nights of parking was $ 70 CDN (as a hotel guest) which I could put on my room bill.
There are two bars here and one restaurant, the bar on the ground floor was better in my opinion and I used it several nights to have a drink and people watch, it was generally always quite busy and lively here (it was the weekend though so may be quiet other times). They had good service and staff and I could customise my G & T to my liking which was good! I noticed everything from young singles to families having a light meal here over the various days.
The second floor has another bar area off the main hotel and it was also busy but not as much ambience in my view, we never used it to be honest as it tended to be more function based for the conferences that are going on during the time. The restaurant was okay, the staff were very good that we had for the two times we used it for breakfast (no other occasion). I choose the buffet one morning and found it a bit limited for a Hyatt to be honest but it sufficed and was the best ‘value’ eating in the restaurant, however, I also did a la carte breakfast one morning and although it was more expensive it was very good.
I was on the floor where the club lounge was located and there seemed to be people coming and going so it was obviously open and getting good use, although I didn’t have access so can’t comment further.
The Room:
I booked a basic room with a King bed and also booked the same on cash and points for my parents the next day, they were both decent rooms and I could stay in one for a week or so without issue but it is a good indicator of the differences (to me) between Grand or Park Hyatts and Regency locations as this reminded me very much of a standard Hilton in the USA or Canada, especially in the bathroom where the space and items are representative of the usual low height shower over bath. (although this had at least tiles instead of that dreadful wraparound plastic one piece cheap wall covering). There was a curtain for the shower which is not my favourite either but it worked okay.
The amenities were more basic compared to the Seattle Grand Hyatt I was just in, I didn’t use them as I had taken the amenities from the Seattle Hyatt. There were bathrobes and slippers here which I assume is part of the brand standard for this chain and a nice touch above competitors for the price.
I found the stays good, it was decent value for money or cash and points and also for the day use period for cash I took advantage of at the end (although that room was two single beds but otherwise the same as my room pictures below. I couldn’t seem to find day rates on the app so just walked over and asked at the front desk.
Hope this review and mini trip report style review are of interest and use.
Pictures:
Entrance Area:
View to Bedroom area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view into room by BA_pics, on Flickr
View back to Entrance Door:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view back to entrance by BA_pics, on Flickr
Wardrobe:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | wardrobe by BA_pics, on Flickr
Bathroom:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | .Bathroomjpg by BA_pics, on Flickr
Sink / Vanity Area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | sink vanity area by BA_pics, on Flickr
Shower (over the bath with curtain):
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | Shower over bath by BA_pics, on Flickr
Bath Amenities:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | Bath Amenities by BA_pics, on Flickr
Bedroom Area:
The Main Attraction:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | King Bed by BA_pics, on Flickr
Work Desk: and Reading Chair area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | desk and reading chair by BA_pics, on Flickr
Coffee and Mini Fridge area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | coffee and mini fridge by BA_pics, on Flickr
End of review. Safe Travels.
Stayed here at the end of Jan. 2017 for a few days between two hotels (this one obviously and the nearby Rosewood Hotel Georgia) to finally get to look around Vancouver and get to know it a bit better.
There is a bit more to this review than just the hotel room, so if you are only interested in the hotel review please bypass this bit and go down a bit lower to the point where Check In starts. Thanks. For those interested in the city and the rest of the story…read on…
General starting point for this trip and reason for being here:
“Where are you from?” Sounds like an innocent enough question and we each get asked this many times in our frequent traveller lives I am sure. Maybe this is an easy question for many that travel extensively but were born in the same place (be that a town/city/province/state/county or region) they grew up in and still reside in.
I have been down the less travelled path, having moved extensively even as a child, across and up and down this great country, from above the Arctic Circle to a few years on a ship based out of Halifax and feel very conflicted about how to answer such an innocent question as although I was born near Vancouver, I have never lived there, yet my family moved back here after I left home to make my own way in the world…To further complicate this, I’ve been privileged enough to travel and live in a few countries elsewhere in the world and have now lived longer outside of Canada than I did in it…My citizenship remains Canadian but increasingly I wonder who I am and where do I call home/where am I from?
With my parents having returned to B.C for their retirement years., anytime I tell people I am going back to see them and they ask where, I have this situation where I say B.C. or Vancouver, and then people say, oh, that must be a nice place (or worse, oh, I’ve been there and really liked xx…) to which I have to reply that I’ve no idea really (which gets some looks I can tell you) as although I was born here and my parents are back here now, I’ve never spent any length of time in B.C. and whenever I have travelled back it has been to land at YVR and then get a rental car and go to where they were living (for a while it was Nanaimo, now it is near Kelowna) so I’ve never spent more than a single night in Vancouver at a time and then only at the airport! I’ve spent more time on vacation in some countries than I have in the city where I was born.
