Hyatt Centric Old Town Alexandria — Hotel in Alexandria

Ethan was great. Always pleasant, always helpful. I’d give him a 10 out of 10. As for everything else, we were completely underwhelmed. The room was ridiculously small for four people. And the beds were ridiculously small for two people. The pillows were awful — so flat they felt like they had no feathers inside. The AC situation was perplexing. If you had it on, you’d freeze and if you made the room a little warmer, you’d die of heat. The room was always muggy. Our showerhead dripped (loudly) 24/7. There were no ice machines on our floor. We were told we had to go downstairs to request ice. There was no microwave in the room and our mini fridge was broken. We couldn’t keep anything cold and we could refrigerate any leftovers. The valet parking was a headache. Way too expensive and terribly inconvenient. But here’s the kicker. This hotel touts itself as being “dog friendly” but it’s anything but that. They told me guests with dogs are on the second floor. Great. I’ve stayed at dog friendly establishments and yes, guests with pups are usually all on the same floor. Makes sense. It also makes sense that any dog would bark if it heard noise outside their room. Every dog alerts their owners that way, and naturally, if it’s a pet friendly hotel, chances are you’re going to hear barking. It’s to be expected. I was out with my family having dinner when I received a call from the hotel telling me my dog was “freaking out”. Our dog is still a puppy… he’s 12 pounds and he doesn’t freak out. He’s been in hotels before. We’ve never had complaints. But I got this call telling me my dog was “freaking out”, that another guest complained, and that there was “nothing they (the front desk) could do about this”. That sounded to me as if I needed to get there quickly. It also sounded a bit threatening. We cut our family dinner short, raced back to the hotel, and as I expected, my dog was quiet. I stood outside our room door and he was silent. I spoke to the front desk and told them I cut my dinner short and raced back only to find my dog quiet and sleeping. I also explained that my dog only barks if he hears someone outside the room, like housekeeping or a new guest and the person at the front desk attendant said, “Oh yeah… there was a new guest on your floor” which means my dog probably barked for about 15 seconds till that person and their rolling luggage walked past our room. I was so angry. I should have never been disturbed that way because my dog barked at a passing guest and for a few seconds. Why call yourself “dog or pet friendly” if you’re going to take anyone’s word without verifying that an animal is truly being fastidious? (By the way, i also heard barking from other dogs there and not once was I bothered enough to complain. I expected that. It’s a pet friendly place, right?) If you’re a dog friendly hotel, you should expect some barking here and there. And sure, if my dog was barking relentlessly at 2 in the morning, waking guests up, then by all means, kick us out. But my dog barked at a new guest walking past our door and suddenly, they made me feel like I had Cujo in my room. From that moment on, our vacation was soured because anytime we went out sight seeing or for a bite to eat, we felt the need to race back to our hotel. Never again would we stay here or at any other Hyatt that professes to be “dog friendly”. If you have a pet you want to bring along on your trip, do yourself a favor and consider...

I chose Hyatt Centric because of the location, decor, and, amenities.

I had a photoshoot the following morning at a new hotel nearby. I hired an MUA to do my make up and my photographer was going to bring my dress so we could do a quick fitting before the shoot. We all had planned this weeks in advance and were extremely happy to be collaborating together on this artistic project.

My sleep was peaceful the bed was comfy. I woke up well rested and prepared for my photoshoot. Once my MUA arrives she sets up her station we put a couple of ring lights up and she’s doing my makeup now. By 11:30 we’re almost finished, check out is at 12pm. I was feeling like we were cutting close to time so I called the front desk to see if it was okay that I check out at 12:30. The front desk agent rudely explained to me that there was a $25 fee for extension. She made it clear to me that she had a "full house" and was making me feel like I was a burden for simply requesting additional time. I told her never mind and we ended the call

I decided to go speak with someone at the front desk and to my surprise it was the woman who I spoke to over the phone. I told her I didn’t mind the extension fee and I explained to her why I just needed a little more time. She asked me "why can’t you just leave?"… She was being insanely unprofessional at this point I asked for her name and I let her know that I was going to yelp about my experience. I walk back to my room to finish getting my makeup done. Its about 12:00 now and we’re just about finished and then I hear a knock on the door. I open the door and it’s Angela, she begins yelling at me and says "You need to get out now!" I told her I am not leaving until my MUA finishes my makeup and I let her know we're just about done. She then told me that since I threatened her with a yelp review that she was going to call the police on me…..

I have NEVER IN MY LIFE experienced anything like this at any hotel I’ve stayed at EVER. My photographer is now waiting in the lobby and I had informed her about everything that had happened. We both agreed that we would do the fitting at the actual shoot since Angela was behaving so unhinged and inappropriately. We leave my hotel room at exactly 12:30 and head towards the elevator to get in and go down to leave. When the elevator opens it’s Angela standing in between TWO police officers…

This has traumatized me in so many ways. To be treated like a criminal for doing absolutely nothing is mind boggling. My photographer and MUA also have been negatively impacted by the behavior of Angela. NOTHING in this situation required the police at all. I was harassed and humiliated, all on the very day of a very important creative project I had been preparing for weeks! Just because I decided to stay at this hotel. Angela must be held...

Overall, had a great stay at Hyatt Centric in Old Town Alexandria. Our king suite room was fantastic. Bed was comfy with clean sheets, bathroom was very nice with hot water and good shower pressure, and everything was modern. The location was also perfect, close to many restaurants and shops as well as to the train station. It is on the far end of old town on King St so it was quiet in the mornings and the evenings compared to the heart of Old Town. We slept very comfortably for one night and Hyatt was able to accommodate an extended checkout of 3:30 pm for a $50 fee as we were in town for a wedding.

Only drawback was that check in was a little complicated. We initially reached out to Hyatt for a late check out request via chat (online) and they said they would put in the request but I don’t think the front desk staff saw it. When we did request it, the front desk staff member mentioned that there was a lot going on so he needed to focus on one thing at a time. Not sure what that meant since I’m sure lots of hotel stayers have a lot of these requests. In addition, valet is $40/night which was fine but it would’ve been nice to have a parking option, though we completely understand given the area. Last thing was that I don’t think there was any mention of free bfast or anything. The water in the room was only for elite members and the free coffee in the lobby was through a Keurig machine.

Overall, I would definitely use Hyatt points to stay at this location again. We’ve stayed at other Hyatt locations and our room in Alexandria by far exceeded our expectations with cleanliness and...