Hyatt Regency Seattle Review

Booking & Stay Details

I was looking for a hotel in Downtown Seattle. Of course, my first choice to check is always Hyatt but this time I still needed to burn a Category 1-4 free night award as well as a few suites upgrade awards which are all expiring at the end of the year. I found multiple Hyatt properties and ultimately had my eyes on the Hyatt Regency Seattle as it is a category 4 property. Unfortunately, they charge a lot for parking, $40/night. So, I decided to check the points and cash rate as this would give me free parking as a Globalist, at least according to a Hyatt Concierge. Come to find out later during my stay, that this is not true and free parking is only available to Globalists if they use a free night award or cover the whole stay on points and not points+cash.

I called the Hyatt Concierge Hotline to make this reservation as it would include a free night award and a points+cash portion for which I wanted to apply a Suite Upgrade Award. The Suite Upgrade Awards can only be applied over the phone. Just before I called, I checked the availability of the suites, and the Regency Suite, which is the one used for these upgrades, was still available. I called the Hyatt Concierge and explained my plans and she was super helpful in getting everything set up. Unfortunately, by the time she tried to apply for the Suite Upgrade Award, the room category for which the upgrade would apply was not available anymore for my dates. She asked me if she could put me on hold and would reach out to the hotel directly to see what she could do for me as a valued Globalist. After a few minutes, she was back on the line with me with good news. She told me the hotel can’t apply the Suite Upgrade Award, but they will upgrade the whole stay, including the award night, complimentary. Instead of the Regency Suite, I was upgraded to a Fitness Equipped Suite. I was super excited and finalized my booking with the agent. After the phone call ended, it took a few minutes until I received my confirmation emails for the stay. The emails didn’t show anything about the upgrade, however, when I checked the app, it showed me that my room got upgraded.

I don’t want to forget to mention that I had booked this reservation, as usual, the day before arrival at the hotel. I rarely ever book hotels more than 5 days in advance. Most of the time I book my stays on the day of check-in or the day before. This is just due to my job which makes planning that far ahead impossible. There was only one downside to this experience, I will have a few Suite Upgrade Awards expiring at the end of the year. But since I got upgraded complimentary, it’s ok that these awards expire. Throughout the year I tried to use the suite upgrades, but I always got upgraded complimentary as a loyal World of Hyatt Globalist. That’s just one more reason why I love Hyatt.

Another important aspect that speaks for the Hyatt Regency Seattle is the lack of a Destination fee. Many hotels in downtown areas charge this fee now. Yes, Hyatt properties also charge destination fees but not the Hyatt Regency Seattle. I wasn’t too worried about it because as a Globalist the destination fee gets waived for me anyway.

Location

The Hyatt Regency Seattle is located in the heart of downtown Seattle. It is a great spot to explore Seattle. It’s within walking distance of the Washington State Convention Center, the Westlake Shopping District, the famous Pike Place Market and Gum Wall, the Seattle Waterfront, museums, and many other attractions. Even the Space Needle is not too far to walk. But I would recommend you take the Monorail from Westlake Center to Seattle Center, the location of the Space Needle. The Monorail and Space Needle were both built for the 1962 World’s Fair. The Monorail provided a crucial link between downtown Seattle and the fairgrounds and is now one of Seattle’s landmarks. The Amazon Spheres are also only a short walk away from the Hyatt Regency Seattle. It is worth noting that within only one block you have two more Hyatt properties. The Hyatt At Olive 8 is just across the street from the Hyatt Regency and one block away is the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

Parking

The Hyatt Regency Seattle has its own underground parking garage. It has quite a few spots but there is a chance that you run out of parking spaces. If there is one car per room, the garage won’t have enough space for all the cars. The parking garage is also a public parking garage for anyone who wants to use it, no matter if a hotel guest or not. I also recommend you, if you drive here, to bring the smallest car possible. Big SUVs like a Suburban will have an even harder chance to find a good parking spot. There are tight turns getting in and out of the garage. I had a Ford Explorer, and I had no problems at all maneuvering.

The elevators from the parking garage will drop you off on the ground floor of the hotel. You will end up in front of the check-in counter. Pay stations for parking are in the elevator lobby of each parking level but not on the ground floor. Hotel guests charging parking to the room can use their room key to get in and out of the garage. Always charge parking to your room as you will earn additional points for it.

