Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa (Austin, TX) - REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
ClarkG was right, the weather is a nice compromise, but the pool seemed to get a bit cooler each day, probably due to the cooler evenings. We booked a points reservation for two queen beds, and upon arrival, we requested a ground floor room. We ended up with room 1911, close to the entry/spa/pool side of the resort.
We only ate at Firewheel once, and enjoyed the poolside service most of the other time. The food is what you would expect, and while a bit expensive, it's not abnormally so for a resort of this style. I love the lazy river, but I do admit the tubes are not the best tubes for floating, as they don't really have a big enough inner opening. I keep thinking to bring our Intex River Run tubes from home, but that might look weird, being the only unique tubes on the property. The Intex also have cup holders. Kids enjoyed the activities, as well as the hay rides. I will be back next summer too, as it's just a really quick way to enjoy a mini-vacation.
I would like to visit the Hyatt Hill Country for comparison, but that is a longer drive.
Planning on staying 4 nights next month with two kids and using a DSU. Thinking no car to save on car seats and just eat at the resort.
- With regard to the room, I recommend calling a day or so before your arrival. They've always let me more or less pick my room out of what's available (e.g., wing, floor, side of complex) and pre-blocked me there so it doesn't get moved. Just ask nicely, not like you're entitled to it.
- They're in the middle of renovations. Nothing overly noisy, so don't be worried. A couple things though:
(a) Some first floor rooms in the north wing (one suite I usually ask for) were unavailable due to being renovated. Plenty of nice stuff in the south wing.
(b) Firewheel cafe is sporadically unavailable for breakfast, but they basically will let you have diamond breakfast anywhere right now. I took the breakfast in room one morning and in stories the other. Both fully comp'd without issue.
- 4pm checkout honored as usual. They've always been happy to (just ask when you checkin), I think once they asked me to leave by 3 because of a big convention coming).
- plenty warm enough to swim
- dining on site is nothing amazing, but plenty good for the family. We occasionally go off property when we stay there, but last time we ate all meals there. Standard resort pricing applies.
- Lounge closed I think until mid march. 2500 points given without being asked.
- s'mores, s'mores, s'mores!
I've always had great service at Lost Pines. We live about two hours away, so it's become a 2-3 time year family tradition to go hang for an extended week now and then. I've found being polite goes a long one way towards getting treated like family there (i.e., cleaning service waiting for naps to end before cleaning, toy loans from camp hyatt, etc).
Have fun!
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa
575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road Lost Pines, TX US 78612
Long weekend stay at Lost Pines (0 Photo)
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa
Four day, three night stay with my wife and three kids (4, 4, and 2).
I wouldn't head here if you are on a business trip or if you are a couple looking for a romantic getaway. This place is built for kids.
The pool complex includes a beach entry and shallow area for little kids, 3' of water most other places, and nothing over 4' anywhere. There is an "adult" pool that I assume is more than 4' deep, but I never saw it.
The pool water was warm to hot. There was a noticeable temperature drop from the cooler lazy river to the shallow pool area. The water was cooler than the outside air, but it wouldn't be called "refreshingly cool" in any way. August in Texas is brutal.
The lazy river is fine. My kids are 4, 4, and 2, and they thought it was keen, and they had more fun bouncing/swimming around the river than going on the tubes. The lazy river wasn't exactly crowded, but you were not going to have a quiet time with an adult beverage lazily floating along.
The water slide is little-kid friendly. It is 2-stories tall and gentle - the first slide my kids were comfortable going down alone. I would assume an adventurous 10 year old would be bored with it quickly.
S'mores each night was fun, although it is August in central Texas - so we were all sweaty eating s'mores.
Kids movie night was packed with folks on blankets covering the entire yard. My kids were too little for it, but it looked like folks enjoyed themselves.
A few dozen bicycles from training wheels to adults (with helmets) were available for everyone.
I didn't get a chance to play golf, but the course looks nice.