To add to that, having lived so long outside of Canada (over 25 years now), I have the odd identity crisis where I do not know if I should be calling myself Canadian, British, German or European…or just simply lost!
So, a very long lead-in to why I was staying here, I wanted to finally spend a week at least in the city nearest to where I was born to finally explore and start to get to know this great city and see if I call it “home”, still use the occasion to get to see some family and also try to see if I still felt comfortable calling myself Canadian or if I would be a stranger in my own land.
The reason for choosing this hotel was a combination of location, ease of access to everywhere on foot or public transport (I’m a fan), price and the ability to use some points to help offset the costs, especially given the rather sharp decline of the UK Pound since the Brexit referendum.
I stayed at this hotel twice in the end, first time around it was for 3 nights in a room for me on cash rate, combined with 2 nights on cash and points for my parents in another room and then a day use stay here again a few days later at the end of the trip paid with cash to bridge the time gap between check out at the nearby Rosewood Hotel Georgia and my late evening flight back to the UK (which was cheaper than extending the check out at the Rosewood).
I did very much enjoy the city, the people, the diversity and the food. I’d happily live in B.C. again and somewhere near Vancouver (It’d be nice to be able to afford to live in it I’m sure but not for the compromise on the value one gets for the money here compared to a few hours away.) I’m finally able to at least say I’ve been briefly to some of the main places and tourist sites as well as being able to recognise some of the things that people talk about when they say they’ve been here. ^
I look forward to returning to explore the city more again sometime, when time and circumstances allow and feel slightly more comfortable still calling myself Canadian. (eh?)
You can certainly explore most of Vancouver by foot if the weather is nice and with public transport (the sky train is great, as was using the buses every now and again) you can get a surprising distance covered without the need for a car. The hotel was great for walks between rain showers given the time of year and to be able to walk to most restaurants I tried while staying here. I tended to just walk around and choose restaurants spontaneously where possible but given the size and popularity of the city, some places did require reservations (especially those rated highly on TripAdvisor).
I tended to walk around 12 Km as a minimum each day and the days that i went further, such as walking to Stanley Park using the coast path and then back through the other side of the city and looking around without a specific (shorter) path, it was easily 20 Km so you may wish to consider some assistance to get to places if you have some trouble getting around.
I used the Sky Train to get to downtown and back from the airport and it was easy to use and follow stops and the payment was very reasonable in my mind compared to a taxi. I travel light so only had hand baggage (one shoulder bag) so wasn’t worried about step free access but it is worth noting that some stations did not have working escalators or lifts so you may need to check that before deciding where to exit as a nearby station may be step free and only a few blocks from where you were first thinking of exiting.
Obviously the seafood was brilliant here with the large Asian community that so prizes this cuisine, however, there was plenty of other choices as well and I didn’t feel that I was only having one or two choices besides the usual meat and potato choices…
There was plenty of shopping venues nearby for every type of retail therapy as well as plenty of nice and different choices for coffee shops, art venues and museums. A great city.
Now to the hotel review, thanks for persevering!
View from Room:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view from room by BA_pics, on FlickrView to neighbouring Fairmont and towards central downtown:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view to Fairmont and downtown centre by BA_pics, on FlickrCheck-In: I had done online check in using the app, I have no status to speak of and mentioned I would be arriving very late (after 10 PM). I happened to have my birthday during my stay but this did not flag up anywhere on their systems so a missed opportunity on their part (even though I had left them a note about this in comments) but it didn’t detract from the hotel stay in any way. The front desk staff was great and friendly. I was quickly on my way to the room (which has the funky and certainly for first users, confusing elevator call system which is touch screen based but outside the lifts and takes some getting used to). I mentioned that I had a second reservation for my parents the next day and they confirmed this for me as well.
The lobby area is quite large and there are quite big glass areas to watch the commuters go by or other tourists during the day if you wish from the main lobby seating area where you enter the hotel or from the Starbucks that is integrated into the lobby corner of the building and was generally always busy due to the convenient location for people passing by.
Parking is underground and can be valet or self park. My parents used the garage and the lifts are opposite the room elevators and fairly easy to use but there are still some doors and to and fro’ing that is needed so can be a pain if you had large bags or several family members. The cost for two nights of parking was $ 70 CDN (as a hotel guest) which I could put on my room bill.
There are two bars here and one restaurant, the bar on the ground floor was better in my opinion and I used it several nights to have a drink and people watch, it was generally always quite busy and lively here (it was the weekend though so may be quiet other times). They had good service and staff and I could customise my G & T to my liking which was good! I noticed everything from young singles to families having a light meal here over the various days.
The second floor has another bar area off the main hotel and it was also busy but not as much ambience in my view, we never used it to be honest as it tended to be more function based for the conferences that are going on during the time. The restaurant was okay, the staff were very good that we had for the two times we used it for breakfast (no other occasion). I choose the buffet one morning and found it a bit limited for a Hyatt to be honest but it sufficed and was the best ‘value’ eating in the restaurant, however, I also did a la carte breakfast one morning and although it was more expensive it was very good.