Overnight parking for hotel guests is also quite expensive. The Hyatt Regency Seattle will charge you $40/night. This rate has of course in and out privileges. That’s why I used a free night certificate and the rest of the stay I booked on Points+Cash. That’s at least what the agent on the concierge hotline told me. Unfortunately, that’s not true as I had to find out. The hotel on the other hand was very understanding on this issue which gives this property another big bonus point from me.

Check-In

I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Seattle just before 8 p.m. and pulled up in front of the main entrance of the hotel. The World of Hyatt elite check-in counter was actually busy so I just the regular line and got an agent right away to check me in. After verification of my ID and credit card, the agent started my check-in process. I asked if she could merge both stays into one stay, so I don’t have to move rooms and there should be a note on my reservation about the upgrade. It took her a few minutes to find all the information and see that I was indeed upgraded. She merged the reservation of my free award night and the points+cash stay into one reservation and gave me my upgraded room.

She was super friendly, and helpful, and tried to make sure I had the best check-in experience possible. I also mentioned that I will be parking and asked for directions to the parking garage. I got all the requested details from here and I was also asked if I want daily housekeeping which is available to World of Hyatt members. I thankfully declined housekeeping for the entire length of my stay, and she put it on my reservation. I received my room keys and went back outside to grab my bags. While unloading my bags, a guy asked me if I could help him as his battery died and he just needed someone to jump-start his car. He told me that he had jumper cables and of course, I helped. Jump starting a car is no hassle at all. Imagine it might hit you in the future as well and you will be happy to have a person helping you out. But most importantly it’s Christmas time. After we got his car started, I parked my car again in front of the entrance to unload my bags and drop them off in my room. I asked if I could do that during check-in and the agent told me that this is not an issue at all.

Fitness Equipped Suite (Room 4317)

As you enter the room you will notice the exceptionally long entryway. Along the entryway, you will notice the long floating shelf with a Marmor finish. This is perfect for putting your wallet, room key, car keys, and other essentials you don’t want to forget before leaving the room. Below you can store your shoes. When you look straight into the room you notice the window in front of you, facing southwest, overlooking the Puget Sound as well as the Peloton Bike. This is the selling point of this suite. It is equipped with fitness gear and comes with a Peloton Bike, two yoga mats, and dumbbells with different weights. The space in front of the window is kept open so you can do your workout right there while enjoying a magnificent view. Beware that you need your own account for the Peloton bike. The fitness center itself has Peloton bikes as well if you get a room without its own bike.

Next to the “fitness area” is the dining area with a round table and four chairs around it. An overhead light provides ample lighting throughout the day. Opposite the table is the kitchenette. It has a few closets that are empty and don’t come with any silverware or dishes. However, you get a sink for washing your hands I guess but no soap nearby. On top of the counter, you find an instant coffee maker, coffee pods, and bottled water. I don’t know if dishes, glasses, and silverware got removed because of Covid but otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense. Below the sink, you find a small refrigerator, and the other half of the closet holds the trash can. The area of the entryway, fitness, and dining space has a tiled floor. While the rest of the suite has carpet.

Following the dining area, you have the living room area. The window here faces southeast and gives you a view of downtown Seattle. The living room area has a sofa bed with a cocktail table in front of it. On either side of the sofa is a comfortable sofa chair. To the right of the sofa is also a small table and a lamp. On the left are a lampstand and a magazine holder on the floor. From the sofa and chairs, you have a beautiful view of the large wall-mounted 65″ flatscreen TV. The TV is mounted fixed and can’t be tilted or turned but you already have a good viewing angle from the sofa and chairs. An HDMI cable is routed to the front and hangs out on the lower side of the TV to connect your own devices if you bring any. The Hyatt Regency Seattle also features Hyatt’s Chromecast amenity. After pairing your device(s) you can stream directly to the TV without cable. It supports every app, which allows streaming like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and many more.

The living area also has a small work area with a subpar desk. The desk is exceedingly small and especially not very deep. Which makes it harder to work on it, especially if you have a bigger laptop. On top of the desk are a small lamp/reading light and a cordless room phone. The chair provided for the desk is comfortable but not height adjustable. The suite is so big, I really wish they had a little bit bigger office desk as I need it a lot for work. Of course, I could have used the dining table, but the power outlet is in an awkward position on the wall, and I had to clean it off all the time as I used the desk to eat my to-go breakfast from the Market.

