Hyatt Centric Mountain View Review

Booking & Stay Details

I booked the Hyatt Centric Mountain View through the Hyatt Concierge Hotline as I wanted to apply some of my expiring suite upgrade awards. I wanted to make sure the awards can be used before booking online and locking in the stay. Therefore the agent was able to check if they are applicable and if not, I could change my location to a different hotel where I might be able to use them. I desperately wanted to use them as they would expire at the end of the year and I was staying from Christmas on into the New year. Because my stay was past 31 December, the agent had to split the reservation into two stays to apply the suite upgrade awards. Supposedly the system won’t let her use the expiring award for a stay past the end of the year. Understandable. Because of this, one of my suite upgrade awards expired and I had to use a “new” one which is valid for the rest of 2022. Later on, the two separate reservations were merged into one. The room rate fluctuated between just above $100 to a little bit under $150.

Location

The Hyatt Centric Mountain View is located in a development area called Village at San Antonio Center. San Antonia Road is the name of the nearby main street which also connects to Hwy 101. The Village at San Antonia Center houses restaurants, shops, and an Icon Movie Theatre. A Safeway is located just down the road and within walking distance. There are more shops and grocery stores located around the area including Target and Walmart. All within walking distance. To the south of the hotel is a dog park. The Hyatt Centric Mountain View is about 22 miles from the San Francisco Airport and 12 miles from the San Jose Airport. Public transportation options are close by. A CalTrain station is about an eight-minute walk away from the hotel. Overall this is a very quiet area. Not much traffic is going through the streets around the hotel. Heck, you even have to turn onto a very small road to get to the hotel which I almost missed while arriving at night. 

Parking

Hotel guests can park in the nearby parking garage, located next to the hotel building. This is a shared parking structure but hotel guests have their own entrance. Drive down the road between the hotel and the parking garage and the entrance will be the last one to your left. You can’t miss it, as there is a large sign over the entrance reading “Hotel Parking”. At the gate, you have to use your room key to get access to the garage. Hotel guests park in the basement of the parking facility. I was surprised by how big and spacious this parking garage is. Ceiling height as well as parking spaces as I was just parking in the underground parking garage of the Hyatt Regency Seattle. An elevator or staircase, all located in the same corner of the building, brings you up to the ground floor and you only need to cross the street to get to the hotel. It’s very convenient parking but you will pay $15/night for this convenience here. Not that you will likely need it, but cell service is pretty much not available once you enter the parking garage compared to the underground parking at the Hyatt Regency Seattle. There i had no cell service issues at all.

Check-In

As I arrived, I pulled up to the main entrance of the Hyatt Centric Mountain View and walked inside to the front desk. If you arrive late at night, the inner automatic door might be locked and you have to use the phone next to it to call the front desk. In my case, it wasn’t locked and I walked straight up to the front desk. Nobody was working at the front desk and it took a little bit before someone showed up to check me in. It wasn’t very long but noticeable. Once the agent came out from the back office, check-in was done quickly and easily. I received my room keys and asked for parking directions (see above). I grabbed my keys and went to the elevators around the corner from the front desk. To activate the elevator you have to use your room key.

1 Bedroom Suite with Queen Bed (Room 536)

This is a corner suite and it is smaller than the 1 Bedroom Suite with King Bed, 475 square feet compared to 670 square feet respectively. The main door of the suite has a little foyer with a separate door which it shared with room 538. If you book booth rooms you can have one main room door instead of two. But you can go even bigger, as there is another connecting door inside the suite which connects to yet another room – Room 534. I don’t know if any of these two other rooms have any additional connecting doors. 

The layout of the suite itself is different from what you would expect. Everything in the suite is accessed by the very long entryway. As you walk in, the entryway will go to the right to the end of the building. First up on the left is the parlor. It comes with a connecting door to the neighboring room. Inside the parlor, you find a full sleeper sofa with a table in front of it. To the left of the sofa is another small table with a phone and on the right, you have a lampstand. Opposite the sofa is a 55″ wall-mounted TV with a bench underneath it. The bench is misplaced because when you sit on it, you hit your head on the TV. The window gives you additional light as well as a view of the parking garage next door. There is a curtain as well as a black-out curtain along the whole length of the wall, even though the window is much smaller. I used the parlor mainly to enjoy my to-go breakfast and watch TV while doing so. The parlor can be separated from the entryway with a double sliding door.

As you continue walking down the entryway you will find a recessed wardrobe on the left. It has spaces to store and hang your clothes and houses the in-room safe as well. Behind the small door on the right hides the ironing board and iron.

Next up is the bathroom. You access the bathroom through a door on your left. The bathroom is very spacious. Almost too spacious. It features a single-sink vanity with a large mirror. Towels and a hairdryer are stored below the vanity. To the left of the vanity is the toilet and to the right, you find the shower/bathtub combination. The shower comes with an overhead rain shower head as well as a shower wand. Near the faucet for the bathtub are two +-shaped dials. One is for temperature and with the other dial, you select where you want the water to go. As you step outside of the bathroom you have a wall-mounted dressing mirror on the wall of the entryway. 

Just before you reach the bedroom at the very end of the entryway, you have another small niche that houses a refrigerator hidden inside a small closet. On top, you find a Keurig coffee maker, an ice bucket as well as two Fiji water bottles. These bottles are complimentary for Globalists and you get two for each day of your stay.