Check In
Checked in around 1:00pm, and the room was available. Check-in was a breeze, with diamond status acknowledged. The entrance right at 1:00pm was a bit of a mad house with people checking out and cars and bags everywhere, but not hard to flag someone down to help with the bags to the room while I parked the car 1/4 mile away in the self parking (rather than $25 a day valet).
I had asked for a room on the side with the pool, and that is what I got. This place is spread out, and if you were on the far side of the hotel, it would be at least a 1/4 mile to the pool, and maybe close to 1/2 mile. It isn't a horrible walk, but something to consider when herding kids or if mobility impaired.
Room
Did points & cash, and used DSU to upgrade to a junior suite. Not sure why they call it a junior suite - it is a traditional two-room suite, with a separate living area (with four seat dining table and pull out sofa) and a bedroom with a king bed.
The carpet and furniture are not brand new, and at first I was a little disappointed in the lack of "posh-ness", but by the end of the trip, I realized my kids had spilled milk on the carpet three times, I sadly dropped a good apple pie (from the Club) on the floor, and at least 10 wet feet had tromped through that room on a daily basis. The carpet looked the same when we left as it did when we arrived.
It is a highly kid-friendly place, and they would have to put in new carpet and furniture yearly to keep it looking sweet.
Dining
At at the pool each day, and it was fine pool food. Didn't pay a ton of attention to the prices, but three burgers, fries, and drinks hit about $50.
The food in the Club was pretty good. One hot dish for breakfast (biscuits/gravy, hashbrown caserole) and the normal pastries/cereals. Same layout for dinner. The staff was very accomodating for me getting glasses of milk at all hours of the day for my kids.
Lots of kids in the Club, enough that it would make 90% of Club regulars at a business hotel pull their hair out. It is what it is at such a kid-friendly place.
Had a poor experience with room service the first night. My wife was hungry for pasta, so called down and ordered. When asked if I wanted a drink, I said, "water would be fine". They said they only had two deliver people, so it would be 45 minutes. I said I would happily pick it up, and she said they would call when it was ready. They called 10 minutes later.
I was hurrying back to the room, so just signed and moved without looking at the receipt. Even though I picked up the food, I was charged the delivery charge. When I said, "water would be fine", I was assuming the normal glass of ice water, but they interpreted it as the $4.00 bottle of water.
I didn't notice until I got home, so all my bad for not checking the receipt.
Service
Service was good overall, but lots of people at the pool for relatively few pool servers. You would go hungry and thirsty if waiting for them all day. Better to just go get the food/drink at the pool bar itself.
Location
Hotel is a couple of miles off the highway on a very long winding road. Bastrop is about 10 miles away and Austin is about 20 miles away. If you need a run to the grocery store or a restaurant, it will take you at least 30 minutes to get there.
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa
575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road Lost Pines, TX US 78612
Very nice stay with kids (3 Photos)
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa
Check In
I had booked two rooms for our two last nights in Texas several months ago and applied DSU to both. In this property DSU means "Junior Suite", which is kind of funny, as it is normal suite, i.e. bedroom and livingroom plus BIG bathroom and balcony. We checked in around 3 pm, and both rooms were ready. The guy checking us in explained the Diamond benefits at the property ($60 for breakfast per room in Firewheel or McDade's, Club Lounge not open so 2500 points etc.), and we discussed ice hockey for a good while (there were no other people checking in at the moment, even though property was packed with various corporate events).
Room
Junior Suite has a big livingroom and smaller bedroom. The livingroom has a sofa and a dinner table for four as well as access to a balcony. Furniture etc. look a bit dated, but everything was clean and in perfect working order. There seemed to be a lot of wasted space e.g. in the bathroom, but I guess some people would see this as a plus. Our balcony was facing the horse paddock.
Livingroom
Shower and part of bathtub (it took some time to get water to the right temperature)
Service
Very good staff. Friendly, proactive etc. One night at Shellers the kitchen had messed up (slightly) one of our kids' order. Both kids received free sodas (two each) as compensation. Pretty good recovery, I'd say.
