HIFlya

Shoots, last Sunday I checked for any available award rooms and I could have sworn I found a room for the two nights I wanted in May. Yet, I checked again on Thursday and now I can't find any award availability. I checked the cash availability and it seems like all the standard rooms are gone. However, I have enough points to book suites, and there are standard suites available for cash but there are none showing up for award stays. Shouldn't the standard suites be available?

olouie

Completed a 3 night stay here recently. Overall a decent stay since the property has a fantastic central location if you want to be in downtown. Very close to shopping, dinning, nightlife and the water. However, property plays games with elite benefits. Posted in another thread but in the days up until I arrived the standard suite was showing available. Upon checking in around 10-11pm it was still showing as bookable, however front desk said the upgrade we were shown in the app to balcony room is the most they could do since the standard suites were unavailable due to maintenance and cleaning issues. When pressed the guy kind of admitted that if we booked a cash rate we would have a suite ready. So somehow magically they don't have any issues unless you are trying to get your globalist upgrade. Strange, but it was late and was too tried to push since she they promised we would be upgrade the next day. As you probably already can guess, they never honoured that promise.

And the front desk made a big deal about making sure we got our special globalist personalized envelope, which was basically nothing more than a preprinted welcome letter. But they want you to get it so much they left a text message on the room phone (yes text not voice) that we had to call down and get transferred to multiple people to finally get the blinking light to stop. So there is that.

Breakfast was pretty good with very friendly service. Gym was nice with modern lifecycle equipment. Just wished they had better ventilation / fans in there as it gets hot. Pool and spa are outside but heated. Was pretty packed all weekend so didnt go but also no views so not really worth too much time.

HIFlya

I am guessing that you didn't do online check-in with digital key? Was that available to you so you could have skipped the FD altogether, especially if you are not getting an upgrade?

olouie

Digital key was not offered. Pretty common that it says waiting for key to be issued then never happens.

pronichkin

Well, maybe, maybe not. We stayed there twice, and both times the hotel was packed. Looks like it's very popular among tourists, thanks to being relatively inexpensive for the location (walking distance to everything downtown, shopping, fancy restaurants, waterfront, rail station, nice coffee shops in Gastown—you name it.) Yes, it's clear that the building is aging and may be not up to modern standards. But at Cat 3 there's no wonder the best rooms sell out quickly.

***
For the first time, we stayed here for a few nights in November last year. They offered a balcony room as Globalist upgrade. The room was nice but nothing special. Moreover, the floor plan was slightly weird. The bathroom was quite spacious, but pretty much all the regular room amenities were located inside it. The only closet (with a safe), the fridge and even the little coffee stand (with a coffee machine and electric kettle)—all hiding in the bathroom. Clearly, it looked like the room design was not well thought of initially, but rather a bunch of stuff was an afterthought. My hypothesis is the room was originally part of a larger suite. And at some point, they did a remodeling, got rid of the suites, and had to make up a bathroom for the 2nd room in a place where it was not meant to be originally.

I have not stayed in a standard room here, so I don't know whether they have better or worse floor plans. But it's certainly nice to have a balcony, especially given it is quite large. We did not use it a lot due to the season, but I can imagine, with better weather, one could have a snack there or spend some relaxing time with a book or a laptop. Finally, having a sliding patio door was really helpful to quickly air the room—something you don't usually get in glass-and-metal skyscrapers. It was especially useful given the suboptimal state of hotel ventilation. (See below.) Net-net, I did certainly appreciate this upgrade, even though a "balcony room" does not sound too impressive.

***
Next time we've came here was the past weekend. My wife wanted to have a bathtub in the room, so I thought maybe I'd throw in a TSU given that we did not get a suite upgrade "for free" last time. I contacted My Hyatt concierge, and they told me that unfortunately, no standard suites left available for our dates, so they could not apply the TSU. I checked the website, and indeed there were no Standard suites, so it's not like they were playing games on us. This happened roughly a couple of weeks before the arrival. And given that days in question was a long weekend (Presidents Day in the US) and also the spring break in US schools, I was once again not surprised that the hotel is getting packed.

Then, a couple of days before arrival, one of the hotel managers contacted me via email, to confirm the details of the stay, as they often do. I told them that I tried to use a TSU but no suites were available, so maybe they could find something else for me. They went ahead, applied the TSU on my behalf, and offered an upgrade to a Premium suite (as opposite to Standard suites which normally only qualify for TSU.) Upon check-in, the Front desk called it a "Signature suite." But in fact, the room matches the photos and description of the "Presidential" suite on the website, so I guess that's what we've got.

