Hyatt Regency Miami Redux

I had another stay recently at Hyatt Regency Miami.  I had a bit more time so got to explore more of the property.  This property is a bit on the older side but it’s well located.  Not as new as the Intercontinental around the corner, but it seems to be priced appropriately (about 20% less than the Intercon).

I  ended up with an upgraded room.  My upgrade percentage this year has been pretty awesome with Hyatt.  The room was about twice the size of a regular room.  It consisted of a soft seating area with a couch and side chair.  The bed and linens were new and there was an armoire of sorts in the middle of the room with a TV that swiveled to both sides.

I got the chance to explore the pool area and squeeze in a quick workout.  Again, the hotel is an older property, and it shows in some of the areas.  The fitness center has mostly new equipment and some nice touches like chilled towels that help overcome a low ceiling and a bit of the mustiness that accompanies older properties in South Florida.

If I did have to venture to this neck of the woods with the kids, I would probably choose to stay at the Westin Diplomat in Fort Lauderdale.  But, the pool area here looked inviting enough if I was in town with my kids.  A decent sized pool and some semi-private seating areas along with trees to shade noise from the nearby road make it welcoming enough.

The club is an open area on an upper floor, a fairly small area with about 20 seats.  Like a few other areas of the property, lighting is lacking.  But, the attendants made a good effort to keep the busy area clean and they had a decent variety of offerings in the morning and evening.

Down in the lobby there’s a small coffee shop.  I stopped there to pick a couple things up on my way out and came across this funny sign on the espresso machine.

Not sure if it’s a typo, but yes, the sign does say the espresso machine is closed for the night, effective July 7th, 2011. Uh, yeah.

All in all, I think the staff does a decent job with an older physical plant.  It’s obvious the property could benefit from some investments in the infrastructure.  Lighting, especially in the guest room bathrooms, is lacking.  It’s also obvious they spent some money on the fitness center and the soft goods in the rooms.  They even added some expandable electrical outlets in places where it was tough for them to run more power.

I would choose this property over Hyatt Regency Coral Gables.  However, if you’re a business traveler needing to be downtown it’s probably worth checking the rate at the Intercontinental in case it’s the same price.  That hasn’t been the case during my recent visits, but there’s enough capacity downtown I could see a fight over rates.  The Hyatt House and Hyatt at the Blue are more likely to get my business in the future as I don’t need to be downtown anymore when I come to Miami.