From the living area, you enter the bedroom which is separated by a sliding door. As you walk in you have the King bed centered against the wall with a nightstand on either side. Each side has a dimmable lamp attached to the headboard as well as a small reading light. At the bottom of each nightstand, you have motion-activated highlighting. This is great if you must get up at night and don’t have to worry about finding your light switch. Each side of the headboard also has multiple power outlets and USB ports. The left nightstand comes with a multi-functional alarm clock which itself has additional power outlets and USB ports. On the right nightstand, you find another wireless room phone.

The window faces southeast as well. In front of the window are a comfortable sofa chair and a small table next to it. In the corner is a dimmable light stand. Opposite the bed is another large wall-mounted 65″ flatscreen TV. This one has as well an HDMI cable routed to the front to connect your own devices. The photos don’t do the size of the TV justice. Believe me, both TVs are big.

From the bedroom, you enter a walk-in closet. While the bedroom has carpeted floor, the walk-in closet and bathroom have a tiled floor. On one side is a full-size dressing mirror. On the other side, you find a large closet with multiple shelves as well as hangers. This closet also houses the in-room safe. In one of the drawers at the bottom is an iron. The ironing board is tucked between the closet and the wall.

As you continue through the walk-in closet, you enter the large bathroom. The bathroom can be separated from the walk-in closet with a sliding door. The bathroom here is huge. The vanity comes with two sinks and a very large wall-mounted mirror with edge lighting. The edge lights are turned on with a light switch on the wall before you enter the bathroom, but you can adjust them with the small button in the middle of the mirror. Besides the usual stuff you find on top of the vanity like soap, make-up remover, and tissues, here you also get two toothbrushes, a small bottle of mouthwash, and a travel-sized tube of toothpaste. A make-up mirror is sitting on top of the counter as well.

Now the best part about the whole bathroom is the separate bathing tub and walk-in shower. Most hotels have a combination of the two but not here. The walk-in shower has glass walls with a swiveling door. Inside the shower are wall-mounted dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

The tub is big enough to comfortably enjoy it, even when you are bigger than 6 feet. At the very end and just around the corner of the small dividing wall is the toilet. Hidden, as you want it. This bathroom is really spacious.

There are two climate controls that can be adjusted individually. One is for the bedroom and the other one adjusts the temperature of the rest of the suite. All lights, besides the overhead-mounted lights, are dimmable. The views from this suite are just jawdropping.

The design of the whole suite is amazing, and everything was exceptionally clean and tidy. I noticed that the lock on the sliding door between the bathroom and walk-in closet wouldn’t lock but I assume that’s never an issue and never gets used.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

The lobby is huge and incredibly beautiful. There are plenty of spots to sit down and mingle in the lobby. The lobby wraps around two sides of the building in an L-shape. During my stay, they had Christmas Trees and other festive decorations throughout the lobby. A concierge desk is located next to the main entrance of the hotel. Unfortunately, this one is not staffed at the moment, and they ask you to swing by the concierge desk at the Grand Hyatt Seattle, which is just down the road.

Fitness Center

The fitness center is located on the eighth floor of the hotel. It is a very large fitness center with lots of workout equipment. There are a lot of treadmills available besides all the other workout equipment you find in a real fitness center. Inside the fitness center, you will also find a small flyer with local trails in case you want to go for a run. This fitness center is really one of the better ones out there.

Business Center

There is a small business center on the second floor. It’s located next to the escalator leading up from the lobby and diagonally across from The Market. It comes with two workstations and a printer. However, usage is not for free. It’s not in a separate room, but because of its location, you have a decent amount of privacy.

Other Amenities

The Hyatt Regency Seattle really has it all. It has a FedEx Office on site for all your shipping needs.

There is also a station of the German rental car company Sixt on site. You can reach their small office from the outside entrance located in the driveway between the lobby and parking garage. You can also take the parking garage elevators to their office. That way you can rent a car when you need one and want to go out of town during your stay and you don’t need to worry about running out of parking space in the underground parking garage.

On the fitness center level is a small room at the very end of the hallway. There you can get ice, if needed. Inside you find an ice dispenser and a ton of beautiful Hyatt Regency buckets.

