Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa — Attraction in Key West

Update: After lots of back and forth emails with different hotel employees, we received Hyatt points for one of our nights. Raised star rank to three for customer service.

I am hesitant to write a review because my wife and I had such a great time on our vacation, but I felt it necessary to do a write up because there were small things that added up that the hotel could do better about.

We stayed at the Hyatt Key West Resort for two nights. I called ahead before we arrived to find out about parking and was notified that we would be charged the resort fee, that included parking, even though we were staying on our free nights from our Hyatt Credit Card. I called the Hyatt Platinum line to double check, because that's not what we are used to with free nights. Hyatt corporate let us know that that is not the case and called the hotel directly and to make sure we were not charged.

Check-in was lovely, they had chilled champagne ready for us and the staff was welcoming. When we got to our room however, the bathroom sink was clogged. No big deal, we called down and had them take care of it when we were out at dinner.

After dinner, my wife was in the shower and we realized that housekeeping left two shampoos instead of a shampoo with conditioner. I called down and waited for security to bring it up. Nobody came after a few minutes, so I went down to check with the front desk. He wasn't sure what happened and took me to two different supply closets before he gave up saying that they must have been out. The CVS down the street was closed and my wife had to make due with putting lotion in her hair.

The next day we spent out and when we came back to enjoy the hotel pool, there was a cockroach sitting next to it that someone must have scooped out. No big deal, it happens, it's Florida. But it sat there all day, right next to where the staff cross the pool area to serve guests. It was still out there after we came back from dinner. In hindsight, of course I should have said something, but I'm on vacation and I think we had expectations that someone would keep the pool area clean, you know, at least a few times a day or something.

Finally there was a wedding reception in the event room a couple of doors down. We are on our way back to our room and one of the attendees said something unsavory, that I would not repeat, to my wife as we were passing by. Yes, it is Key West and yes it is Saturday night, but these people were blocking the hallway, completely wasted and disrespectful.

This same group of people were people literally screaming outside of our door until about 12:30. I called down at around 11:30 to find out when it was going to wrap up and they said it was already finished, the guests were all leaving, but it still took another hour for it to quiet down.

So, all in all:

I don't enjoy having to jump through hoops to get things done that are Hyatt policy. I don't like having to do the staff's job of finding shampoo for my wife when it's too late and she's already in the shower. The hotel staff should better communicate to each other and to guests about when they are out of something like conditioner so future guests do not have to put lotion in their hair. The staff should be more attentive to the cleanliness high traffic areas on weekend days, like the pool. I mean, come on, it's Saturday and nobody looked around the pool once all day to clean up? Plan hotel events so they don't keep guests awake at night.

We loved Key West and it's only a few hours away. But for the price, the service and all the little things that added up, we are not planning our next stay here. And we love Hyatt, it's our favorite hotel chain. That's why we got the credit card. The room felt and looked like a Hyatt, but there was a quality of service and atmosphere missing from...

7-9-2019. To be fair I am only giving the hotel 2 stars due to lack if understanding of ADA laws and handicap accessibility parking needs. Otherwise, I would give the hotel 5 stars.

I will start with the positive- The hotel is very beautiful. The rooms are very nice. The beds are really comfortable. The pillows are standard hotel pillows that go flat as soon as you put your head in them. Really you need two pillows to hold your head up. The staff is friendly.

The grounds are beautiful. My kids were ecstatic to see the area with turtles. The pool area is clean with many fun family activities around it . The pool area is really clean and comfortable with lots of comfy seating.

My biggest complaint is the lack of understanding of ADA needs. My husband requires handicap accessible parking due to difficulty walking ling distances. On arrival we noticed there was 5 or 6 handicap parking spots available but they all had cones in them. As I was checking in I asked the clerk about it. She said that they put the cones there so people from the outside do not park there and we could pick a spot and move the cone. Strange but ok. So that's what we did, but as we were parking an employee came out and said that the area was blocked off because they were expecting a big truck and the truck needed to park there to unload supplies. He did say we could pick a valet parking spot close and park there. There was only one with out a cone so we parked there.

I understand due to the location of the hotel places for large trucks to come in is very limited but maybe the plan for parking for the large trucks needs to be evaluated

This morning when we left and came back the same thing the row of handicap parking spots were blocked off. I spoke to the manager she said they did have the ADA parking blocked off but we could use a valet parking spot that is close to the front. All we would have to do is move the cone that is in the parking spot and park there. This is where there is a major disconnect of the understanding of ADA needs lies.

Yes my husband can get out and move the cone and get back in the vehicle although it can be taxing to him depending on his pain level. However, there are many people who require handicap parking who are unable to exit the vehicle, move a cone, and get back in the vehicle to park the vehicle. The point of handicap accessible parking is to make simple task such as parking not as taxing not to make it more difficult or impossible to some.

Although I am by no means a lawyer or know the ADA law to the exact, businesses are required to have a certain number of handicap parking spaces per the number of parking spaces. It is against the law to block the handicap parking spaces.

Update 7-11-2019... the cones were removed from handicap parking spaces later in the day on 7-9-2019 and the spots have...

I stayed at the Hyatt Centric Resort & Spa in Key West from July 26th to the 28th, and my experience was extremely disappointing. I strongly urge potential guests to consider other resorts and hotels.

During our stay, my new car, which was parked in the resort’s lot for the entire weekend, was hit and sustained significant damage to the hood and bumper. We discovered this upon checking out and were informed that the resort has no cameras monitoring the parking lot—only cameras at the front, which supposedly didn’t capture anything relevant. This lack of security is unacceptable, especially for a place that charges for parking.

The parking lot, which was supposed to be gated and accessible only with a card, was left open throughout our stay due to a broken gate. This made it easy for anyone to enter the lot. It appears an oversized vehicle, which shouldn’t have been in the lot per their rules, caused the damage. Despite this, the resort offered no substantial assistance or compensation other than removing the $35 per night parking fee from our bill after I had complained about not wanting to pay it.

To add insult to injury, we now face over $2,000 in repair costs to fix the damage to our new car. I provided the resort with pictures of the damage and the repair costs receipt, but they did nothing to address the issue. The resort submitted a claim to Hyatt, but it was determined that they were not liable. It’s worth noting that it’s hard to believe an internal claim review by Hyatt would find their own company liable, given their vested interest.

The resort’s management was unhelpful and failed to guide me through the process of reporting the incident to the local police. They didn’t even provide the correct number, leaving me to figure it out on my own.

The resort itself is outdated and overcrowded. The pool area is small and packed which appeared to be with non-resort guests due to inadequate security. The beach area also appeared dirty and smelt like smoke/vape. I also noticed guests will leave their towels on pool chairs when not in use, leaving it hard to find a chair.

In short, the Hyatt Centric Resort & Spa is poorly managed and lacks essential security measures. With better options available, I highly recommend looking elsewhere for your stay. The Hyatt Centric is definitely not worth the price...