Dining
First morning we had breakfast buffet at Firewheel. Buffet (which includes also the omelet station) is priced so that $60 Diamond breakfast allowance per room covers it + tips for two persons. The buffet is really quite extensive for an American hotel, good selection of hot items, meats and cheese, for example. Second morning we had to head out very early, so we grabbed coffee, toasts and some other items from McDade's. This item was not automatically deleted from the bill, guy doing the checkout was unsure why. (But I had no problems in getting it removed.)
We had dinner on both nights at Shellers. Not cheap, but not expensive by resort standards. Hamburgers and tacos were tasty, and there was a nice selection of local beers.
Location
It is long way from anything urban, which is the point. I enjoyed e.g. hiking. It was unusually warm during our visit, which also meant many visits to the pool area. It is not very big, and I don't know how it would be when there are more people. Now it was almost deserted. The property was pretty packed, but it was mostly corporate events.
Overall
For my family this hotel offered a very nice two-day break. We were not very active, but the golf course did look tempting. We did go hiking and used the pool, though. Getting the Diamond breakfast benefit for both of our rooms was really valuable.
Lots of pictures of various Texas musicians in rooms, restaurants, hallways etc. I liked this a lot.
Disappointed to see they lowered Diamond breakfast to $60 per room. I think ours was $40 per person. Didn't eat at fine dining restaurant but, other than free breakfast, we didn't enjoy other places and picked up food from the coffee place.
Not sure about gold but the spa is very, very nice at this place.
I was told that the club is closed, and indeed had its open weeks cut back again very recently (e.g., no longer open during Easter week). That was a disappointment, as our family tends to enjoy club food just fine, and you can't beat the cost and convenience.
Happy to try to answer any questions, and would welcome suggestions.
To me, this is the best club/lounge in the USA. They have complimentary cocktail hour 5-8pm and they carry my favorite Austin Amber Ale (although it is not self-serve). The spread includes 2 hot dishes as well as salad, cheese & meats, nuts, pickled items, bread/roll, chips, veggies, dips and other vittles. It's a large selection. 3 dessert dishes as well. I've never eaten breakfast in the club as I like to sleep in but the breakfast/brunch at Firewheel is delicious.
The staff here is sometimes young but they embody the southern hospitality with Texan charm. They are mostly local people from the area (Bastrop) and you can tell they take pride in their job and want to take care of the guests.
I've stayed in their "Guest Cottage" or the Litton House which is amazing accommodation. 2 bedrooms with 3 full baths, full kitchen, large dining table, officially it sleeps 8. The house is next to Spa Django and you have a backdoor access to their (adult) pool and hot tub which is nice as you don't have to schlep to the water park; it's like being in your backyard. They also give you 2 golf carts to cruise around the grounds It's truly an amazing place, I think it's great for entertaining 15-20 guests for a family reunion or some other event -- plenty of space. The rate was $1500/night and you have to call the property to book.
Glob recognition is good. They preemptively e-mailed me prior to the stay for special requests and to share the activities calendar. Resort fee was automatically waived without having to ask.
I think if you are an out-of-stater looking to check out Austin, this place isn't ideal. But if you are in the Central Texas or Houston area and looking for vacation ideas, you should absolutely check this place out. This is the type of hotel to bring your kids or significant other and just have fun.
Parking for awards with Globalist will be comp'd.
One other piece of advice, skip Firewheel cafe for dinner. I've been there to this property many times and never had a pleasant dinner experience in firewheel. It's loud, the wait staff seems shell shocked, and if you dare to order off the menu instead of the cattle call buffet, you will wait forever.............. Eat at one of the other restaurants on property or venture off site (either to Bastrop or Austin) for dinner. Also, the club evening spread is usually more than ample to make a good meal out of it.
Last edited by ClarkGriswold; Jun 7, 2018 at 2:03 pm