I was on the floor where the club lounge was located and there seemed to be people coming and going so it was obviously open and getting good use, although I didn’t have access so can’t comment further.
The Room:
I booked a basic room with a King bed and also booked the same on cash and points for my parents the next day, they were both decent rooms and I could stay in one for a week or so without issue but it is a good indicator of the differences (to me) between Grand or Park Hyatts and Regency locations as this reminded me very much of a standard Hilton in the USA or Canada, especially in the bathroom where the space and items are representative of the usual low height shower over bath. (although this had at least tiles instead of that dreadful wraparound plastic one piece cheap wall covering). There was a curtain for the shower which is not my favourite either but it worked okay.
The amenities were more basic compared to the Seattle Grand Hyatt I was just in, I didn’t use them as I had taken the amenities from the Seattle Hyatt. There were bathrobes and slippers here which I assume is part of the brand standard for this chain and a nice touch above competitors for the price.
I found the stays good, it was decent value for money or cash and points and also for the day use period for cash I took advantage of at the end (although that room was two single beds but otherwise the same as my room pictures below. I couldn’t seem to find day rates on the app so just walked over and asked at the front desk.
Hope this review and mini trip report style review are of interest and use.
Pictures:
Entrance Area:
View to Bedroom area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view into room by BA_pics, on FlickrView back to Entrance Door:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | view back to entrance by BA_pics, on FlickrWardrobe:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | wardrobe by BA_pics, on FlickrBathroom:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | .Bathroomjpg by BA_pics, on FlickrSink / Vanity Area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | sink vanity area by BA_pics, on Flickr
Shower (over the bath with curtain):
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | Shower over bath by BA_pics, on FlickrBath Amenities:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | Bath Amenities by BA_pics, on FlickrBedroom Area:
The Main Attraction:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | King Bed by BA_pics, on FlickrWork Desk: and Reading Chair area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | desk and reading chair by BA_pics, on FlickrCoffee and Mini Fridge area:
Hyatt Regency Vancouver | coffee and mini fridge by BA_pics, on FlickrEnd of review. Safe Travels.
Last edited by BotB; Mar 11, 2017 at 8:00 am Reason: correction about bathrobe slippers being in room
Mar 12, 2017, 9:30 pm
#280
FlyerTalk Evangelist & Ambassador: China
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: DL DM/MM, UA 1K, AA Exp, HH Dia, WOH Glob, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, NA EE, Hertz PC
Posts: 17,423
Nice Review.
Just stayed here. Service was impeccable and was taken care of by VIP manager in preparing some chocolates and flowers for my SO. Lounge was in great shape with great service there too.
Only thing is I didn't get an UG. But nice to have the free parking thing now as a globalist.
Just stayed here. Service was impeccable and was taken care of by VIP manager in preparing some chocolates and flowers for my SO. Lounge was in great shape with great service there too.
Only thing is I didn't get an UG. But nice to have the free parking thing now as a globalist.
Apr 9, 2017, 9:24 am
#281
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 4,105
Four night stay here and was upgraded without a GSU into a two-room suite on the floor next to the regency club. Suite isn't anything incredible, but it's very large (albeit with some of the space a long hallway). The people working in the club are incredibly nice and accommodating, but the food itself wasn't very impressive. (More of an excuse to go to the 24-hour Tim Hortons in the attached mall.)
Apr 10, 2017, 12:38 am
#282
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Between AMS and BRU
Posts: 8,852
Fine as a free upgrade, but that "suite" is simply 2 rooms with a connecting door, pretty meaningless use of space for most. One of the worst rooms you can get that is labelled a suite....
May 13, 2017, 12:51 pm
#283
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
Programs: AS 75K,UA Gold 1.6MM, Hilton Dia, Marriott LT Plat, Hyatt Glb, Natl Exec, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,657
I am using a GSU for a 4-5 day stay in a couple weeks. I see it shows I got the Junior Suite. If JS's are still for sale when I arrive, I will ask for a better suite since I am using a GSU and I should have gotten the JS as a Globalist without it...
Looking at random bookings, it doesn't look like this property has anything better than that JS...
Looking at random bookings, it doesn't look like this property has anything better than that JS...
May 14, 2017, 2:25 pm
#285
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,385
I am using a GSU for a 4-5 day stay in a couple weeks. I see it shows I got the Junior Suite. If JS's are still for sale when I arrive, I will ask for a better suite since I am using a GSU and I should have gotten the JS as a Globalist without it...
Looking at random bookings, it doesn't look like this property has anything better than that JS...
Looking at random bookings, it doesn't look like this property has anything better than that JS...