***
Overall, the suite is very nice. Of course, you should keep in mind it's a Category 3 hotel from (probably) the eighties, so don't expect the luxury of Park Hyatt or modernity of Hyatt Centric here. But it's very spacious, occupying what would probably be three standard rooms. The bathroom is large, with dual vanity and a large bathtub. (But not too large so you don't feel like you're sinking.)

(Even though the floor plan is a bit weird here, too. Like, the toilet stall is enormous, it could easily fit a bidet or a spare sink, and a shelf with toiletries. But the hallway it's adjusted to is tiny, so that you cannot open the shower door and pass by at the same time. Granted the shower door opens both ways, so you could open it in—and then pass by and enter. But if you open it to the inside, you cannot turn the shower on, because the valves are obstructed by the door now. Of course, it's no big deal, it just makes you wonder what they were thinking.)

The suite has hardwood everywhere (except bathroom), a wet bar, a gas fireplace and even a fancy waterfall device which (when turned on) nicely obstructs the view from the entrance to the living room. There's also an iMac in the room, as noted previously, but it's a 2012 model (that's right, more than 10 years old). It still works and even looks up to date with software (kudos to both Apple and hotel IT department, I guess) but I personally won't use it for anything important. These days, you probably either bring your own laptop with you, or don't need a computer at all. (Which probably explains why they never bothered to upgrade the iMac with a newer model.) We sure did like the suite, especially given that I've only spent 9k points per night (off-peak), and a TSU. (But of course, we won't hold our breath for it next time given that it was a one-time courtesy.)

***
Both rooms had a K-cup coffee machine with Rainforest coffee (typical for Hyatts at northwest.) Both machines produce okay-ish coffee, even though the one in the suite was of course fancier with enormous water tank, a touch screen with sizzly animations, heavy chrome handle, this sort of stuff.

***
We never bothered with the hotel restaurant for lunch or dinner, given how many excellent options are within walking distance all around the downtown. And the hotel still does not have the Regency club open, with no sight of it coming any time soon. But we enjoyed the hotel breakfast every day during both stays.

Breakfast is served daily until 11. This means that the buffet is closing but you can still sit and finish your meals. Both the variety and quality of food was good, and the staff is extremely friendly. (E.g., once I was looking for pancakes, could not find them, and they explained that the buffet only offers them on some days, alternating with waffles and French toast. But then they immediately offered to cook a few just for me as courtesy, just because I asked.)

The only concern for the breakfast is waiting time—on weekend days, we came down around 10 and had to wait in line for ~15 minutes before being seated. Which just proves the point that the hotel was fully booked probably, not just artificially shrunken in availability. It also probably means that the restaurant capacity was designed with the operating Club in mind, so now that the Club is closed, the restaurant is struggling. Anyway, being on our leisure stay, we were not in a hurry. But I get it that 15 minutes wait can be a bummer if you're on a business trip or have an appointment with friends. (On Monday we came down slightly earlier, around 9-9:30, and got seated almost immediately.)

Also, be mindful that the restaurant serves both buffet and a la carte breakfast at the same time. If you're eligible for a free breakfast, the host will put a little card on your table, this is how the waiter knows that you only get a buffet, and service charge is included in this case. However, if you're a paying customer, they will give you a la carte menus instead. You can still opt for buffet though—but in this case, you're still supposed to tip in addition to paying anyway. The only reason I know this is one day they messed up (or perhaps I was not saying my room number clearly), and they gave us menus instead of the card. No big deal, the waiter figured it out later, but just beware of different options available.

Finally, there's a to go option too, but it's not covered by Globalist benefits either.

***
One of the very few problems with the hotel I found during both stays was ventilation. First, it might be quite noisy sometimes, not just with audible air flow, but also some intermittent rattling or jarring inside the vents or just somewhere in the celling. (Granted, in the suite, I only found this to be an issue in the living room. In the bedroom it was sufficiently quiet all the time.)

But it also looked like every morning there's a notable smell of coffee throughout the entire hotel. (Well, at least this was true for both rooms we stayed in.) I mean, I don't mind coffee, it's not a bad smell, but it might indicate some problems with ventilation efficiency. Assuming the smell comes either from the restaurant or the Starbucks downstairs, it's quite impressive that it goes all the way to the 33rd floor without being vented out or mixed with fresher air.

Last but not least, the air conditioning system here makes the air very dry, and unfortunately my skin is very sensitive to this kind of thing. And the only bottle with body lotion is mounted to the bathroom wall (which might be a long walk if you're in the suite), so you'd better bring your own.