Last but not least, you also have an ATM at the hotel. I don’t even know if cash is still a thing as I only use credit cards and barely remember what cash looks like. 😉

Dining

The Market

Here the hotel guests get their breakfast. They offer to-go options only but there are a few tables and seats in the area where you could sit down and enjoy your food. The Market is open daily from 6:30 a.m. until 11 a.m.

The menu is surprisingly good and the prices are decent. Like breakfast at Starbucks but with a far greater selection if it comes to food. There are plenty of drinks to choose from. Everything from water, coffee, tea, juices, and soda. Besides that, smaller snacks are offered as a to-go option like granola bars. If you go with one of their hot food options, it will be made to order right there. It takes a few minutes to get your food, or you can just call ahead or order online and pick it up or have it delivered to your room. Globalists get a $25 credit every day which can be used here.

Globalist Breakfast

Normally, World of Hyatt Globalists would receive a free continental breakfast which would be served at the Regency Club. Unfortunately, this service is still suspended because of the pandemic. Instead of breakfast, Globalists get a $25/person credit which can be used at the Market, which is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The credit tops out at $50/room even if you have more people in the room like kids. If you travel alone or with just one other person, you should be fine. It looks like if you are just one person in a room, you also have the $50 limit as some of my breakfast charges were over $25 but never showed up on my receipt. Either way, I can’t wait for the Regency Club to re-open. Non-Globalists and other guests will get their breakfast from The Market as well but won’t receive this daily credit. Prices are adequate for the items offered.

As a Globalist, I would recommend you skip purchasing any kind of coffee or tea from the market, as well as cereals. Just buy your main breakfast items and then head to the Regency Club and get your coffee and cereals there. Free of charge and as much as you want.

Regency Club

The Regency Club is open, but the offerings are extremely limited. As mentioned, no breakfast is served here at the moment. In the morning they put out some pre-packed cereal bowls and milk can be found in the fridge under the coffee machines. The coffee machines are available throughout the day during the lounge opening hours. The Regency Club is open daily from 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. Besides coffee, you can pick up bottled water or some granola bars throughout the day during lounge hours. The two fancy coffee machines in the lounge have a slightly different selection of drinks. Brewed Coffee is only available in one while the other one has Latte Macchiato. Check out both machines and see what you like. Most of the selections are, however, the same.

However, the Regency Club itself is beautiful. It’s a very spacious lounge with plenty of seating and good views from the large windows. The lounge even comes with an outdoor space, which is L-shaped and wraps around the lounge. Sun loungers on the terrace let you soak up some sun as an alternative to the non-existent swimming pool at this property. However, you want it to be summer and not do that in the wintertime. When I visited it rained most of the time.

Inside the lounge is a small business center with two workstations and two printers. Usage is free of charge for browsing and printing. This is also one of the few lounges which also have their own restrooms. This is great for extended stays in the lounge with friends and family.

It seems Hyatt is designing all its newer lounges with restrooms. The Regency Club at the Hyatt Regency Seattle has two unisex restrooms. This makes sense for a lounge this size which can and probably will be easily used for an event space.

On-Site Restaurants

Is located on the lobby level and serves Lunch and Dinner. It is open from Wednesday – Monday from 11 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. (Menu)

Daniel’s Broiler Steakhouse

Daniel’s Broiler is located on the second floor, past The Market. It is open daily from 4 p.m. until late. Depending on how busy the restaurant is.

Notice: Daniel’s Broiler Steakhouse and the lounge section in front of the steakhouse, are not part of the hotel. You can’t do room charge here. This was totally unexpected, and I learned the hard way, when I left my wallet in the room and assumed I could just charge it to my room.

Tidal+

This restaurant is located at the Hyatt at Olive 8, just across the street from the Hyatt Regency Seattle. It serves dinner from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Conclusion

The Hyatt Regency Seattle is one of the best hotels to stay in downtown Seattle. Not just because it’s a Hyatt. The hotel itself is just gorgeous and the staff really cares about offering their guest a great stay even in the times of a pandemic. 

One of the biggest advantages at this property is that there is no destination fee, resort fee, or whatever else hotels call this hidden fee nowadays. 

Everything was just amazing during my stay and I will be looking forward to come back here for a future stay. From here you can explore the heart of Seattle. You don’t even need a car as you can get everywhere by foot or with public transportation. If you plan to visit places further out, just rent with the on-site rental car company and return your car after the trip which safes you the $40 parking fee per night.