Last but not least is the bedroom. It has it’s own door which separates it from the suite. Overall the bedroom has a very good space to usage ratio. It doesn’t feel too small but not also overly spacious like the bathroom. On one side you find the Queen Bed. Each side comes with a nightstand, headboard mounted light and reading light. Each side also comes with multiple USB ports and power outlets. While on one side you have an alarm clock, you have a room phone on the other one. But for whatever reason the light switch which turns off the rim lights of the curtains as well the headboard is only on one side. Here it gets a bit weird. The switch next to the bed toggles the rim lights above the curtains and the headboard on or off. So far so good. There is another light switch next to the bedroom door which only turns on the rim light of the curtains but not of the headboard. Strange! A second light switch right next to the door turns on the overhead lights in the entryway and above the office desk in the bedroom. Above the light switches at the bedroom door, you have the climate controls for the whole suite.

Opposite the bed in the corner, you have a small office desk. It’s comfortable enough to work, but it could be a little bit bigger. The desk comes with a small light and the base of that light provides USB ports as well as power outlets. The chair in front of that desk is not very comfortable. Over the desk, you find a piece of “artwork” which consists of computer parts forming a “C”. This is actually awesome for nerds like me. 

Next to the desk and opposite the bed, you have another wall-mounted 55″ TV. It swivels and you can turn it to be viewable by sitting in front of the desk. This Hyatt Centric Mountain View also provides the Chromecast feature which is great to stream content from your devices to the big screen.

In the corner next to the bed is a small sofa chair. The bedroom has a pretty large window which gives you a view of the parking lot of the neighboring shopping mall. This room has as well curtains and a blackout curtain over the full length of the wall. 

Now a little ghost story. Both rim lights, above the curtain and headboard, came on by themselves a few times during my stay without me even close to touching the only switch in the suite which can turn both on simultaneously. Remember, it’s the little switch on one side of the bed. I was sleeping on the other side. No way to touch it. I can’t tell you exactly why it happened multiple times. It was during different times of the day as well as night. 

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

The lobby has not much to offer here. There are a few tables and chairs to sit down, but most of them are part of Fairchild Public House, the hotel’s restaurant. A staircase opposite the front desk is leading up to the second floor where you will find all the meeting rooms as most of the other amenities of the hotel. 

Business Center

The business center is hidden very well. It is located in the lounge area of the restaurant in a dark corner. I just noticed it by accident as I was walking through the area and checking out all the Silicon Valley-inspired art on the shelves and walls of the hotel lobby.

Fitness Center

The fitness center is located on the second floor of the hotel, opposite the pool area. I was surprised when there was no card reader to access the fitness center. Inside you find the usual workout equipment. It’s a pretty well-sized fitness center with lots of possibilities. The large window front faces the parking garage next to the building.

Pool

The hotel has an outdoor pool and whirlpool. Both are located on the second floor of the hotel close to the elevators. To access the pool area you need your room keys. The pool and whirlpool face southwest which gives you plenty of sun during the day. Around the pool, you find plenty of pool lounge chairs to relax.

View on 2

View on 2 is a bar area on the second floor. It is located outside of the building and next to the pool area. Unfortunately, it is temporarily closed because of Covid. There are still a few lounger chairs here. The pooldeck is facing southwest. Therefore not the best spot to watch the sunset. conditions.

Dining

Breakfast

The Hyatt Centric Mountain View has an onsite restaurant, the Fairchild Public House. Because of Covid, breakfast is ordered at the counter and you receive to-go boxes with your food. The current health guidelines of the county allowed indoor dining. If you decided to have your breakfast in the lobby at the restaurant area, you were able to do so rather than taking it to your room. However, it still comes in the same to-go box. There is no breakfast menu and you have to order from a menu. A physical copy of the menu is available at the restaurant’s counter but there is a digital copy available as well. QR codes are at the counter and in your room. 

Overall the food is decent. Nothing special but enjoyable. However, the service is never constant. One time my complete order got mixed up. Sometimes they forget to give you butter and jam for your toast. Sometimes they even forget to give you plastic utensils to even eat your breakfast. It’s best to check right when you pick up your food if you have everything. This was not a big deal but it was noticeable during my extended stay here of almost two weeks.

Globalist Breakfast Benefit

Globalists receive $25 credit for breakfast. According to the front desk, it is only useable for breakfast and not for dinner at the restaurant. With $25 you barely get a main entry and a coffee or juice. If you want both, you are already over $25. This doesn’t even include a tip. However, I never saw a breakfast charge on my bill and sometimes I was close to $50. I think it’s like at other hotels where you get a breakfast benefit. The room can have a maximum charge of $50 if multiple people occupy a room. They probably don’t check if there are only one or two people in the room when it gets deducted at the front desk. I always took my breakfast for to go and enjoyed it in my parlor while watching TV.

Dinner

Fairchild’s Public House also offers dinner. You can order to go or dine in as the momentary health guidelines of the county allow dine-in. You don’t have to provide proof of vaccination.

Behind the bar area/counter of the restaurant is a lounge area. It has more comfortable seating and is set up to hang out and enjoy a few drinks.

On the shelf, you find cool books and games as well as art inspired by Silicon Valley. Like the divider wall which resembles QR-codes. Oddly enough, in this area is the business center of the hotel. A single workstation and a printer.

Market

Near the frontdest are two fridges with beverages and beer to buy. Oddly once the restaurant is closed you can’t buy wine anymore from the wine coolers in the restaurant area. Right next to the front desk is a little shelve with some snacks for you to purchase.

Conclusion

When you first walk into the Hyatt Centric Mountain View , you notice right away that Silicon Valley had a huge impact on the style and design of the hotel. Next to the front desk, you will see the illuminated symbol for the element Silicon from the periodic table. Very nerdy and I love it.

This continues throughout the hotel. The elevator lobbies on each floor have a different quote on the wall. It’s worth checking out. Further on, you will also notice the Silicon Valley-inspired design elements in your room and throughout the rest of the building.