Another mild downside is sound proofing. On Saturday, they were seemingly throwing a big party in the suite next to us. The music was quite loud, and there was a lot of laughter and lively conversations. We could not distinguish individual words of course, but overall, the noise was quite audible. (Again, no big deal since we could only hear that from the suite living room, but not from the bedroom.)

***
Finally, parking is another example of a mix of weirdness and convenience. There's a huge public parking lot right under the hotel. You can enter and park yourself without using the valet. (So, I'm not even sure if the latter is an option here.) But then you see all those signs saying you should pay immediately using a phone app, or else. However, if you dare to ignore those signs and just head towards the hotel, then after entering the elevator lobby, you'll see another sign, saying that hotel guests can charge parking to the room. (This is how you get free parking as a Globalist.) So, beware and don’t bother with the app.

Overall, I'd say this hotel is a solid value for its money (or points), and we love Vancouver, so will definitely be back again.
***
Interesting. I think we never got the envelope, nor a message on the phone. (Not that I would have missed those.) However, they did send a greeting text to my personal (cellular) phone, offering to text them back had I need anything. And we even used this service to request some non-standard amenities (that they did bring promptly.) So, I guess it only works when you tick the "sms opt-in" box when booking.

olouie

Agree its popular and location is good, but the way I can tell if a hotel plays games is basically very simple. Is the standard suite available for sale for cash rates when I check in after standard check in time. I don't mind waiting for a room that needs to be cleaned, but hate that more and more properties like this one basically lie and say there are no standard suites left when I can press a few buttons and book it right away for the same dates. Good and honest hotels may tell you its not ready due to previous globalist late checkout and ask you to wait, but many will just lie right to your face and claim the website and app are wrong. Often they will zero out the suite inventory then after you leave it comes back. Strange how that works. I've always wonder if they are indeed wrong what happens if I press the book now button and call their bluff.

rucksack

I stayed here for 1 night on free night certificate while stopping over in Vancouver. The stay itself was entirely uneventful, but what happened afterwards is bizarre.

Upon checking in, I was asked for a credit card for a $50 CAD authorization hold. Standard procedure. However, I noticed a week after my stay that the hold was posted as a charge despite having a $0 final folio. I called Hyatt to get this resolved and after about 30 minutes alternating between a rep and being on hold, I was told that they couldn't reverse the charge because they didn't have my credit card number, but they'd email me a form to submit my credit card details and they'd issue a refund. Fine.

Then I get an email the next morning from the front desk of the Hyatt Regency Vancouver saying:
In all my nights staying at hotels, I've never been required to return to the front desk to have a hold reversed. If this is standard operating procedure at this hotel, they should clearly inform guests about this when they check in (they did not). I suspect this was simply a mistake on the hotel's part, but just own up to it and fix it rather than blaming me for forgetting to collect my deposit.

Has anyone else experienced this here?

sfgiants13

I used a free night last summer and had to go back and check to make sure that didn’t happen to me. Nope no issue. That’s strange and I’ve never heard of that happening anywhere.

rucksack

It's good to know my experience isn't typical. Aside from the time wasted, I'm just annoyed they didn't own up to their mistake.

pronichkin

I have not, in both stays. Based on the wording, I would guess they somehow treated your credit card as a debit card? Quite obviously, this looks like a mistake on their end, or maybe some hiccup with the payment system (i.e., not a user error but a computer glitch.)

Either way, since you're a Globalist, maybe try to engage your Concierge. Even if they won't solve it all by themselves, they will at least be aware of the inconvenience, and maybe, who knows, offer some sort of compensation as an apology?

olouie

Just dispute the charge instead of dealing with the hotel's hassles. By the time they mail you a check and you try to cash it (if you bank is not Canadian) it will be a PITA. The idea they need your CC number to reverse a charge is pretty silly, their POS charged it so they can easily reverse the charge if they wanted to actually be customer friendly.

rucksack

I considered it. I always like to give merchants a chance to fix the issue before disputing charges, but in this case I'm regretting that. You're right... I should have just disputed it and moved on.

martzipan

FWIW, I also had a wrong change on my bill from them once (I've stayed here a handful of times), for a Glob breakfast that was not cleared out for whatever reason, and it took 3 phone calls before they fixed it. I almost never drop by the front desk when checking out, and in 99% of the cases there are no ill effects, but oh well...

HIFlya

Oh...so an IT issue?

olouie

I think more like many hotels just don't really offer it. So the app may say waiting, but the hotel requires you to physically check in with ID before issuing a key. After that its still hit or miss if they enable the digital key.