This past Sunday I spent the night at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach. While I’m not much of a beach person, my mom wanted to get away for a couple of days and this hotel is about an hour from where we live, so we figured we might as well visit it. If nothing else it’s a new hotel and a good opportunity to write a review.
I used another one of my promotional “Big Welcome Back” nights for this stay, since the rate would have otherwise been around $250 per night. We arrived at around 11AM (I had just gotten off a redeye and my mom picked me up at the airport, which is on the way to Clearwater) and briefly parked our car in front of the hotel as we checked in.
Hotel exterior
The lobby was rather modest given how impressive the hotel was from the outside.
Lobby
The check-in process was once again incredibly efficient and professional. I gave the agent my credit card and Diamond Gold Passport card, and asked if there was any way we could check-in early. She responded with “of course you can, you’re a Diamond member.” She then went through the whole spiel – “On account of your Diamond status we have gone ahead and upgraded you to my favorite room, a one bedroom corner suite on the top floor. You’ll love it. Also, since you’re a Diamond we have waived the $15 resort fee for you. Also, as a Diamond you can have free breakfast in the SHOR restaurant located on the second floor. For your amenity would you like the points or food and beverage option?”
Usually I’d go with the points, but since I was with my mom I figured there might be something on there she enjoyed, so I asked to see the food and beverage amenity options. My mom eventually decided on a bottle of red wine and the “chef’s creation,” whatever that might be, and we asked for it to be delivered at around 6PM. We went back outside to park our car, which cost a rather steep $16 per night, or you can do valet for $20.
Our room was on the 17th floor, but this proved to be a bit more of an adventure than we expected. While the hotel is all one building, the higher floors are two separate towers. Initially we couldn’t find our room because we were in the wrong tower, so we proceeded back downstairs, walked to the other side of the hotel, and took that elevator to the top floor.
Our room, 1723, was the first one upon getting out of the elevator. I was really impressed by the room. At the entrance was a full bathroom (yes, not just guest bathroom, but full shower and all). Next was the main room, which had a full kitchen, huge living room with a flat screen TV, and the sliding doors to two balconies.
Living room
Bathroom
Bathroom
The main room led to the bedroom, which had two queen sized beds, a desk, and yet another balcony. Yes, this room had three balconies, all overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and beach.
Bedroom
Bedroom
The master bathroom was huge, with a walk-in shower, bathtub, and toilet. This hotel features Portico bath amenities, though these were some of the biggest bottles I’ve seen.
Master bathroom
Portico amenities
Bathtub
Toilet
View from balcony in bedroom
View from balcony off side of living room
Balcony
Largest balcony
The hotel has a pool on the eighth floor, which isn’t all that impressive, though most beach hotels in the area don’t have “resort” style pools. It did boast amazing views of the beach, though, and there was live music playing.
Pool
The hotel is right across the street from the beach, so the location is hard to beat.
Surely enough our food and beverage amenity was delivered promptly at 6PM, consisting of a full bottle of wine, along with a cherry cobbler and fresh strawberries, all presented very nicely.
Food & beverage amenity
Cherry cobbler and strawberries
In the morning we had breakfast at SHOR, which was excellent. Diamonds get $20 breakfast credits, which is enough to order basically anything. Coffee and juice are around $4, and main courses are around $10-12. There’s no buffet on weekdays, but this selection was just as tasty. I had an orange juice, yogurt parfait, and veggie omelet.
SHOR restaurant
Yogurt parfait
Veggie omelet
We had a great time at this hotel and would return in a heartbeat. My mom loves Clearwater Beach, and this is by far the nicest hotel in the area, which is otherwise polluted with 20-30 year old hotels. This hotel has only been open for a few months, but they already have their service down pretty well.
I second Brian: hotels in downtown Toronto charge in the C$45 range per day for parking. US$16 looks like a bargain to me.
Funny, you think 11 AM is early check-in. While hotel hopping in HNL last week, I occasionally would check out of the Westin, walk over to the Hyatt, and check in at 7AM -- before leaving for my meetings! Never a question asked -- usually they'd just say something like 'oh, we only have 2 double beds available now, would that be ok?'
Not sure if it was the Diamond status or what, but it was sure convenient!
Small world. Staying there on my three "Big Welcome Back" nights starting tomorrow. Good timing of the review - I feel much better now after reading several not so good reviews on FT
San Francisco parking downtown at a hotel is often in the range of ~$45/night so I'd call $16 a good deal, personally.
What are the odds - heading to a wedding weekend there tomorrow. Looks nice.
glad to see your Hyatt experiences are starting to go better. Once you get a few favorite Hyatt properties you will surely get attached to them! I have found that the more you visit a property, the better they treat you including upgrades that go above and beyond the mininmum diamond published benefits. Some properties even greet me by name before I hand them any identifying information.
Thanks for the review, Ben. My folks live in Clearwater, so I've been wondering if this would be a good option over the IC Tampa on one of our future visits. However, due to series of problems during our last stay at the IC Tampa, we are pre-upgraded to the Presidential Suite for our next two visits, so it may be a while before we get around to the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach.